OPERATION " ESSENTIAL"

Less is More:

 Anne Russell 2010

an installation
oil, canvas ,wood laminate

Tomorrow morning at 7 am I will arrive at the hospital “starved” and ready for surgery .
I am to undergo arthroplasty(commonly known as a “hip replacement” )

Its not thaat this willbe my laast peice of work but I have

10 things about osteoarthritis that I have learned1 It can affect anyone at any age
2 Never “work through “ pain in the joints ( I have been misguidedly doing so in yoga for a years .)
3 To have absolutely no cartilage in a joint is agony if aggravated (by movement )
4You don’t have to take painkillers if one manages the pain by not aggravating the joint
5The less one does (,as in my case) the less one feels like doing . Aerobic fitness can decline with this approach
6 It would be good to keep up ones fitness level by doing something non-aggravating
7 Pilates is good and I find it doesn't hurt or affect the hip joint adversely if done correctly.
8After the surgery there is no longer arthritic pain as the joint has been re-lined
9The wound will be somewhere between 6 and 10 inches and will be painful
10Preparing my home for my return and convalescence has been hard but essential .

...................So this is just a quickie to get me started on sharing my experience of “disability” pain and the art of change .
There are some areas that I feel duty-bound to share especially around my creative output and my making and “not-making” . I have done no art work other than the above for many months now
A necessity to simplify my environment and activities set me wandering down a zen garden path and it has led me to a happy place in many ways and seems to have (not surprisingly)filtered throough to my aesthetic and art practice.

• 
  
  I have had to identify what was ESENTIAL in every physical aspect of my life and eliminate the rest.
  Less activity has meant more comfort (as in freedom from the discomfort of pain )
  Less stuff has equalled more space
• 
  
  Less rushing about “shopping” has meant more money in my pocket (shopping with two crutches is the biggest bore and no pleasure at all
  having less pain free mobility and more spare cash has meant more time sampling local cafe fare, service and ambiance.
• 
  
  Purchases I make now are on the web carefully considered and guess what “ESSENTIAL” .... I do enjoy the deliveries.
  Today however I have rushed about the place until I was stumbling ,limping and dropping things. But everything is in place for my return home from the hospital in three to ten days

5 things I have prepared for the return home after arthoplasty:
1.Knowledge of where everything is (I don’t want and will be unable to be hunt for stuff in the early days of recovery)
2. things I might need are off the floor
3.organized my bed so that what I need is at hand (one must only lie on the back although there is a debate as to which of the other sides may be a short time option)
4.Have a chair in place that is the correct height (from the floor to the bend at back of knee)Knee must never be higher than the hip for ........ a few weeks
5 All my essentials(addictions and predilections )are in stock . In my case Brown rice, Cocoa, Green tea, Soya Milk.
So hope you are in good spirits and enjoying all that life has to offer whatever your physical state.
I am really afraid of the post operative stuff and the healing time . But Ill be going in with the gorgeous Barefoot Doctor by my side (well in my ears anyway via my MP3 player)
Link to Stephen Russell the Barefoot Doctor this man is a true healer filled with love and wisdom, a generous witty shaman whos column in the sunday times is greatly missed.

Please treat yourself to the benefit of his artistry ,experience and joyful altruistic vibe. I cannot recommend him highly enough.