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Published: October 25th 2020
Tropical Palms is showing an exciting change everyday. As the leaves change color and tumble to the ground up North, the sun shines brighter down here in the South each time another friend arrives on scene for their winter respite. The flight of the snowbirds has begun. The count is going up daily. More and more of our friends will land safely here in their sanctuaries as the days grow shorter. Hip-Hip-Hooray! It is wonderful to see each one of them once again. We all spent our summers on different journeys. Now we can spend time together having fun and making new memories once again. Oh, by the way......Remember Daylight Savings Time is next weekend.
Cory and I made our way over to several of our favorite places. Bar Harbor was first on the list. One of their “specials of the day” was twin lobsters with drawn butter for $15.98. No hesitation from this mouth. My dream-come-true meal. Amazingly, I ate them both! Of course! .....and could have eaten two more.....of course! Yum -Yum. Cory got a shrimp dinner. Next stop was Costco’s. Love that place! Of course, bought one of their rotisserie chickens for a later meal....actually 4 meals.
The chickens are so large you can enjoy them for days. And dessert followed at Culver’s. We had one of their concrete mixers. Oh, double yum-yum! This was truly a day of indulgence.
Our morning coffee gathering is growing as more of our friends arrive and settle back into their homes away from home. Of course, our home is with us wherever we go. We had a pleasant surprise when Lee stopped by for a visit. Lee and Elaine stayed here at Tropical Palms for years. Lee worked here. Presently, they live on the West Coast of Florida. He and Art would work together and solve any problem presented to them. They were the real dynamic duo! Lulu can barely contain herself when friends arrive. She is such a people person. She insisted Joyce had to hold her for a snapshot. Of course, Theresa and Lou are her new found friends. When Sonny came by with his new, best friend, Lulu showed no hesitation in making him feel right at home. She didn’t mind that he is a basket case and not as handsome as some. Perhaps some orthodontic work would help. She should have been a Walmart greeter....she
loves welcoming everyone when they show up. She would give them a fist bump rather than a handshake (social safety) but she can’t do either.....you know why. She’s so hospitable.
Speaking of “hospital...” — my days of counting down before going under the knife is getting smaller. Yup...I’m almost there....on a new medical exploit to get a new total knee replacement. Today and tomorrow and then the Big Day! Monday, October 26th is surgery day. Don’t worry....you’ll know when I’m done....you will probably think it is a sonic boom. It won’t be - it will just be me. Making a sound heard ‘round the world. Yup.....that will be me. I have already fessed up that I will make a horrible patient. I do poorly with just a paper cut. Get your ear plugs out. Run away if you must. Bury your head in the sand. The decibels of my voice will ring loud and clear.......OWWWWWWWEEEEEE!! Actually, our friend, Art (who has had 2 knee replacements by the same doctor) has been my private cheerleader and continually reassures me that if I follow their direction, I will do fine. I will! I will! I will! I am to show up
at the Celebration Hospital (very close to our park) at 9:00 AM. My surgery will be at 1:00 PM. I’ll be up and walking by evening. Amazing! I have to stay overnight in the hospital for one night. Cory can stay over in my room if he wants.....any bets on which choice he makes? Because of Covid, only one person is allowed to be with me. It was between he and Lulu. Of course, Lulu thought I would pick her.....she was brushing up on her nursing skills. She was actually hoping she could lie next to me in the operating room. She wanted the doctors to transplant my old knee onto her but because it is only a knee, it wouldn’t work. I’m not donating my leg! Sorry, Lu! She didn’t care that it is a bad knee....she is not a fussy gal. She was just going to be happy with something that might make her taller. One diseased knee wasn’t going to do the trick, though. It wouldn’t allow her to have more height or navigate around as she wished. It would just be a bony knob attached to one side of her neck. That would also detract from
her good looks. You can’t fault her from wishing though. So, she is going to greet me upon my return to our RV. That will be comforting. Poor Cory is going to have to endure the blunt of all my whining. I can see him turning off his hearing aides now!
I’ve had quite a bit of prep work just getting to where I am today .....for my surgery. I had all my tests, etc. done by our doctor in New York who gave clearance for me to have the surgery. Then, after my Florida doctor received it, I was notified that I was on the schedule. I had to take a class in preparation for before and after the surgery. Because of Covid, it was done by Zoom. I have faithfully being doing various assigned leg exercises twice a day since Oct.2nd. I met with the Doctor’s Physician Assistant for my pre-op visit. I had a Covid test. I had to have repeat labs cause too much time had passed since my earlier ones. I conferred with my care coordinator, a pharmacist (who didn’t laugh when I told her I took Milk Thistle), a surgical nurse, an admissions
clerk and finally the person who told me what time on Monday everything would happen. I’ve had to hold most of my meds I normally take except for my prescription ones. I have had to swab each nostril with an antibiotic ointment for 5 days prior to surgery. Cory took me to a medical supply place to get a walker. Remember we bought a nice rollator one at the Webster Flea Market last year. Well, they wanted a more stable one that won’t roll away so now I have that. Lulu tried it out.....best she could.....it didn’t work well for her. Our toilet in the RV needed more height for me so Walmart had the riser seat and handles that worked. Our bathroom is far from ballroom size so not just any device would work. Lulu likes this item really well. It brings her up in the world. It’s plenty high as my toes barely touch the floor. I feel just like a Queen on her throne!! And I won’t fall off cause I can hold onto the side handles! Cory hopes I recovery quickly! He’s not thrilled using this new appliance. I just call him King Cory now. I
bought a vinyl, flannel backed tablecloth for our bed thinking I could slide up in the bed on it. Not too sure how it will be sleeping on it though.....sweaty!! I could go back to eating my raisenettes, though!! REMEMBER THAT BLOG! One of our better ones if I say so myself. I’ll make quite the buffet laid out on this tablecloth anyway. I can always use it for Thanksgiving dinner when I’m done with it. Art doesn’t think I’ll need it. I still have to take a shower tomorrow night and morning of surgery with Hibiclens (special soap). I need to change the bed cause they said I need to sleep on clean linens. I won’t need anesthesia cause I’ll be so exhausted I’ll just sleep through the procedure. Hah! I’m going to need and take all the gas and drugs they’ll give me. When I spoke with the P.A., she said they usually do a spinal so they don’t need to use as much anesthesia. I told her I didn’t want a spinal as I have some degeneration in my spine. She said they could TRY and do the spinal and if it didn’t work?!?!......NO WAY, José! Not
on this cat! No trying spinals...nope, nope, nope. Double up on the gas if you have to but no to a spinal. I did have one for Lory’s birth and it wasn’t terrible but I like gas and lots of it!! Bring it on.....knock me out! Are you already sensing that you are glad to don’t have to deal with me and my medical needs? I’m sure they will assign Nurse Ratched to me! I stand no chance.....stand: kind of a pun. What goes around, comes around: Nurse Guenter!
Prepare yourselves. The next blog won’t be pretty. I will try to record every moment of my hospitalization and surgery that I can. I doubt that they will let Cory in the operating suite to take pictures....I will ask the anesthesiologist maybe. I’m hoping I can have my bad knee that they remove. If I can remove the bone marrow, I’m thinking of various uses for it: a bud vase, a paperweight, pen/pencil holder, small pedestal for Lulu. If Chip were still alive: a chew bone. I’m open to suggestions.
I’ll try to be discreet with my photos. Some may be gory ......hopefully not too bloody. I’ll give you
some warning so you can look away if need be.
Over all these years, we have shared a lot together some good, a few bad but most have been exciting......especially cause we were doing it together. The same will hold true for this next adventure we take together. This one will be a doozy. But knowing you all are there with me, no sweat......??I Will Survive??! Just pray for Cory! He will need it. And then.....think about this: I have a second bad knee!! Oh.....so much to think about and share.
Count backwards to ten now........
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B. J. Beadle
non-member comment
Best wishes
Prayers for successful surgery and good recovery, Sandy! You are ahead of the curve by being faithful to your exercises. That sure helped Ray. We’ll be thinking of you, kid!