Because of my shoulder and the difficulty I was having getting in and out of bed, my husband and I traded sides of the bed. It doesn't seem to have helped, other than to disorient us. I'm still miserable, and he has to worry about stubbing his toes going around to the "far" side of the bed. He also seemed to snore more. Of course, I'm possibly hearing it more since I'm sleeping so lightly.
Married couples develop their favorite sides of the bed, their favorite pillows, their favorite chairs, their favorite coffee cups, their favorite towels. I'm using the tall Irish coffee mug shaped like a cat that Elizabeth (Liz) Thomas gave me years ago. It's been my favorite for more than a decade now, and if I ever broke it, it would be impossible to replace. It's ceramic, which I prefer, because I like my coffee to cool just slightly before I begin to drink it. The shape of the cup (tall and narrow) keeps the coffee from going cold at the bottom since there is less coffee surface exposed to the air. My husband, on the other hand, prefers insulated coffee containers. He was using these plastic mugs he got from the Weather Channel (with the logo on them), but after years of use, and probably from sending them through the dishwasher, one by one they began to crack and leak. He was growing frustrated since it was hard to locate insulated coffee cups, but I found some glass mugs at Dean and Deluca. They are insulated, clear, and have large handles (for his big hands). He loves them. I bought two.
As for pillows, he loves a really soft down pillow. I like a firmer memory foam pillow. He likes huge towels that are really thick; I like smaller towels that are more pliable than the thicker ones. I'd really prefer a chair with an ottoman, but we have this huge leather sofa with the reclining ends, so at naptime, neither of us is really comfortable. He just lies down on the sofa as if there were no reclining element, and since he takes up so much room, I recline and never really rest comfortably. When we sleep, he prefers less cover; I prefer more. He often sleeps on his stomach, with his hands under his pillow and his elbows akimbo. I'm a side-sleeper (at least I prefer to sleep on my side), though lately I've had to sleep flat of my back, which probably increases the amount of snoring I do (so I shouldn't complain about his snoring, obviously).
With so much different (he likes cream in his coffee; mine is black), you'd think we have nothing in common. But we have so much in common, we scarcely need to talk to each other about some things. Both of us want dark or French roast coffee. Both of us want ranch-style salad dressing. Both of us love Cheerios. Both of us want our steaks cooked medium well (no blood!). Both of us like Craftsman style furniture, and both of us like the color green.
So switching sides of the bed is no big deal. It's probably good for the mattress to have people of differing sizes in differing places from time to time. Still, having to make alternate arrangements to sleep reminds me day and night that this stupid shoulder/arm problem is not going away. When Dr. Bielema's nurse finally called last night about 7 p.m. to tell me that it was going to be hard to schedule my shoulder manipulation because of the doctor's busy schedule, all I could think was how exhausting it is to live with this problem. Maybe I really should try to self-medicate and get that arm moving around. Who knows? I suppose after the MRI of my neck on Friday afternoon, I'll know whether I'm in danger of permanently hurting myself. Or not. As the old whine goes, nobody never tells me nothin'.
However, on a positive note, Simon is happy to have the pain patch removed from his neck. He looks strange with the shaved place behind his head, but at least he isn't clawing at it all the time now. They gave us a tiny plastic pouch with his removed teeth. One of them is one of his front top fangs. I'd noticed before they operated that this fang stuck out of his mouth when his mouth was shut, and it hadn't done that when he was younger. He's so happy not to have anybody messing with him right now that he's turned into a real lap cat. He's eating pretty well so far, too, so maybe he'll be even healthier once he has recovered. (He's still on antibiotics for a few more days.)
My husband's computer died, so he's using his laptop from work. My computer has started to make a rattling noise, rather like the piece of plastic kids used to put in their bicycle spokes. Sigh. It's a good thing that beds and relationships have longer lifespans than computers have. I'd be on husband number ten or so by now, and who knows which side of the bed I'd be stuck with!
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