SUSAN GETS THE BOOT

As we come to the close of March and see signs of spring, Susan gets through her first 2 of 6 weeks of non-weight bearing, and gets a change. Today, Monday 3/28, she got her splint (that I had initially thought was a cast) removed and is now in a Boot. 

Splint comes off and we get to view her ankle. I am not including the more graphic side with stitches and more dried blood from sutures as that gives me the willies!

New Xray shows the plate on the one side and the screw on the other.

And she gets the boot.

The report is that she is healing well, will now be able to use that knee scooter (becoming more independent in some things) and will do movement exercises for the ankle. Three times a day she will remove the boot and do the air alphabet with her foot. In addition, a Physical Therapist will come here twice a week for the next four weeks. The plan will then be Physical Therepy at the facility once a week for four more weeks as she gradually can add more weight bearing to that leg.

 Not much else happening for us these days, but we have enjoyed visits from a few friends who stopped by, and with lots of encouragement from Susan, I have gotten in some bike riding. My riding has been very near home, and rather short miles but I have enjoyed each one. One of my challenges for the second half of the month has been finding “fences and gates”. I will not include many here, but will show just a few of the ones I found while out pedaling.

One decorated with graffiti…

One decorated with butterflies and colorful ornaments…

A fence in the woods…

A somewhat neglected fence at a yard…

And here is the sure sign of spring — our cherry trees are all blooming 😊.

Thus ends March with sunnier days ahead ;’-);

HAPPY ST. PAT’S DAY

I know I am a day late with the wishes, but I hope everyone enjoyed St. Pat’s Day. I got to go on a bike ride on the day and found some Shamrocks. 

I like this one painted on this rock best.

The High School displayed their artistic version of shamrocks webbed into the fence.

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I got a couple of other rides in earlier this month, but not many. one of my ‘challenge’ sites had us looking for outbuildings of all kinds and one of mine was this ultra play structure.

The only other one I will post here is the tumble down tree house.

At the end of this day (Actual St. Pat’s Day) we got a text from Wendy and Steve (Kat’s parents) asking if they could bring us an Irish dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage. Would we turn that down? Not on your life.

We feel fortunate to have such great neighbors. Dinner was divine and delicious ;’-). They brought hats and napkins to go with the meal ;’-).

This mid morning I will be taking Susan for her first check back with Kaiser and afterward I just might get in an afternoon bike ride around the neighborhood. Will be on the lookout for the challenge of ‘fences and gates’ for the second part of the month.

ANKLE UPDATE

Got home late Saturday afternoon for recuperation and healing.

The living room is her ‘bedroom’ for several weeks.

She got quite comfy and we fixed everything to be within her reach. Kat(mandu) comes for his everyday visit which cheers Susan quite a bit.

Kat gives Susan lots of his love to get her better. Kat belongs to our neighbors, Wendy and Steve across the street,  and has adopted us as his second home. He comes every day and spends hours here — some play time, sometimes a brushing (which he loves), looking out the window at the birds on our lawn, and of course endless napping. We send him home at dinner time to have his meal and night time with his brother Cato. Cato has no interest in us at all.

Susan’s activities include many phone calls from the medical places (Kaiser, Providence, Alpha Home Care, to name a few); the puzzle she has been working on since October…

…and the walker shuffle to and from the bath room (I remember that shuffle well)

Oh, and checking the Free Stuff in Mukilteo site of course. You will recall that on the drive to the hospital Susan found the knee scooter. Well now she has found a recumbent bike to use for cardio exercise.

The Physical Therapist (Paul) made a first visit: checked out Susan’s maneuverability with the walker; taught her safety with crutches (that she will not use for a while yet); checked on the safety of the knee scooter (also to be used later); gave tips for the recumbent bike.

After writing his report, more PT will be ok’d, and Paul will come back for up to twice a week for 8 weeks!! Wow, that surprised us. He was extremely helpful to both of us.

After experiencing all that, Kat came to offer yet more comfort at the puzzle board.

Now Susan will have the March Madness Basketball tournament as her past colleague has invited her to join the pool ;’-). That will keep her “entertained”.

We go for her first check in at Kaiser on Friday this week and continue on with what we are doing. Will update agin IF there is something to tell or something different happens.

THE ANKLE ADVENTURE: A BIT OF A CATASTROPHE

If it is not the pandemic, it’s the weather; if it’s not the weather something else will surely happen to hamper my cycling the early part of this year!

We were to meet these friends for a bike ride in the sun. Instead they are cheering and sending us love, care and positive thoughts as we endure the Ankle Adventure.

At 4:30 Thursday morning (I am an early riser), the day we were to meet these friends for the ride, I came out of the bathroom to find Susan kneeling next to the bed and moaning. Being who she is, she was gathering all needed things (while moaning) she could reach to bring with her to the hospital. This was before I even knew we would be going to the hospital. In between some moans she said she had broken her ankle!!!!!!! HUH??? Did you fall out of bed?

Had not fallen out of bed. She had gone downstairs to do something and after finishing the task, did a basket ball shot (she played and coached BB for decades) of her Kleenex into the waste bin in the garage. She missed the shot, which does not usually happen, but being the coach she was, followed the shot for the ‘rebound’ to put it into the bin. She came down on the step and fell onto the floor hearing the crunching of her ankle bones. She CRAWLED up the stairs to the bedroom as I did not hear her calling to me (in bathroom, door closed, water running, no hearing aids in!!). We immediately drove to the emergency room in Everett.

At the hospital.

Doc showed X-rays and explained that she had ‘jack hammered” her ankle breaking several bones which were now splayed out at their ends. YIKES! I knew it was bad because with her high pain tolerance, and being staunch about injuries, her moans frightened me.

We were in the hospital ALL DAY, and most of the time was spent in the ER. We had gotten there around 5:30, they did a ‘repositioning’ of her ankle fairly early on — couple hours maybe. Then the wait.

Repositioned and wrapped tight.

Also, Susan being who she is, she was searching around on the internet on her phone. We have a ‘buy nothing’ group in our community and have given and gotten things from that group — all free. How fortuitous that Susan should find this item that had just popped up…

She contacted the guy, was in time to get it before anyone else had asked, he said he would set it up for the injured leg (the right), and would deliver it to the house!! And he did!

Back to the ER where we spent what seemed to be endless hours. I was able to leave and get some breakfast, go home for a few items Susan wanted/needed, and return to see she was still in ER.

Finally they took both of us to Pre-op, got her all prepped and at 4:10 they took her into surgery. About two hours later the doc called to tell me all went fine and she was on her way to recovery room. Of course I was not allowed in there, and since it was now evening, they were waiting for a room for her which could take quite a while, and I knew Susan was ok, I finally went home for a restless sleep.

Her cast looks similar to the repositioning one from earlier but is much thicker.

She may come home today (Saturday) or maybe not until tomorrow, but is enjoying the good food they have been feeding her, and she has a room with a view — of Everett’s Portage Bay, and the Olympics.

Heavy duty pain meds have kept her comfortable and able to sleep. The hard part coming is — SIX weeks of absolutely NO weight bearing, then probably well enough for LIGHT weight bearing. OT was there during my visit yesterday and she was rather good with hopping around using the walker. She thinks PT will be there today and go over the knee scooter with her.

SIGH…

SNOW FOR FEBRUARY ARRIVED 🙄

And on February 22nd — we got snow. We had our dusting in the morning. Many areas, especially those to the north of us, got a bit more snow than we did but we did get some.

Falling snow photo from our front door…

A look at the road in front of our house…

…and out our back door…

We feel fortunate that we got to ride with Etienne and Andre when they came, just a couple of days ago, to spend three nights with us. Though Jenny came as well, she did not opt to join us on a bike ride (shocking I know). We drove up to Anacortes for the trail ride we have done with the boys a few times. 

Etienne practiced his figure 8 within the parking lines and did very well!

Then he was ready to roll and waiting for us to finish gearing up.

Andre had done a few warm up laps in the near empty parking lot and he too was getting anxious for the riding to begin.

Let’s go then…

We were all bundled for the cold temps and fared quite well on this cloudy, damp day.

Our beloved Hot Dog stand was closed this time, but we had brought ample lunch and treats ;’-). And they were hungry! 

There was an educational stop to read some information boards and they were very patient as Grandma read them out loud ;’-).

A little mishap on the way back as Andre’s pedal fell off as he was riding. He impressed me and Susan by not only keeping his balance, but continuing to pedal with one leg! We got that fixed and continued on.

Both boys have become accomplished and confident riders. 

I had to stop for this sculpture I found along a slight offshoot from the trail.

At the start of our ride home, it started to rain!! How lucky we felt we had been. After this most wonderful day, we drove home for dinner and …. more treats than you could shake a stick at!!

Girl Scout cookie delivery arrived as we were having dinner! YAY! Holding off for a little while past dinner, Jenny used the cookies as an incentive for the boys to not fight about having their baths .. and it worked.

I know that Susan and I would have allowed a cookie from each of the six boxes, but were surprised that their mom actually allowed it! The boys could not have been happier. 🤗😬.

We are now in the last week of this month and the weather does not seem too promising for much bike riding — snow, below freezing temps, cold north wind, icy roads — so I will simply grab an hour or so if it presents itself for a little more time in the saddle. Next month will be the start of our busier times with RV camping and some group outings, so that is what will most likely be taking over much of my blogging. ;’-). We shall have fun!

FEBRUARY 2022 BRINGS FAKE SPRING!

We started this month with rather cold temps, then spring-like temps in the high 40s and mid 50s for several days had us experiencing Spring Fever! Short lived though as February has come back with its cold air, cold rain, and threats of snow.

But February is also LOVE month. 

And those welcomed spring temps brought some very nice days for riding bikes. 

Several of us enjoyed the trail ride to our Windmill.

Soon after, we had a celebratory Valentine’s Day ride a couple of days before Valentine’s Day. We started at McDonald Park in Carnation and rode to picnic by the river in Fall City.

Blue Sky, nothing but blue sky…

We all brought Valentine stuff to share…



And we have a collage of LOVE ❤️

Stella posed for her photo…

And what seemed like too soon on this stellar day, we were on our way back. Our SAG driver/cheerleader extraordinaire Lizette ensured that we did not miss our turn ;’-)

Thank you everyone for a great day!

In addition to the few rides I have done with friends and/or club rides, I did most of my rides solo and had anything from damp and gloomy to sun and stunning to ride in!

A few more Valentine decorations pop up.

I had one of those beautiful days to enjoy views of the Cascade Mountain range.

Opportunity for a selfie presented itself. See me in there?

And so we get through the first half of February with slightly more daylight hours and that hope of Spring for real! No snow yet, but we will see what the second half of the month will bring 😉.