Batty!

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

Depression: Absent.
Anxiety: Off the Richter-scale.
Tears: Loads.
Laughs: Hmmmm .

When a surgery is so common, run-of-the-mill, minor, routine, ordinary, blah-de-blah-blah; as cataract surgery is generally described, it is easy to forget that it is still surgery, and therefore a trauma to the body. Clever Bird has fallen for this entirely! It clearly says in the after-care instructions that Baggy should take it extremely easy for at least a fortnight, and that the eye can take up to six weeks to heal properly. By this Clever Bird also presumes that that means the brain getting to grips with the new eye.

Naturally, Clever Bird assumed that she would be 100% back to normal by now - one week after surgery - or rather, she felt that she should be. Of course, this is nonsense on many levels:

• the eye is not yet healed. Baggy has to use anti-inflammatory drops three times a day for another two weeks.
• she still has to wear her sexy eye patch at night for another day.
• she must wear sunglasses when she's outside.
• as the light is still too much, she also bought herself a hat today, to add to her batty old lady look.
• she is extremely tired - sleeping over twelve hours a night - or more accurately, being in bed for that time, not necessarily sleeping for that long.
• she must not risk getting anything in her eye!

This last is highly restrictive! Grotty Groom cannot go to the yard. Gloria Gardener must not garden. Furry Mama should not really go on the beach. Baggy must not get her eye wet, so cannot swim.

Of course, that means that all of Hormonal Hannah's happy things, to keep her depression and anxiety at bay, have been unavailable for a week, and will remain unavailable for at least another week. Add to that, that the surgery itself, left Hannah feeling extremely vulnerable anyway, and Hannah has been struggling. Being pretty much housebound this week, as number one furry is away at work, hasn't helped; so today, Baggy decided to risk driving for the first time.

She needed to go into town to post off a Realuv parcel, pick up Pepper Pooch's worm and flea treatments, and collect two cleaned horse rugs. It's only two miles and Baggy did consider walking it, but Furry Mama pointed out that it was too hot, and carrying the rugs home - well, that wasn't going to happen!! Baggy drove slowly, and was fine. She parked at the vets' and stepped out, and nearly landed on her face. It was only as she was chatting to the receptionist, that Clever Bird realised just how far her brain still has to go to get unconfuddled.

As Baggy looked at all the signs on the wall behind the reception desk, she realised what has changed. Even, before surgery Baggy could easily read the signs - yes they were a little dull and foggy, but she could read them. Today, they were jumping about all over the place!! Baggy closed her bionic eye - all was readable. Baggy closed her right eye - everything started jumping. Clever Bird can only think that it might be a little how dyslexic people see letters; they just wouldn't stay still enough for her to focus on them.

Clever Bird drove very slowly on to town, and decided to spend some time there for Hannah's sake, as well as to relax before the drive home. Safely home once more, Freda Fretter has decided that she won't be driving again for a few more days at least!! And Clever Bird has recognised that Baggy is far from back-to-normal. The honest truth is that Hannah has had more than one meltdown this week, but chatting to the various shopkeepers in lovely little Halesworth town today, helped no end.

As did, sitting in the gorgeous Saxon church in the village yesterday, and having a baby meltdown whilst the pooch looked after his mama......