Oof and oof, what a stressful week it was...
It was my birthday on the last day of February, and we still had my birthday cake to polish off on Sunday the 1st. Only beautiful memories are left of the delicious red velvet sponge with chocolate cream.
For a whole week I was collaborating with Penandinkchallenge on Insta, with a list of prompts on the theme of Art Journal. I did my own seven drawings, commented on each post done by the inky community and also shared their artwork on stories. That was a full-time job (unpaid, I hasten to add).
My first prompt was Cherished Memory, and I did a sketch of little Eddie and my Mum playing football on the beach in Perranuthnoe all those years ago.
On Tuesday we had to travel to Banbury to see the anesthesist. It was rather a waste of time, as everything could have been perfectly discussed on the phone or online. It's not like Sasha was participating in the conversation. He was anxious and impatient to leave the doctor's office, my husband had to take him out for a walk around the hospital, and I stayed behind to talk it through. As predicted. I did ask them in advance if we could perhaps discuss it over the Zoom, but they insisted to see us in person. Sasha's presence there was purely nominal. They didn't check his weight or anything, and talked to us rather than to him for obvious reasons.
After the hospital visit, we popped into Coffee #1 for a quick drink.
Wednesday was the day I'd rather forget, it was so riddled with anxiety. Sasha was frustrated to travel to the hospital for the second day in a row. He was hungry as he wasn't allowed any food before the operation. He needed a dental procedure under general anesthetics. We waited for over an hour before anyone has seen us, by which time my boy was ready to climb the walls.
Once they started though, I couldn't fault them. The meds worked pretty fast, and soon he was taken away to an operating room for his procedure to be done. My husband and I waited in the separate room, went to have lunch in the hospital canteen. It was clean and had a good choice of hot and cold food. We had an omelette each, and it was delicious. I even went back to the chef to say how tasty it was, in fact better than we had in Paris.
It took about two hours for everything to be done, and then we had to wait for Sasha to wake up. They let one of us stay with him, when it was clear he might be awake soon. It was quite scary to see my boy, who is always on the move, to be lying so still, with the oxygen mask on.
We stayed for another couple of hours for him to get a bit more active, and got an Uber to travel back home. I was grateful that the operation went well, and that we had the option of staying in a separate room, without being bothered.
And then it was all about managing the pain relief medication for the next few days.
I took this photo on the way to Banbury, through the windows of the taxi. It was a misty morning. We went through some very pretty villages, though my mind was on the upcoming operation.
As one of Christmas gifts, I have subscribed to SnackVerse box for Eddie. It is supposed to be a selection of snacks from a different country each month.
I subbed when they advertised the next box to be Japan (before Christmas). What we got though was Czech Republic, and they said Japan box was only for ad purposes. Very sneaky.
January box went awol. Evri claimed they delivered it, but they didn't have any proof photo, and at the time they said they did bring it in, we were all at home. I got a refund.
Then a few days ago I got a notification that February box was arriving, again with Evri. I knew we would be away in the hospital but there was no way to divert it or stop on the app. The box was left with the neighbours. When I picked it up, I realised it was already open, and most of the items except these three snacks were missing. Also the date on the box showed January.
Where the heck has this box been hidden all this time, and who opened it? I contacted SnackVerse, they were not bothered, saying I got my refund anyway.
I have cancelled my subscription. So, if you decide to subscribe to SnackVerse, do it at your own peril.
I understand that this is the first world problem, and ultimately totally insignificant. With all the worries we had in the last week, this hardly matters.
After three Dick Francis' thrillers, I wanted to change to something different. Last week I went to the local library, and took out The Snow Ghost and Other Tales (Classic Japanese Ghost Stories). Supposedly these are the best and the scariest tales, though so far they read more like folk tales and legends, quite old-fashioned and hardly scary. Japanese horror could be quite creepy. This selection is a glimpse in the fascinating world of beliefs.
I was mostly influenced by the book cover design.
I have also finished listening to The Twisted Women's Book Club on Audible. Overall, it was entertaining (and just right for the ironing times), however, all the characters are so unpleasant and unrelatable. My new Audible book is Hart's Ridge by Kay Bratt (it was a free book). I'm only on chapter 3 and enjoying it.
As I usually have several books on the go, I'm still reading Citizens (about the French Revolution), tackling about a dozen pages per day. Hope to finish this educational project by the end of this month.
How was your week?
Happy belated birthday! That cake looks so good! Your artwork is beautiful! You are so talented.
ReplyDeleteThat does seem like a waste of everyone's time seeing the anaesthetist when it could have been done over the phone. I am glad Sasha's dental work went well.
Ugh! I had seen that Snackverse box advertised on FB and did think about subscribing, I think I'll give it a miss.
Oh wow! Your lucky husband! That menu does look good.