Today was the hardest day. I woke up so very sore. I made an adjustment. Today, I have been taking two of the Vicadin (I don't know if it is spelled right and I don't care.) every four to 6 hours.

They make me kind of sick feeling so I take them and then lie down for an hour or so. It is working and I do believe that the pain is lessening a bit.

It has been a quiet day by necessity. Kate picked up my SHARE today and brought it her and put it away. That was our only visitor.

Got a cute message from Bobbie about "Chelsea's fun day at camp". Chelsea is doing just fine. She is eating and talking Bobbie into lots of walks and outside time. I am so grateful that Bobbie was able to do this. I miss Chelsea being here but could not be taking her out yet. I expect that each day will now see improvement and soon we will be ready again to have our girl. I hope she will have us, after meals with fresh gravy and new territory to explore.

Actually, I can hardly wait until we can be doing our longer walks again. I missed them too.

Barb and Bart called tonight. They are fine. It was so good to hear their voices.

I took the wrapping off this afternoon. There is no swelling and there was no bleeding. So I guess all is well. There are just three little incisions, each with one little stitch.

Tomorrow, maybe I will be able to be more stimulating. Tonight I am just tired and still sore.

Love

Mary

I got up at 6AM. No Chelsea to wake me up but I was ready and so was Roxie. She was a hungry girl.

I hurt today. I have done some of my exercises and have been trying to put cold packs on more often but it hurts. So. I have decided to take two pain pills every four hours for a day or two to stay ahead of that pain until it gets under control. I am very early with this tonight because I am intending to go to bed and just stay there til morning. I hope that total inactivity will help me heal. I think I have done enough stretching and moving today anyway.

I worked on the worship folder for St.Michaels today. I hope to get that sent to Beth by Tuesday so she has lots of time to get it printed. The time is getting close. I have to be healed by then and the next week is Irish Fest. It will be pretty disappointing if I can't walk pain free by then. I imagine that once the healing begins it will go very fast.

I took two naps today. Roxie liked that.

Jeff and Kathy stopped by this afternoon with currants for wine and some early veggies. A nice sweet zucinni and some leave lettuce and spinach. We had a wonderful chef salad for supper. All those wonderful greens with other veggies with teriyaki chicken sliced into it. Nummy.

Today, working on the worship folder reminded me of something said at Bible Study on Monday. We were talking about the picture of walking up to the Pearly Gates and finding St. Peter with his book and a feather pen with ink well to hear our story. Then Peggy said that she thinks that St. Peter must have a computer by now.

Actually, since the stock market and the Mercantile work with colored jackets and sign language quite effectively, I think that St. Peter probably does allright with his pen and book too.

Til tomorrow. Perhaps things will be less sore then. I WAS warned.

Mary

I am glad that this day is over. As soon as I finish this, I am going to go to bed and stay there til morning. Thanks, Bobbie, for making that possible. She has Chelsea as a house guest, you know. From the sound of things, Chelsea may not want to come home. Bobbie forgot her canned food so Chelsea is getting hot home made gravy on her dry food. Quite a treat and she is loving it.

Got up at a bit after 4AM. Took Chelsea out, showered, fed critters and gave Dick his juice and tea and yogurt. Bobbie got her at about 5:30AM and we left shortly for the Plymouth Surgical Center. I checked in and the registrar remembered me. The when we got upstairs, Denise, one of the nurses who took care of Mom and even more was one of our regular nurses when Dick had that awful infection that took 6 to 8 weeks of intravenous meds twice a day to cure. She is special. In time she knew us well enough and one evening offered to pray for healing with us. We were touched and took her up on it.

So I was all prepared by 7:30 when the nurse came down to take me to OR. I only saw Dr. Fehrman twice. He came in to draw pictures on my knee and then in OR before they put me out. Bobbie was there after surgery when he came down and got the results from him for me. All went very well. There were two small tears which he removed or smoothed out and he also corrected some arthritis. He said he was pleased.

I started waking up at about 9:30AM but was in and out quite a bit. We came home at a little after one. I am able to walk around using a cane, which is easier and, we think, less dangerous than the crutches. I had to learn how to walk on them. Now I need to remember that I shouldn't do more than necessary. I have a series of exercises to do also.

My biggest problem is that I cannot drive for two weeks. So I spent a little time this afternoon changing a few things around. Bobbie will take Dick and/or me to any medical appointments which is the biggest thing. I am totally unused to being homebound and am going to have to be really careful not to walk too much.

Today is easy. I am tired and even if it is only 7:30PM, I am going to bed. Probably will not get to sleep right away but bed sounds awfully good right now.
Most of my exercises are lying down anyway.

I thought I heard thunder in the distance twice tonight. I hope that means a little more rain. It is supposed to be warm tomorrow. After a good rain, heat would really help the herbs and tomatoes grow. Did I tell you that all three of my tomato plants have little tomatoes on them now? I am SO proud. Tomatoes have never been a successful crop for me. This may be a first.

Love you all and thanks for all the prayers and good vibes that have come my way today. In two weeks, my knew will hurt no more.

Mary

It rained today. When Chelsea got me up at 3:30AM the streets were a little damp and still so at 6 when we went for her walk. BUT by the time I started to the grocery store it was pouring and it continued to come down in a welcome steady rain until after 11AM.

I am so grateful, otherwise, I would have been out there part of this afternoon trying to get everything soaked as I will not be able to do that for a couple of days anyway. Did I tell you that I now have little tomatoes on all three of my tomato plants? I am very excited about that.

Shopping went well. I did not go to shoot trap as shooting in the rain is not something I am thrilled about. SO, I may or may not be able to finish. I don't know if I will be able to shoot next week or not. I will try if Dr. Fehrman says I can.

Bobbie came over and had dinner with us today. We had teriyaki chicken, potato salad and blueberry cheesecake for dessert. Then Bobbie and I went down to the "winery". We had a LOT to do today. First we racked the bay leaf and the grapevine. Then we put the kit wine, I keep forgetting the name, into the secondary fermentor. It is a beautiful red wine so will be fun to bottle. Next one to rack will be the strawberry which is really throwing off the sediment.

Most of these wines are new to us so this is really fun.

Now it is time to just listen to the President and then wind down to bedtime. This time tomorrow, my knee will be all done being operated on and I will be down to the business of healing. Everybody tells me that this is an easy fix. I told Dr. Fehrman that since it can be fixed, I wanted it done. If one can make something stop hurting, it seems like a very good idea to me.

So - please pray for me tomorrow. Pray for Dr. Fehrman that his hands are true for me and the others he will be helping tomorrow. I am so grateful for Bobbie for agreeing to get here before 6AM to get me to the hospital on time. I should be home by noon.

Til tomorrow. I will be doing a lot of computer stuff the next few days in between the exercises that they give me to do.

Have a good Thursday.

Mary

Already it is July 21. How fast these days go. Summer is almost half over already. Chelsea woke me up at 1:30AM the silly goose. I got back to sleep, of course, and got up at 6AM. That throws the whole schedule off. I fed Roxie but then took Chelsea for her walk before feeding her since it was light. I figured that after almost 5 hours she was probably more in need of a bathroom than food and I was right.

I spent the morning cleaning. The kitchen really needed it. Then at 11:30, I met Mary Calvey at Dee O Malley's for lunch and so that we could plan the Mass for out at St. Michaels on August 9th with Fr. Shea saying the Mass. We did a good job I think. Now I just need to get the worship folder ready for Beth to get printed for the day.

Home again, I took a nap then made a dessert to get us through the next few days. The Plymouth Surgical Center called with my instructions for Thursday's knee surgery. The surgery is scheduled for 7:30 and I have to be there at 6AM. Poor Bobbie. She said she will be here. We only need about 5 minutes to get over there from here.

Tomorrow shopping and shooting. Then Bobbie will be over and we will rack her kit wine into the secondary. That is the 6 gallon one. Should be an adventure.

Roxie has been the cuddliest kitty in the world today. I am delighted. While I am recovering, I will spend a lot of time on the couch with her settled between my legs. She uses the blanket over me as a hammock and is very content.

Til tomorrow then.

Love
Mary

What a day. I had four separate meetings.

Chelsea and I got up at 6AM. Dick slept rather late. His night was not too good, but the early morning was fine, so he was able to stay up today and maybe tonight will be better. He got up shortly before I had to leave. I just had time to say give him his juice and yogurt.

I was able to do some cleaning however, getting the living room vacuumed. Tomorrow will be much easier now.

My first appointment was Bible Study. We had a group of 9 and are really getting into our study of Mark. We are still in the very beginning chapter and finished as Jesus just began choosing his disciples. We were still on Jesus' baptism when the "Spirit, like a dove descended upon him." I loved the commentary. It said that the dove is a term used for beloved also. It is a beautiful picture to think of the Holy Spirit as a beloved.

Next I went over to Mom's for a visit. She looks wonderful. Tomorrow she is going to the Senior meals in Falls and last week she went to the meals AND had canasta at her house. So I think she is actually starting to feel better. It is subtle but her eyes seem a bit brighter.

Next home to fix and eat dinner with Dick before heading over to the Pig to pick up Jena and Lynn and then Kate to go to our Cream City Writers. We had been invited out to Don Cooper's home to meet on his deck out on the Fond du Lac/Sheboygan County line. He and his wife Ruth have a lovely home with a backyard looking out on a lovely yard surrounded by woods. It was very pleasant. We did a lot of good reading of our work and enjoyed lemonade and cookies provided by Don and Ruth.

I got home in time to get my wits together before a 4PM conference call with the Celtic Women Board. It was SO good hearing their voices and we solved a lot of problems and got a real lot done in that hour.

I fixed egg salad for our supper tonight. Aren't you jealous? It was really good too. Then I went to Beth Hoegger's house to meet with her and Jane Lorenz to plan the Celtic Mass for Blessed Trinity's annual Celtic Mass and Faire. We did very well. I believe we have everything pretty much settled and just need to assemble the worship folder and get everybody together for the practices. It will be special, we have a couple of new things that look great. You must come if you can.

Now I am done for the night and am I ever glad. Tomorrow, I want to finish getting things done that I won't feel comfortable letting go when I have my knee surgery (just an orthoscopic trimming so not serious). I won't be able to do much for a few days and I can't stand messes.

But I must remember what Bret and I always tell each other. "Don't worry. It's going to be ALL right. It's going to be Okay. Don't Worry."

So now you know what I did all day. This only happens on the third Monday of every month. Thank heavens.

Love

Mary

Except for Mass, I got to stay home all day today.

We got a little rain yesterday, but I spent a good part of the afternoon, watering the deck plants and the front gardens.

Dick walked three times today for 5 minutes each time AND we got his shower accomplished. Those things also take a lot of time.

We had cheeseburgers on slices of Fireside cheese bread for dinner this noon. I tried a recipe I found for flavored potato chips made in the microwave. They were really good and very easy. You just scrub red potatoes, slice them really thin (l/16 inch), spread them out and coat with olive oil. Then you sprinkle with chili powder and cumin. Place three paper towels on a microwavable plate and layer as many as fit "comfortably". Microwave for three minutes, turn and microwave again for another 2/5 to three minutes.

We had breakfast for supper. Since I went to Mass this morning and we just had some early toast for breakfast, it seemed logical to have our eggs and sausage for supper. It was darned good too.

Bart called tonight and I talked to him and Barb. That was reassuring. Richard called tonight too. Dick had called them on Saturday because his computer was not connecting to the internet. Richard and Brenda were out near La Crosse to Brenda's family reunion. He was pleased to hear that Dick's computer seems to have learned how to fix itself. But we had a nice visit.

I didn't mention that on the way home from the Fireside last evening we saw two parachuters coming down. They did this funny flip when they got close to the ground. It looked like a stunt to me but we saw them both land safely. I wouldn't mind being up there where it is quiet and peaceful again. I did that once behind jeep using a para sail. What a rush.

I wrote a poem about the experience. Here it is.








RIDE THE SKY


Tethered to the jeep
A long umbilical cord
Is anchored – To prevent me
From achieving orbit.

The chute stretches out behind
Held aloft to catch the wind
By friends who somehow
Talked me into flying.

The jeep moves, slowly
Until the cord is taut.
And I run, praying that
The chute will fill and lift.

Billowing behind, it does
Fill and shoot skyward.
Carrying me still stepping
Up to the blue above me.

Climbing wild wind currents
Into the cloudless sky,
I look down on an endless
Carpet of desert below

Rising on wings of imagination
To quiet clear blue
Above the noise – Floating -
Alone – Free – I ride the sky.

High above the desert,
Above the world.
I glide like tuft of dandelion
Or eagle or butterfly.

Below, the others are planted.
They don’t know the joy
They don’t know the freedom
Of soundless flight.

Embracing the vast silence
I laugh out loud.
Close to the face of God
I know why the songbird sings.


Love

Mary