Out of a Drug induced haze!

Hey campers! I’m baaaaccckkk!! Sorry once again for the extreme passage of time between posts. Really do have a good excuse as the surgery was a bit more complicated than expected. That being said, more narcotics were involved, and Vicki wouldn’t let me drunk post all our personal information as I ingested vast amounts of Vicodin and gummies! Needless to say, I did get a huge amount of binge watching done. So, sit back and I’ll give you some of the gory details of the past week and a half.

Last Monday was surgery and I cannot say enough about the process or the care I received. The staff at Valley Baptist hospital were spectacular and cared for my every want, need, and desire. They were johnnie on the spot when i hit the call light. And it was always done with a smile and a kind word. Even the cleaning crew, who spoke no english, did an outstanding job and managed to communicate with me with my rudimentary knowledge of the language. I had a private room and while I was only in the hospital overnight, it went amazingly well.

The surgery itself was a bit longer than expected due to the fact that the head of my femur was actually impacted into the hip socket. Therefore Dr. Quesada had to work a bit longer and pounded a bit harder on the muscles to get the femur head out. This in turn made my right thigh felt like it had gone 3 rounds with Mike Tyson and never got any return punches in. In the hospital my whole thigh was a pretty green and purple color. Everyone said that was normal. Normal my butt!!! Bruised and purple is not a normal color for one’s leg, but then I’m not a trained physician, but I have played one on TV. LOL, I did create a bit of a faux pax between OT and PT as I got myself dressed in front of the PT specialist rather than the OT. Apparently, the OT specialist actually needed to witness how well I was able to dress myself before I could be released. So I fisted my chest, looked her in the eye and said; “My Bad Dog”. They took it in stride. The PT folks did add something to my initial hall walk as they took me to the stair well and had we walk up and down a flight of stairs to simulate getting into the rig upon my release. I thought the OT lady was going to come to, if only to push me down the stairs, but alas, she’d moved on. LOL

Getting home was very easy and settling in was okay as we both knew what to expect and we were prepared. As mentioned earlier, Vicodin was a major portion of the week and lead to an inheriant problem associated with narcotics. The infamous plugging of the digestive tract. Talk about making the angry kitty face. But with other body altering drugs, that too passed. (Pun intended) My recovery was aided in a major way and I owe a huge debt of gratitude to our wonderful friends Robert and Christie, who not only called with words of encouragement, but brought over the best brownies and lemon cake to aid in my recovery. Their kindness is only exceeded by the joy they spread with each visit and get-well card they delivered during my recovery. Thank you just doesn’t seem to be a powerful enough word. Also, I need to throw a huge shout out to all my family and friends who called, texted, and e-mailed me as I went through this procedure. All the white light and positive energy did the trick. I am so grateful.

Zod is once again my home physical therapist. He is very good at what he does although he does know how to make one uncomfortable. He is not part of our health care network so we have to pay him up front for his services. Amazingly enough, when I called around to find PT within our network, they were either not taking new patients, didn’t do in home PT or were as far away as Houston. Seriously?!? But it is what it is and our out of pocket is really not too bad. We did limit the home care health nurse to only 2 visits to open and then close our file. He looked at the incision and since Vicki knows how to change a dressing and take a bp he really didn’t need to make multiple visits. Rehab is coming along slowly, but I knew that would be expected. I am walking further each day and mostly pain free. I do get zingers on the incision site, but that’s normal. I did race a 3 toed sloth yesterday and I thought I had him but he chested me at the tape. Not bad for the only kid to get lapped in the 50-yard dash at Buena Vista Elementary School in Lompoc, CA. At this stage of recovery, I am transitioning from the walker to a cane again. As balance improves and my core restrengthens hopefully, I toss the cane aside as well.

We’re definitely moving forward as my health improves. Did have a bit of a setback as Vicki still is suffering with upper respiratory issues. She has been referred to a pulmonologist and been put on some seriously expensive inhalers. Luckily our Medicare plan discounted a major portion of the cost, but damn!

The Escape is showing its age so tomorrow we were taking it in to have brakes replaced. Also, it’s been running hot so will probably have to add some coolant to insure it doesn’t leave us on the side of the road. I think when I put another week of recovery behind me, we are going to start looking for another car.

The Packers are always a part of the mix this time of year. Had Bob, an acquaintance of Kent, come and watch the Bears game. Bears and Packers together in the same room? Who Knew? We had a wonderful time and he had a cool bears jersey, Brian Piccolo! Powerful! Gonna have Robert over tomorrow and we’ll watch the Lions and Packers, enjoy some wings, and a room full of testosterone. Vicki is planning on leaving with Christie and going shopping. Well played Vicki well played.

That basically has you caught up. Recovery is coming along albeit slowly. Will post again next Saturday, until then, still loving retirement.