A Flabbergasted Weekly Link Round-Up

 

As I said to my friends on Facebook Monday, my gast is well and truly flabbered. I've been having problems with my right leg since March, which was the last time I was hospitalized for it. I've had weekly (sometimes twice weekly) appointments with my wound care doctor in an attempt to get my leg to stop leaking and actually heal. 

Recently, I'd been getting very frustrated with the bandaging that had been done on my leg. The bandage most often done resembled a cast without the plaster: four layers of bandaging and compression. If it's not done properly, the entire thing slips down and causes more open wounds. The two nurses who were excellent at bandaging my leg never seemed to be around when I was there for my appointments, and the nurses who did do the wrap were crap at it. (Rhyme intentional.) I'd have a big heavy bandage sliding down my leg within a few hours after it was put on. Their solution was always to have me come in for a re-wrap every time it slipped. I told them I had better things to do than show up every day to stick my leg in the air while they tried to mummify it.

Three Fridays ago, I was told that, if the bandage slipped "two fingers' worth," I was to remove it completely and put on my edemawear (specialized stretchy compression bandage). So that's what I did, with a modification. I didn't think the edemawear was going to be enough compression, so I added another layer (called Tubi-grip). I had to cancel the following Friday appointment, so I didn't see the doctor for two weeks.

When he saw how my leg looked last Friday, he declared it wonderful. He told me to continue doing my edemawear-Tubi-grip combo... that I didn't need to see the therapist 'way over in the northeast valley anymore... and that I was discharged.

Yes, I noticed that I'm the one who came up with the solution. After all this time, I could run a category on bandaging and ointments on Jeopardy! My leg is still healing, but it is healing without all the leaking and open wounds of the past few months. But my question is: What are Denis and I going to do now that our Fridays are free??? If we try to go someplace else, will the Jeep take us to the wound care clinic anyway???

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Amazon's older Kindles will start losing their internet access in December.
• Ten Black women sat in first class on an airplane and it revealed a lot about race in America.
• Let's talk about Sneakers, the most charming, baffling espionage/heist movie of the 1990s.
• The history of book blurbing.
• The rescue of the New York Public Library.
• Why LeVar Burton's Jeopardy! quest feels so meaningful.
• What are the fastest selling books in U.S. publishing history?
• When your book publishes in a pandemic-- authors talk about terrible timing.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Mexican archaeologists rebury a tunnel adorned with Aztec carvings after they lose their funding.
• Experts peeled the varnish off this knockoff painting and found a stunning secret underneath.
• The remains of twin fetuses and their wealthy mother were found in a Bronze Age urn. 
• See the palatial London mansion of Thomas Cromwell, advisor to Henry VIII.
• Canterbury Cathedral's twelfth-century stained glass may be England's oldest.
• A well-preserved Visigoth sarcophagus was found at a Roman villa in Spain.
• Explore Sylvia Plath's love letters, recipe cards, and Tarot deck.
• Archaeologists have discovered the 2,550-year-old carving of the last king of Babylon.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• A tiny Yorkshire terrier protected its ten-year-old owner from a coyote.
• This butterfly is the first U.S. insect to be wiped out by humans.
• This mama deer came bounding into a yard when she heard a human baby crying.
• A wild goose was taken to an animal hospital. His mate knocked on the door to find him.
• Watch the lemurs of the Oregon Zoo enjoying a Popsicle party.
• Why Australia's trash bin-raiding cockatoos are the "punks of the bird world."
• Watch this rare footage of African painted dogs returning to their den to feed some very hungry puppies.
• Tasmanian devils wipe out a colony of little penguins in a major conservation backfire. More from Smithsonian Magazine.

 

►Artistry◄

• Baker Teri Culletto creates visually tasty focaccia bread art inspired by Van Gogh.
• Cake artist Rin creates a no-bake cheesecake showing a naughty pelican trying to eat capybaras bathing in a hot springs.
• Alicja Kozlowska's detailed embroidered felt food sculptures.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• The town of Coca-Cola millionaires.
• Crime novels set on the Greek Islands.
• Nine sites have joined the Unesco World Heritage list.
• Photographers gained entry into a traditional African village where every house is a work of art. 
• Big empty Italian castles for sale. 
• Country bumpkin lane in Paris.
• The Amazon rainforest is officially creating more greenhouse gases than it is absorbing. (Earth's lungs are dying.)

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• At 103 years old, neuroscientist Brenda Milner is still unlocking the mysteries of the brain.
• How one warrior named Zoel Zohnnie helped get water to Navajos in need.
• Anna Pavlova, the prima ballerina who had the real Swan Lake.
• The untold stories of one of my favorite actors, Wes Studi.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Ten historical movies that got their costume design right.
• Sixteen famous literary characters who were almost named something else.
• Twisty turny facts about the classic TV series The Twilight Zone.
• The unexpected origins of twenty culinary terms.
• Five thrillers that will make you delete your social media accounts forever.
• Thirteen must-read laugh-out-loud mysteries.
• Mysteries that pay homage to Edgar Allan Poe.
• Librarian picks: Nine books to read under the summer sky.

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

Don't forget to spend some Me Time curled up with a good book!