Update on Frank's Hip Lifestyle

Today marks three weeks and a day from Frank's emergency hip replacement surgery after a nasty fall from a step ladder - more a mis-step ladder I should say. My Wander Or Ponder post dated December 15 titled Hip. Hip, and a Hampered Hooray tells the tale of the November 30th accident. Since surgery he has had two follow-up doctor visits where we had to load him in the car and drive him to a medical facility.

The first transport visit on 12/14/16 was to see a physician's assistant in orthopedics to check up on the wound and surgical site and ask general pain questions. At the hospital facility where the hip surgery was performed they had a curbside valet service that brought Frank a wheelchair and then parked the car for me. Nothing earth-shattering from the orthopedic exam, everything appears to be healing on schedule. Frank's stomach gave him some challenges. But we met them and made our exhausted way home. That outing tired him out.

The second transport visit on 12/21/16 really excited Frank. After complaining for three months about a "cold" or upper respiratory event that would not quit, Frank finally got to see an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist to address his plugged up ears that were driving him crazy. Unlike the orthopedic visit, this facility had no valet service. Manipulating Frank out of the car and into the building is a tale like that of a farmer who must transport a fox, a chicken, and a sack of grain across a river intact.

I park the car curbside in a temporary unloading zone. I run into the facility and get Frank a wheelchair with an appropriate seat height and side arms for support. I unload the walker we brought with us. Frank uses that to get out of the car and into the waiting wheelchair. I wheel Frank in the wheel chair indoors, carrying the folded up walker with us. I go back out to the car and park it in a less-temporary slot. I go back to the facility to rejoin Frank and take him to the doctor's office area. Frank was eager to be finally examined by a specialist, even though the effort of getting there tires him. The plugged ears have been frustrating for Frank, he claims possibly even more so than the hip, because he could not converse easily with well-wishers on the phone or with visitors or therapy personnel. I had to shout at him and the TV had to be blaring.

I must admit once indoors, the ENT office staff were extremely efficient in accommodating Frank's limited mobility. They brought an audiologist with her equipment to the examining room rather than moving Frank or asking him to return another day. They assessed he had no auditory nerve damage but indeed both ears behind the membrane were completely filled with fluid under pressure. Apparently in an adult, if ears do not drain of their own accord within three months, they are very unlikely to do so without intervention. The ENT doctor put tubes in each ear that day under a local. Here is the doctor's array of tools. Now I could see what my kids and grandkids went through and understand why children must be fully anesthetized.

Injecting the anesthetic was extremely painful. The doctor told Frank he would feel a slight burning sensation and then some pressure. Always ready with the railroad metaphors, Frank claimed it was like driving a railroad spike into his ear canal. Note his death grip on the chair arms. Gunky fluid was suctioned out. Frank had been storing that for weeks.

Ear tube insertion afterward was a piece of cake by comparison.

Frank no longer hears the continuous background sound of the ocean in his ears. Hearing will improve over the next couple weeks as the stretched ear drum membrane has a chance recover, relax, heal, and return to the flexibility it needs to vibrate with sound. We thanked the doctor profusely and left the office. After picking up antibiotic ear drops at the pharmacy, we undid our fox, chicken, and grain routine to drive home. The entire visit with travel time took about 4 hours. Frank was exhausted.

The license plates had arrived in the mail for the RAV4. I put the temporary Toyota dealer plates that had been on his new vehicle onto the head and foot of Frank's rented hospital bed.

Frank continues to have in-home physical therapy. He has graduated to walking laps with his walker outdoors in the joint-free paved street of our cul-de-sac. The sidewalk cracks are too much of a challenge just yet. Although not as rugged as the sidewalk, the street surface is not as sliding friendly as the our hardwood floors and it wears off the bottoms of the tennis balls. Once spherical, look how flat they are now. I think that is also an indicator on how much Frank needs to lean on the walker for support. So far three laps is my street walker's endurance limit.

Frank also wore holes clear through. Good thing one neighbor bought us a bag full of tennis balls and another neighbor slit them with an X to slip onto the walker legs.

Frank also has started practicing walking with a cane indoors where a wall or counter is by his right side for support. He is allowed to climb the stairs once a day with a cane and an assistant who acts more as an insurance policy rather than a support. He has also begun some resistance band exercises. The therapist is pleased with his progress and says he is ahead of schedule. He generally take just one pain pill a day and he often times it shortly before therapy. Yay!

When not exhausted, Frank is bored. Here he is helping me to organize some of my quilting notions using paraphernalia from his stamp collecting

  

We will have some calm now until after the first of the year. Frank's positional constraints will remain until a January 9th post-op visit. There will be no therapy or doctor visits between Christmas and New Year's Day. I plan to pick up Alex and bring him back to Livermore for a few hours on Christmas Day for a ham and pierogi dinner and to open some gifts. I have taken Alex bowling by myself but the last time he and Frank saw each other was November 29th, the day before Frank fractured his hip. Seeing each other will be good for both of them.