Judy

My sister, Judy, had a right total knee replacement on Tuesday and is doing remarkably well. I know she was uncomfortable while we were moving Mom on Saturday but never complained. I was amazed that the surgery only took about an hour. She was up walking that evening, passed her rigorous OT and PT at the hospital and I brought her home on Thursday. She is getting PT at home now to build up her range of motion and keeping it iced to decrease the swelling. She doesn't need much nursing care so I'm just cooking! She's hoping it will help her golf game!
Mel has been having radiation therapy for about two weeks and is doing well - beginning to feel some fatigue and "sunburn" but nothing like chemotherapy.
Thank you Lord for taking good care of my family!

Mother

We moved Mom from her two bedroom apartment in the semi-independent wing of the care center to a one bedroom apartment in the extended care wing last Saturday. We have know all summer that she needed to move where she can receive more supervision/care and finally a place was available on the ground floor. She did not want to move and gave us a rough time but some anti-anxiety meds helped her (and therefore, all of us!) to cope with it all. We were exhausted but, had her all situated, with pictures hung and decorations arranged by dinner!We were worried about her being disoriented during the night so Judy spent Saturday night with her and I spent Sunday and Sunday night with her. The good news is that the staff check on her every three hours while she is sleeping. She insisted she was not going to stay in "this place" until two friends came to visit after lunch on Monday and just raved about what a lovely apartment it was - now she likes it! Guess peer pressure works at any age!
We were fortunate that the facility has an annual rummage sale and told us to leave anything we didn't want in the old apartment and they would store it until the sale and then donate what did not sell to the St. Vincent  thrift store. I don't think they expected a whole bedroom full of stuff! What a blessing not to have to cart it all away.
It was a trip down memory lane to go through picture albums and family mementos. I found two diaries written by my father's grandmother, his father's mother, during 1946 and 1947. This was the time my Dad, his only brother, Uncle Bob and many family friends were returning from the War, getting engaged and married. She was especially worried about Dad, "Dickie," because he didn't come home from Calcutta until March of 1946.

Blast From the Past

We ate lunch at Schlinker's hamburger joint this week - 42 years since our last date there! This tiny restaurant has been on Ganson Street since 1927 and run by the same family. It is near the hospital where I went to nursing school so we went there frequently to avoid the hospital cafeteria food! It is a small box of a place with just enough room to get in and sit at the "U" shaped counter - about 14 stools. It feels like you are all dining at the same table. They only serve hamburgs and pie. We met a couple that work at the hospital. She has worked there since 1966 when I started the nursing program so we both knew many nurses and staff. A nice trip down memory lane!

Fall in Michigan

It has been a gorgeous week here. We haven't been in Michigan in the fall in years and are enjoying the beautiful autumn colors - the trees are decked out in all their glory! We played golf on Friday afternoon and went to Sean's football game on Saturday. His team, third graders, called the "Spartans," played the "Wolverines." Appropriate on the actual big game day! Everyone was dressed in their green & white or blue & gold football colors - a big rivalry here in the state. The "real" game turned out much better for the Spartans! The kids teams are allowed to play on the high school football field (that would never happen in Texas!) complete with volunteer announcers and a concession stand!

 

As nice as these Indian summer days are we are planning on leaving for Florida on November 9th - gotta' go before the white stuff starts flying!

Happy Birthday, Roger!

Happy 63rd Birthday, Roger! Thank goodness he doesn't look, think or act his age! Samantha called and sang "Happy Birthday, Grandpa" and made his day! He asked her how her soccer team was doing and she said "it's kind'a boring!"

The weather cleared on Friday morning, they had a successful test flight, and we were out of there! We thought about going to a great state park in New York and doing some hiking but it was predicted to rain most of the week-end so we headed back to Jackson. On our way through Canada to the Port Huron, Michigan border crossing we were amazed to see so many vineyards and small wineries. We were not amazed to see all the road construction and traffic!!!

It was so clear we could see Toronto across Lake Ontario as we crossed the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Canadian Falls

We toured the Canadian side of Niagra Falls on Thursday afternoon. The weather was too nasty for them to fly so Roger had some time off - no sense staying home watching it rain so we went across the bridge! There is so much mist from the falls it's pretty wet there most of the time anyway! We were told all the new high rise buildings along the ridge on "main street" prevent the mist from drifting away so it just lays over the park along the Niagra River.
We drove along the main street on our way home - a cross between Las Vagas and Dollywood! We couldn't get out of there fast enough!