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Wednesday, February 28, 2007

new hip

Two weeks in the hospital and another two in rehab was like a trip to a
distant planet. It wasn't truly a nursing home, because most of the inmates
were there for therapy following a fall or surgery or both, but they still
made me think of Tim Conway. We had rules, and schedules, and two hours of
therapy morning and afternoon, and if you didn't clean your plate you had to
answer to Nurse Ratchid. Many of the patients and all of the doors had
alarms, which went off constantly. These were not little bells, but more
like smoke detectors. The nurses would have to shout up and down the halls
to be heard. I'm used to being bathed and pottied by nurses of either
gender, (or neither, I suspected.) My roommate accused me of stealing her
teeth. These are just a few of the reasons why I'm SO HAPPY to be home with
my family. I'm on a walker, which our blind dog thinks is like chairs gone
wild. We're having beautiful weather, and I'm going to spend as much time as
possible out in it. But first, lunch. I'm craving crunchy food!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Move to Rehab

Yes, it's another guest post.

Mom has finally moved from the hospital to a rehab facility, which is good news indeed. Workouts commence in the morning, and she'll probably be at the facility for another week or ten days before she gets to come home. She'll still have therapists coming by the house for a while after that. She was bright and chipper and ready for the move when we saw her today, and although I think the move itself wore her out a little, I'm sure she'll be ready to slay dragons by the morning. I'll be around for another couple of weeks, and Dad and I are doing fine. Thanks to everyone who has called with support, we appreciate everyone's good thoughts and prayers.

June
(the Daughter)

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Day after Surgery (Guest Post)

Carol had her surgery Tuesday morning. She had to be there at 5:30am so the 4am alarm was a little jarring. She finished surgery about 11am and began recovery. We were told we should wait 'till sometime after 4pm for the first visit as she'd be pretty out of it. She was in fact a little out of it, but a morphine drip will do that to you.

Surgery went well and the doctor said everything was fine, although her first words to us were, "I think I got hit by a truck." We visited again today (Wednesday) and she was looking much better. She had her first "chair" excercise this morning where she had to transfer herself from the bed to the chair and back with the help of her walker. She said after a successfull completion, she promptly napped for an hour as it was the hardest thing she'd done in many a year.

At this time, we expect her to be transferred to the Rehab facility possibly Friday or Saturday of this week. We'll post more as we learn.

She says Hi to all and thanks you for your prayers and support.

Kevin (The son-in-law)

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Making lists

I'm going to be indisposed for a couple of weeks, so it seemed like a good idea to make lists to help friends and family who will be filling in to run this place. Try making a list of what you do every day, then weekly, then "as needed." You might be surprised. It's kind of like making a list of everything you eat, which is how you start any diet. You also must have answered those questionnaires about how much you exercise. We cheat on those, don't we?

It's not nice to cheat on this list I'm talking about. Somebody's got to give an insulin shot to the blind diabetic dog, not the other one or the husband. You have to include instructions for the microwave, the laundry, the phone answerer. Everybody must have one of these: "If the nightlight is off in the bathroom and the one in the kitchen and the light on the toothbrush charger, it means the sprinkler system is off as well. Go in the garage, reach behind the big fat plug under the sprinkler timer and push the square button with something small and non-metallic." Let me hear about yours.