...tales from the couch...

Here I am! Doing what I currently do. Sittin’ on my couch. Makin’ myself get up and walk and do my hip replacement “exercises” periodically. I’ve now had three showers since January 15th. That is BIG, Y’all. Yippee!

This past Friday, TLC, Little Leighton (aka LL) and Belle came over to see me and My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH) and have lunch with us. TLC had decided to keep LL home from school. She’d been to the nurse’s office the day before at school with a tummy ache.  She seemed to still be a bit puny when they got up that morning. (Belle doesn’t go to pre-school on Fridays.) So a visit to Grammy and Pa-Pa’s was something we were all excited about!

After lunch, Grammy laid on the twin bed designated as LL’s (and the one I’ve been sleeping on since I got home from the hospital—our master bedroom bed is too high and scary for me at this point...), and I watched LL and Belle play. I watched them watch TV. They were welcome entertainment! They came to our casa in their jammies. (Of course they fit right in with moi.) Here are My Sweet Princesses...busy:

And here is TLC—purging and organizing in our other guest room:

Yes—that closet has been quite awful. In my defense, I’ve been waiting for a free 3-4 days in a row to work in it myself. Winky. Wink. TLC couldn’t take it any more.

I occasionally checked on her. But my physical therapist came at 12:15 and kept me from monitoring TLC for almost 50 minutes. I’ll never know what I lost forever during that time. I guess I must admit it’s okay. If I don’t remember now what was in the boxes she went through, would I ever remember?

So this “recovery” is not going exactly the way I expected. I’ve had two rough weekends. I’ve cried. I’ve whined. I’ve had moments of regret, fear, confusion and, yes, anger. But this much I can tell you: I had no choice. My hip was causing me unbearable pain. My doctor told MSH and TLC—after my surgery—and me, the next morning—that I had a muscle tear he fixed and it was certainly contributing to my awful pain. It had to be done.

I’ve become expert at getting around with my walker! (If you’d told me when I was 40, 50 or even 60 that I’d have to use a walker when I was 65, I doubt I would have believed you.) My “grabber” (I cannot bend over for at least six weeks and I use it to pick up all kinds of things I drop/need/want.) is my third best friend after MSH and TLC. And then there’s this lifesaver...my sock-assist:

I sit in the chair in my closet and get my clothes and socks on using my grabber and sock thingy! like a professional joint replacement patient. I feel like I could enter a timed contest and win! (Thank you to whoever thought of both of these invaluable inventions!)

Hope Y’all never need a joint replacement. Truly. But if you do? I hope you have it done at a top-notch hospital by a wonderful doctor. That you have a MSH and TLC in your life, family and friends that encourage you and help you. That you have entertainment and distractions as PRECIOUS as My Princesses! And a grabber and sock thing to make your life a wee bit easier.

Happy Monday! Happy New Week!

Hugs...
ELC