Close call, Kobe’s spurning, Mama's outing

Mama nearly fell yesterday. She was going from the hallway into the living room. Our living room is about four inches lower than the rest of the house and Mama failed to navigate the elevation change with her walker. As she was attempting the change in level, she did not lift the back of the walker enough and it hung on the trim at the step. She was already in the balance mode of going forward with the step and had to hop, stumble, catch herself, what ever you want to call it, on her injured leg. It turned out okay – aside from the pain it inflicted on her rebuilt knee – but it frightened her and Victoria thoroughly. Those are the moment we hope to avoid entirely. We all get into situations where we are not attentive to what we are doing. We have done something so often that we move through the task on autopilot. For Mama, that cannot happen. In this instance, her focus was elsewhere and a few millimeters of error in the height of adjustment of her support nearly caused us a painful, if not injurious accident. Please continue to pray we can avoid anything near a repeat of the incident.

Mama and Victoria are heading to the doctor this morning to have her dressing and bandages changed. Mama is frustrated because she has not been able to shave her legs. I am assuming the attending nurses are used to that, but it still bothers Mama. She slept all night last night, so I helped her out of bed for her morning bathroom run. Then back into bed to rest and nap until Victoria is up to help her get rearranged for the start of her sedentary day. She is starting to show signs of cabin fever but is prudent enough to realize all excursions farther than the edge of the patio are ill-advised for the next couple weeks at least. I plan to get the tractor and disc and try to level the path through the yard to the coop area, but it may not be this weekend. I will have it done before Mama has to navigate the path.

One of the ladies at church recently had repair surgery on her right knee. She has struggled a great deal through her recovery. Now, at six weeks out, the doctor (the same one who did Mama’s replacement surgery) is sending her to physical therapy. He told her at her appointment yesterday that she was not where he wanted her to be at this point. Her reply was that she was not where she wanted to be either. The point being, the recovery process is slightly different for each person. Mama’s full recovery could be shorter than the 12 -16 weeks normally expected. But, it could be longer. Our prayer is for a full, pain-free, full range of motion recovery. Regardless of the time required. We only have to do this once if we do it right. The doctor has told Mama his expectation is that the new joint will last a minimum of 24 years. That should be more than sufficient.

Victoria took Kobe to see Leo. Our go-to German Shepherd stud. It did not turn out well. She was not remotely interested in his attentions – yet. Victoria guesses that she is a few days too early. In other words, Kobe is not in standing hear yet. It reminds me, when we went to pick up or bred goats, Rick told us about a buyer who came to him for a Billy goat for his herd and was disappointed by the Billy he first bought from Rick because the nanny goats could so easily outrun him. Rick tried to explain that when the nanny goats are ready to be bred, he will not have to catch them. They will stand and wait on him. The buyer ended up getting a second Billy goat who could move a little faster anyway. Rick just laughed. He got two sales out of the deal and the buyer got what he wanted – even though he did not need it. So, when Kobe is ready, Leo will not have to fight with her. That day was not yesterday.

If Mama is able, we are going to the restaurant for lunch. It will be Mama’s first outing since the surgery. I am not convinced that she can be made comfortable in the chairs at the restaurant, but we will try. Our Chinese family will be very pleased to see her.