Fingerspelling in the Operating Room (and other stuff)

I know it's been a while since I've blogged in here, but a lot's happened earlier this month. I didn't want to worry anyone about my laparoscopic gallbladder removal surgery until I was more or less recovered. Lou took this picture of me moments after I'd woken up from my surgery. I was spaced out, naturally, but what really touched me was the fact that the hospital made sure that all my interpreting needs were met. I almost didn't have to ask for one! And weirder--but in a good way--was the fact that when I was wheeled into the operating room, I saw a bunch of orderlies wearing those masks, which meant I couldn't lipread anyone. But a few of them did know how to FINGERSPELL so while they prepped me, they would ask me things like, "You O-K?" I had to blink my eyes twice to make sure that I wasn't dreaming under their warm glare of lights. Still, that made me feel a lot better even though I was rather scared of "going under the knife." The removal of my gallstones along with my gallbladder happened on the Thursday before Elsa died. (See my previous entry about her for more information.) I'm looking forward to my followup appointment with my surgeon on Friday and showing off how quickly the four scars on my chest have healed. Truly, medicinal technology can be so amazing at times. I've had conversations with folks who had their gallbladders removed fifteen to twenty years ago, and they were all so jealous that I had such a minimally invasive procedure (in their time, they had to stay overnight and endure a single cut of 10 centimeters alongside the bottom of their ribcages), and that I was only an outpatient. I went in just before noon and left the hospital at 5 p.m. the same day. The next two days were full of pains in my belly, but the pain that had been caused by the gallstones was completely gone. Miraculous!

If that wasn't enough, Elsa's death was one more thing, but it was quite another to learn only two days later that I would be getting a hearing service dog in January, which I'd applied for back in August when Lou and I moved in together. (For one thing, our apartment is way too large for me to hear the buzzer, which was rather quiet, and what's more, our office is quite a ways from the buzzer.) It was a truly bizarre timing, but one I'm most grateful for. It was really hard for a few days whenever I thought about Elsa. (Tom said the very same thing, but I would imagine it was a lot harder for him as she was his "office assistant" as he also worked from home. Tom and I used to have this running joke about Elsa: "She's the worst office assistant ever lived. Look at how lazy she is! Why doesn't somebody just fire her?" Then she'd open one eye while dozing on her end of the sofa and give us a look that always made us laugh.) Anyway, I just couldn't believe that she was gone. But what the trainer said about the new dog that he's training for me ("He is a terrific dog and a lot of fun to be around.") has made me feel rather hopeful and excited, as I'm such a major dog lover. It will be an interesting new chapter in my life when the new dog arrives on January 11th. I will share more along with pictures in January, but you stand forewarned. ;-)

Then a week after my surgery, Lou and I joined my family for a big Thanksgiving dinner at my sister Carole's house. It was the first time in 24 years that I was able to eat turkey with my family (there were 22 of us there), so it was a really nice homecoming of sorts. I was really worried about how my digestive system would react to the food I ate. (For those who don't know what the gallbladder does, it's a reservoir of bile for those times we eat too much fat all at any one time. We need bile in our stomachs to help break down the fats in our food. If we don't have enough bile in our system, we might get temporary cramps. So far I haven't had problems which means I've sufficient bile in my stomach all along. I sure hope so!

A few days later, Lou and I celebrated my 42nd birthday. We first ate out at Cafe Maude, an absolute favorite of mine here in the Twin Cities, and then we checked out the Museum of Russian Art. Who knew that Minneapolis would be home to the only museum in America completely devoted to Russian art? Then later that night Lou and I had some Peking duck. (Yes, Peking duck. I wanted to eat something totally different for my birthday.) It was a most wonderful day.

On that same day I got an unexpected email from Suspect Thoughts Press. They wanted to push the publication of my Deaf gay novel Men with Their Hands until later in 2008. I was a bit bummed about that, but I am still happy that my book will come out later than never at all. :-) Just around the same time I got offered a new contract for a new book of mine (my ninth!), so I'm just waiting for the finalized changes in our agreement before I announce anything specific about the project. Once the ink of my signature dries on the bottom line, I will be working very quickly with my editor. Hopefully, my rewrites will be done by the end of next month so that the book can come out sometime in 2008, maybe at the same time as Men with Their Hands. Wouldn't that be so cool? Either way, 2008 promises to be a thrilling year.

These days I have been working on sending copies of Eyes of Desire 2: A Deaf GLBT Reader to customers, bookstores, and whatnot, and trying to get the book reviewed. The book scored its first review in The Washington Blade last week. I've been told that there's going to be a review in SIGNews soon, but I have no idea what it's going to say about the book or even who wrote it. But either way I'm most grateful for book reviews because not only do we writers have to compete with the idea of competing to be among the 50,000 titles that are published a year in America (and unfortunately not all of us make it to the top of the New York Times bestseller lists), we also have to push newspaper and magazine editors to review our books once they come out; more often they won't because there are way too many high-profile books coming out of New York. Getting your own book reviewed has proven far tougher than it was back in the 1990s mainly because many periodicals no longer carry book reviews. (What?!? Yep. The business of being a writer has gotten even tougher.)

When not taking care of orders for Eyes of Desire 2, I've been editing the new ASL storytelling DVD collection featuring Manny Hernandez. Some of you may recall that he and I worked together on his first DVD called Manny ASL: Stories in American Sign Language five years ago, which was a huge hit at Deaf Way II and beyond. Over the next few years Manny and I shot a wealth of strong material for a sequel DVD. It's truly a joy to edit his work not just because he's one of the great ASL storytellers out there but because I can truly *see* how much he's matured in his craft as a storyteller. When his new DVD's good to go out in the world, I'll let you know here, there, and everywhere! I know fans of his work will drop their jaws at his new stories on Manny: ASL for a Better Life. As you can tell, I'm very, very excited. :-)

When not working or watching movies, I've been slowly improving my skills as a cook. I'm finally grasping most of the instructions in those recipes. I think the part of my brain that's designed for cooking was wayyyy out of shape from underuse so I needed to nudge it slowly into shape so that I can become a better cook. It's not as intimidating as I'd always thought it would be, so I'm learning a great deal. It's been a fun journey so far. And of course, I'd have to thank Lou for his patience (and help along the way)!

A few more things. Quite a few people emailed me to say that they were so sorry to have missed my book launch party for Eyes of Desire 2 at the Blue Moon Coffee Cafe earlier this month (November 2nd, to be exact); they'd heard a lot about the event. It was truly a great party. About 50 people came, and it was so great to see nine Minnesotan writers from Eyes of Desire 2 meet and greet their new fans. It was rather funny to see some people bringing their copies of the book to all of them and asking them for their individual signatures, and some of them bumped into each other on the way to get all their signatures in their copy! In any case, the Loft Literary Center has agreed to host a panel discussion about the Deaf GLBT community with the Minnesotan writers from Eyes of Desire 2 on Friday, January 4th (7 to 9 p.m.). Interpreters in Minnesota should be aware that "participants will receive .2 CEUs from RID at the beginning level." I will post a flyer about the event soon.

Oh yes: I'll be giving a short speech in honor of Deaf people and World AIDS Day at St. Paul College Auditorium (1 pm to 4 pm) this Saturday, so please join us if you're local to the Twin Cities! (Yes, I will be selling and autographing copies of Eyes of Desire 2, of course.) After that I expect to go into hiding until January 4th.

Sorry that my entry today was unusually long, but as you can tell, I haven't been sitting around idly and pigging out on peppermint bon-bons while watching the latest episode of As the World Turns.

Have a most Happy Holiday season, everyone!

Hugs,

Raymond