If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, I can assure you I wasn’t carried off by zombies, swallowed by a sinkhole, or trapped in one of the many apocalyptic disasters I spend my days imagining.
Though, for a few days there, I wasn’t entirely convinced.
Last Tuesday I had my knee replacement surgery. The procedure itself went well. The problem came afterward when I developed a complication from the spinal anesthesia that left me completely flat on my back for three days.
And when I say flat, I mean flat.
At first, lying in bed sounds relaxing. By hour six, you’ve watched everything worth watching. By hour twelve, you’re checking the weather even though you can’t go outside. By hour twenty-four, you’re studying the ceiling with the intensity of a detective investigating a murder scene.
By day three, I had named sections of it.
There was Steve, the suspicious water stain. Margaret, the crack that looked vaguely like Florida. And Charles, the shadow in the corner that I became increasingly convinced was judging my life choices.
The irony, of course, is that I’d gone into surgery with grand plans. I was going to recover, catch up on reading, work on edits, answer emails, and maybe even get ahead for once.
Instead, my biggest accomplishment was successfully rotating from one side to the other without requiring a rescue team.
Thankfully, the headache has finally eased, and I’m back among the living.
Now I face my next challenge: physical therapy.
For those who have never experienced it, physical therapy appears to be a process in which highly trained professionals smile encouragingly while introducing you to muscles you didn’t know existed and convincing them to file complaints directly with your brain.
The good news is that progress is happening.
Slowly.
Painfully.
But happening.
While I’ve been away, the projects have continued piling up like survivors gathering outside a bunker.
Over the next few days, I’ll be posting the remainder of Book One in the Fire & Ash universe here on Patreon. If you’ve been following along, you’ll finally be able to read the rest of the story.
I’m also working through edits on Smoke & Ash, the second book in the Light Dies series. The world may be collapsing inside the pages, but at least those characters can walk without a walker.
For now, my goals are simple:
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Learn to walk like a normal human again.
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Survive physical therapy.
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Return to writing before my email inbox becomes self-aware.
Thank you to everyone who checked in while I was temporarily out of service. The messages, comments, and encouragement meant a lot.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a new knee, a stack of edits, and an appointment with a physical therapist who seems entirely too enthusiastic about stairs.
In the meantime, y’all might like to look over some of my other titles and I’d appreciate the support <3 https://www.amazon.com/stores/DJ-Cooper/author/B01182KS32
See you Soon!
DJ