Now that my hip replacement surgery is over it’s Kathy’s turn next!
It’s been 13 days now since my surgery and each day continues to be better than the previous one. I’m now able to get in and out of the recliner and the bed without Kathy’s loving assistance. Although I can ambulate around the house using only a cane (I used a walker for the first 7 days) and I can take care of my own personal hygiene needs, I still need her help however in getting my socks on and off especially due to the fact that I have to wear these knee-high “TED” compression socks for another 5 weeks!
I started Physical Therapy this past week, just three visits in so far and it’s amazing how much it’s helped to stretch the muscles and relieve the stiffness. Those girls at the local hospital do a great job. This is my third “opportunity” to utilize their professional services and I’m so appreciative that we have the PT gang here at our local hospital.
It’s time now to have Kathy taken care of. Her left hip has really been bothering her the last few months since she had a fall when carrying some packages up the steps into the house. Initially we thought that she was going to need hip replacement surgery as well, but further investigation discovered that she has a torn Gluteus Medius.
Although this will be an arthroscopic surgery, we’re told that her recovery will very likely be more difficult than mine.
If you know anyone who’s had shoulder rotator cuff repair surgery, this is very similar. Since the muscle has two tears, the surgeon will install a couple of “patches” that will attach at each end of the open tear to hold and pull the muscle back together.
Our hip gets a lot of action. Rotator cuff recovery I’m guessing is easier than this will be because with the shoulder, the patient can carry the weight of the arm and hand in a sling nearly all day and night only removing the sling to shower and get dressed.
With the hip we are not so lucky. This muscle will be used and stretched every time she walks, sits, or rises from a sitting position.
I had already planned to take the month of December off work while I recuperate, but I think it’ll be well into January (or February) before I’ll feel comfortable leaving her on her own. It’s a good thing we’ve had nearly 50 years of getting used to each other, eh?
It’s 6:30am, actually a sleep-in day for me because when I’m working (driving) for the county I’m up at 4am.
We assumed surgery would be scheduled early just like in the past for my rotator cuff surgery and the left hip, but when they called Friday they told me to arrive at 11am.
So here I sit.. no breakfast.. no coffee.. in fact nothing by mouth since 6pm last night per their instructions. It’ll be 20 hours or so by the time I’m out of surgery and in post-op.
That’s ok, although my stomach will be grumbling and my mouth will be like sandpaper … I’ll eventually have a good hip with great rotation and no pain to look forward to.
I’m ready to get this over. I’ve got my cane, I’ve got my walker, I’ve even got the elevated toilet seat with grab bars to help me as I recuperate.
Just last week we had the old cast iron porcelain painted bathtub pulled out and replaced with a nice new walk-in shower.
During installation of the walk-in shower
In the title of this post I mentioned the robot. If you’re curious how this works, take a look at the video below. It’s really fascinating how this thing works along with the doctor.
It’s been a great 3 months at Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park. We’ve been Camp Hosts here. Not only is the park laid out beautifully with eighteen camp site loops of 8 spaces each (laid out in a wagon wheel fashion), but the work has been easy with plenty of unscheduled time available to us.
And the people – all the staff here have been just fantastic to get to know and to work with. We’ve been invited to come back in the future and who knows? It just might happen!
View from a hilltop (lots of campfires)
The amphitheater
Another look
The marina
Our site
Some special people in our lives made our visit here really special. In early May our daughter and son-in-law (Sara and Stu) came down for a visit. They rented a camper right across from us. It was a great week! Stu got a lot of fishing in while we visited with Sara and as you can see from the pictures, we enjoyed some great meals together too!
The rental camper
Little Looney basking in the sun
Waiting on our meal at Mike’s Landing
Catfish sandwich at the lodge
Stu and Sara as they departed
In early June, good friends from Ohio and Arizona came for a visit. We shared a few meals together, we visited the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, we rented a deck boat and spent time out on Dale Hollow Lake, and we enjoyed each other’s company around the camp fire in the evenings.
Enjoying the slide off the deck boat on the lake
We want to acknowledge some of the folks at the park that made our time there so enjoyable.
Jenny (in the first picture below) is the General Manager of the entire park. She and her staff of about 45 are responsible for the campground, the lodge and dining room, the golf course, the picnic areas, and all the 3400 acres within the boundaries if the park. Jenny’s a super hard worker, great at multi-tasking and utilizes a great management style that has earned the respect of her staff. It’s a well-oiled smooth run operation that everyone at the park can be proud of.
Our next special person is Bobbi. Bobbi has responsibility to run the Country Store at the entrance to the campground. This entails registration of all new campers as well as keeping the store well stocked with all the goodies – food, ice, and souvenirs that travelers are looking for when they check in to a new place.
Robert, along with his work partner Jeff play a super important role in the campground. They do a super job of keeping the bathouses spotless. As we talked with campers, they always told us what a beautiful campground we had and what a fine job we did keeping the bathrooms so clean. We were always quick to tell them about and give credit to Robert and Jeff.
The spotless air conditioned bath / shower houses
Another special person that helped make our time at Dale Hollow (although I neglected to get a picture) was Gary, or “Speck” as he’s known at the park. Speck is the maintenance manager and he helped us countless times by getting us any tools or supplies we needed to do our jobs. He was also just a great guy to sit and talk with a bit. As he told us “just a country boy”. We always enjoyed talking with Speck.
You might recall that our arrival here was delayed from mid-March to mid-April because of my scheduled left shoulder rotater cuff repair surgery. I had the operation in Ohio on March 16th and the doc wouldn’t release me to drive the coach until early April.
Still, even though I could drive, my shoulder was still very stiff (and weak) and we knew I’d need some rehabilitation therapy in order to get me to as close to full range of motion as possible.
Once we got to Dale Hollow, I registered with Cumberland County Hospital and received twice weekly physical therapy through May and June. We went first thing in the morning Mondays and Thursdays. Sonya, Melissa, and Veronica did a wonderful job, the hospital is lucky to have such a great team running their PT department.
Not only did I get shoulder therapy, but both Kathy and I were able to receive traction (spinal decompression) for lower back pain. We’ve found over the past few years that we try to take advantage of this therapy whenever we find it exists in an area that we are in.
Kathy on the “rack” (Spinal Decompression Therapy)
We were originally scheduled to stay at the park through the July 4th weekend and depart on the 6th of July. We found out the week before the 4th that due to an administrative error our site was reserved for the July 4th weekend. Due to the fact that the park was reserved fully for the holiday weekend, we had no choice but to depart early.
That was fine for us since I had this upcoming hip replacement surgery with pre-op testing, it actually worked out great for us to head on out.
All in all, it was a great experience at Dale Hollow and we will miss our new friends. Maybe sometime in the future, we’ll be able to come on down for a visit. As a matter of fact we are already talking with our “gang of eight” about renting one of those big houseboats for a few days next summer!
Thanks for riding along with us, now to head on up to Ohio for a month or so to get this hip surgery and some rehab taken care of before we head west to Oregon. More on that to follow.
