Greetings, Internet! I hope everyone is staying as safe and sane as can be. This week, I dealt with a pressure sore, started doing some light workouts, and finished “House of the Dragon.” Daily summaries below!

October 21, 2022

• Hi, drainage, could you please go away so I can go back to living my life? Thanks.
• Got appropriate wound dressings for my pressure sore. Spoke to an SCI nurse who thinks I’ll be fine soon.
• I’m so tired. Still. Barely slept last night.
• Thank goodness for wound dressings.
• I checked an SCI forum about pressure sores, and the only results I found fell into a few categories: 1. Prevention (bit late for that); 2. I’ve got six weeks in the hospital because I have a really bad sore; 3. I used this highly complicated homeopathic method (which, no thanks); 4. I used this medication that is probably too much for a stage 1 or 2; and 5. Mine developed all of a sudden and now I’m bedridden for a week.
• It was…a lot.
• My sister sent me a care package! It’s full of all of the treats =)
• Listened to one of the songs on the new Taylor Swift album. It was fine. It’s like she’s in a poppy version of her “sad girl in an Anthropologie” phase.
• Hahaha, that shiny-eared pitcher on the Padres lost.
• Wordle: In five!
• Currently feeling: So much less pain. Such a relief.
• Currently looping: Well, I gave Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” a couple of listens. It’s got a nice beat, it’s well-written, and I think I would’ve really connected with it in high school.

October 22, 2022

• Ugh, drainage.
• My college friend is here! Tea and treats were had.
• And then my boyfriend showed up! We watched some baseball and “Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power.”
• Dang, this show feels so serious.
• Galadriel would be the worst person to have at game nights.
• My boyfriend: “She plays six-letter Wordle just so she can play ‘Sauron.’”
• The drainage looks horrifying. My boyfriend is doing everything he can to stop me from going into meltdown mode. <cries>
• Wordle: Whoops.
• Currently feeling: Wish I was feeling better while people were here.
• Currently looping: Not much music today.

October 23, 2022

• Overnight drainage doesn’t seem too bad? I don’t know anymore.
• Lazy day with my boyfriend watching television while I drink tea and try not to throw a pity party.
• Wow, I missed the Phillies win the pennant.
• The Phillies have no business winning this pennant, but whatever.
• Ew, the Astros.
• EW.
• Guys, baseball is sad and the regular season means nothing in the National League.
• Wordle: Whoops.
• Currently feeling: I think I’m rooting for the Phillies this year?
• Currently looping: No music.

October 24, 2022

• Overnight drainage seems okay, but daytime drainage is le sigh.
• Watched the finale for “House of the Dragon.” Dang. Only two more years until season two!
• Worked out for the first time with an SCI trainer in over a month. Took it super easy because of the pressure sore (which is healing slowly) and well, because of everything else.
• Sent some emails. And checked my school email. I swear, I’m going to start writing this chapter in a week or two.
• Got my absentee ballot! Now to look up what the dickens people are voting for.
• “Maleficent” isn’t as bad of a movie as people say. It’s also hilarious that Prince Charming (who is so unimpressive in the movie) is played by the same guy who plays Dick Grayson in “Titans.”
• Wordle: In six!
• Currently feeling: There’s no baseball on today and it feels strange.
• Currently looping: Haven’t listened to much music today.

October 25, 2022

• I thought things were improving, but the daytime drainage has been awful and I’m doing retail therapy right now.
• <absolutely despondent>
• Translated some German for my dissertation.
• I can’t tell if the pain I’m feeling is drainage related, pressure sore related, or period related.
• Being a woman with a spinal cord injury is fun.
• Was contacted about doing a spinal cord injury study. Read the list of side effects and thought, “Could I be in the control group?”
• The internet spoiled the “Doctor Who” special for me. Gee, thanks.
• Wordle: In five!
• Currently feeling: It doesn’t matter how often you hear that a condition is temporary, or that something will heal soon. If you don’t see gradual results to support it, you spiral. I need hugs.
• Currently looping: No music.

October 26, 2022

• Overnight drainage…okay? But the pressure sore is healing up nicely, so, I will take my improvements where I can get them!
• Did my final harsh vocal lesson (I had been putting it off because of the procedure, but could put it off no longer). I’m actually making progress on my fry scream. And the instructor said I could still email him if I had questions or wanted to run a scream or two by him, so, he’s super nice. Kardavox Academy, if you ever want to learn how to scream.
• Therapy! Ugh, I just needed to vent exasperation.
• Didn’t get a chance to do dissertation stuff today, but maybe tomorrow?
• There were a few lights out in my apartment, so maintenance came by to replace a bunch of bulbs. Huzzah for light!
• My mother and I are watching the animated 1959 version of Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” and I’m criticizing the fairies for fumbling at the one-yard line. Like, couldn’t you have kept Aurora in the cottage for like, ONE more day past her sixteenth birthday?
• That said, casting Angelina Jolie in “Maleficent” later on was a 10/10 choice. She could’ve done the voice acting for OG Maleficent.
• Wordle: In three!
• Currently feeling: Tired. Attempting to sleep on my side to avert exacerbating the pressure sore is rather difficult, on account of my body not being used to it and not liking it. But if it helps, I have to keep trying.
• Currently looping: No music.

October 27, 2022

• Overnight drainage is okay-ish. Pressure sore is about the width of a small crack now, so huzzah for that.
• Got my flu shot! One autumnal vaccination down, one to go!
• I’ve been feeling glum for much of the week, so my mother took me to one of our favorite restaurants.
• One of my friends happened to be in the neighborhood, so we got dessert nearby ^_^
• Emails!
• Wordle: Stumped?
• Currently feeling: It was nice to go outside, although I could smell the drainage at one point and then I began to feel miserable again. But hey, at least I got some sunlight.
• Currently looping: Found some live Ad Infinitum and am like, ugh, when are they coming to NYC? Melissa Bonny’s fry vocals (fry growls?) are everything on “Into the Night.”

Thanks so much for reading! Stay safe, get your flu shot, and give me your hot takes on “Sleeping Beauty”!