Found in Fishers

Joined the Howler Diet Band

Always dreamed of being in a rock band. I made it in! I was the lead singer last night in the Howler Diet Band. My best song was Creep by Radiohead. I was awesome at it! I was rocking, not only from being in the recliner but also as part of the band.

We played Rockband last night. Rockband is a video game on XBox 360. It comes with a guitar, a drum set, and a microphone. Pat and Nick switched off playing the guitar, Mark played drums the entire night (almost 5 hours), and I sang switching off with Pat and Sarah. It was like a Karaoke machine but it monitored if you were singing with the correct tone. The night just flew by, but it was very loud in the house and there was lots of jumping around, except with me. If the neighbors could see through the windows, I am sure they would wonder what exactly we were doing.

More tonight, gotta keep our fans happy.

Did someone call HazMat?

It's pretty easy to update the blog daily as I continue to sit in my recliner. Not much to do but watch some trashy court TV. Today Liz is also recuperating and poor Juan is tiring of being our nurse. I can understand. I do some work from home but not much else. The highlight today was cleaning out my bill drawer and organizing utility bills by month. Wow, how exciting! I could at least do that on my lap from the chair. It's now the most organized drawer you have ever seen.

So you are probably thinking, "Gee, she must really smell by now since having her first surgery two weeks ago." Nope. I have two very special "seals" that I wear to take a shower. It's quite an ordeal for me to get ready, and looks like I'm wearing the bottom half of one of those hazmat suits. It takes just as much time to dry off and get dressed. After I rest from taking off my plastic boots, I'm able to get up to partially dry my hair. Not much else because it is so exhausting to stand much longer than about 10 minutes.

I didn't sleep well last night. For some reason my feet were really aching. I'm not sure why because I can honestly say I was off them the entire day. I felt like my right foot was swollen but I can't tell since there is a bandage on it that I am not allowed to take off. Then my left middle toe was aching. I ended up sleeping on the couch in the TV room upstairs. I am looking forward to the weekend. My sister, her husband, and their son are coming down for a long weekend. I hear they are bringing a new video game called Rockband. That should be interesting.

Double trouble times two on Dekoven Drive

Caring for one female in the household who can't walk much further than the commode (caring for includes cooking, retrieving reading material, being water boy, etc...and giving up the Lay-z-Boy chair), we now have a second female in the house who needs a caregiver. Lucky me! Liz had her tonsils out this morning...at the same surgery center Flora has been frequenting of late. We're on a first name basis and should probably add them to our Christmas card list for next year.

As I type our college student (wow...that's hard to imagine!) is sleeping off the anesthesia in recovery. I've stocked up on popsicles, pudding, Jello...and the liquid Vicodin the doc prescribed. We'll see what the next 24 hours brings. A few months ago when Liz had her wisdom teeth removed she was eating pizza 2 hours after getting home and went to work that night. I suspect she won't be as peppy this time around.

Christmas cookies...yum, yum!

How lucky am I to have a friend like Katie! Katie and I met just after we arrived to Fishers through band and coincidentally we both worked for HSE. Anyway, Katie brought me lunch this week knowing I needed my El Rodeo fix. She even knew my favorite food there, The El Rodeo Taco Salad. As we were visiting we got to talking about Christmas cookies and how the house smells when baking. That night Katie went home and put together a batch of cookies for me since I am still down and out. Not only did she bake them for me, she did it in my kitchen so that I could smell them and taste them hot out of the oven! I was hard to control myself with the delicious cookies. She made an oatmeal coconut cookie. They are both good warm and as they cooled they became crunchy. Even the teenaged boys loved the cookies last night.

John and I hid them. We want them to last through the week. I don't think they'll make it! Thanks Katie, you're a pal!

A Chef for the Day

With our travel plans to the Chicago area on Christmas cancelled due to my foot surgery, we decided to make Christmas dinner at home. Juan took a trip to the local Meijer and only after about 20 phone calls his cart was loaded and he was on his way home with our dinner.

He made a very delicious meal for the family, and all by himself. The turkey was being a bit difficult by not baking according to the Betty Crocker Cookbook (which he received last year for Christmas), but at last was ready after nearly 6 hours.

We had turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy. John made a great bean casserole, had a relish tray, and had cranberry sauce. He even made me a sweet potato. What a guy!

The kids were happy to have real potatoes rather than the regular powdered ones I make. I was happy to have sweet potatoes because I'm the only one in my family that eats them. I also tried for the first time to sit at the table to eat. I'm glad I didn't have to sit too long; my feet were starting to throb. After dinner, I had a taste for cherry pie but instead we had Christmas cookies thanks so some great bakers.

Double Trouble

Friday was surgery for the right foot. This time I was under general anesthesia so it hit me a bit harder. The mission was to correct a bunion. The doctor thought it would be best to do the right foot while the left foot is healing so that I don't have to be down two different times for the same length.

But...I found out Friday morning from Juan, who talked to the doctor while I was in recovery, that the surgeries are probably not over. After Friday morning's surgery the doctor found that my right foot indeed is starting to show some bone issues that the left foot was just corrected for...so we may be looking at another right foot surgery just like the left. Darn it, I don't want to imagine prison in my chair once again.

In the meantime I have two feet reclined now. I'm still only able to walk to the bathroom. When not doing that, I have to keep my cryo-boots to provide my feet with ice water and compression. I didn't get a festive dressing on the right foot either as they only had brown bandages at the surgery center.

I got a get well card in the mail today from the nurses at the surgery center. How sweet. They were an awesome team at the Indiana Surgery Center. It's a great place and the staff is awesome. Not sure I'm able to go up north yet for Christmas. If I do I must keep my feet up and across the back seat and cannot do any walking so I will have to stay put in a different chair. But a change of scenery would be great. However, since my right foot is still "asleep" I'm not sure what kind of pain I will have and whether I can tolerate the traveling for 3 hours.

Congratulations graduate!

Our little girl on her last day of high school. How time flies...

Congratulations to Liz. She's done with high school and successfully completed her high school education at Hamilton Southeastern High School as a 7th semester senior. We're very proud of her. As we did on her first day of school in kindergarten and every year since, we took a picture of her on the first day of school. We thought it only appropriate to post this photo of her last day of school.

We agreed to let Liz take a midterm graduation only if she had plans for the second semester. She has and will be starting college January 14. She's part of a partnership with IUPUI and Ivy Tech for midterm grads and will be taking 5 classes in the spring semester. She's already accepted to IUPUI for the fall semester as a full-time student, but she is also continuing to explore her options for going away to school. She hasn't decided what she wants to major in. She talked a lot about becoming an attorney; she's got a knack for arguing! But she's also a gifted writer, always has been. She is thinking about something where she could use her writing and creativity. Either way, Indiana University may be the best school for her talents. God knows John will like that, but as a Purdue grad, I cannot believe she would want to associate with red and white. IUPUI is a good mix for now as it meets both her parents needs for respecting their alma maters.

Liz will be participating in commencement with her class in May. We'll also celebrate her graduation in May as the weather is better then. Besides, competing with the holidays and poor winter weather down I-65 doesn't make for a good time. It's likely we we'll host two celebrations: One in Northwest Indiana since our family and many friends live in that area, and another here in Fishers for Liz's friends.

Merry "Foot"mas to you all

The Christmas holidays are approaching so why not celebrate with my foot as well. Today was my first doctor's appointment since surgery. Since the bandages only stay on about a week at a time, I thought I would be silly for a week. How do you like the green and red?

I was a bit disappointed that I will have the left foot bandaged until Jan. 3rd then I will be in my walking cast. I was kinda thinking I could go back to work next week, darn.  The reason I do not have a nice black plastic cast on now is because I am not suppose to be on my foot. I got to see the pins in person and via an x-ray. Darn, I did not bring my camera. They kinda look like hooks in there. He showed me how my crooked bones made it very challenging to get the pins in.

Friday is the next foot. I am having the right foot bone shaved. I guess there will be some raw bone pain and another bandage. The doctor told me though no colored bandages at the surgery center. When I am done, time will allow both feet to heal together properly rather than going through the process on two different occasions. He thinks I can go back to work on Jan. 7th if I promise to limit my walking and stay at my desk. I will have on two black plastic boots. Just call me Herman Munster.

Big foot arrives

Day 4 post-op and still trying to learn how to relax at home in the recliner. I continue to use my ice boot to keep the swelling down. Today I decided to let my foot have a break and "breathe" a bit while watching Judge Greg Mathis. Did you know you can watch trash court TV almost all day long!

You can tell with my feet side by side that my left foot is quite a bit longer than my right foot. That is because the pins that are down each toe are in the bandage. I feel like I can get around a bit better already. I get up to the bathroom with much more ease and can hobble quicker too! I have a special boot for taking a shower and was able to shower today. It felt great to get the sitting grime off of me today. I could not do anything with my hair, that was too much for me to stand to do. The doctor says 10 minutes each hour but that is hard to tolerate right now. Hey, I am still waiting on movie recommendations!!

In-house arrest

I feel like I'm serving a prison sentence. That may sound a bit extreme, but try sitting on the same chair all day long with a stack of books and some movies but not much else. I try reading, but get tired of that. I've watched a few movies, but that is also getting old. I'm actually looking forward to doing some work tomorrow from home. I have my computer and it works well from the chair. I cannot do a bunch of work that would require a mouse, but I am going to start working on a powerpoint project for a February presentation. I'm also going to look through books today for some good recipes. My New Year's resolution is to eat healthy. So I thought I would try and find some good recipes that are fast to make.

Liz has 5 more days of high school before she is officially done. Seems kinda weird. I think she will be surprised at how graduating mid-term means you just stop going. We are planning a couple of things to make it special. She starts college January 14. Additionally, she is having her tonsils out on December 27. Yesterday, she and Papa Juan went to the Apple store to pick out her computer. Pretty sweet: An Apple MacBook. But she's paying for it out of her own money. Welcome to the real world, kid!