MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

   I’m doing better every day. Haven’t used OxyContin since I was in the hospital. Had to use a walker for about a week, but have been getting around with a cane for most of the past few days. Lots of nurses and various therapists have been stopping by, and I’ve been doing the exercises they’ve given me to do, and that has helped a lot, I’m sure. My daughter Sarah leaves for home in Illinois tomorrow, and I have followup visit with my doctor on Monday, but right now, I’m doing just fine.

Back home again and with a new hip. 27 hours between getting to the hospital and leaving just two hours ago. Amazing!

Thanks for all of the good wishes and the good advice, all very much appreciated!

   I have several posts that I could have chosen from to upload today, but there’s been too much to plan ahead for, and I’ve simply run out of time. I have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at nine. I’m not looking forward to rehab, but as I’ve told some of you already, I’ve gone as far with this hip as I possibly could.

   I don’t know when I’ll be back at full blogging strength again, but look for short updates here every once in a while. As soon as I can!

If I’m reading Mr. Google correctly, and several sites are telling me the same thing, I’m at Stage Three of the cold I’m suffering through now. No details.

This is the first cold or similar illness that I’ve had in 20 years, and I can tell you, I don’t like it one bit. I’m doing everything all those websites say to do, but they also say that the best thing to do is to rest as much as possible and= let the cold take its course.

So, no more trying to fight my way through it. I’m going to take a few days off from the blog. (If you saw how many typos I’ve made in just typing up these three paragraphs you’d know exactly what I mean.) I’ll be back as soon as I can!

I started having flu-like symptoms last Friday night, but of course without going to the emergency room, there was no way for me to see my doctor until yesterday. They took some urine and did a blood test, and within 15 minutes I was told I had a bladder infection.

I go pick up the medication for it within the hour. Hopefully it will start working quickly, but all in all, I think this blog will stay quiet for a few more days. Bear with me!

PS. It’s 96 degrees here today!! Tomorrow even hotter. 97!!!

I returned home from L. A. last Wednesday limping badly, so I called and got an appointment at UConn Health this past Monday. They looked at Xrays of my hip and made an official diagnosis of arthritis (my chiropractor had already suggested this) and scheduled me for a cortisone shot in my hip this morning.

I was there for two hours but the procedure itself took less than five minutes. All is well, except that as whatever they used to numb the area is starting to wear off, and my leg is starting to ache, as they said it would. Back to normal activity tomorrow, but I have to keep monitoring how I’m doing and record the results in a diary until my followup visit with the doctor.

Having the injection is a stop-gap procedure often used to delay having a hip replacement done. I agreed that I’d want to postpone that for a while! Having this done means in fact that I can’t have a replacement done for three months, which is fine with me.

So I’m OK, and more than willing to take a day off just to rest. Back to my regular schedule tomorrow!