I had major surgery last year. I was out of work for 2 months. It was the greatest decompression break from work ever, except I went back a week early and before I was really physically ready because I was only getting about 1/4 of my normal paycheck from disability and I was super broke (luckily I had managed to save up enough to pay my rent in advance). I read lots of books and stayed up all night playing video games and looking outside at the night sky.

It really sucked in other ways. I had 2 entire months where I only spoke to another human maybe 5-6 times and most of those were a coworker who knew I was lonely and would call me during downtime on their shift to check in and see how my recovery was going. It really highlighted how alone and invisible I am in this world and there’s nothing quite so sad as being like well my surgeon says I can’t lift any weight but I have to get groceries into my apartment somehow and take my trash across the complex to the cans and I have literally no one to ask to do that so I guess I’ll just pray I don’t rip open all my incisions and eviscerate myself.