another month off

Mike took me to see the ortho surgeon today; xrays were taken and the hip is in place and looks good on xray. It's made of titanium and the ball is cobalt chrome or chrome cobalt... (whatz the difference?) 2 large screws hold the cup in place and can be seen protruding from the socket area. very strange to see it on the xray light. Dr gave me another month off til Sept first. He said a lot of the pain I still feel will go away after awhile. He is sending me to Phys therapy for a few how-to-do-it-right lessons because when I demonstrated to him how I need to try to bend down to put my compression socks on, he said "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" I told him I need to wear the socks to work or else my left leg will swell up (due to post-clot venous insufficiency) , and he asked who said so, and I told him all my primary care drs since 1999 ... thus the PT referral. Maybe I should try for permanent social security disability again... reason: "she can't put her socks on anymore." hahaha. That's a good one. I'm sure there have been sillier reasons given.
Anyway, another month to recover and hopefully heal up the residual areas in the hip. Dr said he just replaced hip of another polio patient. Makes me wonder why the Polio Clinic at Rancho Los Amigos rehab hospital tells us old polios to not have replacement surgery. It's not like we expect to sell our wheelchairs on Ebay and run marathons after surgery. But a better quality of life with less pain scooting around in Lucy will suit me just fine.
That's the update for now. See ya!

What fun!

Our nephew and niece and their 2 boys visited from Nevada yesterday and spent the night with us. They'd been to Legoland and San Diego on vacation. We had a great time talking, remembering events, laughing, and crying together. What a blessing to us to have their family visit us ol' "great" aunt/uncle! Mike's mom got to be here as well to enjoy them. Their older son says he will go to college at the U of Texas and he gives the longhorn sign; he will skip kindergatten and go to first grade next month, so I guess he is well on his way to his goal! Go, Jake!! We are so proud of their family. Our UPS nephew and our 1st grade teacher niece! Both are smart, good-looking and terrific parents to our great-nephews! Thanks for the visit, Jeff and Gina! You are the best ever and we love you!

Nuttin much goin on

Yo! How you doin'? Me too, doin' ok. I think about blogging then remember I never wanted to turn it into a diary; I just wanted to do it for a season to document the progress of hip replacement. So I will stick to that for now. The hip area is less sore each week, so I know progress in being made. But the area is tender if I accidentally bump it against something such as the side of a chair or chair arm; it's tender if the seat belt in the car rests on it or is too tight. I've put a large folded towel in my car so it can go into the bucket seat where I ride or drive from, otherwise the slanted side of the seat hurts the hip area. I still feel like I am sitting on a "knot" in the right butt, and get pangs of burning pain in the right femur/thigh area. Along with lower back pain and another bout with left para spinal muscle spasms, it has been hard to walk some days when all that is acting up. But the real reason for surgery was to relieve the right knee/leg pain and that expectation has been met. So the residuals I am left with were there before surgery, and will be dealt with as usual. No big deal. I ain't throwing away my wheelchair or leg brace unless I get another miracle; the hip surgery has been a miracle in itself I believe. For that I am grateful.
I have begun to read Joel Rosenberg's book about Israel and the Palestinian conflict, and how Russia and Iran are "bonding" (for lack of a better word that isn't so inflammatory). Eschatology and "end times" are interesting subjects!
Read on!

Thanks for a season of blessings

Lately I have really been thanking God for a season of blessings and serenity as the post-op healing period continues. Sure there are still aches and pains, recently compounded by intermittent sciatica and sleep disturbances, but overall there are no crises and we have much to be thankful for. I am still off work until July 27 when I see the surgeon again. Joan has taken me to the YMCA warm therapy pool to stretch and "exercise" while she goes into the "big pool" to do water aerobics class. That's soothing to this ol' bod. I've been TIVOing episodes of John Ratzenberger's MADE IN AMERICA series from the Travel Channel, and I enjoy watching him and learning about American factories. John is the guy who played Cliff The Mailman on tv's Cheers, and he is so cool!! He does and says nutty things on his travel series, but he goes interesting places that I'll likely never go to, so I really enjoy the show. Joan gave me an autobiography of Billy Graham several weeks ago, and I loved reading it. Billy Graham is a fascinating man. His wife Ruth died recently, and I was able to watch her funeral on a Christian station. All 5 of her kids spoke and it made me want to read more about their family; so far Joan has found us about 5 more books by Ruth and some of her children, and I have enjoyed them all. I have yet to dig into the book Joan gave me about the Arab-Israeli conflict but that read will be next on my list. Today is a milder weather day for us so I wheeled down to the corner to Vons for some groceries. When it is real hot... 90's... I stay inside most of the day; the heat does me in; so a cooler day is welcome. I remarked to Mike how blessed we are to live where we do; we can walk or roll to a close market and several other stores and food places. He reminded me that God knew our future needs a long time ago and so we have remained in this home for 38 years for just such a time as this... a gramma who can't drive for awhile but can wheel down to the corner in her scooter and shop! Hope YOU are greatly blessed as well. Enjoy!

Drivin Ms Jaynie

This morning I got in my van's drivers' seat (painful) and fastened my seat belt (painful) and drove around the block (painful). The right hip protested because the seat was not comfortable, the belt hit the hip in a painful place, and going over small bumps or dips caused more hip pain. But at least I tried, and now know driving isn't comfortable yet. It's difficult to be a patient patient! I feel like I have always been a PATIENT in one form or another, but having patience is another thing entirely. What's the old prayer: "Lord, grant me patience, and grant it NOW!"
I am waiting for my Idaho grandkids to come over; they return home in 2 days, so today may be the last i see them here for awhile. I just spoke to their dad on the web cam, and their little brother who told me he really misses Autumn and Russell! Pam will be so sad to put them on a plane back home I reckon. But we must be thankful for the times we do have with them. And I am!

Out of the mouth of babes

In trying to post what I'd just written, I found an old "draft" of a post Joan had done in May, so I posted it. It is difficult to find all the ins and outs of a newfandangled thing like blogs. hell I don't even know all the things my old cell phone is capable of yet, and I think I have had it for 2 years!
Autumn visited the other day. She is a real funny kid. She has always had the best one-liners blurt out of her mouth even when she was just beginning to talk. Blunt, honest and observant, she will need to tame herself with tact someday... if she can. That's hard to learn for some of us, mainly me.
Anyway, I was folding my laundry, mainly T-shirts and capris. I held up a pair of capris to shake them out, Autumn took one look at them and said, "WOW! THOSE ARE FAT! WHO WEARS THOSE HUGE PANTS?" I replied, "I do." She said, "Oops, my bad!" I began to laugh my head off, and she did too. Then of course, I had to justify myself telling her I needed to wear very loose pants for now because of my surgery on my hip. That helped me not one bit. She reminded me of last year when we were in Idaho to move her family there. Their dog Casey was greatly overweight, and had a big butt at the time. Casey stretched out one day in the kitchen and put his butt up in the air before lying down. We watched him and laughed at his big butt. After he got settled with his butt facing us, I got up, went over to him, turned my butt to Autumn and asked (stupidly!), "Who has the bigger butt, me or Casey?" I was surely shocked when she answered, "You, Gramma!". There be no guile in Autumn; you have to love that!

I play; I pay!

Did you ever ponder that when something changes, most things still stay the same? It's because where ever you go, you can't get away from yourself. Ponder that.
So, if you don't change yourself, what changes will you ever have? What's my point? How the hell should I know? I'm just thinking in print.
Actually, I do have a point here. Last week Joan took me to the YMCA to go into the therapy pool for a bit of stretching and water exercise. My first time to go post- op. The steps into the pool are short, not steep, and there are good handrails. I got into the pool so well! The post-op hip protocols state to go down steps with the operative leg, and go up steps using the non-operative leg, which in my case is my weak left leg. So when it came time to get out of the pool I did well until the final step. Without water support, I could not get up that last step using my left leg even with Joan's help and use of the handrail. So, I began to laugh! It seemed an opportune time for one of those sisterly giggle fests where we both end up on the floor laughing. Joan was NOT amused! She said, quite sternly, "STOP LAUGHING OR WE WILL NEVER GET OUT OF HERE!.
So I quickly slapped meself upside the head and stopped laughing, and told her ok, i would use my right leg to step up. Wrong decision! I did make it out of the pool then, but heard/felt a crunch in the hip. Uh oh! I could still walk on the leg, but must've strained soft tissue around the joint because I then enjoyed more pain for 2 days afterwards.
Over the weekend, we went to Kristy's house to use her pool. I was able to easily jump into the pool, and got out easily at the steep steps with Mike and Kris' help.
But I made the fatal mistake of lying on one of the poolside lounges which are very low to the ground. So when I went to stand up off of it, I strained the hip again with using much effort to lift my big butt upright.
What's the point you might ask? It's clear as mud! I have a new hip, but still have old polio, so unless I quit acting like I've become the Six Million Dollar woman, I will still pay with pain if I do certain movements that these old muscles have to strain to do. Us old farts learn slowly, but we can still learn if we try hard.
So, the discomfort continues, and will go away if I stop bringing it on I trust. I can walk more without the walker now, and have used a cane for a few short trips out and about. Progress is being made. Perseverance! That's the name of this game.