December 16 – “Heading for Howdy Doodies”

On explicit orders from my live-in nurse, I took it very easy yesterday.  After all that hard work at the Christmas party, I slept through most of the night – just one bathroom break.  And I’m told I took three or four really good naps during the day.  Don’t remember.  I must have been asleep.

When I wasn’t sleeping I did my best to help Chris put stuff back together after that party.  That was one stretch that was enough to knock me out again.  When I woke up that time Chris was standing nearby with a frustrated air about her.  Seems she had gotten the old dog door flap off with no problem, but was having no small difficulty getting the new one installed.  Apparently her arms weren’t quite long enough to work on both sides of the door at the same time.  After some negotiating and then some finagling, I sat on a step stool.  Between the two of us … we got the job done. What a team.

And now this morning I am heading out to another adventure, pretty much against the advice of my physical therapist.  She advised me to “stay away from crowds and holiday doings until after the first of the year.”  I figured I already blew the second one out of the water by hosting the party (the very night she told me that).  Why not just go for perfection and make it two for two?  I’m going back to church.  Sort of.  Kel is preaching for me again, but I’m gonna be there.  I may do the howdy doodies and maybe a Visual Verse.  And I have to be there for the Christmas dinner on the grounds.  But Chris has my extra pillows already packed for me to keep my leg elevated.  I might need to throw in another one for my head as well.  Here we go …

Psalms 119:73 says, “Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.”

Father, thank you for creating this marvelous invention called the church.  Please be there with us today.  Amen.

December 15 – “Beep … beep … beep”

Chris spent one whole day baking bread to go along with the Christmas mix candy substance she had already made.  The house smelled amazing.  I’m pretty much convinced that the smell rather than the impending cold front was the reason that mouse sought refuge the other day.  I spent the day alternating between preparing for the Christmas party we were hosting, doing leg exercises, and just being exhausted from the same.  I could have left out the extra walking part, though. 

We went to WalMart to get the supplies we needed for the Reindeer Games portion of our Christmas party.  I wasn’t confident enough to make a go of WalMart with just me and my walker, though, so I became … a WalMart Electric Cart Rider.  Yep.  One of THEM.  That thing drives like a tank.  And it occasionally has a mind of its own.  At one point I was stopped and browsing and it started moving forward on its own.  Then I tried to put it in reverse, and it went forward, crashing right into the basket in front of me.  Fortunately it was ours.  And that doesn’t even take into account all the times it turned itself off, I assume to conserve battery energy.  Oi discovered in the “research phase” of my ride that those things just don’t go very fast, even in a straightaway.  It does turn quickly, though.  That was fun.  So was backing up.  Felt like I was back driving my garbage truck … Beep, beep, beep.  No … I didn’t hit anybody, although that would have been fun as well.  Maybe next time. 

Oh, and about the Christmas party.  We had more people here than we have had in a long time.  They started coming in so fast that I don’t think Chris had time to get a photo of everyone in front of the tree.  The games were a lot of fun.  From Christmas Carol Charades (which the girls won handily) to Frosty’s Melting, all the way down to Rudolph’s Red Nose M&M’s and Jingle All The Way, we had a lot of laughs.  The food everyone brought was tasty as usual.  And Pastor Kel did a great job reading the Christmas story from the Book of Luke.  The children seemed to enjoy their scavenger hunt for hiding reindeer, and they jumped right in when the other games began.  You would have thought that these people actually enjoyed being together …

Psalms 119:66 says, “Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands.”

Father, thank you for the fun.  It’s just so … fun.  Amen.

December 14 – “A singular interloper acting on his own recognizance”

We had a little bit of excitement around here the other night.  I didn’t think anything would be strong enough to rip us away from the intense grip of an enthralling Hallmark movie, but now I know.  There is one thing.

Chris was in one of the recliners.  I was on the couch with my knee propped up, trying to get the swelling to go down some.  That’s when I saw it.  At first I thought it was but a shadow, a mere flickering on the outskirts of my vision.  But it was clear enough that I wanted to check it out.  Without mentioning anything to Chris, I stood from the couch and turned on the flashlight on my phone.  That got Chris’ attention.  “What are you doing?” she asked.  “Just checking something,” was my reply.  I hoped that would be enough to keep her in the dark until I could check out whatever it was that caught my eye.  Nope.  As soon as I said that she was out of the chair and running to the kitchen.  Terrified at the very prospect that there might be a …

Meanwhile, I managed to get my creaky bones and swollen knee in a weird enough position to shed some light under the TV cabinet.  Nothing.  No movement.  I heaved myself back to a standing position and moved on in closer.  I asked Chris if she wanted to help me.  Nope.  Didn’t even pause to consider my humble request.  Slowly I crept, closer and closer to the cabinet.  Finally I pressed one palm on the cabinet as I stretched to shine the light back behind.  And … there it was.  A tiny little field mouse popped out and raced into the corner.  “Yep, there he is,” was all I said at that point.  That was enough for Chris to check out completely, though.  “Go get it.  Go find some mouse traps and get that thing out of here.  Hurry up.  Where are they?  In the garage?  Go get them.”  Chuckling now, I asked, “I think they might be in the garage.  Will you go get them?”  Her reply?  “Um.  No.  I’m staying right here until you catch him.  In fact you have to sleep in here tonight until you get him.”  Well, my chuckle was in full-on laughter mode now.  I hobbled my way to the garage and found some mouse traps.  By the time I got to the kitchen she already had the peanut butter and a spoon ready for me to bait them up.  Oh, and in record time she had cleared the table of the candy she made.  Can’t be sacrificing candy to a dreaded invasion force. 

I went about setting the traps in appropriate places.  That’s when Chris suddenly became convinced that she had just seen a huge rat, the size of Fritz, in the laundry room.  “It was massive,” she insisted.  “Put some traps in there, too.”  I got all the traps that we had set out, and then asked if we could continue the movie.  She replied, “Sure.  Go ahead.  I’ll just watch from in here where I can read my book.”  Well, OK then.

We nailed the mouse sometime in the night in one of the laundry room traps.  It must have been my mouse, though.  Chris’ rat would have laughed in defiance and ripped the trap into shreds.  As it turned out, I’m pretty sure the mouse we caught was a singular interloper acting on his own recognizance. 

The encounter resulted in our trip to Pets Mart yesterday.  We were overdue to replace the flap to the dog door, and that was no doubt the mouse’s point of entry.  That flap just begins to get warped over time, and the magnets no longer work.  The new problem now is, I’m not 100% sure I can get myself down into the position required to change the silly thing.  Chris is insisting that she can do it herself.  Maybe between us we can get it done.  Otherwise it will mean a call to our trusty, always helpful local fire fighter … Nathan. 

Psalms 119:57-58 says, “You are my portion, O Lord; I have promised to obey your words.  I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.”

Father, thank you for drawing that little critter out of hiding so Chris can sleep at night.  Amen.

December 13 – “Field Trip”

After that bad night with neuropathy I needed something to distract me yesterday.  We found that right away.  Well, after Chris remembered …

Cailyn and her elementary school choir were singing their Christmas concert at a few of the downtown banks.  That meant a field trip – a trip into the outside world for Mr. Confined to the House for Two Weeks.  I was in. 

We made our way to the first one and found a parking space in their lot.  At least we hoped it was a valid spot.  Hard to tell with all the tow-away zones.  Once inside I was treated like royalty because of my walker.  Well, the fact that I was wearing shorts and you could see my cool scar may have had something to do with it as well.  They ushered me into a really comfortable chair where I could see the kids’ faces.  Chris teamed up with April on the other side of the room where Cailyn was actually standing so they could get some pictures and videos.  Of course the kids did a great job.  I was especially impressed with the rock around the tree song where they each danced their version of the twist and a few other unknown 60’s dances.  Then there was the Hawaiian Christmas song where they were supposed to do the hula.  It didn’t take long for that one to morph into that new toothpaste or toothbrush or whatever that new dance is called.  (OK.  I’m back.  I asked.  The dance craze is called flossing.  Hey, at least I was near the correct body part). 

The next bank was a few blocks away.  The kids walked, but that was too far for the old man and his walker, so we packed up and looked for a parking place.  We finally found one, but then we had to call in and register the new car so we could be properly billed for the $1.75 we owed for the spot.  By the time we made our way inside and up the elevator, they were already into the first song.  I had to do some reminiscing about that particular building.  It used to house my doctor’s office from when I was a little kid.  Dr. Caravagelli – Dr. Carve as we all called him.  The nickname doesn’t sound nearly as cool to an adult as it did to us as kids.  Not sure I want a family medicine guy named “Carve” checking me out.  A surgeon … maybe.  They have done some renovations since I was there last.  The elevators used to have those cage doors.  Oh, and they used to have a guy in there who did the operating for you.  No more cages and certainly no more human being operators.  Sad.  Back to the kiddos.  They were once again fabulous.  They even had me trying to dance along.  Chris leaned over and told me to be still.  She didn’t want to pick me up off the floor.  I reassured her with a nod toward April and said, “Hey, I have the two best nurses in the world on either side of me.  I’ll be in good hands.” 

After the concerts we stopped at Shrimp and Stuff for some lunch.  Good stuff.  It’s been a while since we have been out to eat anywhere other than Whataburger (not that I complain about Whataburger, mind you).  And while we waited for our order, Doug from Seaside came over and chatted with us.  You gotta watch out for these Seasiders.  They show up everywhere. 

By the time we made it home I was beat.  I still managed to spend a little time working on the Christmas party plans for Friday.  Should finish those up today so Chris can make a trip to the store for the supplies.  I guess I’m getting a little excited about seeing more actual people around here. 

Psalms 119:55 says, “In the night I remember your name, O Lord, and I will keep your law.”

Father, thank you for the joy those kids reflected when they sang the Christmas songs.  It certainly helped lift my spirits.  Amen.

December 12 – “THE post-op appointment”

Well, the big day finally came.  Yesterday was my post-op appointment with the surgeon to get some “official” word about where I am in the whole knee process.  Drumroll here …

The doc said everything looks great.  I am released to shower again (Cheers here from Chris).  I still take Aspirin every day for another four weeks to make sure my circulation keeps behaving.  And I am to start actually walking more along with other exercises.  I can get rid of walker and move to a cane when physical therapy deems me ready balance-wise.  Then it will be on to no outside assistance.  All good news there.  Come back to see her in four weeks.

From that appointment we walked straight over to the next round of physical therapy.  And of course as soon as we entered the exercise room, she veered right over to the dreaded balance stuff.  It is still really hard, but I think I did some better knowing what to expect.  I took a longer look at the controls on that machine, and it can get much worse.  But everybody on that end seems to think I’m doing really well, even ahead of schedule.  It’s just kind of frustrating for me not knowing what “schedule” to anticipate.

When we got home we decided the good news warranted a celebration.  So Chris took me for a walk down the street.  Sounds like a dog on a chain, I know.  But she was right beside me, ready to grab me if I stumbled or anything.  I think we went four houses, but I still had to complete the return trip, so we stopped at that.  And when we turned around I could tell immediately that the road had a slight drop toward the outside.  Just that small incline changed everything as far as my knee was concerned.  It was much harder.  So I made my way to the very peak of the road and stayed there.  Oh, we found out later that our neighbors were outside cheering me on.  We couldn’t hear them, though, but thank you so much for the encouragement, Geran’s.

After all that flurry of activity, I didn’t get much sleep last night.  But it was not because of the knee.  This time my back was indirectly involved.  My neuropathy issue suddenly decided to flare up, and for three or four hours both of my big toes felt like a thousand tiny soldiers inside each toe were making every effort to escape to the outside world.  Unless you have experienced nerve pain, you can’t really understand just how accurate the tiny soldiers comment really is.  It finally settled down around three or four in the morning so I was able to get a little sleep. 

Psalms 119:50 – “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.”

Father, thank you for the good news from the surgeon.  That shower sure felt good.  Amen.

December 11 – “The Saga is complete”

We had one of those days yesterday.  A really great high.  A hugely powerful low.  And another bit of a high.  Sounds kind of roller coaster-y, doesn’t it.  You should have been living it. 

The day started out great.  We had a visit from some really good friends we made back when we lived in Denver, Mike and Olivia.  Mike had been preaching at a church in Houston, a pretty big English-speaking Korean church, if I understood him correctly.  He also regaled me with horror stories about the two – count ‘em – two knee replacement surgeries he has had … on the same knee.  And it still hurts him.  I’m not sure what all Chris and Olivia talked about.  They are the kind of friends who can pick it up like they saw each other yesterday, even when we haven’t seen them for years.  It was truly a great high to see them

And then came the low.  Really low.  We have been closely watching our 17-year-old dachshund Heidi for the last few days.  It was becoming apparent that she was losing the use of her back legs.  And she had a distinctive and overpowering foul odor about her that no amount of bathing was touching.  So we made the agonizing decision to take her to the vet and have her put down.  As it turned out, the vet who did the surgery on her tail was the one who spoke with us.  He absolutely agreed with the decision.  Her age put her in the top 95% of dogs of her breed who live that long, and he noted that she had obviously had a good, long life.  The smell was probably some necrotic tissue inside her.  The combination of that with the paralysis and her age simply did not bode well for her.  In his very kind words spoken with tears in his eyes and a catch in his throat, “She just looks so sad.”  We stayed with her while he administered the shots, and she died quite peacefully.  The saga of the dog that caught her tail is now complete.

Now that was a hard experience to overcome quickly.  But we did have some help.  We made it home in time to change clothes and head over to Cailyn’s school Christmas concert.  The kids sang lots of Christmas songs, and even shared some pretty great Dad jokes like: “What does Frosty do on the weekends?  Nothing.  He just chills out.”  I’ll have to save a few of those for my arsenal.  Cailyn did fabulous, of course.  She even had a speaking role.  All in all, the Christmas concert put a really positive period at the end of a long sentence that was our Monday. 

Psalms 119:49 says, “Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope.”

Father, thank you for our relationship with Mike and Olivia.  Watch over them.  And thank you for the compassion shown by our vet.  Bless him for that.  Amen.

December 10 – “elf in a freezer?”

Ah … another Sunday spent at home.  I gotta tell you, this really feels weird. I did spend some time trying to do sermon prep to see if I’ll be able to focus enough to preach next Sunday.  The jury is still out on that one.  I couldn’t do anything for very long because sitting in the desk chair put undue stress on the back of my leg, which is still bruised.  It also is still swollen, so the only really comfortable position is when I have it propped up on two pillows.  Add to that the fact that with the pain medication I have a hard time concentrating on one thing for longer than ten or fifteen minutes before my mind starts drifting to something else or I just start nodding off.  Not a very conducive set of circumstances for producing a coherent teaching experience.  That would also be an awkward position to preach from on a Sunday morning, with one leg propped up above my heart.  I do go to the doctor tomorrow for my post-surgery checkup.  Maybe I’ll get some idea about a time line then.  Or maybe I’m just being overly impatient. 

Oh, I had another visionary visitation.  They are getting fewer and farther between, so I’m either getting used to the meds or something is getting better.  This time I saw one of those elf on the shelf critters.  He was icing his newly-replaced knee by putting his whole body in one of those box freezers like my Mom and Dad used to have.  That one might also have been a result of the fact that I was really cold.  66 degrees in the house.  I couldn’t get my body warmed up, which led to shivering, which led to pain in the knee, which led to pain medication, which led to … elf in a freezer visions.

After church Kel and his family came over to share some of Chris’s taco soup that was left over from the Market Saturday.  Oh, and pizza.  There is always the pizza option.  Kel and I eased onto the couch, and he was fast asleep even before I was.  The Texans’ losing ways just couldn’t keep him awake.  Lauren and Cathy came by as well, so I got a pretty full report on the service.  Seems Kel had a visitor join him during the sermon.  Apparently he needed to review what Kel had just taught, so … he did.  Even took the marker from Kel’s hands.  Kel wasn’t fazed by any of it.  He told me he just assumed it was another of the amazing Seaside weirdness-in-ministry factors. 

Psalms 119:41-42 says, “May your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in your word.”

Father, thank you for the visitors after church yesterday.  And thank you for their kindness when I could no longer stay awake.  Amen.