last night

I persuaded a friend to go with me at midnight to the Country's BarBQue 5K fundraiser for the Visually Impaired here in the mid-town area.

No - we did not run 3.1 miles.

Yes, we did walk, and Yes, we did finish: in just under an hour. About the time I had expected, as I knew if I was not 'lollygagging' along, I can walk a mile in about twenty minutes.

And yes, I am tired, since I finally went to sleep about 2:30, after getting home about 1:30, and woke up 'way too early!

The highest race number I saw pinned on a shirt was 2350, and I expect there were about half that many more on the race-course, who did not register but were out there milling around and doing the race. It has become a real 'event' and was general chaos, probably for several hours before and after the event. I think the fastest of the runners must have finished in about 15 (or less) minutes, (well before we got the first mile completed) and am pleased to announce there were people 'way much slower than us, who were still straggling toward the finish line when we got in the car and left the scene well after 1:00.

new body parts...

The man with the replacement knee will be discharged on Friday (tomorrow). I am confident that the therapy people, medical staff at Hughston Rehab. would not let him go if they did not think he would be able to get around once he gets home. I assume he will be going to the outpatient rehab. program (of his choosing, rather than back to the Hughston) several days a week for some time after he is released. I am pretty sure he will be greatly inconvenienced by not being able to drive for several weeks until he is released after a follow up appt. with the surgeon. So we will continue to have a great deal of 'togetherness' here at home.

I want to be optimistic that he will be diligent about doing the exercises and follow the instructions of the people he (insurance company and medicare) will be paying to give him the best advice for getting strong and regaining mobility.

He has been in their inpatient therapy twice a day all week. He reported, after the morning session, that he was able to bend that new knee to 90 degrees for the first time today. I know it's got to hurt - if for no other reason than it pulls on the nearly 30 staples that hold the incision closed, and the muscles, joint, skin is still very swollen/tight from mid-thigh to mid-calf.

later than same day...

Went by the Hughston Hospital/Rehab. to visit the incarcerated patient, who seems to be in good hands, and better spirits. He said when I was there on Sat., that he occupational therapist came in and made him undress, to prove that he could then dress himself...

I have this theory that we would not have to spend half the outlay on guarding prisioners in jail if they were all issued hospital gowns as soon as they were securely locked up. There would be no need for bars to keep them in the buildings, or fences and razor wire to keep them inside the perimeter to prevent escape. Where would those guys go in flimsy, air-conditioned gowns? They would beg to be put into isolated confinement!

I told Paul when I saw him getting into and out of the chair and bed that he seems to be more able than he has been in weeks, or months. Much more adept at getting up and down, on and off the bed, with less discomfort, practically no groaning when he sits down and has to bend the knee. I am very thankful he will be in a place where they will 'push' him to do more and sooner than he would otherwise be willing to force himself to accomplish, and feel that he will be much farther down the road toward mobility after a week of 2x daily inpatient rehab. than he would if he were just strolling along at his on laid-back pace of getting an occasional couple of hours of outpatient therapy several times a week. I am Very Thankful.

sunday afternoon

Paul seems to be doing pretty well, post-surgery. He went to the Hughston Hospital here and had a new knee installed last Monday morning. He had expected, been sorta lead to believe that he would be discharged and back home, though going to out-patient rehab, by the end of the week.

He was transferred to the Hughston Rehab. hospital (actually in the same building, on a different floor, a completely different facility) on Friday, and told he will likely be there for a week. Which I am sure was very discouraging for someone who expected to be told: get outta here, but also an unexpected blessing (for me!) as he was told he did not meet their admission criteria on Thursday, but it was more than obvious that he was not sufficiently mobile to be able to manage independently if discharged to go home.

So he will be getting 'rehabilitated': a much more intense (and hopefully effective) program than he would receive if he were going to an outpt. program for a couple of hours three times a week... so I am very hopeful that he will be able to tolerate the pain that goes with doing the therapy at the level that is necessary to regain the mobility he needs to get back to enjoying life. He has been so limited in recent weeks and months with miserable pain in his knee, and optimistic that he will soon be able to do things he has not been able to accomplish lately... the recovery thus far has been thankfully uneventful, but the process of doing things that are hurtful will be ongoing. I realize that in order to 'get to the place you want to be, you often have to struggle with things that are painful', and the rehabilitation process following total knee replacement surgery is obviously one of those 'things'.

traveling, again...

My auntie in Valdosta will be having surgery this week, so I will be on the road again. Going down to south GA on Tuesday, and expect to be there at least a couple of days. I conclude from her past experiences that the average hospital stay following surgery is about two days, and think that is what you get because 72 hours of inpatient is all the insurance companies are willing to cover. Sad that we get the health care our providers decide we should have???

Please keep successful surgery and easy recovery in your prayers. I can't imagine being is such misery that you agree to let someone cut on you - and especially replace your parts with foreign objects - but I know it must be awful to be in constant pain, to the point that you would do most anything for relief. She lives alone, so I don't know what will happen with post-care, but am hoping that there are some options for rehab/therapeutic assistance that will ultimately provide her the level of mobility she is expecting/desires after getting a new joint.

a little traveling music, please...

In the past week, I have been to Chattanooga (twice) and Valdosta/Quitman. So much running up and down the road that the Mastercard people called to be sure that all those places where someone had bought gas on my card were really legit. And I honestly could not remember if I had been purchasing so much in all the places they thought I had been, so I had to keep punching buttons to track myself and find out where they thought I was! Needless to say: they were right, and I will eventually have to pay for all that gas I used in my nifty little Toyo, though I am pleased to report that a lot of the travels were under such conscientious driving conditions that I was getting about 47 mpg. The only way I feel I would have done better is by staying home, but that would mean I have not been places and seen people I wanted to spend time with... so there!

would you care for a blueberry muffin?

I went with friends up to pick blueberries one morning last week, got up early to drive up near Callaway Gardens, to the 'U-pick' patch and beat the heat. It was a remarkably cool morning, but had rained overnight, so we were thoroughly soaked from wet grass, and dripping limbs by the time we got done. I did not actually want any berries, but went to enjoy their company, and had a good time visiting as we plucked. I passed my fruit along to one of the friends, who had plans to turn her two gallons into jelly/jam.

Reminding me of going with one of my girls when she was very small on a mother-daughter excursion to Harris County for a berry-picking adventure. That was my second trip, and her first time to see blueberries 'in the wild' on the bush. We were instructed to wear belts, and given a plastic gallon jug, with a large hole cut into the side: to thread your belt through the handle on the jug and free up both hands for picking. So that is what I 'wore' when I went last week. I got some funny glances, but got lots of berries!

There are a couple of berry bushes growing in the 'no man's land' between two fences (which have a reputation for 'making good neighbors') that I have picked enough off already for adding to my yogurt, cold cereal, making a batch of muffins to share, and put a few in the freezer. (Which is why I was not interested in stockpiling berries from the U-pick farm, though those bushes were the thickest, most laden with berries I have ever witnessed! They could not hold their limbs up there were so many fat, ripe berries on each one. I picked almost exculsively on one bush and did not even begin to get all the ones that were ripe.)

Oddly: one of the two bushes in my side yard has been historically 'lazy', only marginally productive, but the other is so generous and a producer of such big fat juicy sweet berries, I continually forgive the parsimonious one, year after year. The 'experts' in the world of blueberries instruct to plant more than one variety, to have a crop over an extended period of weeks, (I have no idea what type/variety the ones here are), I wonder if it also has something to do with pollenization? S.i.L. says I should separate the young sprouts coming up from the 'muscle-bound' bush to create more of the one that loves to get all the attention when it is so productive by Independence Day. So maybe in the fall, when it is time to do transplants, I will be motivated to dig and re-plant to increase the crop for the future.

I've also been busily planting a variety of mystery perrenials. F. bought a 'mystery box' that was an end-of-the season bargain from an on-line nursery and gave me things I have never heard of before, and won't be able to i.d. when/if they grow. But they are all in the ground (except for strawberry plants I haven't figured out where to put), and some are looking pretty healthy. I'm determined to plant nothing but perrenials, and have tried to focus on things that the deer find unappealing - though I have discovered what the deer find distasteful, the big black nasty grasshoppers think delectable. So I water, spray, water, spray, stomp, stomp, water, spray, etc...