Mama Jane vs Michael Jackson vs Farrah Fawcett

As I sit to type this the country is mourning the passing of "the" pop star of our time along with the passing of Farrah Fawcett....2 icons that I personally grew up with in the 70's. BUT...I have MUCH more important news to tell......

Mom had her 3 week follow up appointment with Dr Walpert today....the best way to describe the outcome of the appointment is to say that the brilliant neurosurgeon was absolutely "speechless" at how well Mom is doing and how far she has come in a mere 3 weeks. Some quotes from Dr Walpert "You don't even look like the same person that walked into this office before surgery".....when we told her that Mom had not even used the walker at all her response was "WOW" and we got the same response when Mom told her she had not taken any pain medication in almost 10 days! The prescription that Mom was given today for her ongoing recovery is as follows:

1) Mom is free to drive...she practiced today by driving to the mailbox. She even has an appointment tomorrow to see her hair stylist!!!!
2) Mom can do "light" housekeeping...using Aunt Judiths favorite toy from her visit (the cordless vacuum), laundry using her grabber, she can take Tiki out also.
3) Dr Walpert also gave her permission to do "some" bending over...for example...to shave her legs (thank you to Donna when she wasn't able to do this for herself)....but not too much, too often.
4) The back brace stays on during waking hours until 8 weeks from the day of surgery which takes us all the way to July 29th.
5) Starting on July 29th she will start "weaning" herself from the brace....1 hr on, 1 hr off the first day, 2 hours on, 2 hours off the 2nd day and so on and so forth.
6) The embroidery business is completely open again, as well as the other machine that does alterations.
7) Lifting anything too heavy is still a restriction.....I will have to watch her because just tonight I caught her lifting a stack of dishes out of the cabinet! Thank goodness I have the 4 legged kids to watch her when I am not here.
8) IRONING!!! Mom can iron!!! Thank the good Lord...I only had one dry cleaning bill and when I paid it, I thought to myself...I can't afford for this to continue! (And they didn't even do as good a job as Mom can do) She did a little bit the other day and did fine with it...as long as she takes breaks and doesn't do it for too long at one time.

With all of the above said, we know that the incredible nursing that she got from her sister Judith during that first week has made all the difference in where she is today!!! Mom and I are very, very pleased with how things have gone so far and we anticipate nothing but UP from here...I can ONLY hope that when and if I made it to 71 years old that I have the same will, strength and abilities that Mama Jane has right now!!! She is definately someone to admire for her determination!!!

Moms next appointment with Dr Walpert is 3 months from now on September 24th. There won't be an x-ray to check bone growth until 6 months out, so no Fall tennis for Mom but I am betting she will be raring to go come Winter and Spring tennis!!! Oh yeah, the bone growth stimulator will remain a constant in her life for at least 6 months as well...but that's okay, it's only 30 minutes out of the day and it doesn't hurt!!!

PS Dr Walpert was very impressed with the flair on Moms brace!!