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I really don't wish to contort myself enough to see all of it, but I would estimate that - Monday, a week ago - I had four approximately 4-inch gashes sliced through my skin, outlining my lower groin area. Once inside, the doc messed around and sewed a bunch of stuff on to my muscle tissues. Other people have told me that - when they had this done - they had one side done at a time, due to the amount of "discomfort per side", and in order to keep one side strong enough to allow for mobility.

whatever...It's ALL done - BOTH sides.

A couple of days ago, I ventured out into the shop, the barn, and the loft looking for stuff that I had promised (pre-slashings) that I would sell to people. It was a successful trip out there and back, as well as a successful haul.

One thing is this King tuba "bugle" (set of bows), which is left over from my notorious compact Holton project.
Someone offered me fairly close to my asking price, so I decided to make it a bit nicer than promised.
Though slashed up (and I'm probably actually healing pretty fast, because the cuts no longer feel like razor blades, but now just feel sorta like "warm" and "pressure"), I un-soldered the bottom bow from the rest (to save the buyer shipping money (smaller shipping carton), managed to remove the dented-up original bottom bow cap (tricky, in new-condition sweat pants and a T-shirt) along with the damaged guard wire, beat and burnished out the worst of the bottom bow dents (in order to give the buyer's dent-removal guy a decent head start - just in case they aren't as experienced as am I), and also beat the worst dents out of the original larger bottom bow cap (just in case they choose to iron it out and reinstall it).

I'm also including a (smaller) brand-new "new-style" bottom bow cap, and a new guard wire (as seen below).

Anyway, I'm encouraged that I was able to do this - and (really) without hurting - as well as without dropping anything nor accidentally burning myself with the torch (etc., etc...) If I can do this, I can certainly play a gig...and I don't have to show up for any rehearsals for another ten days, yet.

...so (rather than me packing it) I'm going to have Mrs. bloke pack it...but not right now, because she's moving a few cords of firewood under cover prior to the ice and snow (yes: really).

One thing I do NOT need is any of those "TAKE IT EASY...DON'T BE IN A HURRY, bLOKE" archetypal remarks.
- The surgeon told me that this stuff is all going to COMPLETELY hold together from DAY 1.
- The surgeon told me that I can do whatever the hell I FEEL LIKE doing, but (what a soothsayer, he !) that I wouldn't FEEL LIKE doing stuff for at least a few days.
- I'm FINE. If stuff hurts more than a teeny-tiny amount (and - of course - it DOES constantly "hurt"), I will stop doing whatever it is that I'm doing.
- I ain't got and never had no J.O.B. There ain't no "personal", "vacation" nor "sick" days. Creatively, I've actually continued to make money (while uncomfortably laying around), but it's time to MOVE, and it's NECESSARY to move. I'm currently sitting at the laptop, and not (as per previous) laying in the bed - tapping on the phone.

oh yeah...The SMALLEST bow (in this set) isn't in the picture, but IS included in this person's "deal".

After emergency surgery and a week of recovery in the hospital back in July, I got right back to work.

Fast-forward to last Monday when I pulled my Achilles tendon and did not see a doctor for it, and I walked with a cane for ten days. Today I walked around gingerly without the cane as much as possible. It felt "tight" but there was no pain. However, "tight" can mean "still injured" so I started using the cane again after supper. In all that time I have not touched anything on my bench.

We do what we need to do, even when it is ill-advised or "a bit too early" in the healing process. I was really cut up back in July, but I needed to get what I had on my bench completed, and I felt able to do the work. Right now I have no doc to tell me I am an idiot, so I am assuming that mantel for myself and staying away from tools and bent things.

Stay safe while you risk life and limb to do "stuff" around the shop. You know you need to, and you know you want to… just don't forget to dial it way back for a bit.

Productivity can be a salve for the soul. Just don't bust a gut in the process.

Yeah…sitting around doing nothing drives me nuts.

now: back to watching this “public“ TV warmest/alarmist/carbon-is-poison nonsense

… so today I’m going to do that “Bach upper inside slide tube installation” (a general procedure mentioned in its own thread) thing, but it’s actually on a copy of a Bach trombone. This is the instrument where I had to adapt the poorly-designed (an attempt to do away with some skilled hand labor, during manufacturing) Chinese slide tube supporting hardware - to imitate that of Bach, because the Chinese design actually allowed the upper inside tube to easily become unsoldered and fall off the instrument.

That having been said, I’m going to try to get through this job quickly, and am not take any pictures, etc., because – being slashed up – I just want to get the job over with.

Thanks for letting us know you are on the mend. Please be careful in inclement weather so one slip doesn't tear up what was fixed. Speedy complete recovery!

Glad you are doing well. My comments were not meant to annoy, but came from genuine concern. I tend to heal very quickly, but having spent 17 days, instead of the promised 3 days, in the hospital after a botched laparoscopic surgery a few years ago, I don't wish to see anyone go through it, especially friends.

My surgeon told me that there is an alternative laparoscopic procedure for this surgery - but that he eschews it, because it involves having to be super-duper careful to not puncture “really-bad-news” organs.
He judges that a bit of additional patient discomfort is well worth it - in exchange for the greatly reduced risk involved in the traditional method of this particular surgery.

It’s time to go out and work on that previously-discussed trombone and probably a French horn – since the power is back on, and then pack up a couple of boxes of stuff going to people…stuff that has been cluttering up my attic, but which will help them out greatly (as well as helping myself in a small way, financially).

I'm not "comfortable" yet (still swollen/tender), but yesterday I did a complicated (not just "sticking stuff together") professional trombone playing slide repair, this morning I mailed off two mouthpiece parts orders and fedex-shipped a box of tuba parts, and - after a break and waiting for the shop to heat up - I'll probably take care of some weird damage (a brazed-in Yamaha French horn rotor knuckle, which actually came loose from it's casing [??]) repair.

I believe I'm slowly morphing back into a real live boy !

Reanimation is over rated.

I opened up the case for the bizarrely-damaged school-owned French horn and thought to myself,

"Wow...Why did I quote THAT much to fix it...??"

...an hour and a half later (having still not written the invoice - nor scanned/emailed the invoice, nor yet delivered it back to the over-in-another-state school, nor waiting six-to-twelve-weeks for the dough...

...I remembered why I quoted that much.

...and hell: I did a damn-good job.

I am very glad to hear that you are on the mend.