I suppose my first priority for tomorrow is to wake up and get up. Despite my advanced age I’m not much like many older people of my acquaintance who get up at the crack of dawn. No, my alarm is set for 9am and, if I don’t feel like getting up, I turn it off and go back to sleep! I’ve always been more of a night owl, though I don’t stay up as late as I used to, normally being under the covers and comfy by around midnight.

Julian is away in Dorset for a painting week so Lola and I are in charge of everything. I had a carpal tunnel operation last week on my right hand. I put the op off for years because I’m right-handed and there are certain important things I need my right hand for. But, the bother from the effects of squished nerves in my wrist became too bad to let it go any longer.

I had to wait for a free space in the hand surgeon’s busy calendar and it just so happened that he was ready for me last week. It would have been better if it were next week or even the week after, from the point of view of an easy life. With Julian away, there’s no one to cut an avocado in half but me. Mind you, I didn’t know how much it would hurt to do it myself, wearing a huge bandage as I am, but it was pretty painful! If I hadn’t started to cut it, I would just have left it till Julian came back and had egg on toast instead of avocado on toast, but I had to finish what I started and, after the pain, it was delicious!

The operation, itself, was really good. The local anaesthetic was the most painful part of it and that was very quick. I waited a quarter of an hour or so then the doctor came in, asked me if I wanted to watch – NO THANKS – then started a conversation with me which took my mind off what he was doing. Somehow, we started talking about my *Aphantasia. The nurse knew nothing about the subject and found it difficult to comprehend that such a thing is possible but the doctor knew what it was and asked me some questions, though he doesn’t have it either so some of his questions made me laugh!

The operation was over in a flash, some little micropore plasters were put on the wound and my hand bandaged with gauze, cotton wool and a crepe bandage. I phoned Julian who had driven to a scenic view to draw while he waited and a few minutes after that he arrived to take me home

Back to the subject of tomorrow’s priorities – after getting up, washing with one hand, which is not at all easy, dressing with one hand which is a dawdle, eating my breakfast and reading the newspapers, my next priority will be to be ready for my grocery order to be delivered. I gave up driving a few years ago when my eyesight was getting poorer so I signed up for deliveries. I wasn’t sure I would like doing my shopping online but I do! Julian and I between us meet the driver at the door, empty his boxes into ours, slide our boxes to the kitchen and empty them into fridge, freezer and cupboards. Tomorrow’s delivery will be quite small as Julian won’t be eating lunches or evening meals at home this week so the job will be quite easy and quick.

A further priority will be to take Lola for her daily walk and also to have a running game from living room to kitchen and back – she runs, I throw from a standing position, a selection of squeaky toys which have flashing lights in them. My aim hasn’t got any better, sadly, but she doesn’t seem to mind if the toy I throw goes all the way to the other end of the kitchen or bounces off the door frame of the living room.

Other priorities follow in the same vein until it’s bedtime, once again when, I suppose I will prioritise waking up the next day and so it goes.

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*Aphantasia – a lack of pictures in the head. See my earlier posts for a more detailed explanation or go to good old Google!