Last post I was getting things ready for Charles Total Hip Replacement surgery. I want to say first off that Charles surgery has gone well, he is recovering nicely and going to out patient Physical Therapy each week until September. We scheduled his appointments at 7:00 each morning that he goes to therapy because we get up each morning at 4:45 and start our day and we go to bed early in the evenings.
I prepared ahead of time for his bed baths after surgery.
Charles on his way to surgery...
Charles surgery was called a Direct Anterior Complete Hip Replacement. This surgery is less invasive than the other way of doing a hip replacement because they separate the muscles instead of cutting the muscles. His recovery has been so much better than the posterior Total Hip Replacement would have been where they cut muscles and tendon.
The incision is in a different location. We continue the bed baths and care for his incision... He is not allowed to get his wound wet until he goes back to see the surgeon. Charles was walking day one and two with a walker, day three Charles was walking without a walker or cane. Of course he was slow and careful but he was walking better than he was before his surgery.
Yesterday, Charles walked in the grass to put some seed in the bird feeders. He is retraining to walk normal and break some bad habits he developed from his painful condition before surgery. He is doing extremely well during his physical therapy sessions at the PT clinic.
We have had several small things to break in our home since Charles surgery. It started with when I went to flush the toilet and the handle fell off and broke off inside. Then the ceiling lightbulb in our bedroom went out and I needed that light for Charles wound care.
Then the kitchen faucet started squirting water sideways, the middle faucet was sticking and would not move left to right.
We used a small transport chair (a small wheelchair) to go to the building supply store because he has not yet walked long distances such as in a large store to purchase plumbing supplies.
I actually put in this new faucet shown above. This was quite an adventure getting under the sink to do this. I have issues just getting things out from under the kitchen cabinets and getting under the sink seemed impossible but I felt that it was time to be creative.
I used my fathers old piano dolly that was left to me. The idea came to me remembering my Grandfathers mechanic days of laying on his mechanic dolly where he would roll himself under cars on his back.
I used the short flat dolly and laid a large cutting board on top of it, and a thick quilt on top of that for padding. I put two bed pillows each in a tall kitchen plastic garbage bag and stuffed them under the cleared out sink cabinet so my head would be higher than my back. I could lay down on my back looking up. It was quite an adventure, I laid down, squished my neck and head down and pushed with my feet to roll myself under the cabinet. Put on safety glasses and several towels to cover what I could of my head, neck and face. I used plumbing tools and went to work.
Charles was close by and when I had the old faucet loose from the bottom Charles lifted the old faucet off, cleaned where the old faucet was and placed the new faucet with sealant over the sink faucet holes. Then I went to work hooking everything back. I gave much thought to what I would do if Charles was not able to pull off the faucet and I realized that I would just have to do it and roll back out, do what was needed above the sink and roll back in.
I wanted an old fashioned faucet but our kitchen wall and cabinet is not made for that and it would have been more expensive. I like to try first to do something before calling a repair person and if it does work that is great, and if not then call the repair person.
I am very happy that there are no leaks. :)
I was able to remove the sealed surgery bandage on day seven, and this is the bandage that I am putting on him after giving him a wash up until we see the doctor for three week check up. This is easier than wrapping his hip in plastic and risking getting the wound wet because bed baths are easy and I have worked in two hospitals and know how to give bed baths.
Charles is walking without a walker or cane and can get up and down the steps with the new rail. I am very proud of him the way he has worked hard before and after surgery with his exercises. He only took two pain tablets after surgery. His pain before surgery was so bad that the surgery pain was a relief.
I have learned a lot through Charles surgery because there was so much to do before surgery and much to do since his surgery. Life is full of adjusting as we move through our life here on earth.
Once we start homemaking we learn to prepare for the seasons. We find that if we need to prepare for summer and for winter. We put away and take out different types of clothing, different tools and we prepare our home for the change in temperatures.
We purchase items for our home and as we age we find that we do not need some of the items we purchased but we need different items.
The one thing that we do need, is we need to keep are repair tools. We can pass our tools down to our children and grandchildren as they are starting off their adult life. We should keep our repair tools.
Our children grow up and leave home at some point. Sometimes our children come back home, sometimes our parents need to come live with us, sometimes we need to go to them. Life keeps changing and so we must keep changing.
We need to make space for change. Keep this in mind, we need to make space for change.
What I have learned so far is that I must find my new balance because I am over prepared and under prepared. I must thin out the things no longer needed or used and donate it for someone else that is in the stage of their life where it is needed.
Carley and Ellie bring me happiness, so does Pergie, she is in another room. I feel they have been keeping a watchful eye on us and discussing what was going on in our home. You can see that Ellie and Carley decided to move closer to each other. When Madge was on hospice, the nurses would come in and always remark on the color of our green walls and how cheerful the bunnies were. They have looked a bit concerned about Charles.
Charles loves the Cornish pasties that I make and the wonderful aroma they make in the house is good to stimulate the appetite for one recuperating from surgery or illness.
They are filled with skirt steak, rutabaga, potato, onion and salt and pepper. The most important thing to do when making pasties is to cut everything into 1/2 inch cubes except for the onion and it is minced, this allows everything to cook evenly. We have food allergies in our family and the good thing about pasties is that you can leave out anything you are allergic to, just add a bit extra of the other ingredients.
I baked this bread in a pullman pan..
The heat is terribly bad here, I am trying to bake more than one thing when the oven is on so that I do not have to use the oven as often. Our heat index has been in triple digits with high humidity. I do not know when it will cool down but I hope it is soon. We have been running our air conditioning because the night time temperatures will not get low enough to cool the house down. We are being especially careful with Charles not getting hot because he does not need to sweat.
Some of you that read my blog are in winter right now and I am jealous because I can bundle up when it is cold but the heat exhausts me.
I am going to be working on my clothing this coming week. I am still trying to repurpose some older clothing. I do not like the fabric that clothes are made out of today. Everything seems to have gone to some kind of stretchy fabric and it does not hold up, and the cotton linen items are so very thin.
In the summer I must wear long pants and long sleeve tops because the mosquitos get bad in our area. I finally found some long bloomer petti pants to wear under my jumper dresses and purchased a pair. This will keep the mosquitoes from biting my legs and allow me to wear my loose dresses. I will use this new pair to make another pair.
I have given a lot of thought to my wardrobe and so I will be working on this because it has become an issue. I do not seem to have as many issues with my wardrobe in the winter. It is from spring to fall that gives me problems due to the heat and mosquitoes. The need to be cool but the need to be covered so I do not have bug bites. I am a bug magnet and the moment I walk outside they send the message "there she is, go bite her!"
I have also learned to carry a neutral colored sweater for doctor offices, hospitals and grocery stores. Now I understand why grandmothers are often portrayed wearing a sweater. It is quite interesting getting older, there is still so much to learn.
Please let us know how you are doing and and what you have been doing at your home.
*Note, I did hear from Kieva and baby Jacob is home from the hosptial, he has had a few set backs but they have been able to handle them at home. A nurse comes in the evening and stays with them at this time. Kieva did try to give an update on Jacob but it was right before Charles surgery and I had turned off the comments because I could not monitor the forum. Please continue prayers for Jacob.
I will close here, hope to see you in the forum, I will be around to read your comments, might not be as quick to answer a question. I do apologize for not posting on how Charles was doing before now but there was so much more to do after surgery than I expected and I have been hurrying around to catch up each day and a few days that I had to just rest and do only the very necessary things.
I seem to have a better grip than I did and I have been very enlightened to see where I need to improve and get more balance in our home. The only thing I can figure is continue thinning out the un necessary items in our home. I hope to see you in the forum.
Grandma Donna
