Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Summer's End

I just dropped in for a bit of a visit. I can’t stay long, my body screams at the way I have to sit at this computer, but I really miss all of you. It’s lonely here stuck in my chair with my leg elevated, the family peeking in to wave goodbye as they hightail hither and yon living the last days of summer vacation. School starts next week and the last few days of freedom call for sun filled days at the beach, visits to the mall for cool shirts even though they have to be ’uniform code’, hair cuts to trim off the salt water damage, and frantic visits with friends that will be going to high schools that are on the opposite side of town.

I’m tired of talking about my leg, but I will say that the Apligraf was a fantastic success. I have wonderful islands of skin growing all over the wound and several large islands are so close to touching that there is almost a bridge of new skin across the middle of the wound. The staff was amazed. They say that most people have a set back of some sort.... I’ve had none. My wound is so large they warned me to expect problem places, but as of this writing everything is going along beautifully. Surely, your good thoughts and prayers have done that for me.

The ’hot and tight’ was causing severe pain to my fused ankle so they relented and gave me ’hot and looser’. It’s odd what the ’tight’ did to my ankle. It feels as if my ankle that isn’t an ankle is sprained. I must have a whole pocket of arthritis around the staple that is holding my ankle hostage. At any rate, loosing the ’tight’ has made it tolerable. I really have nothing to complain about. Many of the patients that I have become acquainted with are really struggling with the healing process, but my body seems to be in accord with my brain ... let’s hurry up and get this over with. Enough about me!

My granddaughter has blossomed in the summer sun. She has become the prototypical picture of the Southern California beach girl. She has shot up to 5’7”, and she has developed curves that many women would die for. She would kill me if she knew I told this but we have had to buy her three different bra sizes this summer. She’s worried about that. She thinks it’s time for the growing to stop. I just laugh and tell her that women pay doctor’s big money to get what she has gotten naturally. She doesn’t think I am particularly funny, but I tell her that she’ll appreciate that more when she is certain that her body has stopped the growing thing. This will be her freshman year in high school and she can hardly wait for school to start. I heard a group of her friends tell her that the girls at school were going to hate her because she was too pretty. “You have long blonde hair, long legs, beautiful big blue eyes, you’re thin, and you’ve got great boobs”.... Remember that was a quote! Her grandmother worries about all those attributes blossoming in one summer. I’ve watched the boys knocking on the door asking if Anna was home, I’ve answered the phone and had deep male voices asking if they could speak to Anna, and I watched her father get upset with the way a man watched her as she walked away. Life is going to be very interesting, if not anxiety ridden, for my son. It makes me glad that I had a boy!

My grandson escorted his girlfriend to the Aquarium so she could submit an application and because he was there and thought it would be funny, he filled one out too. But life pulled one of its funny little quirks and he is the one that got called to go to work. His poor girlfriend feels slighted, and he was flabbergasted. Because he wanted to see what it was all about he went to the interview and he came home grinning from ear to ear. He loved what he heard. He took the job and is having a wonderful time. Isn’t life ironic? As a small boy he loved the Aquarium, especially the jellyfish. Once when I took him there he was so enthusiastic and awe filled one of the oceanographers took him back into the lab so he could see the entire baby jellyfish display and how the tanks were maintained. He found it so thrilling that he thought he might want to be an oceanographer some day. At any rate he is having a great time making money and learning about all the fish. He’ll be a senior this year. He isn’t quite certain what he wants to do for ’rest of his life’, but his job certainly has peaked an old interest. It’ll be fun watching what happens.

My son says he is counting the years. Only four to go and his youngest will be out of high school and he will be free to roam as he pleases. He says the kids can live with him as long as they wish, but he can hardly wait until they are both of age so he can venture out and do some of the things he has kept on hold while he was raising them. I wonder? Will one of those things be a new daughter-in-law? His mother thinks that would be really nice.

My friend Scott has to have surgery again. The hardware that they put in his elbow has somehow damaged some nerves. He is unable to move several of his fingers and he still, after all this time, is experiencing great amounts of pain. So next month they are going to go back in and repair the damage the repair caused. My leg needs to get on the fast healing track. Scott is my chauffer for my twice-weekly visits to the wound specialist. I’m not allowed to drive yet and that is a fricken long drive back and forth. Don’t think I could afford a taxi, and the leg and wheelchair wouldn’t be fun to have to take on the bus. Even though it’s a doctor’s visit Scott and I have fun having lunch together and yakking about things no one but the two of us thinks is funny or important.

John? John is John ... he pushes his rollator all over tarnation, eats loads of chocolate, swings in his hammock, and gloats because he has mobility and I don’t. But I’m gonna get revenge. I have raved about all the books I have read this summer. He thinks I am piling them up for his perusal, but ‘pay back is a bitch‘. I’m gonna hide them and make him beg. He’ll do it too. He loves to read as much as I do.

Bless you all and thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I really believe that is why my leg is healing so beautifully.

PENNIE


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