What a difference a week makes

Actually since my husband Bob started walking just less than a week ago our lives have changed considerably for the better. The scooter has been picked up (its real name is RollerAid by Footsteps), the crutches that were always at the ready on the bottom and top floor landings and the walker that he used for help in hopping in and out of the shower are now in the garage. The only implement still in use is the boot – though at his physical therapist's advice he's even wearing that less and less at home. Walking with the boot causes another malady – an aching back, so the sooner he can walk with a regular pair of shoes the better.  


He’s also been staying at work longer, he’s not reluctant to go out to dinner, and we even went to the movies and opera this past weekend. So, all in all things are definitely looking up – especially since I don't have to bring him his orange juice and paper in the morning. He actually went out the last two mornings and brought the paper in to me. (My only continuing job is being the family driver – and that chore couldn't stop soon enough for me)


Who would have thought a little spill down the stairs would have caused so many weeks of pain and immobility and the need for so many helper implements? My big question now is: should I take the crutches and walker to Good Will now or wait awhile? Really, what would I be waiting for?

In case you've forgotten – this is the best mobility

device ever – the RollerAid (AKA scooter)

http://www.rolleraid.com/

Foot injury update

Well the "step down" day arrived and it went as we had hoped. Though Bob felt a lot of apprehension last night that he still wouldn’t be allowed to walk on his foot, today's x-ray showed healing has progressed as expected six weeks post surgery. And, the redness and swelling have subsided considerably.

So as of noon today, Bob took his first steps. And though he must still walk with his boot, he can take it off at night. He can also go back to taking showers rather than tub baths that have been easier for him during this recovery time. 

The next thing he wants to do is start weaning himself off the scooter. He’s asked me to bring him one crutch for getting around at the gym with his personal trainer this afternoon. And, I must say I won't miss lugging that thing in and out of the trunk of the car and up and down our stairs. He can't be weaned off of it fast enough for me.

I know he is anxious to be walking again, and I'm anxious to have him walking, but I hope he doesn’t go too fast and furiously. If he listens to the doctor who says he should walk with an awareness of pain and only walk if his foot is pain-free, all should be well.

The next hurdle is getting him back to driving. However, he cannot drive with the boot, so his going back to driving is about three weeks down the line. Guess what that means? I’m still the chauffeur. Well, at least it's not as bad as yesterday, and I expect tomorrow to be even better. 

One more thing. He needs to go to physical therapy twice a week for the next six weeks. Bob tried out the idea of having his personal trainer work with him, but that got nixed. The doctor feels that trainers can get a little too aggressive. Well, duh?


He's made such good progress up until today, what's another few weeks to ensuring a completely healed foot.?

The big "step down" is almost here - I hope!

Next week, we hope my husband's doctor will say it's okay for him to put weight on his healed broken foot. That doesn't mean he's home free. He'll still have to wear the boot, he still won't be able to drive, and he'll have to spend an unknown amount of time in physical therapy. But it's all a step in the right direction (no pun intended), coming not soon enough.

We have both gotten impatient and a little snippy with each other. Seven weeks of his being dependent on me and seven weeks of my serving him have taken a toll. I'm sleeping poorly. I have black and blue arms from all they hits they've taken by my husband's little scooter, and I'm feeling like my creative life has taken a step backward (no pun intended here either).

And I know he'll be glad when he won't have to be a passenger in his own car. Just this morning he was so frustrated when I was being particularly careful about backing the car out of our driveway into oncoming traffic. He wants me to be more agressive. Well, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

So there's your update on our foot adventure. It still goes on. But instead of another photo of Bob on his scooter or my black and blue marks, here's another beautiful beach scene. Just looking at that beach makes everything all right again.

Tsunami Day

The wonder of "room air"

It’s been quite a week. From Bob’s first day home until today we’ve been on a roller coaster ride. He was very weak at first and experienced shortness of breath just walking on his crutches from his bed to the bathroom – a few feet away. But by the time he went to his cardiologist on Tuesday, his second day home, he was like another person – with it, no shortness of breath, and moving quite agilely on either his walker or crutches. And when his doc concluded, after an EKG, chest x-rays, and a controlled test of Bob breathing “room air,” that Bob no longer needed oxygen, Bob’s attitude and mood changed in a flash. By the time we got home he was ready to go back to using his scooter to avoid the wrist and underarm discomfort he felt with the crutches. No more worry over oxygen tubing gave him the confidence.

We both began to feel so confident about his health and mood that we talked again about attending a family wedding in San Diego – a two-hour drive away – this weekend. But we would go only for one night, the night of the wedding, and miss the planned festivities for tonight.

I even took his tux to the cleaners and asked the owner to undo the right pants seam about ten inches from the bottom so he could get his big foot into the pants.

However, yesterday he began complaining about pain, the first time all week. He had been controlling it with Advil every 24 hours so he knew this pain was different. We got an emergency appointment with his foot surgeon who agreed there was something to this new unusual pain – we had done the right thing by coming in. When he took off the bandages and dressing he found a slight infection in one of the two incisions he has in his foot. So now Bob is on two antibiotics and a pain medication.

And 24 hours later he is feeling much better.

We still think we’ll go ahead to San Diego, but we'll make a final decision tomorrow morning. I’ll hate to miss it – I have a new dress for the formal occasion, but it wouldn’t be the first or last thing I’ll have missed in my life.

I must say thanks to all the help we received this week. My friend Marlene brought in lunch and took us to the cardiologist on Tuesday, my niece Dara took care of him so I could go to my own medical appointment on Wednesday, Ben came over countless times and helped his dad take his showers, our massage wonder-woman brought over her table and gave us both massages last evening, and she and her mate are bringing us dinner tonight. Plus we had two visits from home heath nurses and a physical therapist. It’s been a hectic and heartwarming week. We are very blessed even in light of this bumpy time in our lives.

I left Bob for a short while this morning to walk downtown Manhattan Beach to the grocery store, and I couldn’t resist taking a look at my ocean while I was out. It rained heavily last night, and the sky threatened more rain today even though the sun was bright and warm. I never tire of taking photos of my beach – it is just one more blessing in my life.

Saturday morning about 9:00 am

I've always heard that life isn't fair



Bob, just before leaving the hospital



Our new home accessories


When my husband went into the hospital last Thursday afternoon to have his broken foot repaired with pins he felt very healthy and upbeat. And after three nights in the hospital he came out with an unknown pulmonary problem that necessitates his being on oxygen 24/7. Needless to say he feels like he's been beaten up.

That just isn't right. That just isn't fair.

And of course i went through my share of fright. His condition was so bad on Saturday night, I had visions of him never getting back to normal. Thankfully by the next day he felt and looked and acted better, and now that he's been home a night and a day he's improved immensely. I'm feeling more confident that his oxygen deprivation is only temporary and soon all we'll have to deal with are the no stepping down on his right foot issues. Plus we're seeing his own cardiologist tomorrow. Hopefully this man will have a magic wand and make him all better with just a touch.

If only I could believe that could really happen.

So the saga of the accident-that-could-have-been-avoided (I've made it all one word) continues. Please think good thoughts and stay tuned.

There's no whining about a broken foot

I’ve had a lot on my plate for the last week and a half. I haven’t been neglecting my blog, I've just had too much going on. First and foremost, my husband Bob fell down a short flight of stairs last week while we were on vacation in California’s Gold Country. We were there to take in a little history and sip some of the fine zinfandels that flourish in Amador Country. Then we were to go to a zinfandel and food tasting in San Francisco and spend our last two days touring the city – a place we’ve always loved to visit.

Unfortunately his fall and the broken foot that resulted cramped our style. We still tasted some fine zins, but the only touring we got in, in San Francisco was a movie theater where we saw the wonderful “Biutiful” with Javier Bardem. I highly recommend the movie but you don’t have to have a broken foot to enjoy it. We also had a couple of great meals – one with a dear friend whom I met years ago at Esalen.

I had intended to start work immediately upon our return on the final review of my up and coming memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. Janice, my Lucky Press publisher emailed the galleys to me and I was raring to go, But a series of doctor appointments and chauffeuring assignments made the review very slow going. (Bob broke his right foot making driving on his own impossible.) However, I’m happy to say that as of today I’m just about finished. I want to make one more pass through it to check section breaks and page numbers on the Table of Contents, but I’ve got to brag right now that this is one good looking book. Janice designed it brilliantly, especially in the way she integrated the subject matter into the look and feel of the book.

And that I’m almost finished is a good thing. We have more doctors’ appointments next week prior to Bob’s foot surgery on Thursday. His doctor fears there is so much ligament damage from the break that he’ll have to fuse the small bones in his foot together. If all goes as planned my husband will be walking on crutches or scooting along on his little wheeled cart for at least six more weeks after the surgery.

Right now I’m thinking he needs a driver – someone like Morgan Freeman who drove Miss Daisy around. Having my husband in the passenger seat is trying every last drop of my patience.

I must also whine about one more thing. We had decided to have our floors refinished while we away last week so we wouldn’t have to live with all the dust the sanders create, but like most house projects, the job took longer than planned. When we arrived home last Saturday evening, we could not access the entire third level of our tri-level house – the level where our kitchen and dining room are. And we were told our furniture couldn’t be moved back in until today – one day less than a week from the time we returned home. That necessitated eating all our meals out with hobbling Bob in tow – even if we brought food in we didn’t have a table and chairs where we could enjoy it.

Okay. Enough whining for now. I am so thankful that all Bob broke is his foot. When I saw him crumpled in a heap on the floor I thought hip, leg, knee, head. It could have been anything. Six weeks of an immobile foot we can life with. And I must say, my Bob is the same high spirited guy I’ve always known. Broken foot or not he’s making the best of it – especially with his little scooter. And I assure you, so will I.

Small stones January twenty-three to thirty

One more day left -

Jan 23: Thick black clouds rose into the sky and dissipated into the blue. And I don’t know where they came from.

Jan 23: Packing boxes, putting fragile ware out of harm’s way, throwing out detritus, and running up and down the stairs until we’ve completed the prep work for our wood floor renovation this week, I wonder, is it more trouble than it’s worth?

Jan 24: So tired and it’s only eleven thirty in the morning. But I’m pushing on.

Jan 24: I walk from my car to the gym in the dark cold morning, holding my jacket closed to the chill. But I refuse to park closer. The cold wakes me up and the walk gives my workout a jump start.

Jan 25: The plane’s loud hum doesn’t disrupt its smooth dissent.

Jan 25: White snowy peaks rise just above the cloud-line.

Jan 26: The clear lake like a mirror reflects the pine trees standing green and proud along its edge.

Jan 26: One hundred year old vines, thick, gnarled, bent over like old men, stand in long straight rows ready to produce full-bodied, peppery, deep red zins for their masters until death.

Jan 26: A Ganesh beckons me from the window. Heavy cement rubbed in a deep ochre patina and enveloped by heart shapes around its base.  Could I make it mine? it's too soon to tell.

 

Jan 27: I found the old Knight Foundry, created in 1873 just off downtown Sutter Creek’s Main Street. And I made a piece of art out of its shelves of tools all rusty and dirty and superfluous in the time we live in now.

Jan 27: How can I treat my husband so he’ll look at me and think I’m a better person than I am right now, tonight?

Jan 28: The cold wind blew right through me as I walked up Post Street this morning. Even passing those up-scale shops didn’t warm my bones.

Jan 28: The painted heart statue on the corner of Union Square shows the San Francisco Bay and its famous bridge.

Jan 29: Waiting, waiting, waiting for our flight to LA. What else can you do with a gimpy foot on a misty day?

Jan 29: I’ll do anything to get my step tally for the day – even walk in boots with heels high enough to cause the sides and soles of my feet to burn.

Jan 30: Back home at last, watching the rain pouring down in the bright and clear sunlit day.