#post-op

Do your best not to judge people over what you currently see. Just because someone can carry the burden doesn’t mean it’s not heavy. Some people barely show what they go through and have been through. There is usually the other side of the mountain looking like the opposite.

When someone glows up all of a sudden, don’t question it. Just shut the fuck up and celebrate it with them. Be with them. You have no idea. That glow-up is a hard earned mask and costume that tend to drop every now and then.

read from right-to-left

After slaving over this comic for ~2 years, I've decided I'm not gonna finish the last few pages I had planned and that this is fine enough. I'm simply too impatient to show it off. (Comics take me so fucking long, man)

This is a scene that takes place during chapter 3 of Terminal Status, although it's going to end up looking a bit different in the actual game. Still, I love this conversation and found myself wanting to draw it. (Spoilers: Post-Op and Concuss end up agreeing to fake-date after this, and it's sooo funny. They hate each other.)

1. ocean spray apple juice. not mott's. i cannot emphasize this enough, it's so much better

2. if you can have apple juice you can almost certainly have apple cider for the ✨autumn vibes✨ (get the ones made from honey crisp apples, trust me on this)

3. buy a cane. oh my gosh buy a cane. didn't think i needed one because my main issue was getting out of bed, but here's the thing YOU CAN USE THE CANE TO PUSH OFF THE WALL YOURE LEANING ON! 100,000% easier to get up that way, its incredible. you can move all the muscle work to your arms and off your stomach/knees/legs

4. if your fridge is far from where you're sleeping during recovery, consider buying a mini fridge (my roommate found mine at a yard sale for $10) and maybe bring your tea kettle to wherever you sleep if you like tea. its helped me so so much

5. didn't do this but i wish i did- take your least favorite sweater (or buy one at a thrift store for like $2) and cut off one of the arms just above your elbow, cause otherwise you can't wear a sweater if they put the iv in your elbow and hospitals are damn cold

6. buy a button up pajama top!!! (or if you're crafty you could try altering your current pjs to have buttons) much easier to get dressed after if putting your arms above your head is difficult l. ALSO makes it way easier for doctors to place things like an ekg overnight and not make you freeze to death with it pulling down your shirt. also ALSO doctors can do exams on your stomach without your whole chest being on display if that's a thing you want to avoid. overall one of the best decisions i made and it only cost me $5

I was discharged yesterday evening and friends picked me up. You don't really get good rest in a hospital. especially not when there's a person in the room next door who needs a mental health bed. The pain is better today, and I've had so much sleep. I have to do my respiratory therapy once per hour with a little inhaler that moves a cylinder, and I get on the stationary bike every two hours for 15 minutes.

I have four big holes in my body and while I went in with one IV placement, I came out with three. The surgical report was encouraging, but I lost five more lymph nodes. Still waiting for the pathology on those.

The kitties nag at me every time I get out of bed. My sitters told me that Moki had a lot to say about my absence, too. He has definite separation anxiety because after all his first mom never came home from the hospital. He seemed okay with a man as a sitter, but definitely not friendly or flirtatious as he is with women. He stayed out of reach, the tip of his tail flicking and looking stern.