If you see shimmery inks on the free table at Pen Club, think of me.

Juliana visited this morning and brought many homemade treats, including a fresh rosemary focaccia, which I have deployed as a sandwich. She also brought some art from her daughter Alexandra, so we're getting a full gallery.

JZ finally needed some pain meds at 11:30am, which is a good long stretch without morphine for her. She's having trouble watching movies so I suggested playing movies that she's seen so often that just hearing the dialogue would be a comfort.

Now she's napping on the couch to the sound of The African Queen with her mom sitting next to her on the couch. Next up: Princess Bride and then Young Frankenstein. We'll have Holiday in the queue too as that's her all time fav Screwball comedy.

Card received from Sean with his one word assessment of it all ("Fuck!") with some other words of love. Package received from Aurelia which is already plugged in.

Jilli, we got your card in the first rush along with Plei's and there was much admiration of the fancy inks.

I woke up this morning and saw that Jacqueline's eyes were already open.

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

"I want to wash my hair. I feel grimy."

Indeed it has been a couple weeks since she's had a shower and her body was covered with lots of sticky tape grime from all the leads and tubes. Found about three patches for holding leads that I hadn't taken off since the hospital.

I got her seated on the end-bench area of our tub (moving aside all of Matilda's many haircare products), and rinsed her off with warm water from my big plastic Oakland A's cup. She fairly swooned with pleasure. I washed her whole body with gentle shampoo, and then shampooed her hair. Getting as much of the tape marks off as I could without hard rubbing. Rinsed her clean, dried her off, and moved her to the couch.

She felt very refreshed. Changed her into new soft jammies and undies and she was ready to meet people.

Those tape marks are so damn annoying. You are the shower hero, David!

A shower can be so soul restoring.

If you see shimmery inks on the free table at Pen Club, think of me.

If I see any that are ones I already have, I shall! Says the ink magpie.

I learned that a gentle oil, like jojoba, helps remove those types of tape marks. You can also use olive oil in a pinch.

Post-hospital showers make a huge difference. Glad she's feeling the multi-modal love!

Speaking of showers, did I mention we have hired a care assistant to help Tim shower 4 times a week? I can help him shower, in theory, BUT it's exhausting and hurts my back and wrists. It's sad that Tim's recovery is a situation where someone with a moderately shitty back is taking care of someone with a monumentally bad back. Most of the stuff I can do without injuring myself, but it turns out that the showering I cannot do. It's well worth hiring someone.

It's well worth hiring someone.

That's smart self care and a worthwhile investment.

JZ is quite light and even finessing the tub wasn't too challenging this morning. She looked so happy when I was washing her hair. Not exactly Out of Africa, but in that area.

Aw. Of course, for me that's like, Tuesday. Minus the romantic bits.

I hadn't thought about it, but it turns out that the stunt people are also out on strike ... bringing their special skills.