Mama, the plants, the animals

Mama had a good day overall yesterday, but she had a rough night. She and Victoria decided to stop taking the pain meds until she had a bowel movement. One of the aftereffects of surgery, anesthesia and pain medications is that the bowels tend to shut down. It takes some time to get the colon moving again. In Mama’s case it has been since before her surgery Monday a week ago that her bowels have moved. So, last night I bought her a Big Mac. That is her laxative. It worked. It was painful for her but if we can keep her bowels active, she will heal more quickly. It is always a balancing act to get the right combination of pain relief and pain expressed to enable the proper use of the injured body part. Too much pain relief and the appendage will not work. Too little pain relief and you simply will not use the appendage. For Mama, any pain meds equal long periods of sleep. Long periods of sleep through the day make resting well overnight problematic; as we discovered last night. Today, we will start the pain meds again and hope the other issues will resolve themselves as the incision heals.

Mama has a doctor’s appointment next Tuesday. She and Victoria thought it was today, but Mama called to confirm that it is next week. However, the nurse at the office told Mama she could come in and have her dressings changed at any time. I am hoping she and Victoria will go today to have the incision re-wrapped. What was applied a week ago is loosening and sliding down her leg, bunching up around the back of the knee. I straightened it out some last night, but it really needs to be redone. If they do not have the time to get to the doctor’s office today, I will redo the dressings tonight. Unfortunately, we will have to reuse what is already applied. Some new wraps would be an improvement.

The weather continues to be very hot and very dry. I am spending about an hour and one half every night watering the garden, our trees and the beds around the house. It is almost a losing battle. But for the moment I seem to be breaking even. I have pulled up some plants that not going to survive regardless of my care. Others are on the verge of dying but still might make it through the season. The best-looking plants are those where I have laid a soaker hose which I use nightly. Next season, we will employ more of those, but I am not going to try to implement any more right now. The evenings, although they are still 85°, are pleasant and I enjoy the task.

As for the farm chores, Victoria has been handling the morning feedings and I have taken care of the animals in the evenings. So far, it has worked out well enough. I am sure the animals miss the ministrations of Mama who routinely took aver and hour each morning to do the same things that Victoria can get done in fifteen minutes. Mama takes a different approach to feeding and watering her charges. For instance, one morning when Victoria was filling the water pans on the side of the coop where we have the younger chickens, several of those younger chickens got over on the side with the older flock. It was only last night that I realized that those younger chickens may not be eating because they have had only crumbled food. The older chickens are eating pelletized food. So, last night, I got Victoria and we took the escapees off the roost and put them back on the side they should be on. Mama wanted to go out with us. We would not allow her. The ground in the back yard is too uneven. That would have been a dangerous walk for Mama.

Maybe next week…or next month.