surgery

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Friday’s Fave Five #96

On Fridays I post FFF to stop and recall blessings of the previous week. Suzanne sponsors this exercise at Living to Tell the Story and invites you to participate too!

1. Dinner out. We had a week-long guest who treated us to dinner last Saturday. It was delicious, and my petite steak was cooked to perfection. I’ve had to learn which restaurants take my food sensitivities seriously and which don’t. This place did, which made dining out a happy experience for me.

2. Shopping. Yesterday my daughter took me grocery shopping. I pushed a cart and selected my own items, something I have not been able to do for the past 4 months. I also graduated to changing a laundry load on my own, and knocked off a bunch of ironing this week. I still need help with many things, but it is wonderful to add to the list of things I can now do.

3. Unexpected generosity. Someone anonymously paid for two weeks of my cleaning helper’s wages. This young lady has been a cheerful and exceedingly capable helper to me as I continue to heal. When she told me of the gift I burst into tears of joy and gratitude. Benefactor, if you read this blog, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

4. Lunch out. After grocery shopping yesterday, my daughter suggested we get lunch out at our favorite restaurant in town. I was feeling quite tired from shopping, and I’m not a spontaneous person, but it sounded like a nice idea, so we went for it. My meal was excellent as usual, and I had plenty for both lunch and supper from that one meal. It was extra-special to spend some ‘girl time’ with one of my lovely daughters!

5. Evaluating I see the surgeon again on Wednesday. I feel my leg is strengthening, but I am still struggling with lack of stamina and overall strength. It will be interesting to see if one leg is longer than the other after this surgery, but it’s hard to tell that until I am walking on it normally. I’m also looking forward to adding more physio to gain strength and balance. Dealing with my fibromyalgia in addition provides an interesting challenge. If I push too hard my muscles are in agony and I am unable to do my physio for several days. If I don’t push enough, my strengthening will be delayed. I need a great deal of wisdom as I go forward, as well as listening carefully to the way my body responds to the exercise.

Photos from the past few weeks:

Vibrant colours

Balcony view

Cattail convention

Mountain corona

Prairie standard

Magnificent mountains

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Friday’s Fave Five #93

On Fridays I post FFF to stop and recall blessings of the previous week. Suzanne sponsors this exercise at Living to Tell the Story and invites you to participate too!

1. Alice in Wonderland These past few months have seemed very much like my own personal Alice in Wonderland experience. My body’s response to the meds I was on caused a great deal of cognitive impairment and emotional upheaval. Over the past three months I have experienced hallucinations, depressive thoughts, accentuated fears, and have regularly misread, misheard, and misunderstood much of what filtered through my brain. I heartily sympathize with Alice and all her puzzling and weird experiences. We made the decision a couple of weeks ago to wean off the pain killers, which I have done. I’m dealing with some pain as I increase movement and physio, but the mental restoration has been a blessed relief.

2. Health update Last Wednesday my surgeon moved up to 50% weight bearing to be increased to 75% weight bearing by the time I see him again on November 1. My x-rays show no movement of the prosthesis, which is good, and healthy bone growth around the bone graft. I have some new physio which once again reminds me how weak my leg is, but I am seeing increased strength and ability as I plug away at doing my exercises.

3. Snow and cozy fires We’ve had two snowfalls thus far interspersed with some beautiful Indian summer weather. My husband is a master fire builder and built us this lovely fire to enjoy on an inclement day.

4. Visits I have enjoyed some lovely visits from family and church friends the past few weeks. My pastor’s wife, who is also unwell, organized an encouragement tea and fellowship time for me with church leadership wives a couple of weeks ago. It was a blessing to spend time with these ladies and focus on God’s goodness with them.

5. Bowl of sunshine Some little ‘adopted’ grandchildren came over and plucked the last of the summer blooms for me from our yard. We put them in a bowl of water and enjoyed this sun-dappled bowl of sunshine on our kitchen table for a few days.

Thanks for your patience as I have been away from writing the past few months. I am hoping to resume my Titus 2 Thoughts very soon, as well as stay current with FFF now that my brain fog has lifted. Hope you too, have some blessings from the week to rejoice in!

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Friday’s Fave Five #27

christmas-fff

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

1. At my six week post-op appointment I was cleared to drive again! It was nice to go out and do a bit of Christmas shopping. I was concerned about walking on the ice, but went slowly (still have to use a cane for another six weeks) and had no problems.

2. My house helpers lent a hand and we got the tree decorated. (We had planned to do it as a family but several of us came down with the cold/flu that is going around and had to cancel the family tree-trimming.) I’ve scaled back on decorating this year due to my surgery, but the door wreath is up, the mantle is resplendent with candles, sleigh bells and pine, the hall flower arrangement is in place and the red and green decorations modestly adorn the tree in the living room. Pretty!

3. I am enjoying the freedom of walking without having to use a walker or crutches. I need the cane when venturing away from the house, but can freelance it inside the house. Physio starts on Tuesday. I ended up about an inch shorter in my ‘bad’ leg before surgery and my body had (painfully) adjusted to the mechanics of walking in light of that difference. Now my legs are the same length and my body is talking to me. “Yo, woman! What’s with the legs being the same length now? You’re making all the muscles on my right side adjust! I don’t like it! I think I will tense up and cause you pain.” Physio will help alleviate the muscle tension and pain as well as strengthen the weakened muscles which were cut during surgery.

4. This will be an unusual Christmas for us. Our son and his family minister in China, and our youngest daughter is currently over there with them studying nursing. Two of our other daughters will be on a fun trip to Scotland during Christmas, and our remaining daughter wants to wait to open gifts until after shopping at the Boxing Day sales the day after Christmas (think Black Friday for Canadians.) This year we have invited several young couples and singles who have no family nearby to join us for a Christmas dinner. Oh, and we are going to try a three continent Skype call with family on Christmas Day. Should be fun.

5. My car has had to have a lot of repairs these past few months. This last time was especially expensive. Four different times the mechanic called to tell us of another issue that needed to be fixed. Because neither my husband nor I know much about auto mechanics we were concerned that the dealership could possibly be making things up. How would we know? God laid it on my husband’s mind to call a mechanic friend we know to ask for his assessment. Thankfully we were not being taken advantage of and everything is now working well. One of the problems we had was that the heat would not blow warm air if the temperatures were below zero (32 F.) Now this can be a BIG problem in the winter here. A working heater is essential for safe driving in Canadian winters. My husband had not mentioned this particular problem when the car was taken in due to bigger issues, but the problem was solved when the other things were taken care of!! I’m very thankful to have a car with a working heater.

Have a blessed Christmas!

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Friday’s Fave Five #15

FFF tulips

On Fridays we stop to recount some blessings of the past week thanks to Suzanne at Living to Tell the Story.

A few blessings of the week include:

1.  Safety through surgery….My daughter came through her surgery safely.  I am so grateful she is back home and recovering nicely.

2.  Godly Mothers…I have been speaking with several friends lately who have mothers or mothers-in-law who will not speak with them.  In reflecting on Mother’s Day I am thankful for the blessing of both a godly mother and a godly mother-in-law who chose to love us and eagerly participated in our lives.  They both understood that a new family unit had been formed when my husband and I married, and theirs was a ministry of prayer and influence as our family unit was planted, grew, and developed. They are both in heaven now and we miss them.

Janet Auhl, a Godly MotherMama T 001

3. Spring!…I am grateful for bits of new green growth, sunshine and spring temperatures.

4.  Short respite…Last week I enjoyed part of a day that was almost pain-free and I was able to get around part of that day without a cane!

5. More answers…This past week I have been able to identify and add to my list of foods to avoid, which I hope will help both my fibromyalgia and my arthritis.

Even in the most difficult times, remember to stop and count your blessings!

 

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Friday’s Fave Five #9

FFF tulips

I waited until later in the day to post my Fave Five list until I talked with the specialist.  Good news!

1. In the queue.   I am now officially in the queue to have my hip replaced!  They will assign me a surgeon (I could have picked one if I had a preference, but my last hip replacement was done in Calgary and I don’t know any of the surgeons in Edmonton.)  The referring doctor said up to six weeks to see the  surgeon, but the receptionist sais up to twelve weeks to see him, with surgery 3 to 4 months after that.  I’m going to be praying that we can get this all done sooner rather than later.  In other news…..I will also need my left knee replaced.  This helps explain some of mobility issues from the past months. Guess I’m vying for the bionic woman award!

2. On my own.  This Monday enough ice had melted that I was able to meander out to do errands on my own.  Though I drove around only in town, it felt great to be able to be out and about without inconveniencing anyone else.

3. Two years in double ministry.  Today marks two years since Bud started serving as the Pastor of preaching and teaching at Lighthouse in addition to his responsibilities at the college.  His gifts meld perfectly with Pastor David’s gifts and the two men serve harmoniously together.

4. Spring cleaning.  I’ve begun spring cleaning with the assistance of my house helpers.  It’s satisfying to clean up and clean out!  Bonus:  one of the charities sends a truck around to pick up donations so I don’t even have to concern myself with getting the stuff to a thrift store.

5. Less pain.  This past week I have had a cold, but have experienced a significant improvement in my fibromyalgia symptoms.  It’s good to be able to say, “Today is a good day!” several days in a row.