just limping along
As you know, I had a bit of surgery on my knee last Wednesday. Although I’d been up for a replacement (I wanted a bionic body part!), the surgeon insisted I only needed a bit of clean-up & repair. 
Even though I knew it was going to be a scoping procedure, & the doctor assured me I’d only have a couple of small incisions & matching stitches, I expected it to be a lot worse than it was. For anyone who has similar joint issues or has been contemplating this surgery—DO IT! Seriously, it was barely worse than having a cavity filled at the dentist. 
I’m sure it helps that I had an outstanding surgeon & surgical staff taking care of me. They were friendly & amazingly efficient. You know how before surgery, you spend a lot of time waiting? Waiting to get registered, waiting to be called back & assessed, waiting to be hooked up to the I.V., waiting to speak to the anesthesiologist & surgeon, waiting to be taken to the O.R…. Ha! They moved like an incredibly well-oiled machine, never leaving me alone or giving me time to even begin to get nervous.
I won’t bore you with all the details…although, frankly, there wasn’t a boring moment to be had that day :swing: …but I thought I’d share a few of the highlights & events that made me chuckle.
For instance, when the receptionist was checking me in, she asked my occupation. I told her I was an author, which led to much excitement as I gave her bookmarks & even showed her the copy of PROJECT: RUNAWAY BRIDE I’d signed for the nurse in charge of the Clinical Trial I was taking part in. Everyone who passed by was introduced & given bookmarks, & she even called down the nurse who’d called me the night before to give me my arrival time & last-minute instructions. (I promised them all autographed books when I go back for my first post-op appointment. :beehappy: )
Then they took me back to a bed & started stripping me, questioning me, prepping me, & the Clincal Trial nurse was there to take blood & give me an EKG. She asked what my current pain level was, which sort of caught me off-guard; I mean, I hadn’t had the surgery yet, so it was pretty much a zero. A few minutes later, Madame Mommy Dearest came back & happened to notice my hospital wristband. She said, “Oh, no—they got your age wrong!” I looked, & sure enough, it did not say 29. :grrr: To which I gave a wail & cried, “Well, now my pain level is about an 8!” :tears:
When it was finally time to be taken into the operating room, they injected something into my I.V. & wheeled me away. The O.R. was literally right around the corner, so it took probably all of five seconds to get there. But by the time we arrived, everything was starting to get blurry & I was feeling nice & floaty. I said something to the nurse about how quickly the shot was working, then they had me hop over to the surgical table, & that’s all I remember. Out like I light. Next thing I knew, I was coming out of it feeling as though I was waking up from the best nap of my life. :nap: No side effects, no lingering grogginess, just a couple of minutes & I was awake.
Later, when the anesthesiologist came by, I told him how surprised I was that I’d just woken up from the anesthesia. The times I’ve been knocked out before, I woke up either freezing cold or hot as hell, & always struggling to remain conscious. He just smiled & said he’d given me the “Baby Bear” dose. I loved that, because there’s this great scene from Mike & Molly where Vince’s back goes out & everyone’s taking care of him. He asks Mike to make him some oatmeal (I think), then adds that he doesn’t want it too soupy or too thick, he wants it just right…’cause he’s the Baby Bear! And ever since, I use that line whenever I’m talking about something not-too-hot, not-too-cold, not-too-overcooked, etc. See, it turns out I am the Baby Bear! 
I had no problems with the post-surgical pain medication they were testing on me as part of that Clinical Trial, either. As soon as I woke up, the Trial nurse was there again, checking my vitals & once again asking my pain level. It wasn’t great; as I told them, it felt as though someone had cut open my knee & dug around inside for a while :seymour: but it wasn’t terrible, either. It told her it was about a 3. She & the surgical nurse were both amazed; they told me I was already way better than the last two patients they’d worked with. Apparently one had a negative reaction to the pain meds & the other woke up sobbing about how bad the pain was. Ha! Trust me, this was not PAIN. (I’ve been in pain. I’ve had jaw surgery & a hysterectomy. My knee hurt so much over the holidays that I could barely walk & was nearly in tears. This wasn’t even close to any of those things. This was like…stubbing your toe really hard & feeling ouch-ouch-ouch for a while, but knowing it would pass & be nothing more than a minor inconvenience. :gum: )
They were allowed to give me 1-3mg of the trial pain medication (intravenously) every 3 hours, as needed. But since my pain level was fairly low, the nurse started with only 1mg. They brought Madame Mommy Dearest back to show her I was still alive; I sipped ginger ale; & we all waited. Again, the Trial nurse was very mindful of my vitals & comfort…she needed to know if I felt nauseated or lightheaded or feverish or anything like that. Nope, I was fine. Talking a mile a minute, as usual. :margarita: I swear not even 20 minutes passed before she checked everything again, asked about my pain level—which was fine; still about a 3, but not as sharp as earlier—& they they were removing my I.V. & putting my clothes back on. They were literally dressing me, like they couldn’t get rid of me fast enough. :raincat: LOL But it turns out they didn’t think I needed another dose of the Trial drug & wanted to move me upstairs to the little post-Trial resting room—the one wish recliners in it! I was sure okay with that. :nap:
I had to stay there for three more hours while they monitored me…but even though I read a little at first & rested a little later, I mostly chatted with the Head Trial Nurse about our mutual love of peanut butter & chocolate. Neither one of us had eaten all day & were making each other seriously hungry! 
I gave her my “recipe” for Homemade Peanut Butter Cups, & she’s going to give me her recipe for the Best Ever Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Icing. I can’t wait! 
Then they took more blood & sent me home. Which is where these photos come in…
And that’s about the size of it. I’m supposed to Rest, Ice, Constrict, & Elevate (RICE), but also be up & around to speed healing & avoid stiffness. I’ve got some tips, though, if anyone else has plans to have this sort of thing done, or if I ever need to go through it again. Let me know & I’ll happily share! :situp:
So been there, done that—it’s finally over with & I’m on the mend! I didn’t get a t-shirt, but as the header says, I will just keep limping along. 
Happy Hunk Day
Tara Wyatt in The Dungeon
I’m delighted to have the just-too-cute-&-adorable Tara Wyatt as our guest author in The Dungeon today. Tara & I “met” through Twitter, & it’s so much fun to follow her tweets. And then there’s the fact that she writes sexy, Alpha male bodyguard books with covers that could singe the eyebrows right off your face… :devil: But I’ll let you figure that out for yourself as you read her great Q&A.
Tara is the author of “The Bodyguards” series. Her debut novel, Necessary Risk, was published in February 2016 by Forever Romance. Known for her humor and steamy love scenes, Tara’s writing has won several awards, including the Unpublished Winter Rose, the Linda Howard Award of Excellence, and the Heart of the West. A librarian by day and romance writer by night, Tara lives in Hamilton, Ontario with her dog and husband.
So please join me in giving Tara a big WIPs and Chains welcome while Mistress Heidi puts her on The Rack & asks a few of her most pressing questions…
What is your favorite color? Blue, any shade of it.
Favorite song? Ooh, that’s a tough one because I love music! I guess if I HAD to pick just one, it would be “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones.
Favorite movie? Ghostbusters! It’s the perfect movie. It’s funny, suspenseful, has a romantic subplot, and a giant, evil marshmallow man. Perfection. (Note from Heidi: So are you looking forward to the upcoming Ghostbuster remake, or no?)
And of course, favorite book? Another tough one! While it’s super hard to pick just one, I do want to single out Guenevere, Queen of the Summer Country by Rosalind Miles. I read it when I was sixteen. That summer, I think I read it three times, and it completely pulled me in. I stayed up until four in the morning reading it, and I sobbed and sobbed at certain parts. It was the first book that really made me want to write. To create characters and a world and make people think and feel and not be able to sleep until they read just one more chapter. :reading:
What was the first book in your chosen genre that you remember reading, or that made you want to write the same? I discovered Nora Roberts when I was sixteen or seventeen, and I remember completely devouring her “Gallaghers of Ardmore” trilogy. Romance has been my absolute favorite genre since then. There’s something about a love story that entertains me and hits me right in the feels in a way other genres can’t.
What do you think of Heidi? She’s great, right? Yes. Totally great. And I have a funny Heidi-related story. When I first got serious about writing, I spent a lot of time reading romance. I was working as a librarian (still do, actually), and I would take out stacks and stacks of romances from work and glom them. I kept a log of what I read, and made notes about what I liked. (Yeah, I’m a nerd.
) (Intrusive Note from Heidi: Au contraire, mon ami—I, too, keep a log of everything I read. And I’ll go you one better—I also keep index cards for everything I read, with notes about the story & writing. So if you’re a Nerd, then I am your Queen.
)
One of the books I read was Tangled Up in Love by Heidi Betts, and I couldn’t put it down. It was funny, and hot, and pulled me in right away. I even got busted by my boss reading at work, and I was so bummed, not because I got in trouble, but because I had to put it away, and Veronica and Dylan were in the middle of their sex war. It was a standout for me, and one of my earlier favorites. (Even more intrusion from Heidi: Well, this is just too awesome! I didn’t know that when Mistress Heidi & I invited you to visit, but if I had, you’d have probably been here a lot sooner. :giraffe: )
How did you get started writing? I’d always enjoyed writing, and wrote little stories for my friends when I was a kid and teenager, usually about the Backstreet Boys or Hanson (fan fiction for the win!). I took a creative writing course in university, and dabbled off and on, but I was a chronic non-finisher of projects. It took me a few years to get serious about it and really put my mind to just finishing a project—figuring out that I was supposed to be writing romance (as opposed to historical fiction, or fantasy, or something literary) helped a lot, too. Once I tried writing romance, everything just kind of clicked for me.
Tell us a little bit about your first (or most memorable, if you prefer) sale. My first sale happened in the fall of 2014. I’d signed with an agent that summer, and right after Labor Day, we went on submission. She’d warned me that it could be months before we heard anything, so I was surprised when three weeks later, she said that an editor from Forever wanted to talk on the phone. We chatted about the direction of the series, and a couple of weeks later, I signed a three-book deal. I feel very lucky that it happened so quickly.
Fill in the blank—If you like [blank], you’ll love Tara Wyatt! Romance with humor and smokin’ hot sex! :devil:
Which of your books would you like to pimp today? Tell us about it and why we’ll love every word. The second book in my “Bodyguard” series, PRIMAL INSTINCT, just came out at the end of May. Although it’s the second book in the series, it reads as a standalone. The hero, Colt Priestley, is an ex-Army Ranger turned bodyguard, and the heroine, rock star Taylor Ross, is a bit of a bad girl. She and Colt have a super hot one night stand, and then her label hires Colt as her bodyguard. There’s also a creepy stalker, a prank war, and lots and lots of sex. It’s funny, hot, and fast-paced. :cuffs:
If your plane crashed in the Andes, would you convince the other survivors to eat Heidi first or last? I think last, because at least Heidi and I could entertain each other by making up stories. :margarita:
If you could write anything—whether in the same genre/sub-genre as you’re writing now or another—what would it be? I absolutely love writing romance, and all of my ideas seem to fall within that genre. I’m pretty excited about a proposal I’m working on now, but I don’t want to give anything away. It might take place in Miami. It might have something to do with an elite unit of undercover cops. It might take place in a male strip club. Gah, I’ve already said too much! 
:devil:
What are you currently working on? I just turned in the draft of Chain Reaction, the third book in the “Bodyguard” series, and I’m finishing up edits on three novellas releasing later this year: “Nailed”, about a carpenter, will be part of the Dirty Work anthology in August, and I have two holiday novellas—“When Snowflakes Fall” and “Like Fresh Fallen Snow”—featuring twin brother heroes (who may or may not have been inspired by my crush on Stephen Amell) coming out in October.
LIGHTNING-FAST LASHES:
Leather or lace? Lace
Devil or angel? Devil
Angel food or devil’s food? Devil’s food
Hemlock or arsenic? Arsenic
Blood, sweat, or tears? Sweat
Boxers, briefs…or commando? Boxer briefs
Cowgirl or missionary? (Hey, get your mind out of the gutter. I was simply asking what you wanted to be when you were growing up. :giraffe: ) Cowgirl
Thank you so much, Tara—that was a blast! :spring:
But Tara isn’t finished yet, my Darlings! She has also generously offered to give away a “Bodyguards” goody pack, which will include autographed copies of Necessary Risk & Primal Instinct, &—as Tara put it—“assorted swag.”
To enter, leave a question or comment for Tara during today’s visit. (U.S./Canada residents only for the prize, but everyone’s welcome to chat! :ducks: ) Winner will be announced on Sunday, June 19, 2016 during our regular Sunday post, so be sure to stop back! :butterfly:
And remember, you can sign up for news/updates from Tara, join me in following her on Twitter (@taradwyatt), & visit her at Tara-Wyatt.com any time you like to learn more about her books!