..and Lysol it. These artificial trees aren’t necessarily allergy-free after a few years of use, and this one is, well, one of our earlier purchases in Spokane, which could put its date of birth somewhere in the first decade of the century. So we got by with it for a while, but in time, the allergies kicked in. When my eyes were watering too much to see my work yesterday, I consulted with Jane and offered to do the put-away of the ornaments. The woodland tree is a nice, plain little tree with pine cones, and we concentrate our ‘animal’ and woodsy ornaments on that one, lots of deer and stags and my much-loved little ships and pirates. I have four drunken pirates that I love, right down with the snow fairies for the other tree. 😉
Well that is done, and I flung open the window last night on teens-weather cold, and waked this morning after a wonderful sleep for the first time in days.
Jane and I are both working on the Alliance Rising book, and making good progress. It’s kind of a rolling sort of write: we’re composing it in agreed-upon scenes, and fitting them together in the rewrite, which both of us will do until we’re both satisfied. You really have to have a good working partnership and ego well in check to do this sort of thing, and we can do it.
Shejidaners will know that my father had to go back to the hospital last week for a total hip replacement because the titanium rod that was in his femur had shifted and was protruding out of the head of the femur, scoring the socket in his hip joint. The surgery was successful, and he was discharged from the hospital on Monday evening (Jan 23). He’s now in rehabilitation at the same place he was at in December. They did an evaluation on him this morning and determined that his efforts to move himself have been much improved. When he first started, he was contributing maybe 25% of the total effort required to stand and walk. Now, he’s closer to 80% after 2 days of therapy. He still has trouble dressing himself below the waist, but that’s because of the catheter he’s got, and hopefully, it will come out in a few days. In the meantime, the rehab center chief nurse says they’re going to retrain his bladder over the next few days by clamping off the catheter for a short time, and then releasing it, and increasing the time that it’s clamped, to simulate “real life”. He can also do Kegel exercises to help strengthen the muscles, even with the catheter in place.
While he’s awfully disappointed that he didn’t get to go back home, he’s working hard to get through this. I just hope he doesn’t get any more setbacks.
Here’s hoping things go much better for your father this time around. It’s certainly starting out better!
Glad to hear that, Joe. Hope he continues to improve and goes home soon.