1. The keys to making a Wendy’s Mandarin Chicken Salad food:
   -drain the sucker. Take the lid, use it as a strainer thing, and dump out all the extraneous liquid that’s probably accumulated at the bottom.
   -use all the crunchies
   -don’t skimp on the dressing
   -don’t feel you have to eat all the chicken. Some of it will be odd, having sat in the liquid mentioned above.
2. Getting *into* the shower when you are mobility-compromised is *NOT* the same from a physics perspective as getting *out* of the shower. Think this through before attempting same.
3. Big metal leg braces *can* be modified to better fit your leg, even if your leg is not stick straight and five feet long (which is the athletic sort this brace seems designed to fit). The “sticks” (the metal uprights that run along the inside and outside of your leg) can be bent. The velcro bands can be cut, so that they can close around your ankles without overlapping for half again their length. Do these things before you wear the brace for a week and a half. You’ll be much happier.
4. Get extra Ace-or-their-equivalent bandages. Your physical therapist probably has some on hand he’ll give you, if you ask nicely. It’s nice being able to alternate them through the wash.
5. Flannel sheets, whilst nice under normal circumstances, are Not So Great when you’re sleeping in a biggum brace that almost guarantees that you’ll not flip once during the evening. Puddley flannel. Ick.
6. Friends are *wonderful*. Friends that bring you treats are irreplaceable. Friends that’ll come over and keep you company when you’re all loopy on codeine are priceless. For everything else, there’s Mastercard.
7. Irish Cream with cookie dough ice cream is the best thing EVAR!

OK, that’s it for now.