These were the last two weeks of wearing the sling (if all goes well at the 4th week doctor checkup). Honestly, a lot of recuperation is sitting resting my arm. I should not, could not, and did not set the world on fire. Setting the world on fire while recuperating is picking one thing you want to accomplish and feeling great you got that thing done. In real life, I sometimes say, "I have no ambition." Then I choose to do nothing that day. Recovery is just the opposite. Every day is a day you should do nothing that doesn't facilitate healing, then you do one thing that would be of consequence when you are well and whole. This has been my biggest adjustment. Claude has been very surprised that I have been able to accommodate this change. He anticipated I would be trying to crochet or something. having no right arm has 'clipped my wing' in that regard. Turning the right arm can send sharp pains up my arm into my shoulder. Doesn't take many of those experiences before you learn the limits and learn patience as your arm heals. Having a reverse shoulder replacement is no small deal.
Here are the 3rd & 4th weeks of recovery. Not a lot of action. Now you know why.
Tuesday, May 28th, I finished a puzzle. I enjoyed my four puzzles. They have helped me build up strength but allowed me to take breaks when my arm and body needed to rest.
I refilled my pillbox for a week. See, little things are big accomplishments. Opening the top of the omeprazole means I have to ask Claude for help. That kind of twisting motion sends sharp pains thru my arm. I can do all the rest, but even this small task requires some help. Grateful I can do what I can do.
Wednesday, May 29th, I was able to get the Relief Society newsletter sent out via eMail. I got it scanned and posted to Facebook.
Andie called to check on us. She is finishing up this teaching year,
Claude had an appointment with Dr. Richardson, our ophthalmologist. He got great results. Then Claude came home and trimmed the hedges. This has been weighing on him for a while. I know he was happy to get it accomplished.
Thursday, May 30th, was the first day since surgery I woke feeling ready to do things. I woke up at 6am and went straight to my laptop.
When Claude woke up, I told him we were going to get me scrubbed up and we were going out for dinner that afternoon. Claude was very happy. We had a great meal at McCalister's followed by ice cream at Dairy Queen. Yeah us!! We have been getting in the car and going thru a drive-thru. We have not been dining in at all.
I also finished another puzzle.
Saturday, June 1st, was another great day. I was up and ready at 6am. I cleaned out my eMails. It seems like every time you interact with any business, they send you a survey. I ignored all of these from doctors, hospital, ordering presents and clothing items for my healing time, delivery of furniture and car servicing. Mind you, I have no issues with deleting this survey requests. However, some of these I really wanted to respond to. After getting thru the eMails, I cleaned out text messages.
We are in the middle of adding two recliners to our living room. Mine is in place. Claude's is still being made. We were ready to give away the red rocking chair we purchased for our home in Sadieville. Claude opened the shed and I got pictures of it to post on Facebook to be given away to someone who could pick it up. It has been a much-loved piece of furniture. The Hale family were the first to respond. This is a wonderful family and this chair will be taken care of and enjoyed. The Hale boys, Porter and Payton, would come Tuesday to take the chair and help Claude get the big leather chair out to the shed.
The first was Michael and Andie's wedding anniversary. I posted this on our family Facebook page: "Happy Anniversary to our middle-born daughter and her most-excellent hubby! Andie & Michael reached their 27th anniversary this year (if I figured correctly). Wow! Hope you two have a great year! Love Ya Bunches!!"
Sunday, June 2nd, I had a groggy start to my day. I had thought about going to church this Sunday but realized it was not going to happen.
Our habit is to go thru a drive-thru after church and bring something home for our meal-of-the-day. This day we drove thru Jimmy John's. I actually placed the order on my app on my cellphone. I don't find this as easy as one would think. But I do want points for a free sandwich! Sometimes, just maybe, greed is good. We sat in the car and ate our sandwiches.
Then we headed to McDonald's for dessert. Hayden sent me a text a day or two before about a Gramma McFlurry at McDonald's. I would order one and text Hayden a picture to thank him for alerting me to this treat. It kind of has a butterscotch flavor and is full of candy pieces. Very, very sweet.
The cute thing this day was one of the little rabbits that visits our yard. Claude was standing at the back door. He called to me.
This day I decided to start another puzzle. The first puzzle I started was when Nissa was with us. She had so much fun putting that puzzle together. It gave me great joy watching her do something she doesn't get to do very often. I decided to make that puzzle by myself before I closed up all these fun puzzles.
Monday, June 3rd, I had a haircut appointment. Hallelujah!! Claude has Moh's surgery on the 12th. He has been shampooing my hair for me. I may need to figure out how to do this myself after his surgery. Having that extra inch off will really help.
This was another morning I woke up ready to do things. It feels good to start having those kinds of mornings.
I finished the puzzle. I failed to take a picture of it. It is the snowy puzzle on my previous blog entry.
Tuesday, June 4th, I woke up wanting donuts for breakfast. Claude and I drove to Frank's and brought donuts home for our breakfast. He does humor me about these things.
My big thing to accomplish was trying to do laundry again. Claude was close by to call for help with anything that I couldn't do. It took me all day to do three loads. The washer has no agitator allowing me to turn it easily so clothes are close to take out and move to the dryer. Folding is a challenge with only a left arm. My habit is to fold and put away each load as it comes out of the dryer. Things could be spread out on top of the washer/dryer with my left hand, then folded with my left hand. Usually, I grab the entire load of folded clothes and put them away. Now, I had to take at least 5 trips to put one load away with only my left hand. I was very happy when I completed this chore. Now I know I can ensure we have clean clothes while Claude heals from his surgery next week.
Wednesday, June 5th, found me worn out. I find my gratitude journal has several entries about gratitude for being able to stop and rest as needed. This is such a blessing.
Claude and I have both noticed an improvement in my abilities when doing PT. Here is a little video of one exercise that I can now do with my right arm only. When I came home from the hospital, I could not lift my right arm at all without help. To do this exercise, it was my left hand raising my right hand. Now it can be done with just my right arm. I still lift my right arm with my left and am extremely careful to not let the right arm drop down at all on its own. This exercise gives me great hope for the future.
Thursday, June 6th, was Joel's birthday. I posted this on our family Facebook page: "It's birthday time!! Joel "The Potato" Roper officially leaves the Terrible 2's behind and marches into the Terrifying 3's. He is a Charmer. Happy Birthday, Joel! We Love Ya Bunches!!"
We left for Louisville at 5pm. The plan was to attend the University of Louisville 2024 Wind Band Institute. Bailey had been staying on campus and participating in this since Sunday. We would see the concert at the end. We have missed at least three concerts Bailey was since my surgery. Time to challenge myself with a big, long outing. Recording of any of the music was prohibited. But, honestly, I could not have held my cellphone up that long! Andie got a few candid shots and Claude brought the program home and I scanned the pages that pertain to Bailey.
Our plan was to stop in Frankfort for a Cook burger on the was to the concert. We ran into a big traffic jam and got off I-64 to take a back road to Hwy 460. Doing all this took time off our scheduled arrival for a 7pm concert. Once in Frankfort, we gave up on stopping for dinner, found our was back to I-64 and headed to duPont Manual High School. We found the correct parking lot and were inside just before start time. Yea us!! We enjoyed the concert and visiting with Andie, Michael and Bailey. Then we made our way back to I-64 with a stop at Wendy's in Simpsonville for dinner and a stop at Waddy for gasoline. We were home about 9:30p. That was a 4 1/2 hour outing for this old girl. I did PT and iced my shoulder before we hit the hay a little after 11pm.
Friday, June 7th, we watched a Bizarre Foods, Delicious Destinations with Andrew Zimmern. This episode featured foods in and around Louisville, Kentucky. One restaurant featured was Morris Deli, Liquor & Catering. In particular, the Country Ham was on their menu. Country Ham is a heavily salted ham that is preserved by curing (sometimes smoking). It is hung for 3 months to 3 years to cure. My mother's parents had a smoke house. I distinctly remember going in this little square building with a smoke pit in the middle and meats hanging from beams. I looked at Claude and said we should go and try Country Hams sandwiches from Morris' on Friday. Claude agreed. Friday afternoon we drove just over an hour away to Taylorsville Road and found Morris'. This is a small store front. They did have 2 tables with chairs. We ordered our sandwiches and sat at the end of one table while a little family of three were preparing to leave the other end of the table. I had a fun conversation with them. Our sandwiches were very good. Indicative of my lack of use of my right arm, I took not one picture. The one I should have taken was the hall tree with a plethora of Country Hams for purchase.
We opted for a drive through the back roads to get home. It was a lovely day and a great outing.
Saturday, June 8th, I was exhausted after my two days of adventures. My shoulder was sore. I am blessed to be able to stop and rest. I did my PT and iced my shoulder several times. But other than that, I spent most of my day in my comfy recliner watching Harry Potter movies. Claude worked at his desk and then joined me and the Harry Potter movies.
Sunday, June 9th, I was determined to make it to church. We missed two Sundays with my recuperation. Claude had a 7am Zoom Stake Council meeting. I set an alarm for 6:15am for his wake-up call. I got up and moved to the living room. Claude's meeting was over at 8:30am. We rested till 9am then proceeded to get me scrubbed up for church.
I very much enjoyed taking the sacrament again. As I have dealt with all the stages from hurting my arm when I fell to surgery to healing, I am constantly aware of my Savior's Atonement and how important that is to my healing. When I have been hurting, I was reminded of His suffering. He knows and understands my pain. That gives me strength to endure well this little trial. I have two favorite phrases I think of when I reflect on the blessings for me of the Atonement. They are: 1) Tender mercies and 2) Enabling power. I have felt both of these blessings every day during this process from fall to healing. A gentle caregiver, a favorite soda when nothing seemed good to eat, the arrival of my recliner, a morning biscuit run, watching critters in our backyard, great documentaries to occupy my mind are a few of the tender mercies. Enabling power has been felt as I continue to increase my strength and learn to do things slowly and with the patience that slowness takes to accomplish a little more for and by myself each day. I do see the blessings of the Savior's Atonement all day, every day in my life. So, Sunday I wanted to partake of His Sacrament again. To remember covenants made and blessings received because of livings those covenants with Him. I had to be humble and use my left hand to partake of the bread and water, but I know He understood that and loves that I needed and wanted the blessings of the Sacrament in my life.
We came home after Sacrament Meeting. James Hollen and David Bennett, Sr. came over after church and gave Claude a priesthood blessing in preparation for his surgery Wednesday. James stayed after and visited for a while. He is such a good man.
After James left, we drove to KFC to get some dinner. We brought it home and ate. Then we each took a much needed nap. I am just not sleeping well.
When I woke up, I headed to the bathroom where I hurled all my dinner. After sitting for a bit, I went back and hurled more. Not sure where that came from. Spent the rest of my evening in my recliner doing PT and icing my shoulder.
Monday, June 10th, was our final full day to prepare for my sling removal and Claude's Moh's surgery. I opted to do laundry so Claude could focus on a final grocery run. To begin this day correctly, we went on a biscuit run. Then home to start on chores.
We paused at 1pm for a Zoom meeting with Strategic Wealth Design. New person to work with. Claude and I were impressed with him. Had a good meeting for about 1 hour. Claude took a nap and I kept up with laundry. I did much better with laundry this time. It still takes forever as I only use my left arm. But I had a handle on how to fold those t-shirt and things. Felt good to be a contributor to the running of our home instead of just needing care myself.
In the evening we opted for dinner at McCalister's. With me not driving and Claude having surgery and probably not driving for a bit, we wanted to have a nice dinner out. McCalister's is always a good choice.
This finished four weeks since my surgery. The first two weeks seemed to go very slowly. The second two weeks seem to have flown by. On Tuesday, we go for the 4-week checkup. Anxious for what they will say. Concerned about the hardness down and at the bottom of the scar. Still having sharp pains when moving my shoulder in certain directions. But happy with improvements in other movements.
No comments:
Post a Comment