My surgery was not something I was looking forward to but correcting the hernia held the promise of a stronger version of my future self.

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The time leading up to the surgery

Apart from art, researching the history of my ancestry and blog posts I prepared meals for the freezer so that afterwards we would have healthy food on hand. Derek doesn’t enjoy cooking but he can cook pasta, rice and oats.

Day of the surgery

I was the last patient for the day and was sent home at 9pm. The surgery took twice as long since they discovered I had two hernias, inguinal and femoral. It started out as keyhole surgery but when I woke up I found out I had an extra incision which was much bigger.

I wasn’t conscious when they made the decision about the extra incision but since  they add surgical mesh to cover the hernia hole, in order to prevent it from happening again, I imagine that the mesh was quite a bit bigger to accommodate both my hernias.

The doctor said I’d be walking out of the hospital but I think the nurse had more experience of how patients feel when they leave the hospital. I was about to leave when she asked if I would like a wheelchair. At first I was thinking ‘no thank you, the surgeon said I could walk’ but a minute later I changed my mind as I was feeling quite light headed.

Recovery

In my ‘head of make believe’ I would suggest all surgeons should undergo the surgery they plan to perform so that they would have firsthand experience of the recovery. I only jest but really he said I would walk out and in a couple of days I would be back to normal. Haha. Maybe it’s because I am 63 not 23. It’s taken me 14 days to feel 80% back to normal although I am not rushing into social engagements and the like. I’m just taking it easy.

Anyway I think I made good progress in my recovery with patience and determination. I started walking the next day after surgery, starting with 1000 steps and by the next week I was up to 5000 steps a day.

Resting

I either slept or I listened to gardening podcasts and videos. It has unleashed fresh inspiration for future gardening projects and Derek and I had some great planning discussions.

As a result Derek and our labourer have begun putting up a panelled fence across the bottom of the garden. This is going to give us more privacy and I am looking forward to creating my ‘forest garden’ of tranquility, filled with cherry trees, berry bushes, ferns, hostas and other edamental plants like the red and yellow swiss chard.

I also have plans for my little front garden that’s pretty much a public space which welcomes the community in – but even if I wanted to launch into finishing it off, I would only be able to start in spring (April) with the growing season. There’s a wise pacing of the seasons which fosters a quiet discipline of following the flow of the year. I’m so grateful for the order of the seasons.

How does my creative art flow?

It feels like inspiration has overtaken my whole being at the moment but I  have not had enough energy to run with the ideas yet; they are all written down for the future.

The recovery time, even with its days of brainfog,  has been a creative recess, like a power house powering up for new creativity. The potential covers gardening, painting, knitting, and writing. It’s almost like I was told ‘stop being creative’ and my brain answered ‘just you watch me’.

I discovered, when I was a child, that one of the ways I heal best is through creativity. This doesn’t just cover emotional healing but physical healing too and applies especially when sickness/recovery drags on. I leave with you a little kitten I knitted yesterday based on our family cat Salty. She’s white, fluffy and adorable, although she can be wicked too. As I am teaching myself stranded colour knitting I designed her with a little variegated fleck and I have called her ‘Salty playing in the mud on an autumn day.’ I made the pattern up as I knitted. I would describe the experience a bit like drawing with wool.

That’s it from me. I plan to read some of your posts soon. Take care.

~Morag Noffke ~