The second return to the scene

It's cold here today.  Not freezing.  My thermometer says it is 46 degrees.  It rained a little while this morning and I think it must have brought with it a cold front and a drop in the temperature.  I usually go about noon to get the mail and here it is two thirty in the afternoon and I am still debating whether to put on a coat to go down to the end of the driveway.  The cat always walks with me and she is curled up underneath a blanket asleep in bed with Mike. 

Yesterday (Friday the 25th)  Mike and I were up really early.  I got up a little after five and he woke up at six.  I think he had a rough night and woke up several times from a sound sleep.  Maybe he was afraid he would not wake up in time because we had a 9:30 a.m. appointment in Little Rock for him to see Dr. Nicholas again.  We got on the road a little before 7 a.m. and were at the hospital parking the car before eight.  It was no problem for us to find the place where we had parked the car last time and no problem for me to find a wheel chair or for Mike to get into it from the car.  That proves he is getting better!!

I wheeled Mike inside out of a chilly morning wind, parked the car across the street and came back quick to take him to the elevators, up to the 7th floor and we signed in and waited to be called by the Doctor.  It was really smart of him to get there early.  We were sitting there when Dr. Carpenter came out to get himself a cup of coffee and we chatted a minute asking him how the visit a week before with his wife's pregnancy doctor had gone.  He could not remember telling us about the fact that he was going to have a baby, but once he realized we already knew, he told us the visit was for a sonogram and they could not yet tell the sex of the baby even though it is due early September.  He said this is his 2nd child, that he has a two year old boy and that it does not matter to him what the sex of the new baby is so long as it is born healthy.  So far so good.

No one else was there to see Dr. Nicholas yet but us  The doctor and his staff apparently arrived early, saw Mike's file waiting and they took us in soon after.  Dr. Carpenter removed the rest of Mike's staples and put back a few pieces of bandaid suture at the top of the scar.  When Dr. Nicholas came in he seemed really proud of the way Mike was healing.  He had not taken any xrays and told us that even if the tumor were to come back that they would not really see it on an xray for about three months.  It was only 18 days, so we really don't need to return for another ten weeks unless something drastic happens to the surgery.  Mike convinced Dr. Nicholas that he was totally able to take care of the wound himself so Dr. Nicholas told him that he can sleep without his brace when he wants and that it will be okay for him to take a shower (after giving the tiny spots left by the staples 24 hours time to heal over) and get his leg wet.  He cautioned against wearing blue jeans for any long period of time and against Mike bending his knee right away and even then to take it slow and said it would be okay for him to put some weight on it, but again, take it slow, only a little at a time until he is used to that effort.  Mostly all news was good news.  We got a new appointment for sometime in May...so long into the future that Mike is as good as well now...well, well enough to take it slow and go a little at a time back to full use of his knee.  Maybe he will never need another surgery for giant cell tumor and maybe he will never need to have a knee replacement!  Dr. Nicholas asked us about the physical therapist and told us that he'd be calling us about a checkup but he didn't say Mike would need any more therapy.  He told Mike it would be okay to mow so long as he didn't bend his knee or make it hurt.

After all that, good news, there was a problem with someone parking a van in the middle of the roadway when I went back from the parking lot to the building to get M for the ride home so it took awhile for us to get loaded up.  It was warming up outside though and the day was pretty and sunshiny for the ride home.  After the strain of getting back into the house, Mike was tired, ready to get out of his 'going to the doctor clothes' and back into his bed for something to eat and then a good long sleep.  He gets up all by himself now and has gone down to the kitchen, once to get himself something and a 2nd time to look for something for Sonny.  I didn't take a nap, so yesterday was just a long day for me.  After supper I listened to a story read aloud on Sonny's computer for several chapters and drank a beer with Sonny on a Friday night and when I came back upstairs and got into bed, as soon as I got warm I was asleep, dead to the world around me until I woke up this morning at nine dreaming about a cup of coffee.  Mike is an early riser and he told me that he had been waiting for me to wake up because he wanted coffee.  That made getting up easier, that and the sun shining through the french doors in the bedroom so that I could see it would be a beautiful day today.  That second part didn't work out though, because about eleven there was a short little rain.  I didn't notice it even until I saw Red get up from a spot where she had been lying on the bare ground in the back yard and I saw that she'd left a dry spot that was a different color than the rest of the back yard.

I reckon I will post this, then go see if my granddaughter has posted any new pictures of Zoey, my great granddaughter on her facebook page.  I miss that little girl and right now she is growing and changing every single day.  I can't resist posting a picture her mother took of here here.  She is watching her cousin's t-ball game and eating cotton candy.  I betcha Zoey thinks the eats and treats are the best part of any sporting event.  I used to think that my granddaughter Ashley thought that because she would always want some pocket change to go to the concession stand when she'd go watch her brother Craig play catcher at his games.  I probably think like that remembering myself going to outdoor sporting events!

Anyway, this gives me a chance to introduce Zoey to the ones who read this blog, find out that she is the apple (or should I say cracker?) of my eye and make this a start back into talking about why I call myself a walking talking bit of history...