Karen's Keepers

Karen's Keepers

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The ghosts of Halloweens past



In honor of Halloween this year, I have posted a few pictures of Randy and I from this holiday long ago. We used to enjoy dressing up and going to parties – and then life happened!

1982 – Raggedy Ann and Andy


1983 – Obi-wan-Kenobi and Princess Leia

 
1983 – I worked in the Primary and dressed up as a cowboy for a party we had



1985 – Lois Lane and Clark Kent (notice our 3 oldest kids around us!)
 
1988 – Papa Smurf and a mummy

1989 – Moses and a housewife
 

 For those of you that dress up, or those who just hand out the candy - have a great Halloween!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Update and Surgery



“I got the bill for my surgery. Now I know what those doctors were wearing masks for.” 
                                              ~James H. Boren

My last post was about Randy’s health. We found out that he is in the beginning stages of both kidney disease and diabetes, but they can both be reversed with diet. He has lost 20 pounds so far and walks on the treadmill 45-60 minutes 5 days a week. His neuropathy (where it feels like pins and needles are sticking in his feet) is still bothering him especially at night, so he built a footboard for our bed because he has found that if he has something to push against, he gets relief.  Then he can fall asleep. 

I finally got tired of the pain in my right hip. I can’t run, and walking hurts if I go very far. It even hurts to walk through a grocery store. So, after x-rays and an MRI, it was decided that I had a small bone growth on my femoral head (the ball part of the hip bone in the socket). The doctor said that it had probably been that way for 40 years, but I am just noticing it now because of my age. Not that I’m OLD – but I’m not a spring chicken anymore, either!  



My younger sister, Wendy, flew in from California on Friday evening and was here to make meals, get my mom her meals, drive my oldest sister to and from work, take that sister to the bank and store, and get me whatever I needed. Her help was invaluable and I will forever be indebted to her! 

Wendy
Becky























One other sister, Becky, was here for awhile on Saturday from Las Vegas and made several meals that she put in the freezer for us to use in the next week or so. I had also put up about a week and a half worth of meals so that I wouldn’t have to cook for awhile. 

So, last Friday morning the doctor went into my hip joint using a small camera through one incision (arthroscopy) and small tools through another incision, cleaned up torn labrum, took off a few bone spurs, and shaved off a small part of my bone. I never did have any swelling at the site of the two incisions, but just a little bruising the 5th day after surgery. I only had to take pain pills for 3 days and ibuprofen for a day or so after that. I feel really lucky on both points. I got tired of using crutches after a few days, but the doctor had said that I would need to use them for 3 weeks. When I saw the doctor 6 days after surgery, everything looked great, but he still said that he wanted me to use crutches for a couple of more weeks. It’s an insurance-thing, I think. Yuk.

Anyway, Randy and I are on the mend and we are looking forward to being 100% again.

“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died” ~ Erma Bombeck