Monthly Archives: October 2022

Memory Lane

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Yesterday was a trip down memory lane for many reasons.

First of all, Devin’s surgery went well and we are now just onto managing a good recovery.

Heading into a surgical facility didn’t so much as trigger memories of taking Ted to the hospital, as it is set up as an outpatient surgery center and thus has a different feel to me. Preparing to go, did have me thinking of Ted’s nurses – that I still keep in touch with – and thoughts of who would be on the care giving side today that would touch our lives.

Once there, they took Devin back and prepped him for surgery and then came to get me. Poor Devin was so nervous now that he was in a gown, hair net on, and had spoken to the anesthesiologist, that he was prepared to back out, go home and live with the ankle in the current condition forever.

The anesthesiologist came back again to discuss another point and assured Devin that while he would still be breathing on his own, he would be to the point of not knowing he was even in the room or remember anything. I joked that if it were me, I would ask to be allowed to stay awake to see the surgery. Dr. House scoffed and said that people don’t want to see it in real life, let alone on themselves. I begged to differ and said that I had only been under a local and had surgery in this very place just a few years back and had a really nice visit in the surgery with the surgeon and staff. To my surprise, Devin’s nurse then stepped forward and said that it must have been with Dr Moore that I had my surgery as she is one of the best. I confirmed her suspicion and liked that she had guessed first try who my surgeon had been. She went on to say that we again lucked out with one of the best foot surgeons for this visit. She used Dr. House for her own Dr. as well. In fact, probably three different nurses commented on how lucky we were to have him as Devin’s doctor. This helped Devin overcome the jitters enough to have everyone sign off on the paperwork and wheel him into surgery.

Dr. House (yep it is his real name and he has a much better bedside manner than the TV DR House) met with me after the surgery, showed me the xrays taken after the correction was made with the plate and screws, and proclaimed that there wasn’t ligament damage and they were just able to properly put the bones and ankle placement back to where it needed to be.

A bit later, once they had gotten Devin awake once more – the recovery nurse said that he had a bit of a hard time waking up – I had flashbacks of when Devin was young and had a bunch of dental work done and they had similarly sedated him to do the work. He was nonsensical and goofy both then and now as he came out of the haze of sedation. He was being such a pistol, that the nurse at one point turned and jokingly asked just how many kids at home did I have to deal with as this one seemed to be a full time project just now. 🤣

The anesthesiologist came back and was relaying stories from putting Devin under and since Devin had been a jokester, to test if he was getting sedated, he asked him for a joke. Apparently, Devin was already under before he could answer, so the Dr. filled in with a joke of his own. The anesthesiologist admitted that he didn’t get the joke and as he told it to us, it also didn’t make much sense. He retold it as: There was a Reverend, a Priest and a Rabbit that entered the hospital and something about giving blood and the rabbit being type – O. He left and came back a few minutes later and said it was suppose to be: A priest, a minister, and a rabbit walk in to donate blood. The rabbit says, I think I might be a typo. Ba dumm dumm. (sounds like a joke my brother would have said to Devin on the many banters they have had)

Devin has zero recall of any of the recovery time in the facility. I don’t think it was until we were partially home that he started to retain any memories of our conversations. Several times, he asked how he got dressed and conversations that we had already had twice were brought up like they were new.

Once home, we ate, got him comfortable and seemed to be going all without a hitch until he called me in to show me that he was bleeding through all of his bandages and wrap. We elevated the foot a bit higher and I called the doctor’s after hours number and left a message. He called right back and said to add a bit more compression with another wrap and keep it high and bleeding should cease. We did and it did.

We will see how today goes. They say day two and three are the worst for pain and issues, so fingers crossed that we stay ahead of it.

Assume all is fine if you don’t hear from me. Or as Jimmy Buffet sang “If the phone don’t ring, you’ll know it’s me.”

Thanks for all of your good thoughts and prayers.

Love Sally





Off to Surgery

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We had Devin’s follow up foot-ortho Dr appt on Monday and with new Xrays, they determined that his ankle had shifted and should have surgery.

To be fair, they did give Devin options: 1. It would heal in the current condition, but would be arthritic before long because of how it was situated. 2. he could wait until his work insurance kicks in (likely not until Jan due to some miscommunication on when he had to have signed up originally). This option would include allowing it to heal now and going in and re-breaking it later to correct everything. 3. Just go ahead and get the surgery now while everything was workable and didn’t require extra measures. My thoughts on the options were: 1. he’s too young to want to start dealing with joints that will always bother him. 2. being inactive for healing once is driving him nuts, he doesn’t want to go through it twice. 3. This will drain all of his savings and then some (I am sure he is groaning that he just got his car paid off and thought he had a decent slush fund), but he can recoup money and it is better to do it now.

Not wanting to be out of commission and go through this twice, he decided to just have it done now. The surgeon’s office was awesome enough to call around to the facilities they use and get the best facility rate that they could. This shopping saved thousands of dollars – so if you are ever in that position, make sure to ask that they shop around.

On the subject of discounts to be had that only need to be asked for: Last night, I went to the local pharmacy to pick up his ‘after surgery’ prescriptions and when I asked if we could have generic if available as this wasn’t going through insurance, she said that the scripts were already generic, but there were some discount programs out there and in two minutes, she re-bagged the drugs at a 75% discount over what they were going to originally be charged. – Don’t get me started on the basic overcharging of many drugs to begin with. I will leave that for another time and just be thankful for the help with this current situation.

So, payers said, food and liquid intake ceased at midnight last night, off we go to surgery today. It just so happens to be the same facility that I had my surgery a few years ago at. I hope he enjoys his day as much as I did. (and this is not sarcasm. I did have a really good and enjoyable day – its in the blog somewhere if you need to read it -search surgery)

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Sally

Happy Birthday Ted

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Happy birthday Ted. I know it is a bit crazy that I want to celebrate your birthday this year when we seldom celebrated birthdays when you were alive.

Remember when we went to San Diego for your 40th birthday and I forgot the entire time we were there that we were to be celebrating it and you never once mentioned that I was oblivious? I like to blame that lapse on the fact that we had a toddler in tow that took up most of the focus of the weekend and that was my excuse.

I guess every special day is now heavy on my radar. Truth be told, even regular days can be big days to feel through without you in them.

I can’t even remember if we did anything on your birthday last year or if you went to Denny’s and got your free birthday meal. I never did get your infatuation with going to a Denny’s. I’d gladly take you this year if you were here.

So today, I’ll get you a filled donut and put a candle in it. Do you know that even after ten months of you being gone, that I still walk through the bakery department in every store looking for what sweets would make you happy that week? It is a habit I’ve yet to break and I still don’t realize I’m even doing it until it sinks in for the thousandth time that you are not home for me to take the donuts or other confections home to.

I don’t expect you to be at home anymore like I did for months and months. It finally sunk in that I don’t have to filter every decision through the lens of partnership and how it will affect you or our next dinner discussion. I will admit that the shift to knowing it is all just me and not “us” is a big one. It is both freeing and frightening at the same time. I mean, I still absolutely think what your opinion would be on my way of doing your standard duties in the house, gardens, and business, but I now feel like I just have to do it my way and you are backing me up in the unseen background.

Tonight I may sit at your beautiful bar and pour a finger or two of whiskey in one of your special glasses, hug your ashes and toast your birthday.

I miss you Ted. Happy Birthday.

Love, Sal

The phone calls you know are not good

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Yesterday was to be my day of cutting wood and home made Indian cooking for Devin and I.

The chain saw is again having fits – as it did last year – in stopping after about a 30 second start. I fear the carburetor is again messed up inside as I have already changed out the hoses – no thanks to the YouTube dude who had me hooking them back up backwards and causing me to take it all apart twice. I’ll borrow the neighbors chain saw until I can get the carb cleaned out or replaced.

In lieu of cutting , Devin and I split a few logs that were already cut and seasoned and I located the pallet and backstop we use by the house for storing wood to burn – but take down each year for space to sit by the waterfall feature. Devin then said that he was going to go skateboard for a bit while I did my thing.

I got some of the plants together that will need to be brought in soon and then headed indoors. Most of my houseplants go outside for the summer and thus need to be brought in again in the fall.

I figured that Devin would be ready to eat when he finished skateboarding, so I decided to start the dough for the Naan I wanted to make.

I had the masala chicken already marinating in the fridge from prep the night before and had just finished up mixing the dough for some home made naan and was putting it in the oven to rise when the phone rang and it was Devin. (Trick I learned years ago: turn your oven on for two minutes and then turn it off. The temperature in the oven is now just about perfect for dough rising and is consistent in time to complete as well).

Devin said Hi and asked if I could come pick him up. I immediately knew that this was a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that he was calling and lucid. The bad news is that he would NEVER have me come get him if he could get home on his own. He relayed that he had hurt his ankle and yes it was bad enough that he could not drive.

I changed my clothes from the wood cutting dirty set I was currently wearing and into something clean. I was preparing that if it was as bad as I expected, then I wouldn’t have time to come home and change.

When I arrived at the parking lot for the skate park, Devin was in his car with his shoe and sock off and in obvious pain. He could move his toes and rotate his ankle a bit, but it was already swelling and had a bump on the side of his leg where there shouldn’t be one. We headed home to figure out how bad it really was and to make a plan on where to go.

It became evident very quickly over every bump in the road that sent Dev into a howl of pain that this was not a case of “ice and rest” today and go to work tomorrow, After a check of where to go for medical coverage that wouldn’t break the bank, we made an online appt and headed down the hill.

He joked that he hoped that they would give him a wheel chair when we got down to urgent care, and to his delight, they did. I was half expecting that he would have a secondary injury as he raced around the waiting room and practicing wheelies in the wheel chair as we waited.

Xrays showed that the outer bone of his ankle was fractured, but not broken. Think of it as a crack where both sides are still attached but there is no clean break instead of a complete break were it is definitely in two pieces. Still very painful and in need of 8 weeks of healing, but in no apparent need of surgery or rods or other supplementary healing devices besides a walking boot (currently on order since the Dr said it was much cheaper to order than to get from them).

We picked up crutches on the way home from some friends, then got back to the house as hungry as bears. I threw the chicken on the grill, started the curried veggies, the rice and got back to making the naan. I have to say, it was a meal worth waiting for. It made us both feel better after an unscripted afternoon.

Devin is expected to not put any weight on the foot for 7-10 days and then can wear the boot. Note sure if work will allow him to work in the boot or not just yet. He is in pain, but in good humor.

Today we watch football and stay out of trouble.

Love Sally