Ron picked up supplies from CVS before he went to work, so I was able to put on a clean dressing. Foot looks a little swollen and skin is peeling like crazy, but the wound looks the same as yesterday.
Got the okay to start weight-bearing!
Drove Alpha to work. Deposited checks.
Still managing without Acetaminophen, since Monday.
No ill effects from yesterday’s activity.
The double-sided tape we (mostly Ron) put on the rugs is working well, so I ordered more for the smaller rugs in front of the doors. Also ordered a traverse rod for the living room curtains because struggling to open and close them has become an annoyance.
A health care professional called this morning, and I asked her to please give me a read on the incision.
This looked a butcher shop mess to me, but to her, it’s healthy.
Underneath this loveliness is a Scandinavian Total Ankle Replacement (STAR) prosthesis. It’s a 3-piece system made of cobalt chromium alloy, titanium, and polyethylene (Mobile Bearing) that doesn’t require bone cement.
Took out a 6-month online subscription to the Cape Cod Times.
Happy to see Smokey today.
Spent the afternoon at Ellen’s seminar. She wheeled me into the building and generously treated to beer etc. afterwards. Her optimism is invigorating!
The Dell that Robert gave me came in handy. It has an old-style port that is required to use the big TV at the Senior Center.
This morning, Ron started whining again about problems logging in to his Yahoo email account.
He spent an entire morning earlier this week trying to fix this.
It took me less than 10 minutes. I set up a new password for him and cleared his Safari cache. That was it.
I was furious that he continues to dick around with this stuff when I can usually solve his problems very quickly.
It would be about as idiotic as my using power tools when he’s available and has much more skill than I do.
Maybe some day I’ll get that message across.
Reactions from the adoption community to Mike Pence’s glib comments from the VP debate included these two posts that sum up my own feelings quite well.
Grouchy or Cheerful Ron?
He was pleased to find a recording of a Pentangle concert he attended in Berkeley in May 1970.
He was grouchy about having an appointment for a blood test this morning.
He picked up some great produce from the CSA yesterday afternoon, including a gorgeous pumpkin.
Cindy called last evening; we are “on” for breakfast this weekend, Cathy’s generous treat.
The boot is more comfortable than the splint. Maybe that’s progress of a sort. At least most of the stitches are out. Sleeping seems a little easier. The boot comes on and off easily and the plastic “sock” still works great for bathing.
I cleaned up a pile of papers from my “desk” yesterday.
I managed to get the scooter in the truck and drove to Mahoney’s for decorative mums. Arranged them with the pumpkin on the front steps. Once again, I regret not having a pulley on the truck bed. Driving was easy; everything else was hard.
Gave up on the bidet install. Would have cost over $1,000. Look what I saved us.
Chatted with the patient advocate at the hospital and with the doc’s office about pain management. It was the doc’s fault that I didn’t have a self-administered drip.
Made stew with ground turkey, zuke, onion, garlic, rutabaga (or is it turnip?)
Cleaned the vegetable bin and the bottom of the refrigerator.
Organic Pyrethrin
Drip irrigation: Fedco. Anchor every 6-7 feet. Remove at end of season.
Recommended (drought-resistant?) plants:
Background shrub: Center Glow 9-Bark
Petrennia – Golden Valerian
Stokes aster
Meadow Rue
Variegated Sedum
Frosted Elegance Phlox
Good website for companion planting: Cornell extension
Apply sifted diatomaceous earth after it rains (yeah, right)
Scab-resistant potatoes: Butte Red New Orleans Natasha
Vocabulary
monoecious
parthenocarpic (fruit without fertilization)
Septoria leaf spot (tomato disease)
Pyganic: pyrethrin-based insecticide derived from chrysanthemums
Surround, Serenade: Chemical-free disease control
Neem oil and spinosad – either can be used to control thrips
Yellow leaves: correct with Miracle Gro
Apply biofungicides before mildew; add nutrition
Copper sulfate or hydroxide
pmr = powdery mildew resistant
Still on non-weight bearing. My bones are great, but not so much the incision, which isn’t healing properly.
Back and forth over why I had PT. It was, in fact, ordered by Boyle’s office, but they are blaming it for why the incision hasn’t healed.
I lost the splint, have a boot.
On the way home, I was angry, frustrated and feeling sorry for myself, at which point Ron decided to change the subject to his beloved Native Americans in North Dakota.
Boohoo.
Another bad dream about the Cohens last night. I was carrying a beautiful baby and he fell asleep in my arms. I put him down in a kind of soft blanket/bed, but adopter-liar rolled him out of it. The baby stayed asleep, though.
It’s here: the end of 3 weeks of the dubiously named “non weight bearing” period of my recovery from ankle replacement surgery.
Ron made a big (10 cup) pot of coffee. I vacuumed, and he put carpet tape on the undersides of the living room rug and the rug by the sink.
I made the bed and took a shower. Ron stopped at the Senior Center and brought Robert to work.
I cancelled Meals on Wheels and got in touch with our insurance agent about a mortgage company request for homeowners coverage info.
Did some work on crutches with Gregg the PTA. He gave me a few standing exercises for the left leg. I figured out a way to get into the house with crutches.
Right wrist, arm and shoulder hurting this morning. Icing helped.
Smokey paid an early visit, around 7 and then around 2. He stayed for a bit, but doesn’t like the scooter.
Fruit salad and bagel for breakfast. Pizza for Ron and zucchini pie for me for lunch. No cooking today, we have plenty of leftovers.
Ron did laundry, we both changed bed sheets. He’s off to the transfer station.
Ron worked today. Still raining.
We made a nice supper: baked haddock, salad, zucchini/onion pie, roasted kale.
I cleaned up my email accounts, deleted over 2,000 unread emails.