december 2017:
…we’re looking forward to celebrating the joys of the holiday season with friends, before patti visits the operating room on december 27th , 2017, to have the three steel plates and 23 screws removed from her lower leg and ankle… … … …
december 2018: did i blink? more than once? where did that year go?
oh, now i remember – the surgeon said it would take at least one year (12-18 months, in all truth and honesty) to heal from the ‘hardware’ removal surgery, that was performed/executed (the surgeons do use power tools, after all) almost exactly one year ago.
i
know everyone laughs and grumbles about senior moments, however, i have to
admit, there is a positive side to not remembering the goings-on in an
operating room, and the aftermath to whatever went on in that sterile room…
what i have been told is that the surgeon booked the OR for 1.5 hours, that
staff and patient occupied the OR for over three hours, and that the surgeon had
to chisel the bone away from the steel plates, so that he could remove them.
patti's leg with screw holes :-)
in the beginning, B!M and i were quite proud that all the efforts we had made to enhance and feed bone growth and bone strengthening had paid off, substantially, if i do say so myself. in reality, the surgery to remove the ‘hardware’ was much more serious and invasive than i had originally allowed myself to believe.
thinking
that three months was plenty of time to heal from a ‘simple’ surgery, we took
advantage of an unexpected opportunity to spend two weeks on the island of maui
during the month of march, for the very special treat of visiting during whale
watching season. we had a delightful time enjoying our favorite activities of
snorkeling, watching sunsets,
seeing whales frolicking,
and patti’s favorite
activity of walking barefoot in the sand on a beautiful hawaiian beach.
all the while, thinking i was returning to the enjoyment of ‘normal’ activities. the reality included B!M having to rescue patti, numerous times, during a beach walk, because the pain in my ankle was so extreme, i absolutely couldn’t walk one more step.
i
simply didn’t process the surgeon telling me to take it slow and easy! i was
under the impression that walking barefoot in the sand was slow and easy (and,
good exercise to strengthen my ankle). well, i have been paying for that
misguided thinking for the past nine months! finally, taking to heart the
advice of ‘slow and easy’, daily life has revolved around not overdoing it,
lots and lots of physical therapy, and softer therapies to balance the PT,
allowing B!M to be my chauffeur, getting lots more help for the garden work,
and poor B!M having to take over more of the maintenance chores.
on
this december day, having just returned from “a month of days” on the island of
maui…
where snorkeling in the warm waters was a relaxing tonic to our bodies
and souls.
we got a kick out of the role reversal of B!M taking walks on the beach, while patti sat and enjoyed the view! we have never ‘done’ so little on a maui visit! maybe we have finally aged enough to allow ourselves to take it slow and easy! all the hard work of the last nine months is beginning to pay off, with less pain, which i am now confident will be even less, especially if i give it the essential six more months of healing!
we hope that your holidays are filled with joy and love,
shared with family and friends.
