Victoria’s quick trip, Mama

Mama called me yesterday late morning with a “guess what?”. With that contact I was made aware of the arrangements Victoria and Cori had made to fly Victoria to Honduras. Yes, to fly Victoria to Honduras. The driver for the trip is Savanna’s third birthday this Saturday. None of us want to miss the event but sadly, Mama and I knew we could not go. However, Cori found a fairly cheap ticket to San Pedro Sula and Victoria could not pass up the opportunity since she was already off the rest of the week. With that trip in mind, the entire rest of the day was spent in getting items that Cori and the kids needed – Peanut Butter, Marshmallow Cream, Apple Butter and the like. There were also some pants bought for Grant and other sundry items but making weigh on the checked bag was a limitation to the amount that could be purchased here and carried there. Victoria’s bag barely made weight. Fortunately, the birthday party items Mama and I bought late in the day did weigh much or take up much room.

Victoria left the house at 4:15 am. She met Erin and the kids at 4:30 am and they headed to the airport. I called Victoria to check on her and she told me how charged up the kids were at their “nighttime adventure”. The only complaint was that Luke wanted to get something to eat since he was up and of course they could not stop on the way to the airport. Hopefully, soon after he was fed. Victoria was already through security and waiting on the boarding call when I talked to her. Like me, she gets pretty nervous every time she flies – and remains so until safely through security and at the required gate. I assured her there was nothing she could do about it and now that the angst has largely passed, she can relax a moment before boarding. She should be with Cori and the kids by lunchtime. Perhaps this was not the best way to plan an international trip, but it just might work.

Mama is left to feed the animals by herself this morning. That required me to make a couple changes to feeder positions and feed barrel locations. With the boy goats, one of the two is very annoying when it comes to feeding. At least for me it is and annoyance; for Mama his constant pushing against the legs and having to step around him as you pass through his area would be dangerous. I generally use my knees to push him away as he bangs into me. Mama cannot do so. He is not aggressive, but it has tripped me up on occasion. So, last night I moved the feed out of the building where it is normally kept and moved the boy’s feeder to the fence on the coop side of the yard. That way Mama will not have to go into the enclosure and deal with the potential for injury. Hopefully that will be enough to get her through the next few mornings. Since we have not had, nor are predicted to have rain or dew, setting the container of feed (it has a closed top) in the open will do into harm through the remainder of the week. Victoria will be back Sunday night and able to take back over the morning feedings on Monday – Lord willing.

Mama had another follow up appointment yesterday. There was some good news. The doctor is pleased with how well the knee is healing, but not so pleased with the range of motion. He will see Mama in another month to determine whether or not to anesthetize her to force the knee into a fully bent position. If that proves necessary, she will be scheduled for that treatment the first part of September. At that time, the doctor will do the replacement surgery on the other knee. The only caveat is that during the second week of September I will be in Alabama the entire week. We will see how well Mama progresses in physical therapy over the next four weeks. That will determine the timing of her next surgery. Sooner is probably better since we are making tentative plans to visit Honduras over Thanksgiving. A month earlier for the surgery means a month earlier for the recovery – hopefully. Whether or not our pursuit of this business will allow me to be free of my current employment by that time remains to be seen.

Right now, we are focused on getting the swelling to go down. I am struggling to understand the limit to the range of motion Mama currently has and it seems that swelling is the major contributor to that limitation. So, we are refocusing all our efforts on reducing that to get more bend in the joint. Some of our Nikken wraps have been brought out of storage to hurry the healing process and we are reusing a device Mama was given for her past knee surgeries. We probably have what we need. We just need to use every tool we have accumulated to get through this is the quickest possible way.

I know Mama is ready to get through the healing process…me too.