More Little Victories

Sometimes Little Is Much


I had a couple of appointments today.  Staying home and napping might have made me happier, but I needed to take care of some lady maintenance.  The first order of business was my annual physical with Dr. Awesome, our family physician.

I had lost several pounds since my visit there 3 weeks ago, and my blood pressure was 98/61.  Still running low, but I don't guess that is a problem.  Other parts of the physical included a urine test, chest x-ray, and EKG, all of which were pretty unremarkable.  The nurse drew several vials of blood, which will be checked for glucose levels, a lipid panel for cholesterol and triglycerides, a thyroid check and probably some other stuff I can't remember right now.  I never really had issues with cholesterol/triglycerides, although my good cholesterol was lower than I'd have liked.  Now that my eating habits are so different (much more animal protein than before surgery) I am curious what those readings will be.  It would really suck to go through all this and find out my cholesterol is all out of whack because I have to eat more animal protein now.  Maybe the malabsorption from the reworking of my intestinal tract will balance things out.  Lord willing and knock wood, all those levels will be OK.  I should hear from the doctor's office in about a week.  My Slam-O-Gram is 2 weeks from today, and if any hilarity ensues there, I'll be writing about it here.

My other appointment was for hair maintenance.  It was time for another perm.  Some women can wear their hair really short, or really straight, but those looks are not for me.  For myself,  I am fond of big hair.  I have a big personality and big... curves, so big hair just completes the picture.  It has become something of a trademark for me.  I had my last haircut shortly before Christmas, so it had been a little while since my stylist had seen me.  She's been another great source of support along the way. The first little victory at the salon was when I put on one of the smocks that never used to fit around my body.  Today the smock fit me with room to spare.  It doesn't seem like much to most people, but for me, it was a big deal.  Fitting into something I couldn't fit into before felt wonderful.

The second little victory at the salon came when the male stylist a couple of chairs down paid me a compliment.  He was between clients and while I was in my chair under a huge cape with my hair all rolled up in perm rods  (a very fetching look for most ladies!) and my glasses off, he said, "I've just been looking at you without your glasses and your face is really pretty."   And the inference was not "your-face-is-pretty-but-you're-too-fat",  it was "without-your-glasses-I-can-see-your-pretty-face" and no reference to my size at all.  I thanked him as graciously as I could, started cracking jokes and probably blushed a little.  But it was nice to hear.

Elsewhere, I was able to replace a favorite t-shirt with one in a smaller size.  As a singer and musician, I enjoy finding music-themed items, and a few years ago I bought a t-shirt with a cartoon drawing of a little girl dressed as Brunnhilde (the one most people think of when they envision an opera singer) from Richard Wagner's opera Die Valkyrie, with a caption that reads "Don't make me use my Opera Voice!"  My old one is way too big to wear anymore except to sleep in.  Last week I found a smaller, long-sleeved version of my t-shirt, on sale.  Epic win!  So I ordered it and it was delivered yesterday.  It hugs me a little bit but not in a bad way, and I look forward to wearing it.  Just the fact that an article of clothing can hug me a little and me not hate it, is a major victory.