Sunday, July 12th

It's been a week or more since I made a post....as Mom continues to get better and better and better, there is less to report other than her "milestones"!

Many milestones have been reached:
1) The Laundry Fairy has returned in full force (yes, this includes ironing and she does do a much better job than any dry cleaner)

2) Cooking: Yes, Mom is back to cooking. Every once in awhile she might need a pot or a pan from a lower shelf so she plans ahead to make sure she has what she needs before I head off to work or anywhere else.

3) Sewing: Both alterations and embroidery

4) Going out at night...just this past Friday night she went to a party with all her tennis friends, I was already in bed when she got home.

5) House Cleaning: Is running her cordless vacuum and dusting, also doing dishes that don't go in the dishwasher...the dishwasher...I empty the bottom shelf and she takes care of the top shelf

6) Mom is able to take Tiki outside but still can't bend over to pick up the presents that Tiki leaves in the yard

7) She is going to the grocery store without me now...first time since late April, early May

Her incision is healed for the most part (all of the scab is gone) and looks really good.

Well...this is the best I can do for an update at this point....she is counting down the days until she can start coming out of her brace and we are at 17 days and counting until that event starts to take place.

Hope everyone is doing well out there...things here at 260 get more normal with each day that passes!!!

The 3rd & 4th of July!!!

As you can all see from the pictures we have been having some fun here at 260 the past few days!! Sharla got into town Thursday evening and from that point on fun was had by everybody for the next 2 days!

Friday night Buddy & Donna joined us for burgers on the deck...we had a really great time!

Saturday I spent the day cooking and guests started arriving at 5pm. We had a great Happy Hour and then it was on to a great meal of my "famous" ribs.

You can see for yourself that Mom looks fabulous and is doing really, really, really good!! She certainly did her best to keep up with us youngsters this weekend!!

This morning (Sunday) I got up early to cook for "Breakfast at Wimbledon", Kendra came over and I served she and Mom strawberries and cream, then a breakfast of fresh sausage, fresh country ham, biscuits and eggs! Roger and Andy are still going at it and as I type this the score is 14-15 in the 5th set!!

We hope that everyone had a glorious holiday....it sure was a lot of fun around here!!!

A Great time with a Great Friend!

Tonight Mom and I had a great time with Donna Williams, a friend of mine that I met some 17 years ago. She came over with dinner already prepped and we had an awesome meal of pork loin shis-ka-bobs complete with a spinach salad. The weather was nice enough for us to enjoy our meal on the deck tonight!!!

Mom is doing great!!! As you can see from the above picture, we all think she looks 10 years younger compared to how she looked before surgery!!!

Mom is wearing her brace faithfully and looking very forward to when she can start coming out of it a month from now! I don't have a lot of stuff to report other than we are once again enjoying life here at 260 Mallard Pointe Way and it is my feeling that once Mom completely recovers we all better "watch out"...I am thinking I might have to put a GPS on her....she is going to be hard to stop and that is okay...she deserves it and I like I said in an earlier post that I can only hope that I have her drive and determination at 71 years old.

We hope that everyone has an awesome 4th of July!! We are looking forward to Sharlas visit as she is scheduled to come into town Thursday evening. I am off work until Monday and plan on spending a lot of my time between here, the pool and the deck. God has given me an awesome consolation prize for not being able to go to the beach by taking away the humidity and we are loving it here at 260 as it makes for awesome evenings on our deck, a sanctuary that I worked very hard to create!!

Almost a regular kind of Saturday!!!

It's been a couple of days since I have written...as Mom continues to recover and get better and better with everyday that passes I am sure that my blog installments will slow to every couple of days or so.

Today was almost like a regular Saturday around here....I slept till 11am and when I got up and came upstairs I found a note on the counter that Mom had gone to meet a Ms Anne and Margaret for coffee at Paneras. On a real true regular Saturday Mom typically plays tennis and then goes to breakfast with her tennis buds.

Mom and I spent the afternoon running errands, the grocery store, Lowes and Office Depot...will probably hit Belks tomorrow. Everyday I am seeing more of the Mom before pain coming out...she wears her brace every where and even today got praise from the check out attendants at Publix!!!

Yesterday she made the trip by herself to the hair stylist and all went really well!!

We are going to have to still be careful about Moms activity level because she does get tired and did take a short nap this afternoon to get over the outing today.

Thank you to all of you that are coming to visit and calling....Mom loves having the company especially during the week when I am at work.

This coming week will bring us the July 4th holiday....I am only working on Monday and Tuesday and then taking the rest of the week off....hope to spend some good pool time and read a couple of books!!! Sharla is suppose to be coming to hang with us, getting in Thursday evening and that will be a treat for Mom and I like it always is!

Hope that all of you are having a great weekend and staying cool with these hot temps we are having!!!

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!!

No humidity = Nice evening on the deck

It's Tuesday, June 23rd...tomorrow marks Mom being 3 weeks post op. The humidity left us today and we took advantage of the nice evening and sat on the deck with a couple of cocktails and the 4 legged kids.

Mom is doing great, starting to get really antsy which is going to make the next 5 weeks really hard for her. We have an appointment to see Dr Walpert on Thursday...perhaps Mom will be doing good enough that she might give her a tad of her freedom back...stay tuned for those results.

I did do a blood draw on Mom today as we were both curious about what her hemoglobin was doing....it is up to 10.0 which is still 2 whole points away from normal but we feel that is okay and it will be normal in due time.

So...keep those visits and phone calls coming....Mom will definately benefit from extra activities over the next 5 weeks!

Mama Jane Speaks!!!

Awesome Daughter says that it's time for me to speak up. It's hard to believe that it has been 2 weeks since I came home from the hospital with my foggy brain. Thank goodness the foggy brain is gone and I feel more like myself each day. The brace is cumbersome and it's hard to be "fashionable" when you feel like you are as round as a barrel but Awesome Daughter and my 2nd daughter (Sharla) "blinged" me out to make me feel more fashionable.
Breakfast with the Sat. AM tennis group was fun. It was great to see them and they all thought I looked great. (Guess one does look better when they are pain free). After breakfast I came home and took a short rest before getting ready to go to the reception deal. Again I saw folks at the reception that thought that I looked good and couldn't believe that I am so mobile. Take the cane with me mostly as "security" but really don't use it much.
Today was a great day, the most active one I've had since early May. It feels so good to be able to go out and not worry about the legs tingling and getting numb. I know I'll sleep well tonite.
Wimbledon starts Monday so you folks that know me know that I'll be keeping an eye on that while I sew. It's time for me to learn how to use the monogram system for the embroidery machine.
I must give a great big hug and kiss to Awesome Daughter for all she has done for me...plus keeping me in line.