Recovering with an Octopus

I must admit – this week I had appendage envy.

I was particularly jealous of the Pacific Giant Octopus that my fisherman neighbor, Alan, brought into my house in northern California. Her with 8 arms (and 8 octo-shoulders) and me reduced to just one functional arm! A particularly in-your-face example of life’s inequities. Although, I must confide, I would be the one eventually enjoying one of her appendages served up with hot chili sauce and garlic.

If you’ve read my last week’s blogs, you know I recently had to leave Vietnam for 8 weeks for rotator cuff surgery and follow-up physical therapy here in northern California.

I’m now 2 weeks post- surgery, trying to manage day-to-day life using only one shoulder (that also means one arm and one hand)! Basically, I must simply forget that I have a left shoulder, left arm, and left hand as I try to get through my everyday activities. And, of course, all this without the help of my partner forced to remain behind in Saigon (some future blog about immigration hurdles and woes)! But, I tell myself, breathe deep, rotator cuff surgery is yet another life experience to savor.

And Spring in Mendocino County is gorgeous.

It goes without saying that you don’t choose to have surgery in Vietnam if you have any “western” country option. Having walked the halls of Saigon’s hospitals with my Vietnamese partner distributing food coupons from a local charity to those interned 10-to-a-room and stacked in the hallways, it clearly was not an attractive surgery option to choose. My emergency room visit some years back at the Viet French hospital in Hanoi was a bit less unsettling, but still not particularly medically impressive.

So, here I am. Recovering in northern California, relying on the generosity of wonderful life-long friends.

They are doing all they can to help me – but, of course, they still have “better things to do”. With all their help, there are still those hours, those nights, and occasionally those days I must survive on my own – one shouldered, one-armed, one-handed.

Anyone reading this who has gone through rotator cuff surgery will understand that the post-op period – perhaps up to 12 weeks in length – raises some of life’s greatest hurdles. In just the past week, I’ve had to face a series of challenges requiring ingenuity, patience, stamina, and humility. Go ahead – give some of these a try yourself 🙂

• tying my shoe ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• filling a plastic bag with bulk granola at the grocery store ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• shaving ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• washing and rinsing my own armpit – on the side of my good arm! ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• opening the lid on the pasta sauce jar ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• typing this blog ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• putting in my contact lenses (and all the pre-insertion steps) ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• peeling and slicing my morning banana ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• putting toothpaste on my toothbrush ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• unlocking the patio door (requires lifting the handle and turning the lock (6″ apart) at the same time ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• washing dishes ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• emptying the large pot of boiling water in which I cooked my frozen raviolis ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• opening the bottle to my shoulder pain medicine ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!
• paying the cashiers at the supermarket and coffee shop ~ with one shoulder, one-arm, one-hand!

As they say in Vietnam, “oi troi oi!”

My results ranged from sadly pathetic to greatly amusing (to others). I can provide the gory details in response to any specific inquiries 🙂

But, I did have a “Vietnamese moment” the other night in my northern California countryside.

Sitting there in my post-op pathetic state, missing my “Saigon home”, my friend Antonio placed the bottle of Tương Ớt Tỏi Việt Nam (Vietnamese Chili Garlic Sauce) in front of me on the dining room table.

Then Jan brought out the slithering slimy 2-meter long octopus arm and dangled the evening’s appetizer in front of me! (Future recipes welcome 🙂  )

For one short moment, in my post-surgery, pain killer haze, I felt like I was back enjoying the wonderful slithering sights, smells and foods of Saigon!