JOURNAL OF TININTHEWIND

     We are just finishing up with day 5 following the New Right Hip.  Kathleen has done extremely well in my opinion and I am really proud of her.  She is walking with the assistance of the walker and scooting around far better than I ever expected at this juncture.  Her incision has healed enough that she will be able to shower in the next day or two.  Sponge baths up to now have sufficed.

     You would never guess what we are doing tonight?  No, not that.  When we were a little younger that was exciting, now just packing to return to the 'tininthewind' is all the excitement we need.  Yup, we are packing up all that we brought with us to this little stick house so we can load it up and return to our house on wheels in the morning.  Four days sooner than we had planned.

     We will remain at the fairgrounds campground in Viroqua through Friday and then will make a stop at the Veterans Memorial Campground in West Salem for two days and then on to Goose Island just south of La Crosse where we will settle in on a Monthly Rate to take us to the end of the six weeks we have been requested to remain in the area.  Of course, at the end of the six weeks the Dr. could request more physical therapy and suggest that we stay in the area but I rather doubt that will be the case as my patient is doing extremely well.  Baring any setbacks, who knows, they may even shorten the 6 week requirement.  Wouldn't that be nice.

     We are ever so grateful for the use of this little stick house, but I have to tell ya, we have missed our little traveling home more than any one could ever imagine.

Posted by George at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     The new hip is a reality and Kathleen (my patient) is doing great.  She was wisked off to surgery at 9:45 and 1 hr. and 15 minutes later the surgeon, Dr Lawrence was out talking to me letting me know that all went smoothly and was showing me a picture of the head of the femur (the ball) that had been removed.  Even I, the amerature Dr. that I am, could see that two thirds of it showed signs of having rubbed bone on bone for some time.  The surface of it which is supposed to be smooth was pock-marked like you would see when looking at a picture of the moons surface.  No wonder my love, was in such pain..

     Kathleen chose to have this entire procedure done by having spinal anesthesia only.  She was groggy but alert throughout the entire procedure and her only negative comment was listening to sound of the saw as they removed the ball from the femur.  I was amazed at how alert and bright eyed she was so soon after surgery.  She had a full supper this evening and stood by the bed to test her new parts.  Tomorrow and Sunday she will have two sessions of physical therapy before probably getting discharged on Sunday afternoon.

     I can't tell you how impressed I am with Dr. Lawrence, the Vernon County Memorial Hospital, and everyone we have come in contact with.  I do not impress easily!

Posted by George at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     In the picture above you can see our 'toad' sitting in the driveway of a mighty fine house.  This house is being furnished to us by the hospital since we have come from such a long way (South Dakota) to have this hip surgery.  We will be allowed to stay here until Oct. 4th, 10 days, and then will have to fend for ourselves.  Not to worry as we feel the 'tininthewind', (our Motor Home) will be so lonely for us by then anyway.  I know after just a few hours in this beautiful house we both are already lonely for it.

     This house is very nice with everything anyone could want, including housekeeping service every day and we have been told, "if there is anything you need or want just let us know".  Hmmmm.

     The 'tininthewind' is parked and set up at a little campground that is part of the Vernon County Fairgrounds, only about 15 blocks from this little recovery house.  I will be able to go there whenever to get anything we need and check on our 'wheelestate'.

     We are to report to the hospital which is just across the street at 7:00 a.m.  I am guessing that the surgery will be about 9:00 and by early afternoon I should get a new blog out to let everyone know how the patient is doing.

     Following is a short slide show.  The large building is the hospital entrance and I was standing at the front door of the house we are in when I took it.  The rest are of the house.  I hope we don't loose each other in this place as there sure is more room than we need!

                                                     Slide Show 

Posted by George at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     Pictured above are two of the sweetest, classiest ladies you could ever hope to know.  Kathleen, my mom Betty, and I spent part of Sunday helping to celebrate with other family members their two Birthdays.

     Goldie (pictured 1st) was celebrating her 99th.

     Emerald (pictured 2nd) was celebrating her 88th.

     The maiden family last name for these two great ladies was Sires.  There were 9 children born to Roy and Lena Sires of which Goldie and Emerald were 2nd oldest and 6th oldest.  Seven of the nine children were named after gems.  There was Goldie and Emerald, Beryl (Betsy), Opal, Sylvia, Pearl, and Sardius.  There were two others, Jimmy and Roy Thomas. Of the nine, pictured below are the four surviving children of Roy and Lena, Goldie, Emerald, Beryl (Betsy), and Roy Tom.

     It is rare to be able to celebrate a 99th birthday, but couple that with also being able to celebrate an 88th and you have the makings of a great day.  There is a lot of love for these two classy ladies and that in part is due to all the love they have given to all who were in attendance.

    I reflect on a conversation between Goldie and her niece June at the celebration when Goldie said, "quit telling everyone my age".  The classy Lady that she is, if asked directly, "how old are you", would reply with a number something way south of 99.

     I include two pictures here of Goldie from my collection and these were taken at age 98.  I will let them speak for themselves.

                                                      Slide Show

Posted by George at 06:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     One week from today there will be a new hip living under the 'tininthewind' roof and we are sure it is going to like the ride. 

     We are at Goose Island and enjoying our stay.  The weather has been spectacular and even though the days pass slowly it won't be long and we will be getting ready to head south.

     The season of Fall in the Midwest is very colorful with the leaves changing colors and the temperatures are usually to my liking.  We have our fingers crossed for an extended Fall season and truly hope our time of physical therapy is successful and finished before those white flakes start falling and signaling a change of season.

Posted by George at 06:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     We are now one month in to our fourth year full-time in the 'tininthewind' and excited to see what the next four years will bring.  We have had some health problems to deal with such as Kathleen's hip replacement at the moment but our little home has served us well during the recovery process and we expect this time to be no different.

     I like to reflect on the many miles that we have covered, and the multitude of new back yards we have awakened in but the most important aspect of this lifestyle to me has been the many friends we have made in our travels.  Friendships that develop in a hurry because tomorrow one or the other may be moving on.  Friendships that grow stronger through the marvels of the day such as contact through e-mail and/or skype.  There will be many more Friendships made and we look forward to that.

     We have learned to look ahead and plan accordingly.  We have also learned to keep our plans fluid just in case we want to go left instead of right.  The beauty of having wheels on our 'wheel-estate' I can't begin to describe.  We are always in awe of the opportunities we had yesterday, and wonder what they will bring tomorrow.  Most importantly with family scattered all over the place we can point the nose to the Midwest for that hug from mom (yes my mom at 87 is still doing well), or point the nose to the northwest for that grandkid fix which is so important at this stage in life. 

     I am looking out the window now at our beautiful Mississippi River flowing by like we did from our stick home of 37 years and yet my feet are feeling itchy.  We will move tomorrow a little ways up the road as we continue to await Kathleen's hip surgery day on the 25th of September.

Posted by George at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)