Still...with the foot

But, there's tomatoes, too!  

So I saw an infectious disease doctor yesterday who debrided my incision right there in the office with some kind of crochet-needle-looking-thing, scalpel, I'm guessing because it cut and it HURT.  I hate when people just start chopping on you and don't tell you what they're doing or WHY they're doing it.  God a'mighty. 

I did like her, though.  She told me she's concerned that my incision is going to bust open when the stitches come out next Thursday because the skin is very thin right there.  Well, duh, I just had a skin graft RIGHT THERE.  I'm so over this whole thing.  Just one thing after another after another.  She wants to put a hard cast on, foot to knee, to immobilize my foot and put me on IV antibiotics for six weeks via a PICC line.  I'm waiting for the call today to tell me when to go to the Wound Care Center for all'a that.

The one thing she told me, that second opinion that backed up our theory all along, was YOU NEVER PUT A HARD CAST OVER A HEMATOMA.  And quite possibly, the hardware used caused this infection.  Soooo many mistakes made with my foot from the very beginning.  This whole thing did NOT have to happen.  I could be frolicking in the sand with my baby next weekend for my birthday but nooooo, I'll be stuck in a cast with a needle buried in my arm. 

But hey!  I have pics to share!  No scary ugly foot pics but pics of plants living their best life with all the rain we've had.  We got our sprinkler system fixed Saturday so no more watering every-dang-thing every day all summer.  Yay.  It was just the control box.  No biggie.

I had almost given up on my little patio jalapeno.  It was a stick!  And now there's one tiny pepper bloom.  No more jalapeno on a stick!  Ha! 

The purple Russian tomato plant is doing great, too!

I'm so proud of the rhubarb!  I'm not looking to actually GET rhubarb this year but next year, she should be ready.  Vicki, that's her name.  :)

Our sunflowers are growing big!!  Every year, something stings the crap out of them and I have to sprinkle diatomaceous earth on them.  Guess it's time for that.

Our first tomatoes of the summer! 

For an early birthday present, Larry gave me a Big Bertha!  A 4-ounce Pyrex casserole dish in the Old Orchard pattern.  He found it IN THE WILD, too.  Incredible.

Annnnnd just because he's as cute as a slice of pumpkin pie with Reddi-wip on top...Tabbie Hoffman wearing my peace necklace.

My boot boot.  <3

How y'all durrin'?

Me?  I'm still at home, six months now.  Never, in my wildest of dreams, would I have thought I'd still be home, healing, six months after my surgery.  

I had the MRI on the 29th, a week and two days ago.  Still haven't heard anything back from my doctor.  I called Monday to get an update as I still have bone pain and now it's starting to creep up my leg.  I was told he had to have the images.  Well, he ordered the MRI, he should get the images with the report.  They're really trying my patience these days.  My wound is still draining and that means it has NOT closed and is draining with a speck of blood every single day.  My home health nurse contract ended so they're not coming anymore and Larry and I are pretty much on our own now.  

Poor Larry has been stricken with gout in his big toe and has been in excruciating pain.  Just one more thing to add to his laundry list of issues.  Afib, COPD, pituitary gland tumor (or enlargement that looks like a tumor and since his mama had two, yeah, it's a tumor), osteoarthritis in his lower back from an injury 30 years ago (and probably a little bit of jumping out of planes for Uncle Sam when he was 18), a completely blocked carotid artery that we cannot do anything about...bless his heart, he does not need this new thing that's going on.  He goes to work EVERY day, though, determined to provide for us and our little family.  

Speaking of our little family, we rehomed Kizzi a couple of weeks ago.  He had started peeing on everything and we'd taken him to the vet to check him out for a UTI and our doctor told us that he was "marking his territory" (even though we'd had him fixed) and was telling Tabbie Hoffman that he was the alpha male.  She put him on Valium but it didn't help much.  He just passed out for a couple hours and then he was hell on wheels again.  Tabbie is so sweet, gentle and laidback, he didn't care that Kizzi was running around being alpha.  He did care, however, when Kizzi attacked him in the hallway or jumped on him when he was napping or ran to eat his food or tried to keep him from using the CatGenie.  THAT'S why Tabbie was going on our bathroom rug.  Lightbulb moment!  Well, it got to the point that Kizzi was terrorizing Tabbie relentlessly and Tabbie was miserable.  He stopped eating (even though we separated them at mealtimes) and had started losing weight.  I named Tabbie after Abbie Hoffman and I could not have picked a better name for that sweet baby.  He's a lover, not a fighter.  He's all peace and love and leave me alone, let me sleep.  I loved that little booger, Kizzi, but Tabbie Hoffman is my heart.  He's my baby.  We found each other in a prison parking lot and we have been inseparable ever since.  He had to come first.  Larry had done some work for a couple who own a horse rescue farm and they also rescue and rehome cats.  And bunny rabbits.  So we took him there.  We had planned to get him healthy, neutered and then try to find him a home but I had surgery after surgery and we were so busy with my healing that we just kept him. These folks have about 20 cats who roam the farm and have 85 acres of barns and sheds to explore and lots of mice to catch.  The animals are fed and loved and since Kizzi has been neutered, I'm sure somebody will scoop him up.  Things have returned to normal and Tabbie is his chatty, playful self again.  

I went to another ortho doctor yesterday here in town because of pain I'm having in both my wrists.  It started in March but I've been so preoccupied with my foot that I just ignored it.  Well, I took my last pain meds last Friday and purposely did not get a refill and by Saturday, the pain in my wrists was almost unbearable. I guess the pain meds I was taking for my foot masked the pain in my wrists.  Anyway, I made an appointment and got in and saw somebody.  Tendonitis in both wrists.  He said he'd never seen this in both wrists at the same time.  I am totally not surprised.  It's me, after all.  I got cortisone shots in both hands and today, I can tell such a difference.  They still hurt but not nearly as bad.  I don't know what caused it but I'm sure it has something to do with working with computers for 20 years. 

I told Larry we need to check ourselves into the nursing home.  A place where we can take Tabbie and Banjo and get round-the-clock care.  Ha! 

So that's us today.  Thanks for coming to see us!

Tidying the pantry

We have a very small pantry.  A closet actually, in the hallway.  Away from the kitchen.  I've always thought that was weird.  In our next home, we will have a walk-in pantry fo' sho'.  Since it's small, it gets messy pretty easily.  Today I straightened and tidied and organized it and it looks much better!

This is how it looked before. 

And this was the bottom.  Eeeeeeeek!!  Couldn't find nothin'.

So after moving stuff and straightening cans and boxes, it looked like this.

This Mikasa basket I got from QVC was perfect for Larry's guilty pleasure.  Ramen noodle soups.  

I'm still scheduled for surgery Tuesday and now our house is neat and organized!  We bought a CatGenie and it's been the best thing we've ever bought in our entire lives.  Having two cats now made for a lot of work in the litter box department.  This thing has been sooooo nice to have.  Tabbie is having a little trouble getting used to it and had to go potty on Mama's bathroom rug but, bless his heart, he went on the rug and all I had to do was get it up and then throw the rug in the washing machine.  He's a smart boy.  Always has been.  Anyway, I sure hope he gets the hang of it soon.

Recovery

Today is ten days since my ankle surgery.  Except for the horrible burning nerve pain that I'm still feeling, my foot really feels no different than before.  The pain at night is so bad that I can't sleep and only muscle relaxers knock me out.  My doctor in Columbus told me going in that there were no guarantees but I still had to try.  I had to TRY. 

During the procedure, he discovered the cause for my nerve pain.  Two layers of scar tissue was crushing it so he clamped the nerve out of the way while he scraped the scar tissue off and he also repaired the two torn ligaments and reattached a severed tendon (that we didn't know about) with anchors, sewed me up and then a couple of male nurses picked me up and body slammed me to the floor.

The first four days after my surgery were pure hell.  I had this unbearable muscle pain in my stomach, neck and shoulders from the anesthesia.  All I did was cry.  I took just about all of my Percocet but they didn't even help.  It was misery.  I couldn't move.  Mama and Daddy came to stay with us the Monday before my surgery and I don't know what I would have done without them and Larry taking such good care of me.  Larry helped me with my baths and Mama cooked and cleaned and did laundry and helped us take care of our boys.  Banjo loved going outside with Paw Paw!  

This is me before my surgery.  All fresh-faced and full of hope.  

This is me after.  Coming off of Propofol and ready to fight.

Ain't that the stuff that killed Michael Jackson??!!

The boys have kept me company and Kizzi is starting to find his place in our family.  And in our Christmas tree!  Tabbie Hoffman never touched a tree.  Kizzi has been up close and personal six times.  He's so much different from Tabbie.  Tabbie Hoffman is laidback and cool, just like his namesake.  Kizzi is a hurricane.  Climbing and biting and scratching and tearing up the place.  I feel like somebody just put him out in the country where Larry found him.  They couldn't deal with his bad little self.  He just needs to learn the rules.  Mama will teach him.

He better be glad he's so dang cute.

The boys and I have been binge watching "Game of Thrones", too.  Larry watched it earlier this year but I didn't so now I'm watching.  I'm getting hooked!  I want to freakin' kill that Joffrey punk, though.  Or at least take a good old-fashioned switch to him.  He's what??  13??  I'd beat his ass.

I go back to the doctor Monday to get the stitches taken out and I guess they'll put me in a boot of some sort.  It is extremely hard to be non-weightbearing for two weeks and I've done the best I could.  I was using a walker at first but I got my knee scooter yesterday so I'm more mobile and can get around the house.  It feels SO GOOD to be out of bed and in my kitchen again.  

Dear readers, please pray for healing for me.  Pray this nerve will calm down and I'll have a normal life again.  

Tito

...also known around here as Thomas Asparagus.

There was this little gray tabby who took up here this month and he caused all kinds of commotion and drama and anxiety and joy and slow blinks and purring. Our house has become sort of a Kitty Central since Christmas with the five (sometimes six) feral cats who come here to eat.  Well, one day, this little fellow showed up and he wasn't feral.  He was sweet and let me touch him and he rubbed up against my leg, all the things that tame kitties do.  He never hissed once and he followed me around.  He made himself right at home on the front porch, too.

Not having any idea where he came from, I started calling him Thomas Asparagus.  Thomas after my daddy and Asparagus after my and Larry's favorite vegetable.  Cute, right?

I found out from my neighbors that he belonged to someone on the street right next to ours and that she had gotten him from some folks who lived out in the country, said he was always an outside cat and that he was "being aggressive" with another cat they had.  So they gave him away.  Seething, I was.  I am a firm believer in once you get a pet, he or she is YOURS for life.  You don't "get rid" of them.  Since we live in a subdivision, it's really not smart to have an outside pet of any kind.  They get out, Animal Control gets 'em and we all know they are murderers over there.  I tried to get Thomas back to his second mama but he got away from us.  At night.  In the rain.  That's when we found out his name was Tito.  Tito had been living the thug life in the neighborhood and he'd gotten in a fight with one of the toms and had been badly bitten on his head.  By the time I got really involved, his eye had almost swollen shut.  

Here he is at the window talking to me and Tabbie Hoffman.

Oh, I wanted him.  I wanted him bad.  But my first obligation and responsibility is to Tabbie.  He's never climbed a tree or jumped a fence, doesn't even know he's a cat at all and I'd like to keep it that way.  I could not let Tito teach him about life on the streets.  No matter how much I cried.  I couldn't do it.  

But I could help Tito!  I could make a difference in his little life.  By this time, though, his wound was badly swollen, abscessing probably, and he was in a lot of pain.  He wouldn't let me get him.  He scratched and hissed and pitched pretty good fits.  I went and got a bed, a litter box and a crate.  Larry set the Havahart trap and we caught him. 

I got him in the crate and tried to calm him down.  He had been pawing his wound and it had started to drain.  And probably felt so much better!  The next morning, I took him to the vet and I had his little head wound (FOUR bites!) cleaned, got him an antibiotic shot and a rabies shot, just because.  

This was him that morning.  His eye was almost completely open!  He was sweet and friendly again, too.  I sang "Jesus Loves Me" and "Puff The Magic Dragon" to him in the car and then brought him back home.

I called his first mama and talked to her.  She sounded about 14 on the phone but she was married and expecting her first baby in two weeks.  She really, really wanted Tito back but he was being a bully to her other cat, a girl.  Guess what, though?  Tito still had all his boy parts.  I convinced her that if she got him fixed, he would calm down, get all mellow and stuff and stop trying to run off at night.  He'd just lay around and get fat and sassy like my Tabbie. 

She came and picked him up and she told me that she'd made an appointment for him to be neutered yesterday and I said a little prayer yesterday morning that all would go well.  I hope it did and that he's happy being back at home.  His real home.

The Easter Bunny still comes to see me...

The Easter Bunny came to see all of us!  Larry and I got baskets of candy and goodies and I got a giant Easter Minnie Mouse and Mickey and Minnie POPs!

Banjo and Tabbie Hoffman got a new water fountain to share (Tabbie drinks out of Banjo's water bowl anyway AND eats his food...oy), Banjo got some new chew bones and Tabbie got some silver vine sticks.  They both got new toys, too.  Yay for the Easter Bunny!!

Yard pretties!

Things are just bustin' out all over in our yard!  We've had a bit of a cool snap this weekend and Larry and I worked outside all day today, he, cleaning out the backyard shed and me, planting flowers and cleaning flower beds.

Here's what's growing around here! 

This is a little arrangement of begonias, petunias and ivy that I did by the front door.

 Day lilies blooming in the front yard

 The roses by the mailbox have really loved all the rain we've gotten lately!

 

I repotted my poor pot-bound aloe vera plant today.  It's much happier now!

My little garden is coming along, too.  I've had to put stakes in for the tomatoes already!

To me, this is definitely a yard pretty!  Vintage sheets that we picked up at an estate sale yesterday drying in the sunshine.

And this one.  This one is the prettiest yard pretty we have!  He LOVES being outside and would just stay out there if we'd let him.  Unless, of course, he hears neighbors talking or an airplane flying over.  He's such a joy.  Banjo, too.  We have quite a happy life, the four of us.

We had some thrasher eggs in a nest in one of our ferns and the other night before the weather got bad, Larry secured the fern's hook with wire so that the wind wouldn't blow it down.  We thought they'd be okay but the clips broke instead and the pot still fell and the eggs bounced out.  They'd been in the nest for eight days but were still nothing but yolk so they more than likely would not have hatched anyway.  We were both very sad but have hope that a mama bird will try again this spring and we'll have some babies.  I've been feeding them premium seed and suet with mealworms all year to try to help the mamas have healthy babies.  Spring is still early and I still hope!!

Tabbie Hoffman is FOUR!

We celebrated first thing this morning with catnip-filled toys and coffee.  Well, maybe Larry and I had the coffee.

I left the blind up in the living room so he could have his sunbeam all day and he was allowed to have all the treats he wanted.

I think he loved his toys!  For about a minute, anyway.  He got a new "kicker" and some cute little catnip tea bags.  

He's had a stubborn little case of feline acne that we've been fighting for a while now.  I'm doing everything the vet told us to, it just doesn't want to let my sweet boy go.  :(  We're scrubbing with Stridex pads and peroxide, washing with Dial soap, washing bowls in hot soapy water every day and we took away his carpeted scratching post.  If anybody out there has any ideas, I'd be grateful to hear 'em!

He's also found a new little hidey-hole that he likes.  Right outside the mudroom window.  

Here's Banjo looking out...

This picture just cracks me up!!  

Happy, happy birthday, Sweet Tater!  You are FOUR years old already!!  Time sure has flown and you've been nothing but pure joy.

Garden update!

We've had a lot of rain this week and our little garden loved it!  Everything is so lush and green and growing!

We have eight little green tomatoes that are almost the right size to fry!

Larry cut the grass today and it looks sooooo good!

I have been really, really tired lately so while I slept in yesterday morning, Larry went estate saleing all by himself.  He brought me home lots of goodies!  A good bit of Pyrex and this beautiful seashell chime that we immediately hung on the front porch.

It reminds me of the beach and I just love it!

I'm still loving my blue porch ceiling!!

I've been growing these little beauties in pots on the porch.  

Tabbie Hoffman loves to be on the porch with Mama.  And it was a glorious 78 degrees today so Mama loved it, too!

A different kind of Easter

For the first time in ever, our family didn't get together today for Easter.  I felt a little out of sorts not having anywhere to go or anybody to take care of.  But at the same time, it was glorious to have such a low-key Easter.  Larry and I woke up early, put our ham in the oven, and got ready for church.  It was a wonderful service and we were blessed to see two young girls publicly profess their faith and another one get baptized!  That's what Easter is all about -- celebrating our Savior, who died for us when He didn't have to and rose from the dead because WE needed Him to.  There's no greater love than the love Jesus has for us.  Not your family's, not your husband's or wife's, not even the love you have for your children.

Larry made me a huge basket full of chocolate and all kinds of goodies!  There was even a sweet little Jadeite coffee mug that he picked up on our Peaches to the Beaches trip that I didn't even know he got.  How'd he do that??  I see everything.  He put a beautiful little decorative plate in there, too.  Along with all. that. candy.  I made him up a basket with lots of candy, too, a big-eared chocolate bunny and a little stuffed lamb.

Yesterday, I baked some treats for Tabbie Hoffman and Banjo and I put them in Mason jars and tied a little yellow ribbon around them, to make 'em look Easter-y.  I found the recipes online and Banjo got pumpkin peanut butter ones and Tabbie's were tuna and catnip.  Banjo loves his and Tabbie's coming around to his.  Persnickety little self.

After church today, we came home and I finished our dinner.  We had our ham and green beans with red potatoes, steamed whole organic carrots, deviled eggs and carrot cake.  Simple and easy.  No stress, no rushing around trying to get here and there.  It was very, very nice.

And after the dishes were done, I took a nap!  Another thing that's never happened on Easter, except maybe when I was six.

 Banjo enjoying his ham bone in the rain.

 Like Mama, like kitty.  :)

The weather was yucky, lots of clouds and some rain here off and on all day but I hope y'all had a great day anyway!  I loved all the pictures that were posted on Facebook of kids dyeing eggs yesterday and then this morning with all their goodies and family pictures outside church.  To me, that's how it should be.  Church first then family time with Easter dinner and egg hunts.  And a nap.  :)