Hello staples..Apr 30

It's a week after surgery so time to take off the waterproof dressing and it doesn't look all that bad, with a big row of staples but healthy looking tissue (if chopping your leg up was ever healthy) and lots of awful bruising.

  Everyone is being very kind to the patient patient. Mark, Ted's best buddy, has been in to see him regularly to cheer him on and will perform yeoman service in my absence in China from May 11-19 too. Margit has given him all sorts of useful tips from her 4 knee surgeries in 3 years! Kevin Thorvaldson has lent him an ice machine, which seems to involve a lot of carrying of water, ice, etc. but gretly helps get the swelling down. I won't put any photos here...Bonnie has made him two jugs of chicken soup (and she's not even Jewish) but Jackcie, who is, brought him inedible but beautiful flowers. Offers to drive him around aboound. We are so blessed with all our friends.

  Wednesday the blood work looked to be coming back to normal, only to shoot up into the no-gozone Thursday. Oh well, try something else.

  After trying to add the physio's exercises to his routine, Ted was totally shot on Wednesday, sore and tired and wondering if he could up the dosage of painkillers. At first he thought he wasn't going to need all those meds, now he's talking of extending it if he has to after seeing the surgeon next Thursday! 

  Because of past blood clot history, he has to wear a full elastic stocking for 6 weeks. Do you know how hard it is to put a really tight stocking on a big fat leg and misshapen foot? I'm getting better, but only with strong rubber gloves to the rescue. Ok, Ok, don't whine....

FIRST PHYSIO..April 28

The Mobile Vampire was called to the Foster household Monday morning so we had to be up bright and early ready for a blood(y) test from 7:30-2pm. A large span with lots of room for error, or Starbucks or whatever. Fortunately, the guy came early so we could get on with life. 

  In order to have surgery, Ted's blood thinness had to be severely reduced, by means of stomach injections daily and laying off the rat poison AKA coumadin for a few days before and after. Normal reading between 2-3. Reading at surgery: 1. Following surgery, they upped his coumadin and the anti-coagulant to bring it up fast. Once home, he continues to inject the anti-coag until the coumadin catches up. So this week it has been a roller coaster of Calgary Blood Services taking a reading and Ted taking a reading with his own device, a much handier gadget than finding a doctor to call for the test, getting the test, then waiting for the doctor to tell you the results. Ted can call that evening for his test results. Then his own GP weighs in and tells him how to vary his dose. Of course, if he consumes cruciferous vegetables or anything else high in Vitamin K, this messes with the results too. A fine line. 

  On a more positive note, it was off to his first physio appointment Monday afternoon. Getting him in the front seat of his car isn't that bad, as long as the seat is almost flat back! Eli took him in hand, measured his flex and announced he was already at 90 degrees which is great for one week. Until the staples come out, he doesn't want to do any any more sessions so we will return next Friday.

HOME AFTER TWO NGHTS...

Ted has done really well in hospital so they let him out of jail free after 2 nights. As I was getting ready to pick him up yesterday, he phoned to say the doc and physio were happy for him to leave, but staff  needed to get his blood thinners on track. He will still inject a blood thinner in his stomach (ouch!) for 5 days at home and get his usual cooumadin (rat poison) up to the right level at the same time. The mobile lab will visit Monday to take his blood, which is a whole lot better than me shoveling him into the car to take him to line up at a lab.

 I didn't need Mark to accompany me to drive him home in the back seat of his SUV. I got him in the front seat of our Honda Accord, which is great, as he won't be able to drive for 6 weeks. I guess I am going to be Driving Mr. Daisy..

  Liz called this mornign nd s pleasantly surprised to tak to her brother in law in person. Clive is also now waiting to get a new knee, but it in a lot more pain than Ted evidently was.

  This enforced home stay has its benefits. The guy called this morning to come by and check what needs to be done to wall up our side door and replace it with a big window. Hopefully that can be done soon now the snow has stopped - we hope.

  Or feathered pal is pleased he has company and just sits there saying "hello hello" all the time.

Note the kangaroo pocket pinny - he can bring things back and forth in the pocket without calling for Maria all the time...hahaha

  A friend dropped by last week with an ice machine. Quite simple really. You put in freeze packs (less messy than ice) and fill with water, plug in and it circulates cold water around the knee. Everyone who's used one swears by its efficiency at getting the swelling down. So we will use it 4 times a day after he does his exercises.

  Note deformed feet in foreground, good thing we didn't reproduce and replicate them! I

  'm glad its shorts weather now.

DAY TWO, PAINFUL..

Ted did get up last night after his surgery, just to stand by the bed apparently. He did not think he would use the painkillers as he has a high pain threshod. I guess today he found out otherwise. This morning the physio visited to show him some exercises and he said it was excruciating pain. After that he ate what purports to be real food (soup and an egg salad sandwich!) then fell asleep. when I arrived he woke up as the nurse was removing some of the tubes attached to various part of his anatomy too.

  At 1pm he was taken to the real chamber of horrors, the physio room with all manner of implements similar to the Spanish inquisition tools - I guess that's how it looks to people who have had their knee removed and put back together again.

 Young Joe grinned the whole way through the session, showing Ted how to do all the things that will make the leg bend again, but it all looked incredibly agononizing to me. By the time the almost hour was up he had done floor exercises, walked with a walker, learned how to use his crutches properly, walked the parallel bars and climbed over a small obstacle - no mean feat. 

  Returning to his bed, we got him propped up with ice and supports and he accepted the painkiller with alacrity! 

  I took him a bag of real roughage, pea pods, oranges and a big carrot so hopefuly he will get them all down as well as the mushy food he gets there.

  I remember a German guy having his second knee repaced when Ted was in for his hip replacement 15 years ago. Back then when he had the first one done in Germany, he woke up with his leg in a machine that gently lowered and bent it from the get-go. I think that's what's needed here. The theory  must be that if you don't let the leg stop moving, it won't be so hard to get it to 70 degrees within 4 days, to go home. I guess in Germany they come out of surgery and shortly thereafter go to convalescence for 6 weeks of intensive physio and exercise. What a gret way to do it.

  Now I anticipate him home Friday (that's the plan...) so I am out looking for a nursie outfit, but perhaps not in the love shop! Hahaha

BIONIC TED - NEW KNEE TODAY!

We returned to Alberta in plenty of time for Ted to do all the taxes and get in shape for his surgery today. He has lost about 20lbs and feeling better to undertake the grueling physio required in getting the knee back to working order.

  He will be way up NE in the Peter Lougheed Hospital which is where the ortho surgeons from his clinic all operate. So I will get used to driving across the city for a few days and hope 3 nights in hospital will be enough. 

  This morning, before the crack of dawn (a time we are not familiar with..) we were up and heading north on the Deerfoot in the dark, as admitting opens at 6am. By 7:30 he was all suited up, line in, and both surgeon and aneastheologist had visited. They determined he would have an epidural, rather than regular anesthetic, as recovery is usually far better. He's been off the rat poison (blood thinner) for nearly a week, injecting a substitute for the last 4 days, so his INR (indication of thinness of blood) is 1 and they are happy to do the epidural.

  So I will return later to see how the patiet has fared, take him a pair of crutches and no doubt he will be up and walking this evening.

BACK TO THE SWAMP...AND HOME

On our return to the Six Mile Swamp, what a difference! Spring had arrived, the cedar trees were in full leaf, flowers were blooming, baby alligators were sunning on logs, the rarer green heron (actually several colors) was lying in wait for the tiny critters stirring everywhere. I spotted a dangerous moccasin snake curled up peacefully on a log. But sadly it was time to head north again.

  Florida is definitely being loved to death, with very crowded beaches full of beached whales, coated in oil and about the color our the turtles! No sign of skin cancer fear here. It was spring break so beaches, malls, etc. were swimming with people. Even our return to the idyllic Sanibel and Captiva Islands was a huge shock. But we did find by driving off the beaten path some lovely wildlife areas preserved by far-seeing planners.

EDISON/FORD ESTATES - MARCH 22

Now that spring is officially here, at least in  Florida, we are enjoying the flowers that bloom in the spring trala. And of course remembering godson Steve & Taryn's wedding on that day 4 years ago.

  On a sunny and warm day with a little breeeze (84 but not too hot in the trees) we visited the fascinating but data-heavy Edison/Ford Estates. You take a self-paced audio tour of the lovely reserve of 3 homes, gardens, laboratory and museum on the Caloosahatchee River. 

This is where Thomas Edison spent his winters from 1885-1931, and Henry Ford lived next door from 1916-1934. The two men were the best of friends and built winter homes for them, their families, and important colleagues to visit in winter. It is amazing the sheer number of patents the two men were reponsible for, and Edison is famously remembered for invention of the lightbulb, electrical installations, but also the phonograph, Xray machines, botanical research, with nearly 500 patents to his name. A drop-out from school, described as "addled" by his teachers, Edison became a giant in the world of inventions before age 40.

  Likewise Henry Ford (whose company was my original employer for 7 years in the UK!) was a giant in his field too, and the two men shared many ideas and inventions together. They created an alternative botanical source of latex for rubber from goldenrod plants. Henry Ford once made a car whose body was made from soy! A photo in the museum shows him hitting it with an axe to prove its strength!

  They recommend 4 hours to see the whole place, we ducked out before that, but it's a beautiful setting on the river with pools, fountains, a swimming pool (unheard of in its day), a moonlight garden, orchids planted into a mango tree lane. A vast banyan tree, an acre in diameter, was donated by Henry Firestone in 1925, the largest on the continent. Edison, Ford and Firestone worked on finding a home-grown source of rubber and banyan produces a latex sap.

  Photo: View from the Edison home, Seminole Lodge.

  Ted especially enjoyed the collection of Model Ts and records of all the famous Ford race cars and drivers. A recreation of the botanical records lab and heritage plants were interesting too. 

Photo: the Moonlight garden

  Still a beautiful site on the river, the estate was preparing for a wedding as we visited. Great to see so many people still enjoying this beautiful and interesting privtely-owned estate.

Photo: Couldn't resist this shot of a Model T chuckwagon, used for camping trips to the Everglades!