HOUSEKEEPING CHORES AND SURGERY

Monday, February 22 – Well, found out that my back surgery is scheduled for March 1. I am glad I've been put on the schedule and I can quit wondering and get things ready. I have a few thing to get ready so Marsha won't have to worry about them....things like getting the propane tank filled, exercising the genset and giving the motor home a bath. I also would like to get our taxes filed...ukk!

Just heard on the TV we have a winter weather advisory for Livingston, TX for tomorrow.....what's with that?????? I promised Marsha no more snow when we began full-timing....huh oh!

Tuesday, February 23 – Thank goodness the snow was only in the air....little/no snow stayed on the ground. As a matter of fact, by noon the temperature was in the 50's, although the breeze was cold, and the sun was shinning brightly.

Spring is coming Ohio. Marsha ran to the store, and they are selling flowers everywhere. Marsha went crazy!

Thursday, February 25 – We did some Motorhome preparations prior to my surgery next week. Since we will be sitting for 6 weeks, we filled the propane tank, checked the oil levels and made sure the tires were at properly inflated. We then took the motor home for a ride and ran the generator. When we returned to our campsite, we washed the motor home from stem to stern. That just about killed me.....my back is definitely ready for surgery!

We had breakfast, French toast and bacon, for supper. We saw a guest chef cook French toast on the Today Show the other day, and decided on it for dinner.

The rest of the day was for naps and watching the Olympics.

Friday, February 26 - Paid our monthly rent at Escapees Park. We've been here two weeks and our rent, which includes electricity and water, was $ 14.19 per day. Not bad. Our only other utility was propane which was $23.10 which averages out to $1.65 per day. So our daily cost here at Escapee's Park is a whooping $15.84.

The doctor’s office called telling me to be at the hospital by 11:45, which means my surgery won’t be until about 1:00 p.m. Going to be a long day.

Did you see the moon tonight. WOW….how big and beautiful.

Sunday, February 28 – We were heading down to Humble, on the outskirts of Houston, to have lunch with Carrie, our youngest daughter, but she got lost and ended up somewhere off of I-45. We were off I-59. Needless to say, we didn’t eat lunch with her. We also did some shopping at Best Buy. There aren't many shopping opportunities here in Livingston, TX. There is a medium size Walmart but that's about it for the “big box” type stores. We replaced our DVD player which is on the fritz.

Monday, March 1 – I had Paul at the hospital by 11:00 CT. They took him back and began pre-op right away. Dr. Wimberly finished his surgery prior to Paul early so he was ready whenever they were finished with Paul.

Before surgery

He went to surgery at 12:45. I received a call in the waiting room about 3:45 telling me all was going fine. Surgery was over at 4:45. Dr. Wimberly talked with me in a private room. He showed me the x-ray of the hardware in Paul’s back. He said he was able to get his spine aligned 90%. Really good. All nerves were released so he shouldn’t have that pain any more. All-in-all, a very successful surgery. Paul got to his room around 6:00. He is all hooked up. The nurses are wonderful.

After surgery

His room is gorgeous! It is like being in a very expensive hotel room. It is the biggest hospital room i have ever been in. The TV is in a beautiful cabinet. There is a refrigerator and the bathroom is HUGE!

Writing desk

Huge room

TV cabinet and refrigerator

The nurse showed me the Nourishment room. It is a room that family members can go and get just about any type of liquid to drink, Jell-O, pudding, and other snacks. She said to help myself whenever I am up and get Paul anything he wants. Never heard of such a thing. They told me I could stay all night in the room if I want. They had a blanket and pillow ready for me.

Tuesday, March 2 – I stayed at Carrie’s last night. Got up early and went to see Paul. He was sitting up in a chair. They had got him up and walking. They tried to walk him last night but his blood pressure was too low. Dr. Wimberly had already been in to see him. Said all looked good. Paul isn’t in much pain. He does have a line directly in the spine that released morphine to the fused area. He is only allowed to have Jell-O until they can hear his stomach starting to rumble. That will be the juices are flowing and he can have solid food.

I talked to him around 8:30. Carrie went up to visit him and Kelly had called. He said he still felt good with very little pain. He was walking the halls a few times since this morning. All sounds positive.

Wednesday, March 3 – He finally got a real breakfast. Said it tasted great. Dr. Wimberly was in and said he plans to send him home tomorrow. Great news!!! They finally took the Cather out around 5 and the pain medication stopped early in the afternoon. We talked on the phone about 6:00. Things aren’t going as well today. He walked several times but has a very bad upset stomach. He could not eat lunch or dinner. Hopefully, once he can go to the bathroom this will all pass. He does have more pain today. They can give him some oral pain medication. The doctor said to expect pain for the next week. He will have a prescription for pain once he is released. Let’s hope tonight goes better than today.

Thanks again for visiting. Sorry for such a long delay in posting. Please stop back.