Recovery...Downton style.

You've probably gathered from earlier posts, that I have been watching a lot of Masterpiece's Downton Abbey.  I can't get enough of melodramatic British romances.  This is not a love that my husband shares, but then, I don't love British zombie flicks, so we each now have our "own thing".  Given that the reason I actually have the time to watch 30+ hours of this series, I started drawing some correlations between my situation and the series about half way through Season 1.  So, I have compiled a guide to recovery based on Downton Abbey.

Recovering from a Double Mastectomy Using the Downton Abbey Method

1.  Employ LOTS of help.  
      I'm not saying hire your own lady's maid, footman or under butler (still can't believe Thomas, I mean Mr. Barrows, weaseled his way into that position in season 3), but take your friends and family up on the offer to help.  They want to help, so let them.

2.  Pillows, lots of pillows...and comfortable bedding.
    Think Lady Grantham when she is fighting off the Spanish flu or any of the bedroom scenes with the ladies of the house (except the unfortunate incident with the Turkish diplomat from season 2....you aren't going to feel like a romp in the hay for a while).  Copious amounts of good pillows will help get you situated into the most comfortable position for resting.  You'll be spending a fair amount of time in bed, so try and enjoy it.

3.  Storm the larders.
   It's important to maintain a good diet that is high in lean protein while you are recovering.  Was it season 3 where Mrs. Levinson saves the day by orchestrating an in-house picnic with fruit, cheese, ham, chicken, etc.?  Adopting a similar diet might not be a bad idea, although I would probably bump up the fiber content, as a side effect of the pain meds is sluggish bowels (I know, that's very middle-class of me to talk of such things).

4.  Find your own Mr. Branson.
   You may not want to take on the debate of British/Irish historical relations, but being chauffeured around town after a week or so is a marvelous idea.  You'll want to get out of the house for short periods of time.  So have your chauffeur take you down to the village to a nice flower show or over to Lady Somethingorother's for tea.  

5.  Have someone help you with your hair.
   It's going to take a while to be able to raise your arms above your eye-brows and you are going to start to feel a little frumpy.  Have someone help you with a shower and washing your  hair.  Lay out all of the accouterments de coiffure and let them dry and fix your hair (think O'Brien when they all went to the Highlands in season 3).  If you don't like that idea, have your own Mr. Branson drive you to the salon for a shampoo and style.  You may mess it up within a couple of hours, but you will feel fabulous in the mean time.

6.  Plan recovery-appropriate activities.
   You are going to start to get a little bored with mindless daytime television programming, so now is a good time to explore some other hobbies that you haven't in a while.  Suggestions:

• Hand sewing or embroidery (Lady Grantham is always embroidering upstairs in the library while Anna is always working on the mending downstairs.)  Queue up Pinterest and knock yourself out
• Letter writing.  Get some nice cards and/or stationary and write some letters to your friends.  It's somewhat of a lost art, but those that will receive your sentimental notes penned in your own hand will be thrilled.  If you want to stir things up, you can make vague references to some kind of brewing family scandal and then close the letter by saying that they will have to wait for your next letter or the next time you travel to London before you tell them what is really going on.
• Floral arrangement.  You will probably receive multiple beautiful floral arrangements right after your surgery.  After about a week, the arrangements will start looking a little tired.  Get out all of those mason jars from the failed Pinterest projects and the scissors and start snipping and rearranging.  You'll end up with more arrangements that you can spread about the drawing room, library, foyer and sitting room.

7.  Engage in light physical activity.
   It is important to get up and move around.  Staying in bed all day can pose some blood clot risks and you'll feel better after moving around.  So, think about how all of the ladies walk around the well-manicured grounds at Downton...arms neatly at their sides or in a slightly bent position while fidgeting with a dainty handkerchief, small measured steps and never anything that would cause them to get too out of breath or sweaty.

I, personally, have drawn a lot of strength from the Dowager Countess.  She is my kind of gal.  At first I thought I might identify more with Cousin Isobel, but she just isn't quite caddy enough for me.

I'd love to hear some suggestions from others on how the Downton Abbey method can be applied to your recovery.  Next week I will be writing about the strong correlations between raising a teenager and The Walking Dead.