Twelve days ago, I had an appointment to get the 21 staples taken out of my incision. As I hobbled along with my walker on that day, the vital signs nurse remarked that I was doing pretty good. She said most patients are still using a wheel chair for this appointment.
Today it was an appointment with Dr. Brodersen to check on my progress. I drove myself to Waycross after my PT nurse, Buffy, put me through my paces early this morning. She thought the doctor might be impressed with my progress. I wasn�t so sure.
The same vital signs nurse took note of my use of a cane and remarked, �You�re sure picking up speed!� You betcha! I�m on a mission.
My BP was fine, so she took me to a room to await the doctor. Remarkably, in about 30 seconds he appeared and told me I had to perform� a walk across the room and back for him. I guess he was impressed as he happily said, �That was wonderful, and deserves a kiss.� He shook my hand and gave me a peck on the cheek. First time I�ve ever had a doctor do that. He also told me that most patients use the walker for six weeks before thinking about using only a cane, so I was at the head of the class. I told him waiting six weeks was not on my agenda.
He then answered any questions I had about restrictions, and wrote me a note to return to four days a week of volunteering after two weeks of half days. I�ll see him one more time in two months, and then I�m free to move on. Yippee! I do have some bending restrictions until July, but I can live with those. I�m so pleased to be walking without all of that pain. Things continue to noticeably improve each day.
In celebration, Emma and I took Swamp Island Drive this afternoon to see what we could see. Not much was out and about at that time of the day, and the skies had become overcast.
I was surprised to find even one �gator near the side of the road. Most of them were in hiding because of the cool temperatures. I stopped at the VC to make a copy of a medical record, and ran into Gracie, the volunteer coordinator. As we chatted, she told me to remind her a week before Robyn and family comes to visit so she can arrange a swamp boat trip for us.
That means we�ll all get an extraordinary trip into the swamp similar to the two trips I�ve made for the Christmas Bird Count and the trail maintenance trip. I�m excited about that for all of us. 
Near �THE END�!
Thanks for stopping by� talk to you later, Judy
No comments:
Post a Comment