Op + 2

Two days after the Op and the swelling around my jaw is worse. It feels swollen in my gums too. Somewhat uncomfortable. The Neurofen however is doing a top job and the codeine is on hand (although does have an unfortunate side effect of blocking one up). Didn't sleep that well last night so will look forward to a nap this afternoon.
Darling daughter is off to her op this afternoon and she is getting a little anxious. At least she will have her mother with her to keep her company. Am applying all my distraction skills to keep her mind off things!

JFK

Oliver Stone loves a big story that flirts with controversy, think Natural Born Killers, Platoon and this year’s W, a life story of George W Bush. With JFK, Stone has Kevin Costner as New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison investigate the assassination of John F Kennedy.
Garrison mounts a case over the first 2 hours of the film that disproves the lone gunman theory, ie, that Lee Harvey Oswald could have been the only gunman that shot Kennedy. He further states that the entire government and security forces conspired to kill the President and keep the truth from being made public. As Hitler said, “the bigger the lie, the more the people will believe it.”
The final hour of the film is Garrison retelling the story you have just seen unfold, in the courtroom.
Costner is indefatigable as the prosecutor in this case, the only case ever tried in the United States regarding the death of Kennedy. His support characters all demonstrate the intelligent and legal thinking that went into the script while the government, Mafia and intelligence forces are all played by known actors, enjoying their roles as ne’er do wells : Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, Donald Sutherland, John Candy, Kevin Bacon and Gary Oldman as the unfortunate Oswald.
This is an interesting piece of history, not something that I lived through and as such does not have the same resonance as I imagine it would had you some memory of that time in 1963. It is always said that people remember where they were when JFK was shot, similar perhaps to this generation’s reaction to the death of Lady Diana.
The film raises a number of issues which question the heart of a government that condones war in another country and will silence critics who speak out against it. Let us hope and pray that the new governments of Obama and Rudd have sufficient conviction and fortitude to lead with honesty and integrity.

Surgery - one quarter of my wisdom, gone

Yesterday (Wednesday) I had one wisdom tooth removed (lower, left side) which was impacted, that is, it was growing sideways into the other teeth. As my dental surgeon said, "it won't get any better by itself and it will get infected." With that advice I elected to have it removed.
Thankfully they only operate at civilised hours so my Good Lady Wife dropped me off at Monash Medical Centre at 1030am where, with newspaper in hand, I sat down to wait my turn. I hadn't had any breakfast, let alone morning tea or drinks of water (except for one) and was more concerned at that than anything else. Thankfully (?) the nerves kicked in and it felt like the preamble to a football match. The usual worries circulated, "how much is this going to hurt?", "what if I don't wake up from the anaesthetic?".
Reading my newspaper managed to distract my thoughts and before long I was changed into my operating gown and a name tag on either wrist (in case they chopped one off?). It was another hour before I was called to the table whereupon the anaesthetist inserted a needle into the back of my hand, told me I was going to feel relaxed and a little drowsy before he sent me off to sleep ... and I don't remember another thing.
I woke up about an hour later in the recovery room. The muscles in my jaw were (are) stiff and sore and the throat dry and coarse. That is from the breathing tube so I am lead to believe. The operation itself was straightforward and is now complete. My gum was split to allow access to the tooth and I have stitches in there now to help them heal. Anti-bios and salty mouth-washes are on the diet. Last night I was quite tired and worn out and enjoyed 9 hours sleep with no interruption.
Today the swelling around my jaw is slowly getting bigger even though I am icing it every hour (see pic, left). I haven't felt nauseous from the anaesthetic (thank god) and have managed to eat 'soft' foods, ones that don't require too much chewing on my part. Thankfully I love breakfast cereal and weet-bix and rolled oats are perfect foods.
I have the rest of the week off and as much of next week as I need. I have borrowed a number of DVDs and look forward to watching as many of them as I can take plus the crick is starting again tomorrow (Aust v NZ, test #2 from Adelaide) which will no doubt aid recovery!
Diverse titles such as Fritz Lang's 1927 sci-fi classic, Metropolis (by the way I have seen a couple of Lang's other pics recently : 'M' and 'Dr Mabuse, the Gambler', and they are excellent. He has become my 'silent-era' hero along with Buster), Oliver Stone's JFK, Wim Wender's 1987 Wings of Desire and a couple of Asian shoot-em-ups, my fave HK director, Johnnie To : Exiled, and three short films packaged together : Three Extremes 2. The first one was appropriately weird and scary. This one promises no different.
My darling 10-year old daughter is having an op tomorrow to have grommits inserted into her ears and so we will be quite the pair over the weekend. We have Footrot Flat's, The Dog's Tale, to help us through. Cue Dave Dobbyn, 'Slice of Heaven, yeah".
Have you seen any of these? Let me know what you thought of them.

Blogging Resumed

Its been quite a lay-off between blogs however with the success of my Good Lady Wife's micro-bag-business, I have been inspired anew. Check out her latest creations and compliment me for marrying into talent.