Hello Dear Ones, Family and Friends!
Happy June 1st!  It is a stellar day here in the Pacific Northwest, the waters of Puget Sound calm again after some blustery days last week. Not a cloud in the azure sky and the Olympic Mountains are still dressed in snow...just gorgeous!  How lucky we are!

A month has passed since my last post...how time has flown during this Covid experience!  Mark and I are happy to be double vaxed and are enjoying the relief brought by the fact  that millions of others are too.  Our social calendar has begun to show a pulse after so many months of isolation.  What a delight, but we are still careful and hope you are too!

CaringBridge recently sent me a survey for comments about their service.  Initially, I was at a loss for words. (!)  Could I accurately describe what a sweet and potent lifeline this platform was for me, especially during Covid?  I have said it before, but your responses to my postings provided me many boosts and lifted my spirits countless times.  Encouragement coming from friends made distant due to the virus was critical, and made my recovery less lonely.  Don’t get me wrong...Mark was my angel companion and rose to the occasion daily, but one person cannot do it all.  I needed my peeps too!

Please, if any of you develop a serious health issue or know of someone suffering a complex healing process, I highly recommend signing up for CaringBridge, even if you don’t think you need it.  I almost didn’t, but would have missed the awesome opportunity it offers for ease of connection.  It is way more critical than you might realize.

At 7-1/2 months now and I am still progressing nicely...YAY!  I am finished with Rehab, but our garden has been providing me with almost daily opportunities for physical challenges, movement and the good medicine that nature provides.  I am careful when lifting, but find that I am able to do most tasks I set out to do.  My walking routine has been disrupted by a nagging case of plantar fasciitis, but I am working at getting that foot healed up so I can get back to longer walks.

I bought a Fitbit so I can keep an eye on my heart rate.  To be able to stay off a med I had been on for months, my resting pulse needs to remain between 60-70.  So far so good. I am now down to taking a statin and an aspirin and have no need for the chart I made to help me keep track of which meds to take when.  Feels encouraging to be off that chemical soup!

Two things worth mentioning...
I am pleased that I have begun to see a continued lessening of frequency in my mood swings.  The weird cardiac/brain/emotional side effect of this surgery had me perplexed and forced me into a new level of self-acceptance and compassion.  There was no escaping it.  My doctor offered drugs to cope, but I persevered with riding it out, walking, opening yet another box of Kleenex, meditation and deep breathing.  It would always come unexpectedly and leave in the same way.  I am thrilled that my emotional landscape has evolved to a smoother terrain. Feeling unhinged leads to a vulnerability that is an unpleasant part of the cycle.  

The other thing I have noticed in quiet moments of reflection is that I am beginning to enjoy fleeting but blissful moments of actually forgetting about this ordeal!!  Yes!! This is delightful and though very brief, it promises hope, ease in my day, increased mental space for other interests long left behind, and a new type of peaceful fear-free healing that could only come with the passage of time and the resolution of countless physical reminders that were part of every hour of every day.  This brings me great joy and I celebrate this transition!

I will close for now, with the hope that I will be seeing many of you soon, once again savoring hugs and laughter and hearing the clinking of glasses raised in toasts for ALL of us surviving the past year and a half filled with multiple challenges.
🥂😁👏🥂🌻👍 .....💖
Have a spunky June!
Bless ya’ll,
Elaine🦋