Recovery and Michelle Obama

On the journey home Phoebe had cheered me up and had managed to make me laugh all the way home, although laughing isn’t the easiest thing to do after having thyroid surgery as I was terrified of splitting my stitches, so I found I had started to laugh like a robot instead to avoid this happening. On those first couple of days back at home I slept a lot, I was worried about how Lily would react to my severed neck, but she had come home from school, demanded to have a look, and then rolled her eyes at me and said “Mum…it’s really not that bad at all!” Did I mention that she is 4 going on 40?

I’d had my recovery period worked out in my mind, I wasn’t going to put too much pressure on myself and so my priorities would be sleep, eat, read and Netflix. It was Easter too so obviously chocolate eating would be a crucial part of this recovery period.   I had really enjoyed reading again and so once I felt less spaced out from the codeine, I started to pick up some books.  I had finished the “Thursday Murder Club” and was now working my way through “Where the Crawdad’s Sing” by Delia Owens.  If you haven’t read this book…read it!! I sat in my heated throw and didn’t move, sometimes I forgot to make lunch I was so engrossed.  It perhaps wasn’t great for my recovery as I sat up late reading at night and often avoided going for a walk just to finish the next chapter. It was brilliant! I hadn’t read like that for a long time.  One of my dearest friends Becky sent me a parcel of books to read so once I had finished “Where the Crawdad’s Sing” I picked up the first book in the package “Becoming” by Michelle Obama.  I fully credit Michelle Obama for my recovery, I absolutely loved her book and now really, really want to be best friends with her! If I was anti-social reading the Crawdad’s, then I was even worse reading “Becoming” because in my head I had literally moved into the Whitehouse. 

Reading Michelle’s book made me start to feel better, I was inspired by how hard she worked, I loved reading about how she and Barack parented their girls during such a crazy time in the spotlight and (being a nosy bitch) I loved the insight she gave the reader into life inside the Whitehouse. It was exactly what I needed to help me through the recovery period and now I’ve finished the book I actually feel a bit lost without my new best friend Michelle. It was exactly what I needed to take my mind off all the crazy thoughts and worries that were going through my head at the time, she is truly inspirational, hard-working, and completely fabulous. Read it, you’ll love it!

Only when I took myself off the Codeine did I start to feel better.  I actually think Codeine is the devil. It makes me feel so tired and nauseous that I called the ward and switched my pain medication.  As soon as I did, I improved dramatically and started to feel like myself again. I do believe that when you are recovering you have to do what feels right for you and not always what other people tell you to, saying that I’m not going to go against the Doctor’s orders but I do think that you know your body and more often than not it will tell you what it wants…mine mostly tells me it wants chocolate and so who am I to tell it I disagree and it should have a carrot!