First day off the ‘roids. I don’t know if they’re out of my system yet but I successfully took a short nap. Every day’s a new thing, though. This whole discover-my-body-all-over-again thing just keeps morphing. I can’t tell if it’s like some hippie drug experiment or puberty. Or both.

Since yesterday afternoon, I’ve been getting these mild dizzy spells which seem to be apropos of nothing. I have no idea what causes them, and nothing seems to make a difference when I have them. So I just do whatever I was going to do anyway (okay, not anything that requires me to be nimble on my feet or to operate heavy machinery). It turns out you can sort of get used to being dizzy part of the time.

I am going slow, but I am trying things. I was too sedentary after the first surgery, and since the second surgery I already have spent close to 3 weeks in hospital rooms not moving much, so it’s good for me to get out even a little. Today I took a walk around the neighborhood because it was nice out and because I could–my radiation levels are low enough that I’m allowed near pregnant women and therefore can go out in public. I just sort of weaved down the sidewalk. When I turned to go up St. Dominique, the street kept turning for a minute so I just stood there until it stopped. Weird. I stopped in a couple stores–to get my glasses adjusted, to pick up a couple provisions in the neighborhood, and there’s something reassuring about quotidian neighborhood transactions.

I also looked into the possibility of some kind of portable speech amplifier. Surprise: they appear overpriced for what they are, there is very little information about them online (like how they sound and how they can be modified), and the Canadian sales reps don’t seem to know much about their products. Also they’re kind of tacky and don’t seem to be built for the purposes for which I want to use them (social interaction, as opposed to public speaking–a speaker on my belt isn’t going to work at a party, a seminar, or a restaurant). So I am looking into other options. After the flash card experiment post-first-surgery, I’m keen to be able to actually go out and do things, but I need a way to be heard. In the meantime, there will be more speech therapy this week.

I’ve got a few more days of minor radiation precautions and then it’s all over. Apples still taste strange, though. Or rather, I don’t seem to taste the tart part.