Dear Readers,

I am coming up on a week and a half post-op. It has been a rough road so far. I, truthfully, was not expecting such a painful recovery. And I’m used to pain since I live with it every day as it is. Still, I can feel an improvement over where I was at this time last week, so I’m getting there. I’m not at 100%, of course, more like 70%. I’m still planning on going back to work on Monday, though that is subject to change.

The biggest problem is that the pain tends to set in more at night, which makes sleep difficult. Since the day of the surgery, I’ve averaged only about four hours of sleep a night. I have been able to be up walking around though, and I’m up to walking about 1.5 miles a day, though not all at once. This morning, I went for my first post-op drive. Not far, of course, just down to the beach to drink my morning coffee like I used to do every day when I was working from home.

This week, I watched the excellent four part Ken Burns documentary on Muhammad Ali. I was three years old when he fought his last bout, so I never got to see him fight live, or rather, I have no memory of having done so. I have, however, seen many of his fights by way of the YouTube. I thought the documentary did a great job talking about Ali the man, Ali the fighter, and Ali the activist. It really does place him in the context of the Civil Rights era as a whole. He’s still, in my opinion, the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time and definitely in the top five pound for pound boxers of all time.

I’ve managed to listen to quite a few audiobooks during my convalescence as well. Some fiction. Some non. The topics range from baseball to boxing to World War Two to Prohibition. I actually thought I would probably spend more time playing Red Dead Redemption or Assassin’s Creed on the PlayStation, but I haven’t much felt up to that. It requires to much focus when you are in a lot of pain.

Speaking of baseball, the season is winding down. The Red Sox had a weekend series at Fenway against the Yankees. They only needed to win one of the games to put themselves in excellent position for the first Wild Card spot. Being the Red Sox, of course, they got swept. They had a day off, then took on the hapless Orioles and blew a lead and lost that one too. Still, they won last night, so they are still in the hunt. But any more such late inning bullpen meltdowns or cold bats will ensure they do not advance to the playoffs. Let’s be honest thought, it ain’t like they would go far in the playoffs anyway.

Well, friends, that is about all I can manage for now. Until next time, take care of yourselves, and each other.

L.H.