Physical Therapist Visit

The physical therapist came today for the first time at Susan's house to check and see how Grandma is doing.  He was very impressed and said she is way ahead of most people as far as how much she can bend her knee and how good she is walking!  That made her feel pretty good and happy with her progress, she keeps saying she doesn't know why she worries so much, because it seems to be healing very well!  He checked her blood as well, and it's a little too thin, but still within the okay range, but they will probably reduce her dosage of cumidin within the next couple of days.  She says she loves the new pajamas we gave her in the basket, they are soft and stretchy, so perfect to wear when the physical therapist comes because she can pull them up easily over her knee and do the exercises well in them!

Walking Outside!

Grandma is getting better and better every day!  We took the kids bikes down to the Snows so they could practice riding (since our hill is not an ideal place to learn to ride a bike :-)).  Grandma came out on her walker yesterday and walked around the circle drive with them and came out on her crutches today to walk around the circle drive with them again. She is already a lot faster today than she was yesterday, and can even put her full weight on her new knee.  She does well at getting down the porch steps too.   She's been getting more and more flexible with her new knee too, Friday she could barely sit in a chair with her knee bended, and by today she looked perfectly normal.  She's been faithfully doing her exercises, and is excited to have her first Home Health Physical Therapist come tomorrow, so that she can get some questions answered and just to reassure her that she's doing her exercises right. 

Released from Hospital!

Grandma was released from the hospital.  She and Grandpa are almost to the Snow residence where they will rest and recuperate in their own little apartment there.  The physical therapist said she was doing really well, and even had her go up and down a few stairs yesterday and today.

Lots of Visitors!

Max, Zoe and I went up to visit Grandma yesterday (Wednesday afternoon).  She'd already had a lot of visitors that day: Vanessa, Lexi, Carol, Tanner, Eric and Susan!  She said she felt very popular and well taken care of!

Here's a picture of Max and Grandma (Max had fun playing with the "reacher" that came in her basket):



And here's the flowers we brought from everyone with some get well cards (not all the cards fit in the picture, but they are all there).  She was very touched by all the personal cards and so grateful!



And here's the basket of goodies:

She's been walking twice a day, and does physical therapy three times a day.  She walks to the bathroom (with the assistance of a nurse).  They also have her on a bending machine in her bed that bends the knee back and forth that she does off and on throughout the day, she says it hurts and feels good at the same time.  She's on Lortab for pain and takes it throughout the day, but is not maxed out on it yet.  The pain was getting worse yesterday evening as her spinal and femural block they gave her during the surgery are finally wearing off.  But, she's in good spirits still and has excellent care.  

Al slept at Carol's last night and has been able to sneak in a nap or two at Carol's as well which is so nice for him!

Day 2

Dave just talked to Grandma on the phone.  She described the pain last night as "uncomfortable" and she was awake until 1 am.  Then she asked for a pill and then slept like a rock for 6 or 8 hours!

And She's Walking ...

Grandma has walked on the knee a bit, to go to the bathroom and such.  She's of course on painkillers, and says that so far it's not too painful.  The physical therapist has come by and given her some exercises to do in bed to help strengthen it.  


Xochi reported from her visit: "Grandma even said the Dr. mentioned she should get the other one done soon, and she thinks that is a good idea.  She said everyone kept telling her how awful it would be, but worth it. So far for her it has been great she said. Her spirits were high. The hospital is very nice and not very crowded, so she should get lots of great attention."


She's sleeping now.  Grandpa is faithfully staying by her side (while watching the Jazz game)!

Visit from Isaac & Xochi + Room information

Grandma is doing great! She said it was so much easier than she thought it would be!   Grandpa looks more tired than she does, after all she got a nap under the anesthetic, and Grandpa had to sit and worry in the waiting room!

She is in room 351 at Salt Lake Regional Hospital.  Her phone number is: 801-350-4357.  Xochi and Isaac stopped by for a quick visit and here's a picture of Issac with the Grandma (looking stunning as always!):

Moved to her own Room

She's awake and has been moved to her own room that she will be in for the next three days.  She has talked to Grandpa, and she's doing pretty good!

Surgery is Over!

The surgery went well and she is in recovery beginning to wake up!

Surgery Has Started

Grandma just went into surgery and Grandpa is patiently waiting (reading the Kindle - he's loving that Christmas gift!  Kathleen complains that she doesn't get to see it anymore ;-).  The surgery is expected to last an hour to an hour & 15 minutes, so she should be done around 9:00 or 9:15 a.m. MST.

Surgery Has Been Scheduled!

Grandma will have an early morning tomorrow morning!!  She has to be up at the hospital in Salt Lake at 5:45 a.m.!!  Although she's not super excited about the early morning, she did mention that it would be nice to come out of the surgery and get settled in before the night shift came on and the hospital kind of "shuts down".

Pre-operation Information

On Friday Grandma went to her pre-operation appointment and met some of the nurses, the physical therapist and the occupational therapist that will help her get adjusted to her new knee!  The physical therapist  The occupational therapist will help her with life skills: stand up, sit down, go up stairs, go to the bathroom etc.  The physical therapist is more the "scary" one, Billy Christensen calls him the physical terrorist (ha ha ha) helps you strengthen your knee, stretch it, etc., a little more painful.   She was very impressed with the facility and the people.   All of his staff are handpicked and interviewed by Dr. Hoffman himself and are all very careful and meticulous as well.

One of her biggest fears going into the surgery was the risk of infection.  But, Dr. Hoffman is very meticulous about the surgery, he has it down to a science so that fewer than  0.3% of his patients get any infection after surgery.  She was given an antiseptic scrub to scrub her knee the night before, then again the morning of, and then they do it again at the hospital.  In addition, the whole entire floor was remodeled and is all brand new to reduce the risk of infection.

The doctor will call tomorrow to tell her the time of the actual surgery on Tuesday, but they think it will be around noon.  They expect she will be in the hospital for three days, and come back to Susan's on Friday.

They gave her some crutches and she has been practicing walking on them and keeping all the weight off her right leg.  She has even been practicing going up and down stairs on them.

Susan has set up a little apartment for them on their main floor, complete with a bed (with a headboard! we don't have any headboards in our whole house! lol :-) ), a sitting room with couches and chairs, and her own private bathroom.  It looks great!  They are staying at our house right now, but will get settled in at Susan's tomorrow night so they can go directly there after the hospital.

testing testing

Hi Everyone,

With Mom's surgery in two days we thought we'd get the blog set up. Allyson offered to be the local updater! If Susan can help Mom get on to look at Comments, I think it will work super well.THANK  YOU!

 Please don't feel like we are trying to have people skip phone calls. I just know with surgery, the sleep schedule gets off, and with so many of us to keep in the loop this might be easier. Plus Mom's hearing is a bit tricky over the phone sometimes.

SO...let the blogging begin!

WE ALL LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH and are praying that everything with surgery and recovery goes fantastic!