Robin's Nest

  It has been three weeks since the hip surgery. A very busy 3 weeks I might add. On one hand it seems like forever and on the other it seems even longer! If I could turn back time I would and make sure all the little things that should have been done prior to surgery, were done. The most difficult things for DH to do are the things he took for granted prior to the surgery.  Today we go for a follow up visit. The original post-op visit that was scheduled the day of surgery, that has been pre-empted by several other visits for minor flare-ups, is today.    He also gets the wound VAC taken off today. Hopefully this will be the end of the pain that has plagued him for years and the beginning of more activity for him. I ordered some new equipment and I tried out the thermometer on him and this is what I got for a reading. Talk about giving me a scare With another surgery in his future for the other hip it should be interesting to see how the surgeon feels about a timelin...

It was supposed to be another quiet day today, it wasn't but that is becoming the norm around here. My chickens don't even recognize me, the dogs think they live here alone, the neighbors are getting used to hearing me fall and that is just the beginning. This time the fall hurt worse than on the 9th. of the month. I think both caught me by surprise but I was moving faster before this fall than the last one. Falling contributes to disorganization in a way that can only be experienced first hand. When you ache all over you move less and have less desire to get things in order. Add to that having others (2 and 4 legged) that do not keep things neat. Presto! Disorganization takes over. Today DH had a wound vac placed over the surgical site, tomorrow we go in for a needle aspiration of the site to remove the fluid that has built up and have it tested for any signs of infection. Praying there isn't any as it would mean going back in and cleaning it out. Did I mention anesthesia ...

  I am not sure where the time went but it is gone. Our fun at the hospital is in the past or so I think. Tomorrow I take DH in for bloodwork and his wallet has been missing for a week now. Trying to replace documents is a pain. As I sit and write this post I realize that I do not know where my ID card is. So this will be a very short post as I will need it to get either one of us on base. Frazzled is the term that comes to mind when I think of how I feel this week. Nothing is done that should be. Not only do I not know what day it is most of the time, I cannot stay focused as I am pulled left and right by the people I love and they do not even realize how stressed I am. In fact, I am not sure I even know! Well instead of writing about all this frustration and frazzled state I am in I must close and go find the documents that I am missing. Good night blog and rest well... someone needs to.

This morning everyone slept in a bit. It was relaxing even though we were all up by 0630. That was my birthday present, sleeping in. Now that DH is home we are looking forward to less running around and more progress on things around here. After his shower last night I discovered that the dressing the nurse gave me to put on the surgery site was definitely the wrong dressing! It wouldn't come off without pulling on the surgical site covering that isn't supposed to come off for 2 more weeks. So I left a message with his surgeon's post care nurse. I just received a call back from the nurse asking if I could bring him in. Of course! This way I can get some instruction on what they want done for real. Before we leave I need to feed the chickens and gather eggs. And the usual check my garden stuff. His appointment is for 1:00 this afternoon.  So instead of relaxing on this my birthday I shall get some "you know what" done! It is beautiful outside so it is a good day to...

 I feel like a ten o'clock scholar today. A quick recap of the weekend, Friday DH ran a fever, hallucinations were vivid and more frequent. His skin was very dusky in color and his lips were bluish. Pain was worse and he started having tremors or spasms call them whatever you want but he was twitching about like there was an electrical shock poking him every few seconds. So when my son-in-law arrived to pick up his kiddo he took mine also. I requested his help to load DH into the car to go to the ER. We spent six hours in the ER at the hospital where the surgery was done only to be told they could not accommodate his level of care. At 0230 he was transported to their sister hospital. AMR arrived and tried to transfer him with stretchy sheets and no slide board, they dropped his newly operated on hip onto the rails of the gurney. Then when they arrived at the receiving hospital they dropped the whole operative leg onto the floor while moving him onto the bed from the gurney. The new...

It started early and continued every two hours or so throughout the night. Almost like a newborn feeding schedule. As the nerve blocks and pain meds wore off the night got more challenging. To say he may have overdone it wouldn't justice to the way the day went. I warned him at 0230 when he woke for the second time that I would leave early to get the grandchild, put out the trash barrel at the other house and buy water at the store in town. As the little one and I returned home the sun rose gloriously! It was beautiful and serene. It was the only peaceful moment of the day!  Everyone was up when I returned and DH was getting ready for work... yup hasn't worked in 9 years but today he was going to go, in gym shorts, one sock and one sandal (not on the same foot either), no shirt. I remember going that way to work... NOT. Not one lick of school work was done today. The well guy came over and got us setup with temporary water supply until a new pressure tank can be installed. It i...

  Kalyse arrived screaming and fighting and weighing in at 1pound 5.7ounces! Prior to her arrival I am sure that DH broke the record for length of time in recovery at 3.5 hours for a 100 minute operation.  Let's start with a picture of little Kalyse! I wish I could rotate it so it shows better but it is what it is and below you can see her grasp her dad's finger. She and mama are doing well but support aunt and dad both ran fevers and were kicked out of the hospital today so her maternal gramma (April) is there to be with mama as baby was finally delivered via cesarean 80 hours after her waters broke.   Between the record stay in recovery and the baby finally making her debut... My doggies had lunch... or a snack... well let's just say they tried to eat the couch.... Either they were very hungry or very frustrated at being left alone. So today was spent trying to fix the damage and hope for no more tantrums! A quick but expensive couch cover and you can barely notice the ...

Today was the day they promised that Kalyse would introduce herself to the world. She did not. Her mom has been on the pitocin all day with no progress. Well God knows best and all we can do is trust that she will arrive in His time. They feel she is strong and may stand a fighting chance. We stayed busy all day doing things on our check list. No sense waiting by the phone. Both pools are winter ready save folding up the liner for the small pool. Both my daughter and I feel we can handle that this week. As we put the cover on the big pool the wind kicked up and gave us "what for". Thankfully the two older grand children and both of my daughters were there to help us.  We also had cake for the grandson's 14th birthday today baked by his sister. She loves to mess gramma's kitchen up LOL.  Just in case you do not recognize them it is Whopper jr. and a Whopper! By the time she was done creating she had every counter top covered! She had a great time and so did the girls h...

Well today has been a bit of a rush, rush kind of day. I am working on the impeller and it does not want to come out of the machine. I have pulled and tugged and pulled again with no movement at all. So it leads me to believe that I am a weakling!  While I fussed with that washer Gary was busy being creative about emptying the smaller pool.  You can see all the mud and leaves that have accumulated this past month. It actually is quite clean now that almost all of the water is out. He used the frame ledges from the larger pool to hold the liner of the smaller one high enough to rinse off. By morning what is left of the sand may be dried enough to just sweep off. Also since we seem to be limited to one large task per day this was a good one to get done! Looking sideways under the pool as it drains. I am thankful that the water wasn't wasted. The majority went into the larger pool for next year's swimming fun! We did have to drain out the last few gallons onto the ground just to ...

  Pumpkin doggie treats... sounded good but I had an early morning appointment for the youngest on Friday.  I hoped to get them made that afternoon but that didn't happen. When I arrived home the two big dogs escaped and the delivery truck had dropped the part for my washer on the porch. Washer repair will prevent doggie treats from being made. Big dogs escaping will prevent washer repair until caught.  This week has made it clear to me that one big or heavy project done in any one day is all we can do. Yesterday it was putting the brackets on the pool frame. So where does that leave me for the rest of the projects around here? I am not sure at this point. Perhaps a list, with the priorities clarified, would be helpful. Knowing me I would probably lose the list. The washer will be somewhere near the top.  Today I also start the third pair of slippers. I just need to locate a box of yarn that is here somewhere... The impeller that they sent does not appear to be the s...

Making lists seems to be the best way for me to get things done. Keeping track of the lists is a problem area. Years ago I had a "planner" the Army provided and required you to use. I did use it and began to lose my mental lists forever. Now if it doesn't get written down I might get it done eventually but it will be a while. Looking back I wonder if using the planner helped or hurt. It doesn't really matter anymore I am just curious. We finished two of the major things we wanted done before October yesterday. One was getting the pool liner into the large pool. The other was getting a car that Gary had been fixing for the one of the granddaughters to her. It has been over a year in the repair process but it is finally done! She picked it up from our Leoti house last night! She turns 20 this year and is going to college and working so a car is pretty essential. The kids all begged to be enrolled in the local school yesterday. Not because they had too much homeschool wo...