Enforced Rest by Guest Blogger

     

Enforced Rest

The recovery goes slowly, but well. I'm to rest, rest, rest and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Even days after the surgery, conflicting instructions reign. If I rest, I don't hydrate much. If I hydrate, I can't rest because I'm in the bathroom. A lot. Sigh. It's a doctor conspiracy, no doubt.

God, however, intends for me to get the rest I need and is seeing -- in His divine way -- that I get it.

I play an online video game on the computer quite a bit. It's called Diablo (I play the expanded version II) and after learning the basics, doesn't require much thought. It's a bit like Christmas, as every game maze is different and the items found vary with such range that it's very hard to find the same item twice. I have a couple of folk I talk to on there, who look for me when they play just as I look for them.

The thought of six to eight weeks of playing Diablo (doctor's orders!) made me tingle.

When did my computer first start to screw up? I can't recall, now, but it was weeks before the surgery. Diablo began to run really slowly. Where my character once ran lithely over the grasslands of Act 1, she was now running through molasses. When the molasses went away, there she'd be, dead upon the field.

The monsters didn't have molasses to deal with on their end.

This just wouldn't do. I called Dell, and spent some time troubleshooting. Because we have two identical laptops, they wanted me to switch things between them. Since Harry's PC is out with him, I'd have to wait for him to get home.

So a typical call would go like this: Is it plugged in? Is there power? Do other programs work? Is it messing up now? Play a movie. Does it play? Hmm. Okay, switch the hard drives between the two PCs. Then I'd tell Dell I had to wait for the other PC to be home. Three or four days later, it'd be home, we'd do the switch and call Dell back.

Is it plugged in? Is there power? Do other programs work? Oy vey.

At the time of the surgery, my PC (laptop body) had Harry's hard drive, and vice versa. A couple of days after I got home, when I was well enough to handle all the "is it plugged in" questions, I called Dell again, and they had us switch CD/DVD ROM drives. So now my PC has Harry's hard drive and my original CD drive. Got it? Good, because I don't. You should hear us talking to Dell when they ask us to do something with a PC and we aren't sure which laptop body they're talking about.

During this time period, the port replicator died. That's the little doodad that connects the PC I'm currently using (Harry's laptop body, with my hard drive, and his CD drive) to the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and stuff that let me sit in the computer room at the computer desk. With me? Good.

We called Dell. They're shipping another port replicator, but in the meantime, I have to stand if I want to use my PC (Harry's laptop body, my hard drive, etc). Standing isn't something I can do much of just yet. So if you wonder why I haven't been writing as much as usual, now you know.

My mom came and spent a week with me after my surgery, helping around the house, cooking, making sure I rested, you know, mom stuff. (Moms are great and if yours is still around, thank her for all she's given you. Even if you don't like her much, she gave you life, right? Give her a round of applause. Come on, I want you to.) Before she left, my mom carefully arranged stuff in the house so I could do whatever I needed to do without violating the Surgery Recovery Laws. (No pushing,pulling, lifting, or driving. No sex, either, but that's not relative to this particular tale.)

She got my paperwork out of the filing cabinet that requires a bulldozer to open and close. She moved a box so the fast-growing puppy could jump onto the bed. She pre-prepared meals for the weekend. She arranged Harry's PC (my laptop body, Harry's hard drive, my CD drive) on the kitchen table so I could use WordPerfect during this holiday weekend. (It's Harry's motorcycle weekend, you know, and he went, under duress. For some odd reason he thought he should stay home with me.)

Perfect, right? Well, no. I can't get my email in the kitchen (wrong hard drive) and I can't stand very long to get it in the computer room (right hard drive, dead port replicator). I can't move my PC (Harry's laptop body, etc) because that would require violating the Laws.

The good news is that today the CD drive in Harry's PC (my laptop body, etc) screwed up so now we know for sure ... something. Was it the mother board or the CD if we moved it and it messed up? I can't remember. Harry will, or Dell will, so as soon as Harry gets home we call Dell again.

(Is it plugged in?)

Somehow I think God knew that if I had access to a dependable, working, easy-to-use PC during this time I'd sit up way more than is good for me. Since the kitchen chairs are only comfortable for a couple of hours, and standing for longer than is required to shower is still out of my reach, I'm stretching out reading more often, or relaxing with a movie.

God does indeed work in mysterious -- and even technological -- ways.


Copyright 2013 Michelle Hakala
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