by Judy Handley | Jul 30, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 212: Happy Birthday to Coco and Congrats to My Sister
Date: Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Weather: Sunny Day, Rainy Evening; High Temp 86, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home in an Airbnb in Mooresville, NC
Coco turned 12 years old today. Happy, happy birthday to my one and only very special granddaughter!
And congratulations to my sister Patsy. She came through her surgery tonight like a superstar. The surgery was supposed to be between 3:00 and 4:00, but they didn’t take us to pre-op until 4:00. We waited until 5:00 when we were told that the doctor was still in the OR with a surgery that was taking much longer than expected. Then at 6:00 we were told that he was still in the OR, but nearly finished. The nurse thought we would have to wait another hour, but the doctor came straight out of OR to talk to us, and by 7:04 pm I got the call from an OR nurse telling me the surgery had started and that Patsy was doing great. The surgery took only an hour and when the doctor called me just after 8 pm, he also said she was doing great. But he added that the hard work begins now. He does not want her stand on that leg for at least 6 weeks. No weight bearing. Due to her age and lack of upper body strength, he thinks she will need to be in a wheel chair and have help moving from place to place. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how that is going to work. But after 17 hours at the hospital, my brain is fried. Maybe tomorrow that won’t seem as difficult as it seems tonight.
Prior to going down to pre-op at 4 pm, Patsy chatted with visitors and on the phone all day. Brian came around 9:30 and at 1 o’clock, Brenda, one of Patsy’s Home Helper companions came to visit. And then Bill came. I told Patsy we were having a party and she enjoyed every minute of it. When she got back to the room at 10 pm tonight after the surgery, she was cheery and wide awake while I was about to pass out. So, I headed home which is an Airbnb about 4 minutes from the hospital. It feels so good to be in my own space after days of being at Terra Bella and at the hospital today. Thank you, Heather, for arranging this stay so close to the hospital. And now to bed.
by Judy Handley | Jul 29, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 211: Life Happens
Date: Monday, July 29, 2024
Weather: Rainy Day; High Temp 83, Low 70 degrees F
Location: Alone in My Sister’s Apt, Mooresville, NC
Once more I quote my friend Lynne Kirwin, who happens to be at my house dog sitting. “You make plans and then life happens.” I was busy, busy today doing the last things for my sister, fully preparing to fly home tomorrow. I bought her a new mattress, made arrangements for delivery this Thursday, went to Walmart to buy a new mattress cover, and went to the laundromat to wash and dry it. While there, I got a call from my sister’s afternoon Home Helper, Renee. Patsy had fallen and I needed to get home as soon as possible. It was a terrible connection, so I knew nothing more. I grabbed the mattress cover from the dryer and headed home as quickly as possible. When I arrived, Patsy was sitting in the kitchen floor with her legs extended. She was talking away to the Med Tech and Renee and seemed fine, but I was told that EMTs were on the way. The top of her right leg hurt a little, but it was not painful. The EMTs asked some questions of her, evaluated the leg, and said she needed to go to the hospital for x-rays. None of us thought it was very serious because she really seemed fine. So off to the hospital she went with me driving along behind. The first thing that was done was an x-ray and the result was not good. She has a fracture running vertically from her hip down about four inches (my estimate from seeing the xray). The ER physician told me she would need a hip replacement and that an orthopedic surgeon would come to talk to me in an hour or so. In the meantime, they did all the tests for pre-op, put in an IV and catheter, and on and on. As the evening wore on, I could see her energy draining and her emotional outlook went from sunny to cloudy. The nurses were not allow to let her sit upright, so eating or drinking anything was very difficult. But an internal medicine doctor came in and announced that she was cleared for surgery. Then the orthopedic surgeon arrived and told us that she would not be having a hip replacement. She needs an intramedullary nailing, meaning a rod inserted in her femur. Here is the full description from the web of what will be done: “The procedure where a rod is put into a fractured femur bone is called intramedullary nailing. It’s a type of surgery called open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF), which is usually required to heal a broken femur:
1. The surgeon makes a small incision in the hip or knee
2. A specially designed metal rod, usually made of titanium, is inserted into the center canal of the femur, also known as the intramedullary space
3. The rod passes across the fracture line to keep it in place
4. Screws are placed above and below the fracture to hold the leg in alignment while the bone heals
The rod helps support the bone until it heals. Other devices that may be used during ORIF include plates, wires, or nails. The surgery usually takes place while the patient is asleep under general anesthesia and may take a few hours. While most people do well after ORIF, complications can occur, including infection, bleeding, nerve damage, and blood clots.”
Recovery is easier than a hip replacement, but no surgery is easy when you are 91. The surgeon told me that a decision on whether it will be done tomorrow or Wednesday will be made between 7 and 8 pm in the morning. He suggested I be there, so I headed home. I hated leaving Patsy alone, but she has to spend the night in the ER as there are no rooms available and there was no room for me in the ER room. I stood outside her room for most of the four hours I was there, and no way was I going to sleep in folding chair!
I have cancelled tomorrow’s flight, extended my car rental, and Heather has found an Airbnb for me near the hospital where I will have a kitchen and can cook. I have eaten nothing healthy since leaving home on Friday. Hopefully I’ll have a successful surgery story to share tomorrow night.
by Judy Handley | Jul 28, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 210: Shop ‘til You Drop
Date: Sunday, July 28, 2024
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High Temp 87, Low 71 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Sister in Mooresville, NC
You know you are in the Bible Belt when there are book racks at the end of aisles full of Bible study books. And you know you are down South when it is so hot that the black steering wheel in your car is literally so hot you cannot touch it. So, yes, I am in the Bible Belt down South. Since it has been a year since I have been here, and since I am the person officially in charge of making sure my sister has all of the clothes and household items she needs, there have been a lot of things to buy. My first foray was back to Walmart to return some clothing items I bought yesterday that didn’t fit. Then I started on the household items. Commander Clips to hang to hang a wreath on Patsy’s door and photos on the walls. Duct tape to match her brown/ beige carpeting to tape down the long phone cord that had to be installed. The cord runs right in front of her door to the outside, so it had to be securely taped down. Paper towels, liquid hand soap, laundry detergent to wash her compression stockings each night, dish detergent. And on and on and on. I got back just in time for lunch. This Wednesday is the last day for residents here to switch their cable tv to a private account instead of being provided by Terra Bella. And one woman at our table has been given the run around by the cable company. Since I have dealt with this already, I had the private cell number for the man from the cable company who is supervising the changeover. I was able to text him and get answers for the woman as we sat there for which she was very appreciative.
The afternoon required a trip to the laundromat. For whatever reason, when I arrived on Friday, Patsy’s dirty clothes basket runneth over. Usually, the laundry is done a couple of times a week, but I don’t think that happened last week. While the clothes were washing, I went to a mattress store. Patsy bed is too high and can’t be lowered any further, so I need to find a solution. I think that will be buying a new mattress that is not as deep as her current mattress and a bunkie board instead of box springs. But that search will continue tomorrow, my last day here.
I was supposed to take Patsy out to dinner tonight, but by the time I got back from the laundromat, it was after 5:30, the time for dinner here at Terra Bella. Patsy was not in her room and she was not in her normal dining room. I found her in another dining room happily eating dinner. She had forgotten that I was taking her out. We did need to go out to pick up something from Brian and Judy Thompson, so we drove there and visited a bit before returning home to watch the Olympics tonight. All of the running here and there today totally wore me out. Hopefully that will help me sleep a little more soundly in the recliner. I miss my bed!
by Judy Handley | Jul 27, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 209: Fun BBQ at Tommy and Marilou’s
Date: Saturday, July 27, 2024
Weather: Partly Sunny; High Temp 85, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Sister in Mooresville, NC
Most of today was spent checking things off my list of ‘must do’s’ while here with my sister. After a mostly sleepless night due to the Sudafed I took (the instant cold is gone), I got up at 7:15 to go to breakfast with Patsy. One of my goals while here is to determine if the food here at Terra Bella is just normal institution food or is as inedible as my sister says. After breakfast we worked on going through more piles of papers and cards and getting rid of as much as possible. We did this while watching a bit of the Olympics and suddenly, it was time for lunch. I decided to skip eating lunch with my sister so I could go shopping for much needed clothing essentials. That was a painful, but a partly successful venture. However, trying to find long-sleeved pajamas in the middle of summer just didn’t work. I did find some options to order after seeing the real thing in the store—just not in petites sizes. I am only 5 feet tall, and I look tall next to my sister. So she really is short. Anything not in a petite size is always too long in length and in the length of the sleeves.
When I got home from the shopping trip, I had leftover salad from yesterday’s dinner for lunch, watched more Olympics, and did more apartment organization. Then we were off to our nephew Tommy’s. And what a fun time we had there. Tommy’s wife, Marilou, has her 94 year old father, Bob, living with them. His 94th birthday was this week and his two sons that life out west were there visiting. Patsy and I played a game of Play Nine, a card game where you play nine holes (rounds) and the person with the lowest score wins. This is a game the whole family can play and the two 90 somethings scored in the top half. Such fun. Tommy was outside at the grill all of this time cooking a feast of grilled steak, shrimp, and sausages, potatoes and zucchini and onions. He has a cast iron grill that is fantastic. As we wrapped up the card game, the neighbors arrived, plus one of Marilou and Tommy’s daughters, Madeline. Added to all the meat and grilled veggies Tommy prepared, we had a beautiful fruit salad, cucumber and tomato salad, and a to die for chocolate dessert. It was all fabulous.
by Judy Handley | Jul 26, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 208: Falmouth to Boston to Mooresville, North Carolina
Date: Friday, July 26, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 83, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Sister in Mooresville, NC
It was an 11 hour trek from Falmouth to my sister’s apartment in Mooresville, NC today. Lynne took me to the bus station at 7 am. There was no traffic this morning, so we arrived at the airport in an hour and a half instead of two hours. Check in was fast, but then I had a two and a half hour wait for my flight. I was a little nervous as I was flying Delta, but everything was on time for the two-and-a-half-hour flight. But upon arrival in Charlotte, things slowed down. We landed on time at 1:40 pm, but it was 3:45 before I got in my rental and started the last leg of the trip, the 45 minutes to Mooresville. Once in Mooresville, I stopped to have a late lunch/early dinner, picked up some items at the grocery store and a drug store, and finally arrived at Terra Bella Senior Living just after 6 pm. Before we landed in Charlotte, I got one of what I call my instant colds. These ‘events’ are obviously an allergic reaction to something and more often than not, it always happens when I fly and is usually gone by the next morning with a little help from Sudafed. I sure hope that is the case this time.
Patsy and I have spent the evening watching the parade of athletes from around the world in the Olympic Opening Ceremony. She put me to work tonight taking a whole shelf of framed photos out of frames. I have a huge list of things I want to accomplish in my three days here, but tomorrow afternoon we will take a break and visit with our nephew who lives about 20 minutes from here.
I am sleeping in one of Patsy’s living room recliners for as many nights as I can handle. One of the tasks on my list is observing just how much assistance she is receiving in assisted living. It is 10:45 pm and no one has come in to take off her compression stockings and help her get dressed for bed. Hmmm. She pays an extra $900+ a month for assistance in showering twice a week and getting dressed in the morning and ready for bed at night. But when I arrived today, she did not have compression stockings on as per her doctor’s orders. It might be an enlightening three days.
by Judy Handley | Jul 25, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 207: A Little Bit of Everything
Date: Thursday, July 25, 2024
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High Temp 76, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
This was definitely a day of jumping from one thing to another, just a little bit of everything. Lynne went with me this morning to the bank to deal with some Encore business and she got to meet Christinia. Then we were off to the library where Christina and I were presenting a donation to the Friends of the Library as this year’s Encore charitable donation. Lynne served as our photographer to capture the moment, and then we headed to Heather and Jed’s to make sure Ollie was up and about. I then took Lynne home as she hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. I changed into beach clothes, picked up Ollie and then two other friends and we headed to the beach for swim lessons. I dropped the boys and went back home to get Lynne so we could sit on the beach and visit.
After swim lessons, we went home so Ollie could shower and do his chores for today. He had to unload the dishwasher and clean his aquarium. We went to CVS to buy the things he needed for Scout camp next week, stopped at Stop and Shop to buy some clam chowder for Ollie, and then to my house to have lunch. I spent time outside playing with Shadow, fixed a leak in my garden irrigation system, and before we knew it, it was time to take Ollie home so he could get ready to go to the County Fair with Seton and his family.
Lynne and made up a new recipe for stuffed zucchini for dinner that required tofu crumbles. I have been wanting to make them all summer and finally got the opportunity. The crumbles which are fried with a spicey mixture make a great substitute for ground beef in a stuffed zucchini recipe. By this time, my back was beginning to ache, so while the stuffed zucchini baked, Lynne and I sat down and had a glass of wine. After dinner, I finally packed for tomorrow’s trip to North Carolina and we called it a day.
Tomorrow morning, just before 7 am, Lynne will take me to the bus station for the first leg of my trip to visit with my sister in North Carolina. Car to bus station, bus to Logan airport, plane trip to Charlotte, rent a car, drive north to visit briefly with my nephew Tommy, then drive on to my sister’s apartment in her assisted living facility. That will be my day tomorrow.
