My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on August 3, 2015

It was the weekend for visiting … both my dad who returned to Lane Park Assisted Living in Sidney, Ohio and my wife Brenda who is recovering from her fall from a ladder (previous posts: One, Two and Three with more below). Thanks to my brother Ron, decisions for my dad was something I didn’t really have to worry about this past week. Fortunately Ron and his wife Claire were able to tag-team visits to the hospital and coordinate talking with the doctors about getting dad stabilized “once again” before their trip to Wisconsin. It is not fun getting old … for my dad or his family.

After Brenda’s surgery on Friday afternoon and some recovery on Saturday, I headed up to Sidney on Sunday to visit with my dad and see how he is doing. Not too bad since his meds have been “rebalanced” and IF it can be monitored closely. The new activities director had a “Guy’s Night Out” which if my dad remembers it correctly, was fun. Unfortunately the dementia has him drifting to and fro and words will trigger a jump that includes something that happens way in the past and he’ll include that as if it happened yesterday. Memory, dementia and Alzheimer’s are frightening components of getting older. I only hope medical science can make some advancement before the huge population of baby boomers has to deal with it en masse. 

On to Brenda – (medical incision photo below, so click ‘more’ at your own peril):

After the surgery on Friday and some recovery on Saturday, Brenda was anxious to see just how much pain she could tolerate and is already working to get on her feet (or foot … since she is only permitted to put wait on her right leg). She has been amazing so far “knowing” the kind of pain that awaits her. But, the only way to rehab is to learn to fight through the pain and slowly move off the injectable “break-through” pain meds. So far she is ahead of schedule and can usually get from the bed to a bedside commode. She requests a few favorites … so her sister Chris brought her Diet Pepsi and I’ve been keeping her supplied with animal crackers, garlic breadsticks, UDF Milkshakes, Donatos sub and even tried Chipole’s chicken and rice bowl (she sent that home with me – and it did not go to waste).

As you can see, the surgeon came in and changed the bandage on her arm … quite the battle incision! The swelling so far is being managed, but last night we did notice some additional swelling in her arm and hand. Hopefully the resident team will look at that today and venture an opinion. Maybe the new bandage which now wraps is too tight … but I’m sure they’ll look at the veins or possibility of clotting too. After surgery this is always a concern.

For my part, I’m holding down the house and starting to think about what it is going to take to have her here at home. I know she will be in a wheel chair for about six weeks and most likely needing a long stretch of rehabilitation and therapy for her arm after that. Believe it or not, Brenda is anxious to begin that part thinking it might include water therapy and swimming. She’ll use any excuse to get in the pool!

While I was in Sidney, I also took apart the ramp my brother and I put in for mom when she was in her wheel chair. It needed to be done before we can clean up and sell dad’s house and thought this was a perfect excuse to take it apart and use the pieces to put one in our garage. When we designed our Georgian Colonial home, we loved that we raised it a couple steps above the grade … now I rethinking that decision. Hmm … might be nice to be less of an incline??? Currently we are contemplating a week or so of in-patient rehab before moving her home … but IF she continues to progress, I will need to have the house ready so I’m shuffling around and measuring things out.

Thanks to all who are praying and sending well wishes … very appreciated.

Category: Archive, Health, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, dadc, family, hospital, incision, rehab, sidney, surgery

Posted By RichC on August 1, 2015

As my daughter Katelyn told me prior to Brenda’s surgery to reconstruct her damaged shoulder and upper arm … "take a deep breath." I did, but didn’t know I would be holding it for 4 hours (a few details below – also previous posts 1 and 2).

When the surgery was over, Dr. Wyrick at the UC Medical Center Orthopaedics and Sport Medicine group filled me in as his team watched her blood levels before moving her to recovery. Brenda handled the long surgery just fine, but he could not repair the bones in the Humerus commenting that “too much damage was done and that the bone would not get enough blood flow.” The surgeon replaced the ball portion of the upper arm bone with a “hemi” – half artificial joint — and sutured the bones in the rotator cuff that will hold the new “head” so that it will heal. Now she will really be a Bionic woman and we are thankful it is her left arm, the one she also previously had surgery on – repaired a bone in her wrist with a titanium plate. He said really there were no repair options as the damage was too severe as part of the bone rammed through the head into the socket.

When I asked about full range of motion, he cringed. He said we’ll see what she can do as the rehab progresses. Recovery will be at least 6 weeks and he recommends a couple weeks in a physical therapy facility due to pelvis damage along with the shoulder rehab. 

Continue to pray for her as we are just in the first inning.

While on the subject of “praying for medical healing,” my good friend Pastor Keith Thomas is in the hospital and scheduled for open heart surgery (see a site I maintain for him in sidebar: GroupBibleStudy.com).

Wednesday Teaching Cancelled. Keith in Hospital

I am writing from a hospital bed in the Cardiac unit at Mercy hospital. I had been experiencing chest pain for several weeks. I went in for a stress test, thinking that I would have a stent, possibly.  As soon as they fitted me up with the sensors, they told me I couldn’t have the stress test, as it could be dangerous for me. They set me up for Angiogram on Thursday (yesterday) and discovered several blockages (four). They also found damage caused by an earlier heart attack (I think this may have happened a few weeks ago).  Due to the location of the blocked arteries, stents are not recommended in this case. Open heart surgery is really the only option for me. I am in hospital being monitored until they can schedule a surgeon. Surgery is likely to be Monday or Tuesday.  When I know the exact date and more details of what they will be doing, I will send everyone an update. As you can imagine, this has been quite a shock to our family. I do not enjoy being detained in a hospital bed, and of course I have had to cancel all my meetings for now. Prayers appreciated. We are asking people to call if they would like to visit, I am supposed to be quiet and behave myself. Thank you for everyone who has expressed concern and offered help.

Thankful for our family and friends,
Keith and Sandy

PS. You could always send a cake with a hacksaw blade inside. (Tunneling will commence tonight Ha!). My wife may veto this plan.
Till then, it looks like am a captive. But then I have been told this is the best place for me now. I will be glad when this is behind me. And I will be glad when I am wearing something on my behind. This hospital attire does not suit me.

Category: Faith, Health, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, family, friends, hospital, keith thomas, prayers, surgery

Posted By RichC on July 31, 2015

While waiting outside on a beautiful afternoon for Brenda’s surgery to be finished, I will try a blog post from my phone. The reconstruction of her shoulder/arm was scheduled for 11am, but she was not wheeled away until 12:45pm. Hopefully all will go as planned in the scheduled 3 hours?

Last night I took a panorama photo of her very nice room at UC Medical Center here in Cincinnati. 
 

Category: Health, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, hospital, surgery

Posted By RichC on July 30, 2015

The above is a pretty innocuous photo: pine trees, a tree trimming pole and a ladder on the ground. It was the beginning to a difficult week as my wife Brenda started to trim a couple larger white pines (as she often does with magnolias and other smaller trees and bushes around our home). She enjoys yard work on her days off and particularly likes to get out early in the morning before it gets too hot … Tuesday was no exception for her.

I was fortunately still at home after changing my work/travel schedule due to my father being taken to the hospital in the morning due to shortness of breath (that’s another story). After getting the details and texting my brother, I went outside to update Brenda. There she was laying on the ground under the trees. She had placed the ladder up one of the pines and was proceeding to lop off a higher branch … the ladder slide and down she fell. My chest hurts even repeating this story.

I ran over listening to her moaning in pain and unable to move more than her arm or her head … although never losing consciousness. She could semi-talk with me as I looked and moved her gentle around even wondering if I should move her? Eventually she convinced me to help (I had to cradle carry her) into the house and laid her painfully down on the bed thinking at the moment that I was going to need to get her to at least an urgent care. While icing her and I wondered how I was going to even get her in the car (she was in terrible pain whenever she moved), so I (we) decided it was time to call the rescue squad (a first for everything … and hopefully last!)

They came and we headed off to the hospital and the 11 AM Tuesday. It was the start of a long day (of course it already started at 4:30AM … she was up to swim her laps). When relaying the “fall” to the emergency room, I could tell they were all wondering how a fall did all the damage … shoulder, arm, hips, back. Unbeknownst to both of us, she actually landed on the ladder … and only after seeing the damage ladder a day and a half later, I realized why her upper Humerus fracture was so severe. The X-Ray is not pretty … below is a comparison of the undamaged right shoulder to the damaged left shoulder (look at the ball and top part of the humerus in the below right image).

 
Image on Left is the right shoulder (good) and image on the Right is left shoulder (bad)

By far the arm/shoulder is the most significant damage and will require Orthopedic surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Thankfully they have an excellent shoulder surgeon and he is currently studying the imaging (took additional CT scans) and coming up with a repair plan that will give her the most mobility and strength after recovery. It is going to require some expert work and he does not want to rush into the procedure – so the surgery is scheduled for Friday.

Unfortunately this was not the extent of the injuries. Most of her pain is currently from the pelvis and sacrum (tailbone area) fractures. It is not comfortable to sit, lay, move or even “think” about putting weight on the femur pushing up on the hips. The good news is that they do not plan on surgery … the bad news is that the physical therapy for these fractures is going to be excruciatingly painful. She experienced a taste of that today with PT trying to figure out how they are going to work to get her to sit up and “pivot” on the right leg (better of the two) so she can use an elevated toilet seat or get into a wheel chair. As you can imagine, once the shoulder/arm surgery is finished, the recovery for all injuries is going to take a long time.

Please pray for my wife Brenda and her surgeon on Friday  and keep her recovery in your prayers over the next few weeks. I suspect I’ll probably update at some point.

Category: Health, Personal, Photos | 4 Comments »
Tags: brenda, cincinnati, family, hospital, ladder, medical, ohio, surgery

Posted By RichC on July 28, 2015

More video and info – Washington Post Link

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Tags: record, semi, truck, video, world, youtube

Posted By RichC on July 27, 2015

Small business owners who regularly collect sales tax on their goods and services might not be quite as enamored with the “economic rebound” being boasted about in Ohio. While I do support Gov John Kasich and realized he does not have direct impact on counties needing to find more tax revenue, the tax shifting in our state has not gone unnoticed by small business.

It may be a small gripe, but over the years the sales taxes levied each county continues to climb (previous administrations too). There was a time, not that long ago, that consumers paid sale taxes that averaged between 5-6% in most of Ohio … now in many counties it is over 7%  (that’s a 25-30% increase in sales taxes in the years I’ve been in business). It’s no wonder customers shop online instead of purchasing locally– avoiding sales tax on big ticket items is often less expensive than shipping. Don’t counties know that they need small business and that a high sales tax make them less competitive? Someone in Ohio needs to get on the stick.

Category: Business, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: county, government, ohio, sales, small business, taxes

Posted By RichC on July 26, 2015

How old is this utility lawn and garden trailer? If you haven't been reading along, it's 40 years old. Of course close inspection would indicated that their was rust, but all in all, my father-in-law's old trailer came back to life nicely … and the green is much more in keeping with our old John Deere 330 from the 1980s.

Category: Misc, Personal, Photos | 2 Comments »
Tags: dadh, garden, jackson, john deere, lawn, painting, restore, trailer, utility

Posted By RichC on July 26, 2015

One of the projects coming together this past weekend was the disassembly, wire-brushing the rust (a lot), and painting of my late father-in-law’s old red Jackson lawn trailer. As mentioned previously, it was about 40 years old, well used, and had quite a bit of rust. Nevertheless, it was well made with quality steel – better than the newer ones at the big box stores (although I haven’t really compared them).

Since we have a John Deere, which is about the same age as this trailer, I decided to change the color. The white components are now black (above) and the red wagon box is now green. I think the new looking lawn trailer should last another 30 years … at least!

Speaking of “old” … I’ll include an updated photo of Tootsie … our 17 year Australian Cattle Dog (below).

After wire-brushing and treating with Skyco’s Ospho just as I did on the Mercedes.

Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: dadh, john deere, lawn, painting, project, rust, tootsie, trailer

Posted By RichC on July 25, 2015

After spending a lifetime working on cars and 30 years dealing with printing press wash-up chemicals and hand scrubs, one would think I would know a little bit about cleaning my hands?

Well I do know a “little bit” but still haven’t figured out how to clean dried paint off my hands (in particular Miracle Paint). It is obviously not ink. So much for cleaning with normal hand scrubs, printing chemicals or even my variety of paint solvents.

FYI … the project I’m currently working on is my father-in-law’s well loved and used, rusting, lawn mower trailer. I decided it might be worth stripping it down, repairing the rust, corroded bolts and nuts and repainting. They made these trailers a little better 40 years ago (he had it as long as I was in the family as I recall) … so it is worth fixing up … besides, it was a great memory of my father-in-law. 

The “red” trailer being used by Brenda and her sister Chris –  August of 2008.

If you are interested in a great DIY PDF Guide about paints, primers and solvents, check this out from do-it-yourself-help.com.

Category: Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, chriss, dadh, family, paint, project, repair, trailer, utility

Posted By RichC on July 24, 2015

Brenda and her sister Chris spent last weekend together at the family Farmhouse in western New York. They sorted through what was left from their mom and dad’s lifetime of “stuff” separating into garage sale, trash pick-up, donations and items they might still want. The later “group” grew far too large, in my opinion.  Some things were easy to sell while others were memories. I know for Brenda it was tough to finally give up on her father’s original model C Ritter dental chair. For the right person, it was a “man-cave” item (video below); for others who were interested, it may have been a prize collectable (they are listed on eBay for a pretty penny). BUT … they are heavy and full of oil … yes, she wanted me to bring it back to Cincinnati. No thank you. 

We still ended up with a variety of old stuff. The instrument lubricants in old bottles, plaster molds, a “Fort Knox” grinding “gold” (???) dust box – family joke. Dad Howard did much of his own lab work particularly in the early years (a skill not practiced by most new dentists). The good news is that the farmhouse is ready to hand over to a new owner … and they are a couple who will appreciate a restored home build well over 100 years ago (180 years if my mother-in-law remembers correctly).

Category: Personal, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, chair, chris, dadh, dental, dentist, dentistry, family, farmhouse, jamestown, momh