The Post What Precedes Surgery

In approximately 12 hours, I’ll undergo carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand. I thought I should type up a quick blog post before my right hand becomes temporarily unusable. I have some mild anxiety, though it’s not about the procedure itself. It’s the uncertainty of what to expect afterward. I’ve heard it can take at least a few weeks to begin using your hand again, but when I scheduled my surgery they told me I could be fine within a couple of days. That’s a big difference. Part of me feels this urgency to do everything I might possibly need or want to do online before I’m effectively one-handed. I had all these blog posts I thought about writing, but I simply haven’t had time. I’m now racking my brain, trying to determine what else needs to be done before it’s either impossible or too difficult to do it. So, yes, I’m experiencing apprehension, but it’s for lame reasons. It’s like when you go on a trip and you worry you’ll forget something important and not remember it until the very moment it’s too late. It’s a kind of looming unease. That’s what I’m feeling.

In almost entirely unrelated news, my gig as a stay-at-home dad (which is largely what I am at this moment in my life) has resulted in my spending a lot more time with Creegan. Initially, I had a hard time, but I think we’ve both gotten into the rhythm of it all. There have been numerous times when I’ve thought I quite enjoy what I’m doing and maybe it’s what I should’ve been doing all along. It’s not a very realistic thought, for about a thousand reasons—the fact that I’m really only alone with Beegy for 4.5 hours per day, the fact that I’m primarily taking care of only one child during that time rather than three, the fact that I’m not dealing with babies who are in constant need of attention, etc., etc., etc.—but the point is that things are going well enough for me to have such irrational thoughts from time to time. That’s good.

I’ve gotten into the habit of driving Melanie to work two or three times per week so I can have the car. This has enabled me to do things with Creegan that keep us both entertained and sane. But I’ve actually been surprised how much he resists it. He never wants to go places, even though we have fun once I can get him to go along. We’ve gone to the nearby mall, which has a carousel. We’ve gone to the library a few times. We’ve gone to parks and nearly been eaten alive by greedy geese who can’t get enough Wonder bread. We’ve gone grocery shopping (which isn’t fun, exactly, but it helps the time pass). Creegan has adjusted very well to his brothers being gone a good chunk of the time. I’m very grateful for that. It’s a bummer that after I have surgery, I probably won’t be able to drive for a little while. Our little outings will have to be put on hold. Beegy will probably be fine with that, but I worry about myself.

I thought I would briefly take a moment to share one of Beegy’s linguistic quirks. He’s had it for a long time, but I don’t think we’ve written it down anywhere, so this is my rectifying that. Creegan pretty much always uses the word “what” in place of “that,” at least in certain sentence structures. Although Beegy will correctly say “give me that car,” he will mistakenly say “give me the car what’s red.” Instead of saying “is that the game that Peter was playing?”, Beegy will say “is that the game what Peter was playing?” Rather than saying “Dad is reading a book that’s scary,” he’ll say “Dad is reading a book what’s scary.” You get the idea. I don’t know how this got started, but it’s been that way as long as I can remember. Eddie and Peter also had a linguistic quirk, but it’s greatly improved by now. It started with Eddie, and Peter simply followed suit. They would reverse “ask” and “tell.” Or, rather, I’m not sure that they even would use the word “ask” all that often. So, instead of saying “go ask Mom what we’re having for dinner,” they would say, “go tell Mom what we’re having for dinner.” Or if Melanie asked Eddie what the best part of his day was, Peter might chime in, “Tell me what the best part of my day was!”, when he really wanted Melanie to ask him the same question she had asked Eddie. You can see how this particular quirk can cause a lot of problems. Thankfully, I think it’s pretty much gone, although just a few days ago I heard Peter use the word “tell” when he clearly meant “ask.” So, who knows. I’ll have to tell Melanie if there are any other slip-ups what she’s aware of.