Coolest Grandma Ever

 

The photo that I have included in this post is a picture of my maternal grandmother’s 1968 Ford Mustang. My grandmother, who was born in 1900 and never got a driver’s license, bought it brand new when she decided in the 1960’s that she wasn’t going to inconvenience anyone else when she needed a ride to the grocery store or doctor’s office or church. When my grandfather died in 1957, grandma lost her husband and her ride. I remember as a child when we went to visit her, she’d always insist that my Mama drive us around town in her car, so we would use up her gas and not Mama’s gas. We rode in style, but probably didn’t realize it!

My brother now owns this car and it still turns heads when he drives it.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am not able to drive since my back surgery, due to now having “drop foot” in my right foot caused by the surgery. I’m restarting physical therapy tomorrow, at the recommendation of my nurse practitioner, whom I saw in my 6-week follow-up appointment about 10 days ago. Hopefully, the PT will speed up the healing process of those nerves and it won’t take 6 months to heal, as he suggested it might.

Now, I’m thinking I need to buy a really cool car to bribe people to take me to my PT appointments. “Hey, you can drive my Toyota tomorrow if you’ll take me to physical therapy!” doesn’t sound enticing. But, “You can drive my Triumph Spitfire convertible (or Porsche or Corvette or Austin Healy) if you’ll take me to my doctor’s appointment!” might guarantee a line of people willing to drive me places. Heck, even an El Camino would get some interest in my age group.

Hmm…maybe my brother will loan me Grandma’s ‘Stang for a few months…

Copyright 2019 Banjogrrldiaries and S. G. Hunter. All Rights Reserved.

 

I am Able with my Cane

I just read back over my most recent blog post and don’t even remember writing it and posting it. My friend calls this “anesthesia brain.”

I’m almost one month out from my back surgery and honestly, while I’ve made great improvements, I have moments of feeling like I have hit a plateau in my recovery. I suspect this is normal.

I am no longer taking muscle relaxers for the awful leg cramps I initially had in my right leg and foot. I am also taking less pain medications and now only over-the-counter ones. My steri-strips have fallen off the incision and the rash that the steri-strips caused has gone away. I am using a heating pad in the mornings for the discomfort in my right calf, but the pain is tolerable.

Some feeling has returned to my right foot but not enough for me to walk without my cane and definitely not enough to drive a car, which I haven’t been released by the doctor to do anyway. (For at least 6 weeks after this back surgery, I am not supposed to lift anything over 5 pounds, or bend or twist.) You never think about how much bending, twisting or lifting you do each day until someone tells you that you can’t do it!

I have had a few people tell me that I am standing up straighter than I have stood in years! (Hey, maybe I’ve even regained an inch…)

The reason why I feel like I have hit a plateau in my recovery is mostly because I’m anxious about regaining the full use of my right foot. I admitted to Professorgrrl the other night that this particular problem makes me feel very vulnerable, more vulnerable than I’ve ever felt before. (Well, except for maybe a colonoscopy…that’s pretty vulnerable…)

Not that I was ever a kick boxer, soccer player or anything like that but I am a musician and a I can’t even tap that right foot. Admittedly, though, I am primarily a left foot tapper but still…

Seriously, though, I told her that I felt like I would not even be able to quickly step back to the curb if a car suddenly came out of nowhere. We had just been to the mall for a mall walk and if you live in the U.S., then y’all know how crazy people drive in the mall parking lots. We had also gone to the grocery store and this particular grocery store parking lot is SCARY for even able-bodied people. (Shout out to the Cloverdale Harris Teeter!) I know that there are people who navigate through life like this every day and it has opened up my eyes as to how scary the prospect of just going somewhere can be for someone who has a disability. Do they get used to it after awhile? I need to ask my mother about this as she has been using a cane for several years. I think she must be very brave and way more adventurous than I am. I am inclined to stay at home. The fear of falling is less.

Speaking of canes, though, Professorgrrl bought me an ergonomic cane specifically for my left hand. It’s an extra short one, too, adjustable to the height I need. She says she bought it on Amazon, if any of my fellow XLH-ers are curious. I have quite the collection of canes and walking sticks now, in addition to other tools that I bought for my recovery, as recommended by the PT at the hospital…grabbers, picker-uppers, an extra long shoe horn in a happy shade of yellow and a contraption for putting on socks. I’m ready for a knee replacement or hip replacement when that day comes. It’s an investment into my future.

In my immediate future, however, I need to get ready for a visit from my sister today. Yay! She is fun and funny and we’ll have a great time and the day will go by too fast, I’m sure. I plan to take her out to eat tonight at a restaurant that serves THE best hamburgers, according to my hamburger-eating friends. I don’t eat hamburgers so I have to rely on their recommendations. My sister loves hamburgers and will insist, as she should, that her husband makes the best hamburgers, in the cast iron panini pan that I gave them, but she will at least get a taste of the second-best hamburger tonight.

Time to polish up my cane for a night out on the town.

 

Copyright 2019, S.G. Hunter and Banjogrrldiaries

Recovery

I survived my lumbar surgery last Friday! And even better, for the first time in my life I did not get nauseous and sick after having anesthesia. I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. I’ve had 4 surgeries in my life that required general anesthesia and this anesthesia team got it right!

They did keep me overnight, though, because the surgery caused a new problem. I now have numbness and weakness in my right foot which I did not have before. One of the surgeons said that most likely the manipulation of those spinal nerves irritated and inflamed the nerves that lead to that area. He also said that the extent of the spinal stenosis was worse than they had anticipated and they had to move those nerves around a lot to get those bone fragments out of there.

As a result, I am now outfitted with a lightweight walker and some various tools to help me get dressed without too much human help.

I cannot express enough how grateful I feel about my family and friends, who surrounded me with love, encouragement and food before, during and after the surgery. I’m overwhelmed by all the love I have received. Everyday, people are bombarded by the media with stories of how awful people are and can be. The media needs to come visit me and let me introduce them to my family, friends and even the hospital staff and medical team. They have all been so kind and there is no way I could repay all the kindness and love I have received. They truly make the world (especially my world) a better place.

I know that many of you have had multiple surgeries related to XLH. I have only had 3. I’m sure there will be more as I age, but if I still have the same people surrounding me, I will be fine and won’t be nearly as afraid as I was when I went in on Friday. (Not sure why this particular surgery scared me so, but it did. Professorgrrl said I should NOT have watched the video that the hospital sent to inform me of all the possible side effects of anesthesia. I admit, I couldn’t watch it all the way through! Too terrifying!)

Monday afternoon, a physical therapist came by the house to assess my living situation and offer suggestions to make my life easier and a little more accessible during this time of recovery and getting my mobility and independence back. I know my dogs will be glad to see that walker go away because they don’t like it one bit, even though I’ve assured them there is no motor on it! (But what a great idea…a walker that doubles as a vacuum cleaner…)

So, that’s my update. I’m not a medical person, but I do hope the Crysvita will help speed up healing as it did with my fractured foot last summer. I’m crossing my fingers, anyway. I’m already feeling so much less pain than I did right after the surgery that I’m making a plan to begin tapering off the stronger pain meds, relying on the guidance of my PT, of course. In fact, I have friends who are getting ready to have a baby and Professorgrrl has warned me not to start knitting baby clothes until I’m completely off the narcotics or there is no telling what kind of baby outfit I’ll come up with. Could be scary!

This is Bella, part of my home recovery team.

 

Copyright 2019, Banjogrrldiaries and S.G. Hunter