Garden, Cats, Backup and Big Bird?

Yesterday’s blog provided the status of my post-surgery recovery.  Now I’ll try to get caught up on all the little mundane things going on this week.

First is my Fall garden.  It appears to be growing nicely.  I’ve got 5 new tomato plants and 2 volunteer plants that sprung from the remains of the summer plants.  So far all the plants are putting out blossoms and a total of 6 tomatoes have formed-the largest is about the size of a ping pong ball.  One plant has more blossoms on it than I’ve ever seen on a tomato plant.  It will be a big harvest if even half of them form tomatoes.

I’m still getting okra and eggplant and green peppers, all at a reduced quantity to the summer harvest.  I’ve also got lots and lots of basil.

The kitty situation has been strange.  Marmalade is gone-hasn’t been here for months.  Meredith disappeared for  about 6 weeks, I thought she was gone, too, but she showed up 2 days ago and has been here since.  Buzz disappeared for about 10 days also.  For a while no cats were here- I thought it was time to mothball the feeder.  I was only feeding raccoons (at least 3) and possum (at least 2) which I couldn’t catch because I can’t move them with my hand the way it is.

Slash has been showing up some days and I feed him and beginning yesterday another black and white cat has been hanging around.

Today things are back to normal with Buzz and Meredith here in the AM and PM and Meredith hanging around all night.  I know this because I’m sleeping in the sunroom.

I’m slowly getting into doing some smaller tasks.  The biggest thing I’ve done (besides laundry) is to install backup cameras in the CRVs.  It’s pretty neat being able to see directly behind the car. 

Here is the view down our driveway.

And now Big Bird.  We’ve got a new priest  at Hurlburt.  He is tall and thin and has a high voice that sounds very much like Big Birds voice.  I’m not being negative about the guy, I don’t know him well.  He sings all the songs and hymns at top voice and he has had musical training, it’s obvious in the way he sings.

We had a baptism at church yesterday and I was impressed at the way he conducted it. The couple had 2 young children besides the baby and the priest invited them up to the baptismal font and gave them both jobs to do to participate.  He gave the boy the missal to hold for the priest to read.  He handed the oils for anointing to the little girl and when he used them he explained what they were and what they symbolized.  He also specifically instructed the 2 family members with cameras to get up there and get in the right position to take the shots-thus there was no awkwardness or lost opportunities.

The priest is overall good natured and seems to enjoy doing his job.

I’m sill not getting a lot accomplished-except healing-which is what is most important.

Splints and PuPu

I am slowly beginning to be a little more productive—but not much.  Wednesday my cast was replaced with a removable splint. The splint is made from a 1/8 inch thick sheet of a plastic material that is flexible at room temperature, moldable after soaking in hot water, and sticks to itself and turns hard after it cools.  The engineer in me was fascinated.  The splint is molded to my forearm and sticky Velcro is applied to hold mounting straps.

You can’t see it in the picture but it is open on the top of the arm.

I wear this for 2 weeks and then go back to learn what physical therapy techniques I will use to strengthen the thumb.

I’m experiencing more pain now.  The cast really did a good job protecting my thumb.  Now with the splint being hard and pressing on the incision plus the additional range of motion I have I’m having more pain.  It’s not bad and it is slowly abating.

We tried to make driving to Gulf Breeze more interesting by finding someplace different to have lunch at.  I went on the internet and found that there was a Hawaiian restaurant there and everybody that rated it just raved about the food.  Our plan was to have lunch there on the way over but we weren’t sure where it was.  We lunched at Ruby Tuesday’s when we didn’t find the other restaurant.  We gave up about a mile too soon because we found the place  up the road when we headed to the clinic.

All was not lost because we stopped there on the way home at about  3:30.  The Papa-Nalu-Aloha Grill is a tiny place.

We had it all to ourselves and had a nice time discussing the menu with our server.  We got a pupu platter appetizer that we split.  Everything was delicious.  Their menu is on their Facebook page if you want to see it.

We definitely will be returning there on future trips to Gulf Breeze and P-cola. (it’s going to be hard not to stop there now that we sampled the food and met the friendly people there)

I was pleased to find something so different from anything else in the area and to discover that besides being different it was downright scrumptious!

Post Hand Surgery Notes

I have my post-surgery doctor’s appointment tomorrow.  I should get this cast off and will probably get a soft wrapping and/or a splint to wear when needed. The instructions for this appointment  said to expect to be there 2-4 hours in which time they fit a splint and begin physical therapy. 

Since I will likely quickly forget how it was to have the cast on and since I will be doing this again I thought I would leave myself some notes about the experience.

I’ve already documented the “noodle arm” day after surgery.  The pain medication pump that they had on me lasted until Saturday early morning.  That’s about 4 days.  Except for the first night when I set it on 6 the pump was left on the 4 setting.  I also took pain pills before any serious pain arrived.  The doctor and Penny advised me to stay ahead of the pain.

I underestimated how tired I would be from all this - my body was busy healing AND I’m trying to figure out how to navigate without the use of that hand - that's exhausting.  The smallest things add up in terms of energy expended.  I took many naps and imposed upon Penny for help.  She’s been great.

Dressing, bathing and eating are all challenging.  Buttons and belts are bad.  Baggy clothes and slip on shoes are good. It is difficult to wash your left underarm  without using your right hand.  I’ve had ice cream every day – it sticks to the spoon.  I use utensils in a similar manner to the way Lucy does when she eats.     Finger foods are good.  Grapes are fantastic.

My typing is getting better.  I tried writing with my left hand and found myself having difficulty with the direction letters and numbers faced—just like Sophie does.  E’s,3’s and s’s were tough to write.  I’ve gotten pretty good using my index finger and middle finger to grasp things with.  I can tie shoes with little thumb involvement. I was even able to pick up the host from my hand and put it in my mouth with those fingers.  I’ve gone to writing using those fingers but it ain’t pretty.  The credit card terminals still accept my scribble as my signature.

I can’t do things like scooping the litter pan, dishing out food, washing dishes or any heavy lifting or carrying bulky items that require two hands.  So Penny has taken over the housework tasks that I can’t do.  I did do laundry but I paid a price for it.  Laundry has always been a thumb stressor and this time I only could use 1 thumb  so it let me know  about it.

I’ve been sleeping in my recliner.  I tried the bed for a couple of nights but I tend to lie on my arm and not keep it elevated.  In the recliner it is naturally kept elevated and I can’t roll over on my arm.

And now for the “too much information” paragraph.  It’s something that is important for me to remember.  All the pain medicines and the anesthesia cause me to have severe constipation, plus the pain meds are tough on my stomach.  I have to stay hydrated and protect my tummy by not taking meds on an empty stomach.  It means I’m eating more but I have worked out a formula of water, fruits, food and stool softener tablets that for the most part works.

I’m still having difficulty when I’m not doing something productive in the house or yard.  I had a hard time over the weekend just watching football and doing no other task at the same time.  I have gotten some reading in on the kindle and even though it’s hard I’m trying to do only what I am able to without getting upset.  Penny’s attitude has helped me with this.  Even when she is having a bad health day she has done whatever I needed to have done with no attitude or complaint.  I think she’ a keeper.

The Days of Doing Little

My “vacation” continues.  My hand is beginning to heal now so I can use slightly more force with the fingers on my right hand.  I still can’t push hard enough with them to release a seatbelt or pull open a sliding door but I can use them to stabilize stuff I hold in my left hand.

The pain in my hand isn’t bad.  I’m used to having pain there and the level in the hand now is about what I had all the time anyway.

I did do some tending to the garden today.  I found my parsley being ravaged by Tiger Swallowtail caterpillars.

  The tomatoes are growing nicely but it is time to fertilize them.  That’s a tomorrow job.  My 50 gazillion little basil plants are doing great.

We did see a movie today.  We watched The Debt.  Both Penny and I liked it.  It had good acting, lots of suspense and surprises in the plot.

I did start gathering our pictures and videos together and making sure everything is backed up.  I’ll work a little on that each day.

My other projects are installing a back-up sensor and camera in each car and finalizing my surveillance camera setup.  That’s about the extent of my abilities right now.  The grass has slowed down enough to where I won’t have to mow ‘till the weekend.  I should be able by then.

The hummingbirds are enjoying the feeder.  One of them likes to land on the rail and drink.  I got a picture of him today.

 

Penny continues to take care of me.  Thank you, Penny.

Life Left Handed.

I’m not getting much done.  I tried to do some light work on Saturday but found that even a little use of my right hand stressed the thumb.  So I’m doing paper work, reading and playing with my Kindle, watching TV and eating. 

The pain pump went dry Saturday morning so I’m not tied to that catheter any more.  Accordingly I slept in the bed last night rather than the recliner.

I haven’t done any tending of my garden since we got back from Jax.  I did take a look at things and all the tomato plants look good.  I let some of the basil go to seed and scattered seeds in 3 or 4 empty planters.  Now I’ve got 20 or 30 little basil plants growing out there.  The okra and eggplants are still producing, too.

On the animal front only Buzz has been out there every day since we’ve returned.  Slash has shown up on some mornings expecting his share.  When he shows he just sits in front of the door and looks at us until I feed him and then he disappears.  Buzz must be getting fed somewhere else.  He is more interested in being pet than eating and barely eats any food.  I end up feeding his leftovers to Slash.

The birds continue to eat the cat food and I refilled the hummingbird feeder because Penny saw one at the empty feeder.  Today I watched a pair of them visit the feeder repeatedly.  We only have ruby-throated hummingbirds here and they migrate through the area in spring and fall.

I’ve seen 1 big possum and 3 raccoons (all 3 together) visit the feeder this week.  I can’t do anything about them until my hand heals so I’ve tried to limit the amount of food available overnight. 

Penny suggested I use this opportunity to play with pictures and videos.  That sounds like a great idea so tomorrow I’m going to begin organizing that stuff.

The Sound of 1 Hand Typing--Again

You all know that the surgery on my right hand went well.  I’m back in the 1-handed mode again like after my shoulder surgery. This surgery was much easier for me and the doctor did a good job keeping my pain level down.

It’s Friday afternoon now so it’s been 3 days since the procedure.  I’ve got a tiny catheter in my shoulder providing pain medicine directly to the nerve bundle that senses pain in my thumb.For the surgery I had a nerve block done on my arm and it was as if that arm didn’t belong to me.  There was no feeling, nothing at all.  the arm just lay there reacting only to the whims of gravity.  I was awake when I went in the operating room.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw the nurse pick up and lay some sort of thick tubing on the operating table—then I realized, hey, that’s my arm!  I didn’t feel a thing.  I thought (in my juiced up state) that that was pretty funny but the doctor and nurses just said yep, it is and went on with their business. 

That’s all I remember of the surgery.  the next thing I remember is getting a cup of ginger ale to drink and the the nurse was telling me Penny was getting the car.  I was thinking, wow, that was fast.  I still have no idea how much time I spent there post surgery.

My recovery is going well.  The pain got a little stronger Tuesday night when the nerve block started wearing off so Penny bumped the flow rate of the catheter up to 6 from 4 (ml/hr).  That helped.  I set it back to 4 the next morning. Tuesday night the arm was still dead.  I’d stare at my fingers and will them to move.  Unlike in the movies absolutely nothing happened.  By Wed morning I could sense my brain commanding the fingers to move and it felt like the fingers should move—but still nothing.  Later that day I finally got some slight motion and now everything is working again.  My thumb is immobilized by a soft cast.

I’ve been doing very little.  I’m sleeping a lot.  We ventured into town today to Target. My stomach was upset so when we got home I took another nap.  I’m feeling normal now. 

Penny has been taking good care of me. My little pain pump should run out of juice today so it will be interesting to see if it is still doing anything for my pain.

We will likely do Waffle house and Church tomorrow.

Now if it would just stop itching under this cast.

The Edge of the Storm

Happy Labor Day Weekend.  Weather-wise it’s a bust for us. Tropical storm Lee formed in the Gulf and is going nowhere fast.  WE may not see the Sun until Wednesday and may see more than 10 inches of rain and tropical force winds.  That’s no biggie for us but it is not an outdoor weekend.

So far we haven’t seen any rain and the forecasts have most of the storm going west of us.  We will only know what we get when we get it.

I got good news yesterday about my EGD.  There are no serious problems in my esophagus.  I don’t need another test until 3 years.

I’m paying more attention to my thumb pain as I count down to the surgery.  The pain factors into all my little decisions—should I wait to take my shoes off? I may need to go outside later and that would mean the pain of taking them off and putting them on again.  Should I shake hands in church and take the pain?  Do I really need to seal this zip lock container?

Hopefully pain will be a small factor in decisions after the surgeries.