Thank you for the encouragement, Greeneyedlass. It's always appreciated.
Perhaps I've hit upon a good formula...if I do something like touch or hug her and she says, "I'm X," (X being something like "tired, achy, uncomfortable"), then, if X happens to be related to what I was doing, I can say, "What would be a way that I could be close to you without you having to be X?" Or, if it's seemingly unrelated, say "How does me being close to you make you more X?" Either statement would help get the focus off me (making me less self-conscious, hence less scared) and back on how she feels and what she can do.
I'm hoping her recent behavior is her own way of showing her bona fides, the way I used the skin-care issue, and now dental-care issue, to show mine. She may later insist that we not get into anything strenuous (e.g., actual intercourse) until after we've both recovered from our respective surgeries, but this is a good way to demonstrate that each of us is serious about pleasing the other.
I'll take your warning to heart; right now, I'm hoping we can hold this gain for a few days, until 5LL arrives in the mail and I can start learning from that. But, if it drops off, I won't start panicking.
Oh, and I found some pills for dealing with the "other" issue, but, for all I know, they may require a couple of days to take effect, and I may need to take two per day, not just one. But hopefully it'll leave her feeling less like my digestive tract needs to be outlawed by the Geneva Convention.
- "A"
"Everything that happens, happens. Everything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen. Everything that, in happening, causes itself to happen again, happens again."
