10:34 p.m., Sunday, June 17: In exactly 10 hours time I will be going under the knife (saw?) in the OR at the Owen Sound Hospital. I don't know why, but I feel the odd-ball urge to report in to my Wrights Lane readers for the final time before a recovery hiatus of a couple of weeks at home.
Going into this hip replacement ordeal I had no idea of the pre-surgery preparation that would be necessary. It started with an all-day pre-op screening and test session at the hospital last week. Since then I had to purchase a toilet riser seat, a bath stool, two reacher grips, a three-foot long shoe horn, new pyjamas and special stockings, all of which put a sizeable hole in a $200 bill.
On Friday I was visited by an occupational therapist who assessed my mobility, the layout of our home and left me with some useful post-operative suggestions. She also inspected and gave a green light to a stop-and-go walker and a set crutches left over from ankle surgery seven years ago. Friday night was devoted to posting several items on two of the web sites that I manage for other people and updating an extensive mailing list for one of my clients, leaving the coast clear for me until I get out of hospital on Wednesday or Thursday of next week.
The real work, however began this weekend. My daughter Debbie has taken time off work in Brampton to be with us and to help get me over the hump for a week or two. We purchased a new bed and mattress for her which had to be set up in our spare bedroom, but not before cleaning the house from stem to stern, biting the bullet and struggling to mow the lawn one last time, pulling a few weeds, washing the car (inside and out), purchasing a full tank of gas for the several trips Debbie and Rosanne will be taking to the hospital next week, taking time to do some banking, purchasing groceries to get Debbie and Rosanne through the week, picking up several drug prescriptions for both Rosanne and I, leaving explicit instructions for Rosanne on how to do certain chores like making her coffee (I always make it) and how to prepare her morning fruit smoothie with her prescribed dose of Metamucil (I always make that for her too), replacing light bulbs in the house, doing several loads of laundry, preparing garbage bags and sticker tags for regular Tuesday morning pickup, preparing a beef stew for an easy supper this evening and... I know that I am leaving out several chores at least, but you get the picture -- all things that I will be restricted from doing for a while.
I said to Rosanne last night: "I'm actually looking forward to going into hospital. I need the rest!"
Gotta hit the hay now...4:45 a.m. will come early!
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