A Look Inside

Tonight you get to see inside Woody's leg via x-ray and see what is holding his tibia together...quite a few screws, a plate on the side of the bone, and some bone cement in the center of the tibia. (The little horizontal lines that seem to go right along the fibia are the staples.) Twenty-five staples were removed. A few steri-strips were applied...very few as he had a reaction (little blisters) to the steri-strips the last time they were used (He is allergic to adhesives.). Today they were only put where the skin hadn't started to knit together and he was given permission to take them off if they started to cause any problems. The lab reports showed NO cancer which is what we expected...but one never knows till the lab report is in! He can gradually start putting more weight on his leg and perhaps can "kick the walker to the curb" by the end of next week. All in all a VERY good visit. I drove us to Melany's house in Murfreesboro and then Melany took over the driving to get us to Vanderbilt. She also drove on the return trip to Murfreesboro. AND (drum roll!!!)Woody (very happily!) drove the two of us back to Tullahoma. He's glad to have the freedom to drive added back again. He goes back to see Dr. Holt in three months.

Wednesday Wanderings

Today was a typical Wednesday...at least a typical Wednesday for me since Woody hasn't been able to put weight on his right leg. That's when he stopped running our Wednesday errands. Woody came upstairs this morning to get our grocery list made...checking out Kroger specials and their coupons...that's part of the Wednesday wanderings that he continues to do. His additions to the grocery list are extremely helpful. Before I left, he spent some time on the front porch. Our humidity has lessened which made it rather pleasant to sit outside for a few minutes. Joseph found us on the front porch and came inside when we did. Woody read him several stories. My morning errands included stops at the Credit Union and Kroger. I found everything on the grocery list (sometimes a bit of a challenge)! I got back home about lunch time. Woody had already gotten what he wanted for lunch. I put groceries away and then ate a quick bite. After lunch it was time to head to the library. I needed to make a quick stop to return some dishes to a friend. She was sitting on her back screened in porch...what a pleasant setting. We ended up talking longer than I meant (But enjoyed every minute of our visit!)and thus I was quite a bit late for our library work session. I had neglected to pick up my cell phone (carrying it all the time is not a habit for me yet) so I couldn't call them. They were getting concerned by the time that I did get there. They had done a good job without me of doing library duties and once I got there we discovered another job that needed to be done...there's always something to do in the library! When I got home, Woody was upstairs playing Scrabble with the computer...another way to fill in his healing down time. He is "sort of" looking forward to tomorrow's doctor appointment. I asked him what he expected from tomorrow's visit. And, he told me that he expected to say "Praise the Lord" every time a staple comes out! Tomorow I will report on how the doctor visit goes.

Tuesday?

For some reason today has seemed like a Saturday. The only thing that has me clued in that it is Tuesday is that I got my hair cut today. It has been a "do-a-little-of this-and-a-little-of-that" around the house kind of day. Woody continues to heal well from his surgery. We will find out on Thursday how well the docs think that he is healing. I'm pretty sure that they will be pleased with his progress. He continues to take it easy...reading, doing crossword puzzles, watching TV and/or a DVD, and resting. He emptied the dishwasher and put most of the dishes away (those that were in easy reach). When I was outside taking the garbage can to the road, I decided that I would check the rain gauge in the back yard. We got an inch and a half in the downpour yesterday. Today has been bright and sunny.

Monday Rolled 'Round Again

We have had a fairly quiet day...neither of us has done a whole lot. Woody has worked crossword puzzles, watched TV, and even did a few dishes for me this afternoon. It was a day for me to do a bit of cooking. I made a marinated veggie salad this morning. It's one that needs to sit in the refrigerator a day or so to meld all its flavors together. It will be good to eat as a side both with sandwiches and main course items...nice to have on hand. Then late this afternoon I made a pot of chili...not exactly a hot weather menu item...but it tastes good at any time. I made it to help boost Woody's red blood count back up. His red blood cell count tends to run a bit low on a regular basis, but it went even lower after the surgery. I looked up to see what was good to make that would give him an extra boost and what I read was that chili is good as the combination of beef, beans, and tomatoes are good for what "ails" him. Chili was our supper tonight and there will be some for another meal or two. This afternoon I concentrated on finishing a book that was due at the library today and it couldn't be renewed. I was far enough in the book that I didn't want to just turn it back in and not finish it. I planned to take it back to the library and in that trip stop at a nearby grocery store to pick up one item that I needed for the chili. Before I got finished with the book, I noticed that a storm was blowing in (it got very dark for two in the afternoon)so I finished the book and then waited the storm out. It was still sprinkling when I went out, but the worst of the storm had passed. Our street looked a bit like a war zone with downed small branches and leaves due to the hard rain and the wind that happened when the main part of the storm hit. It was nice to have another good rain as the plants are really needing the water due to the hot temperatures that we have been having...another day that I didn't have to water. I will end with an Isaac (4) story. Nathan shared this story: Yesterday Isaac found an old WalMart gift card. He asked his daddy if he could have it. Nathan told him that he could, but he also told him that the card didn't have any money on it any more so he couldn't use it to buy anything. A little while later, Isaac came back with the card to show his daddy. He had glued two pennies on the card and told his daddy that the card had money on it now! Love his literal thinking! This story makes me go back to Art Linkletter times..."Kids Say the Darndest Things!" (And, yes, I know that Linkletter reference dates me!!!! For those who have no idea what I am talking about...it was a very funny TV show that involved interviewing children "back in the day.")

Counting Staples!

Today is the first time that Nathan, Kathy and family have seen Goosey (Woody) since his surgery. They have been on a cruise to the Bahamas and just got home late this morning. Woody took the BIG bandaid off this evening and let everyone see his "big boo boo." Joy decided that they needed to count the staples. She's not sure if there are 24 or 25 staples. Graham came over and counted too. He says that there are 25. Whichever...24 or 25...that's a LOT of staples. The younger children were rather subdued looking at the wound. Joseph (2) still hasn't seen it. I took a picture of his leg last night and it looks ever so much better than the first picture that I took of it. The skin around the wound looks almost a "normal" color once again...the red/purply color of the first picture that I posted is pretty much gone. It looks like things are healing quite nicely. I don't look at it or study it too closely! I will post last night's photo at the end of tonight's blog. This has been a busy Saturday for me. I did all the Saturday errands that Woody usually does...Credit Union, WalMart, library...even made a stop at Kroger and our pharmacy. This afternoon Kathy has made several trips through doing their washing from the trip over here as their washer is on the bum. The children have been in and out telling us things about their cruise. Graham's favorite part was riding in the various elevators with his 9 year-old cousin and eating pizza! The girls had fun with several of their cousins doing each other's hair...Graham said that they took a long time doing that! This was a family reunion cruise with Kathy's parents...there were a total of 23 family members on this cruise...quite a group! All but four of Kathy's parents' 17 grandchildren went. What a time they seem to have had...LOTS of fun by all...or so it seems. Graham and I looked up things on my iPad to check out things about their cruise and the Bahamas. I had a more usual night's sleep last night. I haven't taken any naps...but have been pretty sleepy several times during the day. Woody has stayed quiet for another day doing crossword puzzles and watching TV and library DVD's. Kathy just finished her last load of laundry and has locked us in for the night...so guess we are settling in for another typical, very quiet Saturday evening. Here's the pic that I took of Woody's leg last night...can you count the staples?

One Week Ago

Woody had his surgery one week ago today. I'm glad that he is sitting in his recliner here at home today rather than sitting on the edge of a hospital gurney! I see improvement every day. Definitely the redness around his incision is getting more "skin color" each day. I think that in another day he will be able to take the bandage off as it looks like the drainage from the wound is just about gone...and as soon as that drainage is no more, he can stop wearing the large band-aid over the surgical site. He has changed his gait. He is still using the walker, but now puts his foot flat on that leg rather than just touching his toes down. He leads with the "bad" leg and just barely puts any weight on that foot/leg using the walker for leverage and ten brings the good foot/leg forward. It is starting to look like "real" walking, though this gait still depends a lot on upper body strength. He has really taken it easy these days since he has been home...not pushing activity...trying to let tissue heal. Tonight we got the friendly automated Vanderbilt call to confirm our appointment next Thursday. He will probably have the staples out...and there are a lot of them...Woody attempted to count them on his picture the other night and finally gave up and just said that there are a lot of them! He hopes to be given permission to put more weight on his "rebuilt" leg after next week's appointment...and he is hoping to get driving priveleges once again. We had another very early morning...this time I was sound asleep and heard something that made me think that there was something wrong with the airconditioning...but when I came fully awake...a little after 3am...I realized that it was rain. It awakened Woody too...neither of us were expecting the rain. I, for one, was very thankful for it as it kept me from needing to water gardens today. I checked the rain gauge and found that we got 1 1/4"...a pretty good rain. The plants are happy too...and they really needed that rain as we are heading into a heat wave for the next few days. I had trouble getting motivated to do anything today. I think that perhaps my adrenalin has lessened and I have slowed down...almost to a stop! Plus these early mornings are getting to me. If I sit down, I seem to doze off. Woody continues to attempt to amuse himself reading, working crossword puzzles, watching TV (such as it is), and dozing. Life is going at a very slow pace in our household, at least these last few days.

Another Hot Day

I snapped tonight's photo yesterday when I went to the church to work in the library. I just love coming around the corner and seeing the flags surrounding our church property. Our day started out way too early...as in around 2am. I heard Woody's walker moving around in the kitchen. I hadn't slept all that well to start with as I had not felt well late in the evening. I feel better today, but still sort of dragging. I finally decided that I might as well get up and greet the day! One of the first tasks that I did was put together all the ingredients to make a recipe of pulled pork. Boston butts were on sale last week and that means "make Bragg's barbecue!" The ingredients cook on top of the store for three to four hours. I have to attend it fairly frequently...turning the meat, cutting it up, skimming fat off the top, and finally shredding the meat when it is just the right doneness. For part of the time that it was cooking, I headed outside and attempted to do some watering. During part of the cooking time I cleaned up the kitchen. After the barbecue was all cooked and had cooled, I froze part of it for another time and put the rest in the refrigerator to enjoy over the next few days. Woody unloaded the dishwasher...not the easiest task for him at the moment...but something that he can do while balancing on his walker and one foot. He spent time upstairs working on this computer for a while. At other times he has read, rested, and worked crossword puzzles. Melany got him several crossword puzzle books for Father's Day so he is well supplied with puzzles! We have both dozed off and on at different times during the day due to our early rising time. It has seemed like a REALLY long day to me. I have spent some of my down time reading. I finished another book just a few minutes ago. I guess it is time to go downstairs and dress Woody's surgery site...it is healing very nicely. Woody got a call today from Vanderbilt orthopedics checking on how they had done with his care while he was in the hospital and also to check on how he was managing his pain. I think that she was a bit surprised to hear that he wasn't even using Tyelenol for pain. Well, off to do my nursing duties!

Keeping On Keeping On

We were rudely awakened at 4am by the phone...when I answered they hung up. So our day started out very early...makes for a long day. We have both taken a nap or two during the day. Woody made his way upstairs fairly early and got our grocery list ready. He has a system of checking Kroger's sales, etc. and then putting items on our list to buy. I headed off to Kroger fairly early...which is good on "Senior Adult Discount" Day at Kroger. Wednesdays can be pretty busy so it is a good idea to go a bit early. I got our groceries and came home and put the items away. I had time to make a dessert that Woody had requested: Blueberry Dump Cake. We don't have a lot of desserts...but this is a favorite or ours during blueberry season. By the time our lunch was over and the dump cake was out of the oven and partaken of, it was time for me to head off to the library. Donna and I worked for a while...again working on overdues. I came home and put my feet up for a while and dozed for a while. When I awakened, it was time to fix supper. Today was the day that I had planned to cut up a pork loin roast into pork chops and cube some for Sweet 'n Sour Pork so did that and ended up cooking some of the pork chops for our supper. I got the rest of the pork all packaged up and in the freezer for other meals down the road. Woody has taken it easy once again today...still not much other choice...working crossword puzzles, reading, watching TV, resting his eyes, etc. As far as we can tell all is going well with his healing. I don't think that I mentioned this before, but prior to his surgery Woody asked how many doctors would be in the operating room during his surgery. He was told that along with Dr. Holt, there would be a Fellow, 2 Residents (2 different year residents), and a medical student...and of course many others...nurses, anesthetists, etc. in attendance to help the surgery run smoothly. Guess it is time for me to go check on my patient...and I guess quickly mop the kitchen floor as there is something sticky on it that just about pulls my shoes off when I walk across it. I have no idea what has been spilled on it...but according to Woody he didn't do it...I have no recollection of spilling anything...but regardless of who or what did it, I guess it is time to go try to clean up.

Badge of Courage! (Tonight's photo not for weak stomachs!)

I am going to post tonight's photo of Woody's wound at the end of the blog so each can determine for themselves if they really want to see it! Today was our first day to change the dressing ourselves and Woody wanted me to take a photo. It wasn't the easiest to photograph due to the lighting in the family room. In the end I used a flash but that made it a bit too dark. I attempted to use my photo shop program and get it closer to its true colors...not the prettiest of sights! His leg above the knee is still a bit orange from the "stuff" they painted on it. We are still peeling cotton like substance off his leg that they wrapped it with initially. The black horizontal line on his knee is the mark that they made to make sure they were operating on the correct leg. His leg is quite red where all his radiation scarring is.The scar itself is about eight inches long. Definitely not a pretty sight, but Woody wanted me to post this photo. I guess we can document how much it improves from day to day. He only has to wear the BIG bandaid until the wound stops "weeping" and today's bandaid looks so much better at the end of the day than yesterday's did...so progress (I think)! All this just once again tells me that I have never been and still am not nursing material! Woody's sleep patterns are definitely off as he naps when he feels like napping and is awake when he feels like being awake...so that may mean that he is sleeping mid morning and awake in the middle of the night. I heard him downstairs in the wee hours of the morning and went down to check on him. He was up and had been up for a while. He decided that he wanted his breakfast! So before I headed up back upstairs to go back to sleep, I made him his oatmeal! He was asleep when I woke back up and has dozed off and on during the day...hopefully healing rest. He managed to go upstairs to print out the ten crossword puzzles that he had missed doing while in the hospital and to "look around on the computer." He ascends and descends the stairs sitting down. He uses our rolling office chair to maneuver around upstairs. He still isn't to put much weight on his leg, but can now put that foot flat on the floor for balance rather than just touching his toes down...so he is still hopping with the walker, but just a bit different gait than before. He has learned that he doesn't like to be in the same place very long...so he moves between the couch and his recliner and also did a few things sitting at the card table that is in the family room. He started reading again today so that occupies his time too. He hadn't been interested much in reading since his surgery...probably didn't help that I had left his books at home! So we are muddling along trying to establish a new routine around our present circumstances! And, now I will post the photo of his leg...I hope that I wrote enough so it won't automatically be on the screen and you can choose to look or not!

Sent Home Unwrapped

This morning at 5:15am, Dr. Holt's Fellow swooped into our room...cut off the ace bandage wraps that had been on Woody's leg since surgery, slapped on a BIG "bandaid," and said that he would get Woody's discharge orders ready. It really didn't take very long to get varioius instructions and we were off on our "merry" way home. The ride home wasn't all that comfortable for Woody, but once he got home, he seemed to get comfortable again. Melany brought us all the way home and then Wade came to pick her up after he got off from work. The four of us ate supper together. Woody has done a lot of dozing this afternoon...an attempt to make up some of the sleep he lost at the hospital! Hopefully he will now that we are home he will get some good healing restful sleeps. Once again I can say..."it's good to be home!"

Day After Surgery

Woody had a bit of a rough night, but has now settled in to his recovery...we hope! The physical therapy team who saw him this morning couldn't believe how well he was doing. He had already been up. They said that they had to pry most patients out of bed for the first time. He saw Dr. Holt's Fellow this morning. He said that he would be staying the weekend and then it would be decided if he goes home on Monday or Tuesday. So we are settling in for the "long run!" Woody's nurse arranged for me to get a guest tray whenever Woody gets one...so I am being well fed...so far the food hasn't been all that bad considering it is hospital food! He has quite a bit of swelling in his foot so when he is in bed he has it raised on pillows. His nurse did a doplar test on it and she can hear the pulse loud and clear. He doesn't seem to be in all that much pain so that seems to be being handled. He gets out of bed fairly easily. I'm hoping that we both have a better night's sleep tonight. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. God is good...all the time!

Recovery Room Bound

I just talked to Dr. Holt and Woody's surgery is over and all went well. She said that it was definitely dead bone. She cleaned it out and used a LOT of bone cement and the strongest plate they have...I think that she said that it was a long plate too. I have only talked to Dr. Holt on the phone so not totally clear yet. It has been a long day. We left the house at 10am, got to Melany's a little before 11am and then we got to Vanderbilt a little before noon. He didn't get called back to get ready for surgery till 2pm and didn't leave for surgery till a little after 3pm. His surgery was finished a little after 6pm. At this point he is in recovery and we won't be called back for at least an hour...and I know what an hour means here at Vandy...probably longer! The doc said that he did very well. That he will be quite sore for a while. The plate is under a muscle on the side of his leg. Well, that is about all I know for now. I'm just glad that the surgery part is over and now he can start the healing process. We know that he has been admitted for at least tonight...guess we will find out tomorrow if it will be longer. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. I forgot to mention that Dr. Holt is sending off a lot of what she "scraped" out of the bone to be tested to see if there is any melanoma present.

A Time Assigned

Finally mid-afternoon, Woody got the call saying when we are to be at the hospital to check in = 12:30pm. That is all we know...still don't have a surgery time nor do we know the estimated stay...whether out patient or stay a night or what. Of course the length of stay is never known until the surgery is over and it is seen how Woody is doing after the surgery. We have figured all along that he will be staying at least one night...I guess time will tell. We are attempting to go prepared for whatever...time will tell about that too! I packed a bag a little while ago...here's hoping that I have what we will need. We plan to drive to Melany's and then let her take over the driving. I have had another busy day. I made split pea soup. I found our last ham bone in the freezer when I was going through the freezer to see what was in it...Woody suggested that I make split pea soup so I did. I also have done some cleaning today. I cleaned the patient's room today so it will be ready for him to come home to recoup. And, the rest of the day I have done a little of this and a little of that. Woody has done a few things, but mostly has taken it easy. I had him read the instructions they gave him for the day before surgery...he didn't have much to do...but eat a light supper and then not eat or drink anything after midnight. I am feeling for him not being able to drink for all that time. There is no telling what time the surgery will be. When he had his shoulder surgery, it got put off for two hours from the time he was told when he checked in. I hope that he gets a good night's sleep tonight. I plan to blog from the hospital to tell how his surgery goes. Woody had Elijah and Isaac check the rain gauge this afternoon and we got about 1 1/2 inches of rain in our downpour last night. There were a lot of downed trees in areas around us, but we just had smaller branches come down...very high winds accompanied this storm. It has been another hot day here in Middle Tennessee...in the 90's again.

Non-Stop Wednesday

What a day! I have been busy from start till I dropped after supper. I got up and got busy in the kitchen making salads that I wanted to get into the refrigerator so they would be cold for our supper. I made chicken salad, potato salad and a veggie pasta salad (Woody's request when I said that I was going to make some salads). Isaac was over for part of the time and I put him to work on our special chopper/slicer. He finally asked if he had helped enough! We were finished chopping when he asked! He really was a great kitchen helper! By the time I had all three salads in the refrigerator it was time for lunch. After lunch, I headed to the church library to work for a while. Donna and I went through all our over due book cards and made sure that they weren't shelved without cards (now how does that happen?). We both found several that were back, but just not checked in on the computer. But there are many more flagged so we can send overdue notices. When we finished work I hopped into the car and headed off to do our Wednesday Krogering. Woody helps so much with that chore as he goes through the sale paper and adds items to get and their sale prices and he also adds things to the list that we have e-coupons for. It didn't take me too long in the store today...but took just long enough...I managed to avoid a huge downpour while I was in the store...and, luckily enough I had rolled the windows up on the car. When I went into the library to work, I had left the windows down to keep the heat from building up. Huge downpour on the Kroger part of town, but when I got to our side of town...not a drop! I stopped at the library on my way home and dropped off some books. After the groceries were put away, it was time for our supper. The salads were very tasty...really hit the spot on this hot day. Before we were finished with our supper, the bottom dropped out of the sky on our side of town...the wind really picked up, too...quite a storm blew through. I put salads, etc. away in the fridge and then came upstairs to rest a bit...uhhhhhhh that was the last I remember until a few minutes ago. I guess the non-stop part of the day caught up with me...and, I just had to stop for a while. Now I am going to go down and finish loading the dishwasher and take the last load of clothes I did this morning out of the dryer...though I think that Woody may have gotten some out already now that I think about what was hanging over the back of the chair in the family room. Woody washed some dishes while I was gone this afternoon. We will learn tomorrow what time his surgery is on Friday. He is more than ready to "get the show on the road" as he puts it. He's ready to be able to walk on both legs once again!

Flag Day 2016

I started out the morning working out in the yard...watering and deadheading. Woody wanted me to water so we would get rain today! And we did get some rain this afternoon...but very little. I am hearing thunder as I am typing this and perhaps hearing a raindrop or two on the roof. Perhaps we will get some more. Cooking for me today consisted of warming up leftovers...except for hard boiling some eggs for a potato salad that I am planning to make. I'm in the mood for some cold salads since it has been so hot...so have several planned to make. After lunch, Esther came over in her super hero cape...she also came over yesterday in her cape...do you think that perhaps she was hinting that she wanted her super hero mask?!? She never asked. Yesterday I was just too tired to even think about making it, but today I decided that the time was right. So Esther now has a super hero mask to match her cape. I think that I read her hint correctly...she was pleased to get a mask at long last! I think that I am through with super hero items at least for a while! I did rest for a while this afternoon. I think that being outside as long as I was this morning sort of did me in...I am not an "outside-type" of person...I would much rather be inside...especially on hot, humid days! Woody has been doing a lot of reading the last few days. He has a fiction book that has captured his interest...a John Grisham book. We are behind in reading Grisham's books (both Woody and I enjoy John Grisham) so there are several out there for him to read and keep him occupied in this down time for him. I know that he misses puttering around in the yard and going on his walks. He did go (drove) to the prayer room at church this evening. And, now we are both settling in for another quiet evening. Sounds like the rain may have ended...once again we didn't get much...but every little bit helps.

It's HOT!!!!!

The flowers are blooming despite the heat...but since it didn't rain here today, I guess I should get up in the morning and do a good watering. Today I have sort of just dragged...perhaps due to the heat? It's in the 90's here today. I couldn't get very motivated to do much of anything today. I did do a load of towels that I will need to get out of the dryer shortly. One of the veggies that we were gifted the other day was a very large cabbage. Woody decided that he wanted me to steam it...so I added some of our fresh herbs to some vegetable broth and cooked that this morning. Woody washed dishes this afternoon and cleared the way so I could do some more cooking. Late afternoon I made Ratatouille (ra-tu-too-e) (my phonetic guide since I don't know where all the symbols are that I need to be able to do it like a dictionary!)Ok...for those who don't know what ratatouille is...here is Webster's definition: a thick stew that is made of vegetables(such as eggplant, tomatoes, green peppers, and squash) and sometimes meat. Ours had onions, garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and red peppers. The seasonings were oregano, basil, and black pepper. It is a very tasty dish. So today has been a veggie cooking day for me. Now for a story about our first experience with ratatouille...it was made by one of our blog readers (very dear friends...like family)...so, Doyle and Linda, this is a story that you probably remember from the gone by days. We were invited to supper at their house and one of the items on the menu that evening was ratatouille. Now...Woody and I were needing an excuse to find a logo that they were using for a new subdivision that they were developing...so being a bit "devious"...we needed an excuse to go to their desk. We used the excuse of needing their dictionary to look up the word "ratatouille." While Woody was using the dictionary, I found what I was looking for in their desk drawer (I knew that it was there as they had gotten it out to show it to me on another visit.). Now, this is not our usual behavior when we are invited for dinner! I really don't make an effort to go through folks' personal things! The reason for the "mission" was that I wanted to cross stitch the logo of their subdivision for a Christmas present and wanted it to be a surprise. I got the paper with the logo on it (it was right at the top of the drawer...I didn't have to rifle through anything), took it home and graphed it so I could cross stitch it. At a point when I was at their house another time, I slipped the original back where it belonged with them still unaware of the "theft!" Anyway...ever since just mentioning "ratatouille" makes me think of that incident...many years ago now. And, I promise that I won't go through your personal items if I come to your house...unless you want a surprise Christmas gift! And, it is a compliment to the chef of the first ratatouille that we ever had all those years ago...that I venture to make it myself so many years later!

Marlin's Sportsmanship Award 2016!

This afternoon the Little League had their end of the season recognition ceremonies. Each team gave out one sportsmanship award. And, our sweet Elijah received it for his team, the Marlins. Woody and I didn't attend the ceremony due to it being so hot and so many teams and families participating. Woody didn't need to be out in such a crowd. Today, being Saturday, was our Walmart shopping day and library day. I did the Walmarting and even made a quick stop at Kroger to pick up a couple of their specials. After lunch, Woody and I went to the library. He hadn't been in a few weeks so this let him choose his own books and DVD's. I came home and decided that I would make more onion/mushroom sauce for the chicken that I made yesterday...it just seemed to need more. One of our friends stopped by and shared from the bounties of her and her husbands fantastic garden. Her husband really has a green thumb! A little while after we finished supper, Elijah came over to show us his plaque and trophy.

Good Season, Marlins!

The season has ended for our Marlins. As their coach said, for a team that had mostly first year players they had done great--18 wins and 5 losses. It was a VERY good season. Woody especially enjoyed going to the games...brought back memories of him being a coach and also gave him something to do while he can't do much due to his leg. The season started shortly after he had knee surgery and ended with him about to undergo repair of his broken tibia! Not a good season for Woody's leg! We have had a stay-at-home day except for going to the game this evening. I started out the day cutting some of our fresh herbs and dehydrating them in Nathan and Kathy's dehydrater...so we have fresh dried oregano, sweet basil, and marjorum. While the machine dehydrated, I got busy and made the chicken dish that I had been planning to make when ever there was time this week...finally had the time and enough energy to get it made...chicken lyonaise. I made it this morning and then we had it for supper...that way I wasn't under a time crunch to get it made and eaten before we needed to head out to Elijah's game. It took me about the rest of the afternoon to get the kitchen cleaned up. I had to take a couple of rests before I got that job finished. We are now settled in for the evening...I hope...recliners and books...and perhaps some TV. And, I'll end tonight with a high five for Elijah. He did an awesome job for his Marlins...a great first year of Little League!

Lego Truck?

We saw this truck on the interstate this morning. It reminded me of a Lego truck. It was a chicken transport truck...but it was empty. We got to the Pre op appointment about an hour ahead of time. He got signed in...well, I signed him in to save him the walk to the desk. It wasn't long till they called him in and got underway with all the paper work, blood pressure (which was excellent), EKG, and LOTS of questions. That part took a good 40-45 minutes. They then sent him to the lab...he waited for a bit to get called in, but once in it was very efficient...quick! quick! He was back out and we were ready to start a slow walk back through the building to our car. We left this morning around 6:30 and got home around 12:30...so another rather typical Vandy day. He is all official now and we won't have to go back till next Friday (17th) for his surgery. Several have asked if it is out patient. We hadn't thought to ask the other day. But I did ask this morning and she said that it wasn't indicated on the info from Dr. Holt that it was. So we are figuring at least one night stay...like last time...and last time it turned into a two night stay. So time and the doctor will tell when he gets to come home. This afternoon I got busy on skinning and deboning some more chicken thighs that I bought the other day while they were still on sale. I have another chicken dish that I plan to use them in. Mid afternoon Elijah joined us as he is staying with us until his family gets back from a ministry trip. Woody took him to ball practice. We fed him supper and in a few minutes he and I will head next door so he can get ready for bed. We're going to try to finish a book that he and I started before their school let out. So...let's just say another busy day. After three trips to Nashville this week, I am REALLY looking forward to staying home tomorrow.

A Sign for Bonaroo?

Bonaroo (a music festival like Woodstock of old)is about to begin...I guess tonight is the start of folk rolling in for it. This takes place in Manchester, TN...the county seat of Coffee County (our county)...about 11 miles down the road from us...we go through Manchester to get to I-24 unless we take the back road. Today we went through Manchester on our way to Vanderbilt but came home by the back road. We want to avoid the traffic that will arise in that little town over the next four days. I'm not sure what we will do in the morning. The TN Dept. of Transportation (TDOT) make up little sayings to remind folk to be careful when driving...I think that the "Peace, Love, Seatbelts" message is geared toward the folks who will be attending Bonaroo. This festival is a really big thing and increases the population of Manchester a LOT during this long weekend. These trips to Nashville daily could get a bit tiring. I'll be glad when we are home tomorrow and don't have to think about going again until the day of surgery. Today we left the house a little before 5am and were back home before lunch...other than Vanderbilt our only stop (well, other than red lights & stop signs) was to get gas when we got back to Tullahoma...so we would have gas for tomorrow's trip! Tomorrow we go to a different place for his pre op visit. When Woody gets back home from taking care of the neighbor grandchildren, we will look at a couple of maps that I have printed out and/or saved on my iPad and see which way he "path" he wants to take. Today has sort of been a "go till I drop" kind of day. After we got back from his MRI appointment, we ate lunch. Then not long after that it was time for me to head to church to work in the library. After we worked for a while, I headed off to do our Wednesday Krogering, and on the way home I stopped at the library to return a book. Several sweet neighbor grandchildren helped me bring in the groceries. I got them put away. We ate food that were already prepared for supper tonight (in other words...scrounged). Woody wasn't very hungry as he has been drinking a lot of liquids since getting home to help wash away the dyes, etc. that they put in him today for his MRI. He is supposed to drink a lot both today and tomorrow. The MRI went fine...just took a long time...close to an hour in that tube. The tech told Woody that it would take 2 1/2 days to scan his whole body! I'm glad that they only had to do a section of his leg today! We will be up and out fairly early tomorrow morning (not quite as early as today)...the main problem tomorrow is that it will be hard to avoid the rush hour traffic with the time of his appointment (9:05am)...they consider Nashville's rush hour 7-9am...but we certainly saw our share of a LOT of traffic and slow downs even though we had such an early start. After I ate supper, I came upstairs and collapsed in "my chair" and dozed a little. This day has about done me in! And, I still need to go down and work on the kitchen...unloading dishes, loading dishes, and washing what doesn't go in the sink. I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...........

Deja Vu...All Over Again!

Meet Woody's orthopedic surgeon (tonight's photo)! Just kidding! This doctor met us at the registration desk. Ok...it was deja vu...all over again for the doctor and for us. When the doctor came in, she said that it had been a while. I mentioned that he really shouldn't be here and she agreed. She had told the Fellow before entering the room that Woody's case was an example of treating 4th stage melanoma aggresively and why it was worth it at times...because Woody was still sitting in her office after all these years. She hadn't seen him since 2009 and statistically he really shouldn't have been sitting in her office today. Okay, now on to what she plans to do about Woody's leg. She feels that the bone is damaged due to the radiation...she said that she could just look at the x-ray and tell that there was sick bone there along with the fracture. Her plan is to go in and get rid of a lot of the sick bone and replace it with cement and then attach a plate to the bone. She does not think that there is any cancer, but will be testing to make sure that none of what she takes out is cancerous. She said that she will put a wrap around it and he would be able to walk on it right away. The surgery will be a week from Friday on June 17th. Tomorrow we will go back to Vanderbilt for an MRI of that part of his leg. On Friday we will go for his pre op visit at another facility where Vanderbilt sees patients. We are in the loop of Vandy all over again. I am having deja vu feelings about the surgery. I remember a very long day sitting in the Vandy waiting room. We did not ask if this was going to be an out patient or a stay over. I imagine that they really don't know and it will depend on the time of day for the surgery and how he does overall. We will be getting up with the birds in the morning for an early MRI...we like those appointments early...hopefully miss most of the rush hour traffic and he is usually their first patient. Today's appointment went quite quickly. We got their early and they called us in early. They took him for x-rays before seeing the docs. A Fellow came in and talked with Woody first and then he and Dr. Holt came in. We were "only" away from home for about 5 1/2 hours...a relatively short Vanderbilt day. We got home, grabbed a bite to eat, and headed out the door for Elijah's first tournament game. His team won so they will play again on Friday. That about sums up our day...now to take a deep breath and head into all the upcoming appointments and then surgery.

Postponed & Made Up

We received a call this morning at 9 telling us that Dr. Holt had an emergency and all her afternoon appointments were going to have to be rescheduled. His appointment got moved to tomorrow afternoon. I ended up running errands for a friend during the time that we would have been traveling to Nashville. This afternoon and early evening, Elijah's team had two make up games. They lost the first game and won their second game. These were the last regular games of the season. They tied for first place for the number of games won during the season. Tomorrow starts their tournament. Elijah got the game ball for tonight due to his consistant hitting...six at bats...six hits. The coach moved him to lead off hitter in the second game to get the team's momentum going! Way to go, Elijah! The bottom picture shows the huddle that the team and coaches get into after each game...they all put their hands into the center and say: 1,2,3 Fish! (Fish for the fact that their team is the Marlins.) We ate our supper after we got home...so a late evening for us after three hours of baseball. I've had a busy day. I even managed to get in a little cooking this afternoon. I'm ready for "my chair," but I think that the kitchen is calling me to do a few dishes first.

Got Brary Books

Yesterday Joseph(2) was over here and wanted Woody to read his favorite of the books that we have: Old MacDonald. After they finished that Joseph asked Woody for something else and neither of us understood what he was asking for. So I asked him to "show me." He went to the stairs and said: "brary books." The stairs made it kick in for me and then I understood--he was asking for "library books = brary books." We keep the library books that we get for the children in a stack on one of the lower stairs. I had taken the ones that we had back the other day and hadn't gotten any others so I told Joseph that I would get him some when I went to the library today. My first stop at the library only took me long enough to drop off the books and DVD's that we were finished with and then I fled very quickly...for two reasons...1)it was sign-up day for the children's summer reading program and 2)there was a very big, very black cloud approaching. I wanted to get on down the road and to WalMart (hopefully before the bottom fell out of the cloud). But I wasn't so lucky...the wind picked up and I was dumped on before I got to the WalMart parking lot. I was so glad to finally get to the parking lot. After I parked, I snapped the above picture out the windshield of the gully washer. It was really coming down. It blew over pretty quickly and I was able to head in and get our shopping done. I was glad that one of the neighbors (Thank you, Nathan or Kathy!) had left an umbrella in the back seat of our car. Elijah's ball game got called because of the rain (prior to anyone heading to the ball field)...it wasn't raining when it was called. I decided that I would go back to the library and try to get Woody some reading material and some more DVD's and also some "brary books" for the children. The bottom fell out again while I was there and it rained on me on the way home...so looks like the early time to call the game worked out. We figure that the field was just too wet to play when they called it early. Elijah has a make-up game scheduled on Monday. I don't know if today's game will get to be made up as they start having their coach pitch tournament next week. Woody received a sheaf of papers in the mail today to fill out for his orthopedist. He got them all filled out and they are in the file folder with the CD of his x-rays that is in the bag that I will take with us on Monday. Woody is either watching TV or a movie DVD and I am going to go put the final effort into tomorrow's Sunday School lesson...then I am going to settle in with my brary book. I checked the rain gauge and we got about 1/2 inch in the two downpours that we had today...and lucky me I was out in both of them!

The Small and the Tall

In Coach Pitch Little League boys of all sizes play (7 & 8 year olds and some 6 year olds) . Elijah (6) is one of the shorter of the players in the league. Tonight, when he got to first base, he was standing next to the first baseman who is one of the taller of the players. So you are seeing the small and the tall of the Coach Pitch League in one photo. It was another great game. Elijah's team won handily. Elijah scored the run that ended the game...all a team can score in one inning is five runs...when Elijah crossed the plate it put our team six runs ahead of the other team so the game ended. It has been a busy day...though I didn't get much done. I started out the day working on the Sunday School lesson for Sunday. Then later in the day when I went next door to stay with Joseph while the rest of the family went to do a juggling ministry I worked on it some more while he napped. The rest of the day I just did a little of this and a little of that. Woody's main event of the day was getting to and from Elijah's ball game...quite an effort. This morning his physical therapist after his knee surgery called to check on him. I think that we are in to stay for the evening. I'm ready to sit for a while and I know that Woody is.

First June Thursday

Tonight's photo is one of the buildings that we pass on the street that leads us to Vanderbilt. I like the peeling paint on the bricks. Today has been a cooking day for me. I made vegetable broth in the morning and then this afternoon I made Spanish Stewed Chicken Thighs. The preparation took forever, or so it seemed, for that dish...partly because I had to skin and debone the thighs...not an easy task for me. I guess it was worth the effort. It was pretty tasty. Soon after we ate, I headed next door to take care of the kids while their parents "stepped out" for a while. Some of us read stories, watched Curious George and Bob the Builder. The girls and Isaac painted sea shells out on their screened in back porch. Woody stayed over here tonight and from the looks of things he managed to wash a few dishes for me while I was gone. As soon as I hit the publish button, I am going to go finish the clean up after my day of cooking. Woody did get a call from Dr. Holt's office asking that we be sure to bring the x-rays and also to come a little early to fill out paper work on Monday. The x-rays are in the bag that I will take that day so hopefully that will make sure that we don't forget them.

Next Appointment On Calendar

I am glad that I put the cordless phone near Woody before I left this afternoon as Dr. Ginger Holt's office (oncology orthopedist) called to make Woody's appointment. It will be this coming Monday. So back to Vanderbilt we will be going. We are definitely back in the Vandy loop. I got up and did a bit of cleaning in the kitchen (still trying to recover from shish kabob making! The floor needed a good mopping so I attempted to do that prior to heading off to do our weekly Krogering. Woody got the list ready for me...items that were on special, free items that we qualified for, etc. I managed to do the shopping...did quite a bit of visiting with friends as I traveled the aisles, too (One of the joy's of living in a small town...rarely do we go into a store without seeing someone we know. When we lived in Sunnyvale, California 44 years ago, it was a rare occurance to ever run into anyone we knew.). After I got the groceries put away, it was time for lunch. And, then, I was off to get my hair cut and then head to the library. I had to change my hair cut appointment from yesterday to today so I was a bit late for the library. Donna was already at the library working away. We did book repair today. We had been stacking up books that needed attention in one way or another. Today we attempted to address their various needs. I came home and was pretty done in by all my "goings" today. I sat down and tried to finish a book that I am reading, but ended up taking a short nap instead. Now we are settled in for the evening listening to distant...hmmmm...and, just now some not so distant thunder. I hope that the thunder brings some good rain...I heard some on the roof before I came in to blog...but it didn't last very long. Hopefully we will get a bit more to make the plants really happy. Tonight's picture is a Carolina wren. I believe that is the bird who has taken up residence in the chicken birdhouse that I got for my birthday. I'm hoping to sit out on the porch one of these days and get some pictures of this year's birdhouse residents. I think we have a small wren residing in the tallest of our birdhouses. And, hopefully there are still blue birds living in the birdhouse that looks like a birch log. I haven't had much time to look at or take pictures of our bird friends lately. I need to get pictures of them so I can identify them for sure...ok...on my list of "to-do's!" Maybe tomorrow?!?