Hello to all my friends out there!

Please excuse the long delay in my posting anything since my surgery. (Also, excuse any typos -- can't seem to make my fingers do anything I want.)

I am writing through a drug-infused fog so none of this may make any sense. I am getting better each day although it seems that each day brings a new and different set of issues. I was finally able to get into the shower today -- what joy, what pleasure, what a relief to sit under a shower of hot water and not wash out of a bathroom sink. My doctor removed the staples on Friday and the incision looks great -- no gapping or bleeding. I still have a lot of swelling and stiffness though. Am still on Coumadin and noticed a large bruise on the back of my right calf. I go in for a venous doppler study tomorrow to see if I have formed any blood clots. Also have lab drawn twice a week and am starting on OP physical therapy three days a week and must exercise at home.

Right now all I want to do is sleep which I don't think is too unusual. I get tired with the least amount of exertion so you can imagine what I feel like when I get home from PT.

I would like to thank all my blog friends and everyone else who have sent e-mails, called, posted comments and generally inquired about my progress. You are all so special and I miss "talking to you" on a daily basis. Hopefully I will get to spend more time online each day. I will try to catch up on everyone's blogs pretty soon.

This has exhausted me so I'm off to bed. Thank goodness for husband who has been an angel. We spent a week trying to communicate during the night by calling out, but we finally got smart. I now call him on his cell phone when I want him and he comes right away. Do you think this will work after I get better?

Tying up loose ends, so to speak

First, I would like to thank all my lovely blogmates for your well-wishes and concern over my upcoming surgery on Monday. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy that you are watching out for my welfare. I know I have been VERY nervous about this surgery, but I feel that with so many people around the world sending good thoughts, everything will be fine.

We had a wonderful visit with son and DIL (who just left yesterday) and daughter, SIL, and the girls. We had a chance to spend some happy times with each other and the girls were so excited about their Uncle Eli and Aunt Aprilyn coming to visit. Even the cats got in on the act. We grilled out several times (in between bad storms) and everyone enjoyed themselves a great deal.

Barring a few complications with our vehicles, we think all the kinks have been worked out and everybody knows where they are supposed to be during the next couple of days. Daughter will stay with us at the hospital until Tuesday. So, please check Alipurr's blog after Tuesday for an update on my condition.

I will be spending today doing all the last minute things I meant to do several days ago. But, that proved to be impossible because we had a controlled chaos situation here with people sleeping in every nook and cranny all throughout the house. (I think I finally had a meltdown yesterday.)

So, thanks again for your kind thoughts and good wishes. (Susan, I loved the sunflower.) I couldn't talk husband into taking his laptop so I will be offline until I get home.

Love to you all, the soon-to-be semi-bionic woman

April Fools' Day

April 1st, 2006 -- the first day of the rest of my life, a day that marks a lot of big changes for me.

I don't want any jokes played on me today because a lot of things are happening in my life right now. It's not that I don't have a sense of humor, it's just that life likes to play tricks on me and sometimes they're not appreciated.

Today my Medicare card becomes active! Me, on Medicare. I'm not old (I don't think). I don't look old and I certainly don't feel old. My mind is as active today as it was five years ago and I haven't taken to wearing purple with red hats and sitting on curbs. I don't walk around mumbling to myself and I don't do nutty things like digging through garbage barrels looking for aluminum cans and other treasures. I also don't save string or used aluminum foil to make huge balls. I don't eat cat food because I'm too poor to buy regular food, and I don't steal condiments from restaurants and hide them in my purse. (I do talk to my six cats, but that's not too nutty, is it?)

My mother told me many years ago that I was almost born on April 1st. I would have hated to be born on this day. Fortunately, I was born on April 10th, so I didn't have to go through life always being subjected to pranks on my birthday. My good friend Bornfool was born on April 1st. He's a pretty funny fellow, and I guess he gets his humor from either working at the pen or because he was born on this day. Happy birthday, BF. I hope you don't have any crappy pranks played on you today by the nutty inmates you supervise.

Today is also the start of the final countdown for my surgery which is scheduled for April 10th. What a happy birthday present. I'm really getting nervous and jittery even though intellectually I know everything will be okay. I worked in healthcare for many years and KNOW what's going to happen. I just don't want any surprises and I certainly don't want any adverse outcomes. I KNOW I will be receiving the best of care at a premier healthcare facility. My procedure will be conducted by the BEST ortho surgeon in this part of the country. He is so reknown, in fact, that he has his own surgery suite that NOBODY is allowed to use. My surgery will be conducted under a spinal with conscious sedation so I will be able to "observe" a little during the procedure. (That's one of my problems; I always want to know what's happening.)

April 1st will mark the beginning of a new phase in my life. I thought I felt old when we first started having grandchildren. I kept telling myself that I was a really YOUNG grandmother. Before the first grandchild was born, I had to start worrying about my health and my heart, so I had to quit smoking. Then my hair started turning greyer and everything started sagging. Then I joined AARP. Then I stopped working and started receiving Social Security. My husband then got me to join NARFE (National Active and Retired Federal Employees) because he's a member. Now I'm joining the ranks of the grey-haired, wrinkly, sagging-skinned old farts' club -- Medicare, Parts A and B. Where's it all going to end? First one joint replacement, then possibly another. Pretty soon I'll qualify for a total body replacement then you can call me the four-and-one-half-million-dollar woman (that's because women get paid less than men).

So, a word to the wise. Don't play any April Fools' jokes on me today because I'm really cranky. It's not easy being old(er). (You can play them on BF, though. He'll probably like them.)