Surgery Update

MFB had his appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday and surgery today. The surgery went very well and he had two screws successfully inserted. He's home and has only taken one pain killer in nine hours. I'd say he's doing pretty darn good. PT starts on Monday so we are very optimistic for the long term prognosis. Will he golf this summer? I'm thinking probably not till next summer.

We both want to thank everyone for your kind wishes, prayers, suggestions of exorcism, good luck charms, blog name change, jokes and better karma. As Steve read through everyones comments, and emails we received from our non blogging friends, he laughed a lot and thought how lucky we are to have friends out here who care. Laughter is truly some of the best medicine.

It's been a crazy week for us as we're not used to the care someone needs when they are on crutches. Did I mention that he's tall? 6'3" to be exact, so when he wobbles on crutches I imagine him toppling over. He's very independent and always on the go and doesn't like to put his feet up until the evening. The boredom will probably kick in around 11:00am tomorrow as he's not allowed to go back to work until Monday at the earliest. Help??

Here's something I hadn't seen before - xrays are now digital. How cool is that! The surgeon was showing us the xrays and the computer imaging was neat. We're going to get the xrays on disc at his post op appointment - the blogosphere may never be the same. Speaking of blogs check out his pre op blog post for a taste of his humor.

Thanks again everyone. Individually and collectively, you're the best!!

The taller they are...

While MFB was at his LHIS (local home improvement store) enhancing his stash, I was at home actually catching up on some blog reading and planning my post on my DC and Baltimore weekend. One of the many thoughts running through my mind was "Cool, it's been a little over a year since I fell and broke my foot. A whole year."

Fast forward a couple of hours and MFB is up on a ladder measuring the cathedral ceiling line for the crown moulding he came home with. All of sudden the ladder slips out from under him and he falls 6-7 feet straight down. Between the two of us we have more than enough medical knowledge to be truly dangerous, so after convincing myself he'd be better off up off the floor I helped him to the couch. His ankle hurt like a b... well lets just say it hurt - a lot. I grabbed an ice pack and some anti inflammatory and we waited a few minutes for the shock to subside. The pain wasn't subsiding and the ankle said it wanted to have an x ray.

These are the times that I hate that we live outside of town. Even though I was driving through some light snow squalls, the roads were fine - it just seems to take so long when someone is in that kind of pain. The meds I gave him didn't kick in till we got to the hospital but to tell you how bad it was he actually let me put him in a wheelchair. Once the meds kicked in we did our usual cracking wise as that's how we deal with stress. Things like "maybe you shouldn't be drinking water, they may have to operate" (he said that to me years ago the first time I broke my ankle while he was drinking coffee and eating cookies at the nurses desk). Then I asked if anyone had cookies. Later I said "now the shoes on the other foot, eh? Oh that's right, it won't be on that foot for awhile". (pretty bad one there).

So later on the ER PA comes in and says "it's broken and you need surgery so they can put a pin in". Darned if she isn't serious. My prayers were answered though as it's not shattered. My initial thought was to operate tonight but they don't do that and he wouldn't have that anyway as it's hockey tonight. The PA offered him some pain meds but the meds we have at home were enough for him. I asked her to still give them to him and I would take them as he was going to be a pain in my behind. Again with the cracking wise

I thought his xray was blogworthy but you know how doctors are, eh? Here he is in a splint and it's so strange that it's on his leg and not mine.

Monday morning we'll call the orthopedic surgeon he prefers and hopefully we can get the surgery scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday. Looks like I'll be his chauffeur (I asked him how to spell that and he said driver *laugh*) for awhile.

....the harder they fall.

Actual Knitting Content

Back in January I had a post about a shopping expedition while on a road trip to Delaware. This was a day where looking for a yarn store I ended up taking my friends from Newark Delaware to Maryland and Pennsylvania when the yarn store ended up being less than 5 miles from our hotel. I've mentioned the initials GPS here, eh?

OK, so on that trip I picked up my first ever skein of Lorna's Laces. I fell in love with the colors of the yarn and then a couple months ago I saw the Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf pattern. I cast on for the scarf right before leaving for Arizona and this was my travel project. One of my friends favorite color is periwinkle and we got together for dinner tonight where I surprised her with the scarf. I love the texture of the pattern and of course the yarn is really lovely to the touch.

(There's your provenance Peri)

It's COLD here, ya'll stay warm.

Batteries Recharging

Writers Block? Nah ... OK well, maybe. Twig sent me an email yesterday checking in on me and as I told her I was looking for inspiration for a post. I haven't acknowledged any comments or read any of my friends blogs. Baaad Blogger. Sorry friends.

So last night I sat down to download photos from the camera and the rechargeable batteries died in the middle of the process. Ahhhhh...inspiration. Cell phone is two years old and the battery won't hold a charge. Last time I wanted to use the bluetooth the battery was dead. Sunday I needed my Palm Pilot to take with us to make notes at MFB's favorite store, and it was - you guessed it- so dead the thing wouldn't even turn on. My internal battery has been in the same condition, seriously in need of a recharge. It seems to happen to me this time of the year, I feel unsettled if you will.

Here is what helps to get me through this.
And this.
These scenes are from about 100 yards from our home. Perfect place to go for a walk don't you think?

MFB has been really busy the past couple of weeks. About a week after I returned from Arizona he was asked to broadcast Notre Dame hockey's post season. First stop was the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit where Notre Dame won the CCHA National Championship. Next stop was Grand Rapids Michigan for the Midwest Regional NCAA Championship where Notre Dame lost the championship game. Had they won, they would have gone to the NCAA Frozen Four National Tournament. He's been doing a lot of traveling.

While MFB was in Grand Rapids I was in DC and Baltimore with family. But that's a special post for another time.

Oh Knitting? Knitting has been done, I'll post a picture soon. One of my current projects is a gift so no pictures on that for a little bit.

Off topic memo here with thanks to MFB for a great line:

Note to Mouse:

Yes I know that we evicted your family member in a violent way this winter and you probably learned by example not to show your existence inside our home. But as MFB mused this afternoon, does our front yard appear to be the Hamptons to you? Are you planning on summering here?

to be continued ....