Yesterday was a VERY full day, the first day that Michelle left the house since coming home from the hospital on Monday afternoon. Consulted with the doctor who'll be surgery-ing her foot Tuesday, the 29th, after which we had to go through pre-admission at the hospital (sort of across-the-street from the orthopedist), after which we went to the tag office to pick up a handicapped hanger for my car during her passenger-ing, after which we went to P.F. Chang's and met Erin, a single one of triplets, but not identical to either of her sisters. It turns out that Erin is big buds with Cassie, who is in Venezuela, I think we were told, visiting family. Either are excellent wait staff persons, and well-worthy of asking for if you go to P.F.C.
And then we went home, got on our various computers to get some work done. Not long after that, the physical therapist, Rosanna, came by and we worked on stair usage techniques, along with showing us how to "lock down" the knee scooter so that it won't roll. (the trick is to push the handbrake levers in the direction opposite the usual direction for braking; it takes a bit of force with the one we're renting)
After Rosanna took off, Michelle was pretty tired, and lay down. Maybe she took a nap. I stayed on-line, logged in to the office, getting things lined up on my current assignments.
we had been talking about Michelle going upstairs to sleep in our bed, but the (just went and counted) 14 (fourteen - FOUR TEEN - ten plus four more) steps were a challenging issue of very specific reality.
Had to take the dog for a walk, which wound up being around-the-block for the first time since Michelle's accident due to crossing paths with one of our dog-walking neighbors and having some company to make the loop. With that thoroughly completed, got back home a little after ten and prepared for ascending the staircase.
Bear with me for just a little bit here. ONE – pull the foot in the Moon Boot up one stair, grab the rail, push with the foot in the boot while pulling with the arm on the rail while pushing with the other hand on the stair step that you’re vacating to approach the next step and seat yourself upon it. Repeat. Repeat. REPEAT. Do this 12 times, because, after transferring to the staircase from the wheelchair, you actually started two steps up and not from the floor, thankfully. It’s still no picnic, especially with holding her left leg up to keep from putting weight on her to-be-operated-upon ankle. She was REALLY tired when she got to the top.
Had the knee scooter up there, but still the hassle of getting her upright enough to get her knee (the knee somewhat above the ankle that’ll be operated on in a few days) on the knee scooter. Got that done, navigated her into our bedroom for the first time since Saturday the 19th, the fateful morning where our plans had been to first go have some breakfast at Uptown Breakfast (we had a coupon, plus we both really like going there) and then go to Area 51 / Aurora Cineplex to see DARK SHADOWS.
Alas, but it was not to be. See earlier entries for details.
But I digress at some length, She went to bed not long after getting upstairs, and was asleep, or close enough for it to count as such, within a minute or two. I got my shower done and my keyboard-ing finished (one pass through a transcription of O CHRISTMAS TREE, the Guaraldi arrangement, and then J.S. Bach’s PRELUDE IN C MAJOR) before going to bed, reading for a few minutes, and then turning the light off.
We got up sort-of-early for a Saturday, 7-ish, but we were both awake and there were things to do. We navigated her into the master bath and I placed preferred intentionals at hand for her usage. She washed her hair while I was out with the dog, and dried it after I connected power to the hair dryer.
With all that business complete (there’s a lot more that I didn’t go into), she transported out and had a look in the closet for the first time since the morning of the 19th. (maybe I keep going back to that, but, hey, think about a week of not getting into the part of your home where you keep your personal necessaries)
With that part of the day’s preparations behind us, we were faced with descending the staircase. Not so difficult as the ascension phase, albeit with somewhat more risk, what with gravity’s part in what’s going on. Getting her seated at the top of the staircase went better than we expected, and then it was the tedious business of one-step-at-a-time, move both feet, keeping the soon-to-be-operated-on foot from bearing any weight, the whole brace with the booted foot and gymnastics with the arms business. Again, tedious. Not the stuff of a page-turning novel, nope, nosirree, uh-uh.
But it went well. Got her downstairs with some expedition, into the wheelchair, into the den, and on the sofa as I prepped for my parents visiting with us this morning. Cooked some breakfast for us, got a call from Dad about how things weren’t working out for today, but that tomorrow is scheduled.
What with our talking about going to the movie last weekend and missing it, we had been discussing going to the movie tomorrow. With that no longer an option from blocking out the morning for my parent’s visit, what the hey, we got things in motion for going out.
I took the dog for a walk, we went through getting Michelle down the treacherous stairs into the garage (not so many, but a really tough payoff at the bottom if mistakes get made), knee scooter over to the car, into the car waiting while I got the wheelchair into the car, and then we took off.
Got to the theater, saw the movie, left the theater (no review, plenty of those on-line; we enjoyed it enough), drove through Arby’s to pick up some lunch, and then came on home. Michelle fed me curly fries on the way.
So, the big deal, the milestone event, the associated events of note, are herewith described. If it’s not clear what, hey, have another go at the read. Thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts and generous wishes.
You know, I like this font. It’s sort of almost like how I write when I’m using pen/pencil and paper, except that the letters and digits are much more read-able.
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