I appreciate your patience during my brief hiatus.
Last week, I underwent a left Total Hip Replacement, and I’m getting back on my feet again.
It’s a blessing to be relieved of the awful left hip pain I suffered before surgery due to severe arthritis, with no remaining cartilage and bone grinding on bone. Postoperative pain is minimal compared to that excruciating ordeal.
Now I’m getting around the house with a walker as a mobility aid.
In addition, I am working like mad on self-directed physical therapy exercises to strengthen my new and improved hip joint.
And even more importantly, I’ve aggressively weaned myself from opioid pain relievers. My last dose was at bedtime on postoperative day five.
Recovery is all uphill from here. After two weeks, I should transition to a cane, and two weeks later, my own two feet. Spring gardening is a great motivator.
I’m becoming a real live bionic woman with all of this year’s artificial enhancements: first both eyes, now my hip!
What challenges do you face? What do you do to encounter them head-on?
I’m eating lunch while searching for an idea for today’s topic: a sandwich and a banana that is past its prime. As I scroll, a yummy photo catches my eye, and so it is, National Banana Split Day. This delicious dessert was invented in 1904 by a pharmacist’s apprentice, David Evans Strickler, at Tassel Pharmacy in LaTrobe, Pennsylvania. In the soda fountain era, many counters shared locations with pharmacies. Banana splits were an immediate hit with the college crowd who eagerly paid 10 cents, double the rate of a regular sundae, for this tasty treat. The split became all the rage in ice cream parlors. The ideal banana split recipe includes a banana split in half, topped by 3 scoops of ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry), fudge sauce, whipped cream, and chopped nuts; crowned with maraschino cherries. You don’t have to stick with the mundane, tried-and-true presentation: be creative. Change up the bananas by carmelizing them like Bananas Foster; dip them in chocolat...
I emerge from my convalescence, much as the Earth unfolds from its winter cloak, stretching towards the Sun. I submit some random observances of Spring. Last week a whippoorwill announced his return in evening gloam. The whir of a hummingbird reminds me to retrieve and fill the nectar feeders. BirdCast Migration tools will give you an overview of birds on the move over the US continent. You can also hone in on your local area to see what activity to expect. My neglected gardens called out to me today: lavender buried knee-deep in leaves held a hidden surprise. As I approached, the plant shuddered, and autumn leaves crackled. A poke in the pile unearthed an unhappy snake, slithering off, to curl under the dwarf cherry tree, its dark eyes squinting, tongue flickering warning. Nearby, a nuthatch hangs upside down, a cardinal tells me I’m “pretty”, and yellow finches flutter among chickadees, all vying for tasty morsels of suet, seeds, and fruit. A dove splashes in the bir...
Announcing a new family member: we have adopted a rescue Shih Tzu. His official kennel name is Benji Blue Fox, but that’s a big name for a 19-pound boy, so he is Benji to us. We met him at our dog groomer a week before we left for Key West. A foster dog mom brought him in because he was too much for her home circumstances. The moment we saw him, we fell in love. He looks like the reincarnation of our former Shih Tzu, Haiku. In only 10 months, this poor boy has had a horrible set of circumstances. His original owner fell on him, injured his leg, and left him crying all night. When he finally got to the veterinarian, he was diagnosed with a broken leg. Benji sports a left rear leg cast. He has been in three foster homes since that event. He has now found his forever home. We took him to our vet this week. His leg is healing nicely, but he needs to wear the cast for two more weeks. Despite the immobilizing device he runs and plays, and goes up and down steps without difficulty. Benji is h...
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