Voting, Mama

Monday morning and again at lunchtime Monday I went to the polling place set up for early voting in Decatur. Both times the line was so long that I had to forego taking the time to stand for my turn in the voting booth. However, when I queued into the line at lunchtime, I struck up a conversation with the man in front of me and he gave me a printout of all the places in Wise County that were set up for early voting. One of those places was in Alvord at the City Hall. I called Mama to let her know we could go together to Alvord before heading to the hospital. She was in favor of that. So, yesterday morning, Mama, Victoria and I went the four miles to Alvord and walked into an empty polling place. Literally. There was only one person there. She was already at the voting machines. No one was in line to be registered to vote. We were in and out in ten minutes. I was relieved to have cast my vote and excited to have seen the excitement in people wanting to get their vote registered. Early voting is a great option for me and I was thankful to have the opportunity to do so. Victoria left from there for work. Mama and I headed back home so she could finish her routine to prep for the preop. Both of us were fasting until after her procedure.

We were able to leave for the hospital in plenty of time and ended up getting there over thirty minutes early. Her procedure was scheduled for 2:30. We were there at 11:30. It was a little unnerving a short time later as we sat in the lobby, waiting to be called back for the hospital portion of the preop, to get a call from the hospital asking if we were going to make our scheduled time for the procedure. I assured the lady calling that we would make our appointed time because we were already sitting in the lobby; duly registered at the reception desk with our assigned patient number. When the person I was conversing with asked me to hold for a moment, I heard the phone at the front desk ring. The man stationed there – he had just taken over – answered and began talking with me. He was as confused as I was as to what we should be taking about. It was quickly sorted out and Mama and I were escorted back to get her hospital bracelets from the actual registration personnel; after which we were called back for the nurses to begin poking and prodding Mama.

When I left Mama to wait again in the lobby, it was less than thirty minutes later that I was called back to see her in recovery. However, on my way to see her, the doctor came out into the lobby to tell me how things had gone. He even had a picture of her leg in the fully bent position. He told me there was a lot of popping and cracking, but he was able to get the knee to 120-125°. Now it was up to us to keep that range of motion. I believe this time we will be able to do so. The alternative is not appealing at all. As part of the procedure, Mama was given a nerve block and the joint was infused with a form of time released Lidocaine. That should be effective for about four days. Keeping the pain at bay should help Mama and the physical therapist to be more aggressive with the knee as we struggle to hold onto our hard-won gains.

Mama woke fairly quickly. The only issue we ran into was that the attending nurse insisted on giving Mama two hydrocodone before she left the hospital. About an hour later she was very nauseated. Mama does not take much medicine and therefore tends to be sensitive to the effects of any medication. We did enjoy a good lunch before heading home and Mama was able to hold everything down through the evening, so overall, things went well.

Mama tells me that she feels a real difference in the leg and knee. A looseness she has not felt since the replacement surgery. That is a good thing. Maybe a great thing. She was able to walk almost normally after the procedure. Her brace fit much better as we applied it last night. Overall, everything seemed to be better.

We are encouraged but we still have a good bit of work ahead of us.