2017 Project 365 – Week Twenty-one

Thanks for all the kind comments on my last post. I’m settling into gimp-hood, and learning how to be extra economical with my movements (this is where having a tray on my walker really helps – I can carry ALL THE THINGS from here to there instead of making separate trips). All things considered, this was a pretty good week.

Sunday, May 21^st  

Dr. M spent some time with his father on this rainy Sunday. They went out to Pop’s favorite restaurant – Hardee’s.

Monday, May 22^nd             

The squirrels continue to be decidedly UN-baffled.

One of Dr. M’s students made this sheep and sent it to him. I’ve named him Blueberry. Cute!

Tuesday, May 23^rd                               

I was on my way out get some blood work done (FOUR vials, just to make sure I’m not Iron Man), but I paused by the driveway to check for four leaf clovers. Score!

Another picture of Roy. He wanted to know where we were going & could he come too.

Wednesday, May 24^th                      

Your weekly geranium porn.

Thursday, May 25^th                      

We got some new stamps & they are totally making me crave Mexican food!

Friday, May 26^th        

We went on a ramble after work today. I love these cactuses! (Cacti?)

Of course, we saw sheep staring at Dr. M.

And we saw a blue heron! These pictures are from quite a distance, but I especially wanted to share the one where it has a bass in its mouth. Dinner!

Saturday, May 27^th           

I made some patriotic folderol for the front porch. It’s sort of small – I should make another one with bigger flags & put this one on the mantle.

Twilight in the holler…  (the non-shiny vampire edition)

That was my week – how was yours?

Life in the Village

I’ve never been much of one to believe that God intervenes in the minute details of our lives (although, more than once, I’ve been sure that God put a slow driver in front of me to keep me safe). But over and over I’ve thought and heard it said that we are here in NC, now, at the precise time we need to be. God-ordained? Dumb luck? Serendipity? I’m not sure (keep in mind that my faith doesn’t depend on God helping me get a good parking spot). But, for all kinds of reasons, I am sure glad that we are here, now.

Our neighbor's dog, Roy, had to come see us off last night.
He loves Dr. M - we'll, it's a mutual love affair.

My tentative surgery date is August 21 (oops I originally put it a month later than that!). That’s almost three months away. I felt a bit weepy after I got off the phone with the scheduler. The process of leaving the house to go anywhere is so exhausting that I was afraid I’d just give up and be house bound all summer.

But I WILL NOT. I’ll go to my Weight Watcher’s meeting, and to the nursing home to sing with my dad, and to church, and to anyone’s house who wants to feed me (ha). I’ll be tired and out of sorts, but for heaven’s sake, other people live with debilitating conditions that they will never get over – I think I can deal for three months. But please keep Dr. M in your thoughts as he has to shoulder most of the domestic tasks for now.

Last night, we went to Dr. M’s brother’s house for a birthday dinner for their 85 year old father. Among other things, his wife fixed potato salad & deviled eggs – a splendid mid-week bonus meal. Angel food cake with strawberries for dessert – yum! And it was a simple matter of driving a few miles and showing up at their door at the appointed hour. I’m so glad we can do things like that now. And we even came home with eggs from their chickens. Today, Dr. M will take his dad to the doctor.

We all need a village sometimes. I’m glad we’ve come home to ours. 

2017 Project 365 – Week Twenty

This week was about good news and bad news. Well, globally too, but mostly about ME ME ME. And as I am already bored with that subject, instead of doing a separate post I’m just going to recap Friday’s doctor’s visit in its proper place, the Friday slot of this post.

Sunday, May 14^th

As already discussed last week, Mother’s Day hit me a little harder this year. It happens every now & then & is to be expected since this is my first year back in NC, living 10 miles from the house I grew up in. Dr. M spend some time with his pop today, and the Mother’s Day roses were still lovely (they called them that because they usually are in bloom around Mother’s Day). My mobility just really sucks lately, so I stayed home. Even so, had I known that my dad & Sue were spending a quiet day at home I might have gone to harass them. Ha!

After Dr. M came home I decided that I needed to get out of the house after all. We took a nice drive around and then brought Chinese food home for dinner. This was my fortune. Well then!

Monday, May 15^th               

We were undecided about whether to put the futon in the living room at the new house, but finally went ahead & ordered a new mattress for it & rearranged the room to make it fit. It is an EXCELLENT place to take a nap when you’re feeling puny – I know because I already tested it out. And also we decided that it was a little inhospitable to not have seating for guests.

Tuesday, May 16^th                               

I don’t know about you, but I personally think that Miss Rita is saying, “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me?” Ha!

Wednesday, May 17^th                      

Poor Dr. M. He put a squirrel baffle on the bird feeder, but apparently it wasn’t very baffling to our squirrels. I’m not sure if you can tell (this is a picture through the door), but there are two squirrels on there. Squirrels: 2, Dr. M: 0

Thursday, May 18^th                      

Dr. M and I just sitting on the deck enjoying the evening together.

Friday, May 19^th        

This is the face of a man who is worried about his wife. He was in the waiting room while I met with the orthopedic doctor. This is what I found out (copied from my Facebook post – sorry if you’ve already read it): My prior hip surgery from August 2011 (a resurfacing) failed- the cup that they put in there is now loose & tilting in the wrong direction (the source of my pain). Hip resurfacing can lead metal toxicity (which is why they mostly don't even perform them anymore), so my doctor needs for me to get an MRI & have blood work done to make sure I don't have metal floating around (I am Iron Man!). I don't actually think they'll find anything, but we'll see. Then after all that's done, he'll do the revision, which will be - he kept saying - a MAJOR surgery. He doesn't know how much damage he'll find until he gets in there, and he can't guarantee that the surgery will be entirely successful. He hopes (hopes!) he can make both of my legs the same length (they aren't, right now). The surgery will be sometime in July or August (he’s booked out that far).

Recovery might be quick or it might be several months. But I work from home, so I don't even care at this point. I am SO glad we moved when we did! I would hate for Mike to have to go through this again without any support. 

One final thought (for now): I was afraid that the doctor would say that there was nothing wrong with me. Or that there was something so wrong it couldn't be fixed. Now that I know that something was wrong, and for who knows how long, I feel really sad for the me who tried to walk without a limp, and thought she had "failed" physical therapy. I didn't want to go to the doctor just to be told I was imagining things & that I needed to work harder. Next time, this wheel will squeak until she's sure that everything is working properly!

After that cheerful news, I needed some comfort food. Please note that while I ate every bite of the soup, most of the popcorn shrimp & fries came home with us.

Saturday, May 20^th           

Today Daddy & Sue came by to help Dr. M clean our house. I was SO THANKFUL! Although I have to say that despite my view of myself as a slothful person, I had a really hard time just sitting there & watching them work! Fortunately they were only intermittently in the living room – ha!  I didn’t take a picture of them working, so here is a picture of my temperature scarf, completed through May 19. As with the Temperature Monster from last year, I like the cool weather colors better than the warm weather ones. Which is fine, because when I wrap it around my neck the cool weather colors will be on the end. 

That was my week – how was yours?

2017 Project 365 – Week Nineteen

Oh man – I just went down a rabbit hole that brought me to tears. I was looking to see if I’d ever posted anything about my mom’s ashes (I have not – something for you guys to look forward to) and found this post. Happy Fricking Mother’s Day. Sigh. I’m not really as bitter as that sounds – just sad today. Let’s think of happier things, shall we?

Sunday, May 7^th

I went to a baby shower today. Look at the entirely too cute couple:

Her mother was in my wedding 26 years ago – and she was too! It’s kind of hard to tell in the picture, so I tried to make it crystal clear. Ha! She was born a little over a month after this picture was taken.

They had a cute “craft” for the guests – writing messages on diapers. This was my favorite one.

Monday, May 8^th              

Mowing is usually (mostly) my job, but not gonna happen at the moment. I’m glad that Dr. M is still able to!

Tuesday, May 9^th                               

Blink blink – it’s a skink!

Wednesday, May 10^th                      

Dr. M ordered a tray for my walker. It has transformed my life! I can now get my own grits & eggs & take them to my office to eat.

The moon!  

Thursday, May 11^th                      

Ms. Rita and Pinky Two Tone are getting ready to bust out all over…

We had book club in the evening. I’m grateful that they conference me in. After we were mostly done talking about books I started playing with the filters & then everyone joined the meeting on their phones so they could play too & it just sort of devolved from there.

Friday, May 12^th        

New sneakers! I love them – they have a nice wide base so a slightly crippled person can maintain her balance a little better. Plus they have comic book exclamations on them – Zoom! Wow! And 25.2 which is EXTRA hilarious.

Saturday, May 13^th           

We love the view from our back deck.

Dr. M got some impatiens – I love them. (Yes, I say that about all the flowers he gets me – so?)

This picture is an inside joke – my friend Kim and I used to have a little war going on and I decided to instigate it again: Up with Penguins! Down with Bears!

That was my week – how was yours?

2017 Project 365 – Week Eighteen

People, it is exhausting being a mostly crippled person. I don’t know how people with chronic pain manage because I am cranky and annoyed with life. Except that Dr. M is an angel – I’m not annoyed with him (or anyone else, for that matter – people have been great). I spent the weekend running walking shuffling around. I think I overdid it, so I plan to be a hermit this week.

Sunday, April 30^th

Indigo Bunting – so sweet!

Monday, May 1^st             

My niece was in the Worlds cheer competition at Disney and her team won the silver medal! There were over 20 teams competing so I’m pretty proud of her. Check out the video to see how amazing they were.

This was my last 10,000 step day for a while…

Tuesday, May 2^nd                              

Baby hats! These hats were for a young woman who was in my wedding. Well, she was in her mother’s womb in my wedding – she was born about a month later.

Wednesday, May 3^rd                     

The only picture from today, so you get to see it again. The beautiful weather has made things feel a little more manageable.  

Thursday, May 4^th                      

Tricked out my walker. And did you know that shuffling along doesn’t count as steps? My Fitbit is very sad these days.

Friday, May 5^th        

Dr. M bought me an azalea! I love it!

Saturday, May 6^th           

While I was at Weight Watchers, Dr. M visited with his dad. He took a picture of his dad’s Dr. Van Fleet Mother’s Day rose – the plant is over 100 years old!

We’re going to have maters at some point this summer – yum!

My cousin & her husband (the potters) invited us over to watch the Kentucky Derby. Her horse won. Mind did not. Scottie & I aren’t kin, are we? Ha!

Later that evening I finished a (very odd) headband for the baby shower, and used up the last of the yarn to make bows for the gift.

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments on my last post! 

Thankful Thursday

This morning I made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon, for May 19th. My hip has been bothering me for a while – getting worse and worse until last weekend I started using my cane again, and then, all of a sudden, I just couldn’t really walk unassisted. Dr. M pulled my walker out of storage and I’ve become reacquainted with what a pain in the ass it is to try to do anything while using a walker.

My hip resurfacing surgery was almost 6 years ago, and should have lasted for another number of years. However, I never really did come all the way back from it. I had days where I was pain free, but they were punctuated by days where I was not pain free. Now I wonder if perhaps the device was never quite right, or if I did something to mess things up in there. Who knows, but I do know that I always expected to have a total hip replacement someday. Maybe not this soon. And maybe the surgeon will not recommend surgery. We shall see.

But I’m really thankful:

•  We didn’t give the walker away all those times that we could have.
• Our new house is so much bigger than our Ohio house – I can maneuver through it with relative ease.
• We live near family and I know that if we really need help we can get it.
• I am able to work from home & fully expect to continue to work during any recovery (except for maybe I won’t try to work while I’m on narcotics).
• I can go out on our back deck with ease, and enjoy a lovely spring day in North Carolina.
• And penguins are nigh, so life is pretty good, all things considered.