I was in the hospital on this day a year ago, getting my mangled L4-5 disc and crushed sciatic nerve surgically repaired by the very competent and extremely human neurosurgeon Dr. Ariane Boylan. I had to spend the night (my first ever) in the hospital after the surgery, just to make sure that it worked, and that I could walk the next morning and climb up a little set of practice stairs. I passed, and was released, and eventually someone came with the paperwork and I went home.
My sister came to help care for me, and Adam was here of course too. I think, that in the days leading up to the surgery I cooked a lot of food in preparation for coming home. I think I made a big vegetable soup, and I think I made something like dal (an Indian spiced lentil soup) and maybe there was a chicken roasted? I’m sure there was also something puréed, like sweet potatoes or a soup like this one in the video. When I want to get a large volume of fiber into my face but don’t have the energy to ruminate at a trough of salad like a cow, a purée’s the way to sidestep that…step. I was ready for nutrition, and nutritioning was about to commence.
How I managed to shop for and cook all this food is unclear, but I probably had the groceries delivered, and at that point standing was the most comfortable position for my wretched body other than lying face-down on the floor, so I cooked. I knew I’d be wanting to eat, as I hadn’t eaten much the previous month due to spending all my time lying face-down on the floor, and now I was capable of sitting, even if only for short lengths of time. But I was ready to eat again, and heal my spinal discs and nerves and get on with things. I was also leaving for a trip to Spain exactly thirty days hence so healing was an accelerated imperative timeline. Dr. Boylan was not thrilled.
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