A Possible Breakthrough In The Healing Game

I went to bed Tuesday night very sore but not what I would call being in pain. I had spent too much time Tuesday sitting down in chairs. At the computer and then watching a couple of baseball games. During those games I will get up and walk around the house, or just stand between innings. Yet, I am finding out this past week that sitting is not a good thing ... but then what do I do all day if I am trying to rest and not do any 5-10 minute walks??? Lay in bed all day? Not going to happen.

I knew something was different when I woke up to Heidi's alarm (full body shake by the bed) and we headed to the back door so she could go outside at 2:30am. I stood up out of bed and didn't feel the normal soreness in my hip and upper thigh. I still used the walker though as we glided down the hallway, around the corner into the kitchen. By the time I got back to bed I still wasn't feeling any kind of soreness. I thought it might all be a dream.

We slept until 5:50am after telling Stella twice to "go back to sleep" and once again as I stood up out of bed, no pain, zero soreness in my upper thigh and waistline. Even the "rock" feeling in my hip joint was missing. I didn't jump up and down with excitement but I have to admit, I was really excited but also really cautious.

Sleeping with the windows open there are times we hear animals outside in that vacant land. Usually hearing coyotes but about 5:00 am I heard something fighting and the closest I could come to identifying the sound ... it had to be javelinas. The sound had a very slight pig grunting sound to it. Anyone know for sure if I am right on my guess that was when I was half asleep? Whomever it was, they were not happy animals.

Stella didn't hesitate to wake up when she heard the sound but I was just happy she didn't start howling. Instead she took off trotting for the kitchen no doubt to check the front and back doors just in case. I saw some fresh bloodhound nose prints on each plate by the door knobs this more, for each door.

So I don't trip or stumble over things, I have my patio chair backed up all the way to the wall now. These next three photos are the view I have when sitting in that chair. Not a bad way to start the day. It's even better with a hot cup of coffee.

That's Bisbee over by the sunshine.

Turning my whole body to the right so I can look over my shoulder, I found the full moon to be staring at me. I did the brand new macOS update this morning. It looks like they still need to work the bugs out because I tried 4 different times to duplicate this photo so I could crop it to a size of just the moon. It wouldn't duplicate the photo.

Heidi has turned into a profession food bigger. More than I can ever remember. Here she is asking for a dog treat and it's not even 8:00am and a little over an hour past the time she had breakfast.

It's was hard to resist a look like that but I did ... she wandered off to the living room to join Stella for an early morning nap.

By 9:00am I am still feeling good. I have walked around the inside of the house and still do not feel any soreness where it has been weeks of feeling some kind of soreness all the time. I have no idea why the complete change but I like it. I plan on taking another "day off" and not walking those 5-10 minute walks although it is very tempting just to take off walking down the sidewalk. I feel that good so far today.

A neighbor has offered to take me out for a drive around town after she is finished working. Maybe dinner or to the store if I need anything. Besides the one time I went to my two week followup appointment with the surgeon and the three times I have driven to CVS and the bike shops, I have not been able to leave the house or neighborhood since my surgery on September 8th. So I am looking forward to getting out later in the afternoon.

As I lay in bed flat on my back last night and noticing immediately that my hip felt so much better than just a few minutes prior, I reminded myself that for that hip socket to completely heal I am looking at 60-90 days. This morning I am at Day 38 post op. LOL ... no wonder that 'rock' feeling is still in my hip joint area. I am not even close to having that joint completely healed.

After my appointment on October 22nd, I've read where I should have followup appointments at 3 months, 6 months and then a year after surgery. I'll be interested to hear what he says after he sees me.

The longer the day went the better I felt. I tried to keep busy by not sitting in a chair and I combined that with laying flat on my back in bed, thinking. I remembered I had bought a spare tire cover and it was delivered FedEx the day I was in the hospital. It would be light enough for me to unpack and install it. The instructions stated it would be best to warm it up first since it will fit very tight over the tire.

The sun was definitely hot enough ... but I needed help.

Stella volunteered to supervise the heating project  while I moved the cardboard boxes collected in the past 38 days for my trip to recycling. She always does a great job supervising. I wonder if she will miss the raking of leaves this fall?

I would be interested in know what Heidi smells as she explores the yard. Are we having aliens fly into the backyard while we sleep and then escape right before sunrise? It's good to see her out on her own enjoying the stone yard.

I did one 5 minute walk today. I felt good the whole time and did not feel any kind of twinge or soreness. I would call the location "on top of my leg" but I know that's impossible, it's just where it felt like the past week. Right on top of the femur where the new hip now resides.

While Heidi roamed the backyard, Stella was trying to figure out which small dog was barking the most ... the one on the right or the left side of the fence. As long as there isn't any free food involved she isn't too interested in socializing with the neighborhood dogs.

For the past month or so, the weather has been so nice I have not had to turn on the AC during the day. Room temperature stays around 74° during the peak hours but today Stella was giving me her signal that she wanted the AC turned on. (tongue hanging out) I had a cool breeze coming through the house south to north and 74° just isn't that bad for inside temps since there isn't any humidity to speak of.

Before I could decide what to do, she was asleep within a minute ... out cold ... dreamland for the rest of the afternoon.

I cannot believe that I have gone almost 8 hours and have not felt any twinges of short pain or soreness. I haven't been all over the neighborhood or anything, nor doing laps in the backyard but just normal movement in the house. Before today movements as simple as that I felt soreness on the upper thigh and inside the hip. Occasionally in my groin area.

One reason I always mention that groin area ... I did not know it at the time of the  bike wreck but pain in that area was the #1 sign that I had a broken hip, not the hip area itself. Like I mentioned in a previous post when the people helping me on the side of the road handed me a bag of ice for the hip I placed it on top of my groin area because that was where the most pain was.

A couple of people kept asking me to move the bag of ice to the side of my hip where I made contact with the road ... but it literally didn't hurt there. So I have been concerned since that area was sore if it were possible I had broken something that was suppose to heal.

The doctors office told me if I could do certain things with my right foot and leg, then I was okay, it was just soreness that needed time to heal. My friend that is a PT said the same thing. "Quit walking around and just rest" ... were her last words. LOL

So with that update I am going to go ahead an post this early. It gives me a chance for a little afternoon siesta before getting out of the house later this afternoon or early evening. I never thought I'd get Cabin Fever in Arizona but then again ... I never thought I'd be holed up inside with a hip replacement.

It's been a beautiful day here in the Wild West.

The Hounds Thought About Building An Ark

I forgot to tell you about the page I wrote for Sadie last night. Click here or you can see it on top where the other pages are listed. If you are reading this blog on your phone or tablet, you will see the red bar with the word "home" on the far left side ... glance right and click that down arrow for the menu of pages not seen in the smaller format.

It's Thursday afternoon at 2:30pm local time. It is still raining and it started sometime Tuesday night. Luckily it is off and on this afternoon and should be over by midnight. Once the hounds saw standing water in the gravel driveway they thought they might have to put some plans together so I could build an ark. They had heard somewhere about arks and high water. Thankfully for me they decided they had a better option.

Unlike them, the squirrel as been busy the past few days in the middle of rain. I hope that doesn't mean his increase in activity means we are heading for a colder than normal winter.

Stella heard rain drops, turned and came back inside to do this ... no time to supervise building an ark.

Heidi had already seen enough outside that she thought this was her only option. She still cannot figure out why I fold her blanket into a square and put it on the floor. I should know by now that a neatly folded blanket is not that comfortable. She always fixes it to her standards.

I am not sure movement while sleeping counts towards an aerobic activity but that is the only form of activity Stella did most of the afternoon yesterday and today. When you miss four walks in two days she had to do something to stay in shape.

The one time she ventured off of the carport late Wednesday afternoon she looked at me in disbelief, wondering how she got talked into walking that far out into the light rain.

Two separate photos minutes apart but she was still in shock and hadn't moved.

This morning we wake up to the same sound as Wednesday ... pouring rain.

Stella decided after lunch she was going no further than that ... she was out in the rain in the dark at 6:30am before her breakfast and to her that was more than enough. She wasn't crossing the river coming from the shed across the carport floor.

The view from my laptop computer at the kitchen table. Games of Mahjong for a short break from my book reading marathon.

Luckily he got his corn crop picked weeks ago but the farmer waiting on combining soybeans will have to wait a few more weeks before that field is dry enough for his heavy farm equipment.

Once the rain stops, and the sunshine comes out it looks like I have some leaves to get rid of. It will depend what I am in the mood for, but I am liking that idea of mowing the yard in one direction blowing all of the mowed leaves towards the field. That method worked very well a few weeks ago. Raking leaves takes too long and equates to too much Motrin later on. Using a leaf blower on a yard is only a joke and never works like the tv advertisements. (Ask me how I know)

I wasn't quick enough with the camera but that squirrel jumped to the ground from the middle piece of the fence and headed over that bank. I thought I caught is tail but I didn't.

Since there isn't much going on here today and won't be the rest of the day, I am posting just a few photos of Heidi after she first arrived in June 2011. Then a few of Stella that the previous owner sent me when I was trying to decide if I could handle two bloodhounds and then drive down to pick her up.

I bought Heidi a brand new dog bed at Costco the day I picked her up in June 2011. I had forgot about the one hour time difference in the NW Indiana area near Chicago so I had some time to spare. So I picked up a new dog bed and bought some chew toys for her. (Winston took her toys - She took his bones)

Her first afternoon was the only time she slept on the dog bed. Sadie used the 'Bloodhound Property Laws' and claimed the dog bed was hers that night. Sadie slept on that dog bed for the next 7 years while Heidi led me to believe she had been sleeping on a bed not made for dogs, most of her life.

Like I said before in other posts, she came to me with the reputation of being "a runner" and instructions on her adoption paperwork said that she needed to be leashed at all times. So she had about 40' to roam from my hand to her collar. She loved the mowed field but never showed signs of running off. That strict leash policy wasn't implemented but a couple of days.

Winston thought she might need an escort since she might take off running.

A month or so later during one of the hottest Augusts in history, she still wanted to take the afternoon walks. This is the only way she thought of cooling off. The AC just wasn't enough for her.

Stella was living at the time on a large horse farm in Kentucky. The Facebook Bloodhound Group ad said .. Need a 'rehome', severe separation anxiety, an expert in escaping and a fear of storms. Preferred someone that was familiar with the bloodhound breed (meaning she was just a normal obnoxious bloodhound) and worked at home. (meaning she needed 24 hour supervision)

That sounded like me. After a week of analysis I decided I would become her 4th owner in her first 6 years. She has been here 3 years and 2 months and had adapted into the perfect indoor bloodhound.

She looked like she had a sense of humor in this photo, could supervise a leaf raking project and liked other dogs.

In fact it looked like she liked a lot of different dogs. That is a black boxer, and three herding dogs. Obviously with her tongue hanging out to cool off it was just as hot in Kentucky in August as it was in Indiana. She loved her 4 hour ride in the back of the FJ on the way home. She spent the first 30 minutes of the drive trying to poke the windows open with her nose to escape ... then decided I needed helped driving and climbed in between the front seats to sit in the passenger seat at 3rd lane freeway (interstate) speeds.

Stella and I just went outside to check the weather ... basically she decided she couldn't hold it any longer and rain or high water she had to go to the field for a quick break.

Evidently those leaves needed some water to change color. While Stella was busy in the field to the left of me I took a couple of panoramic shots from behind the burn pile to the left.

It wasn't possible to get a photo of just how high the water came to the side of my boots but I was able to catch the water as it was moving back into the ground. The backyard is pretty saturated and by the way the mole tracks feel, they won't be back for a while.

Slow light rain ... but she still took her time.

Two days in a row with no walking makes for some long days for a bloodhound. Sadie use to like to play fetch inside during weather like this to burn off some of her tracking energy. These two hounds look at me like I am crazy when I toss a bone across the room for them to go get and bring back to me. They'd rather sleep or beg for my food.

The rain is decreasing ... that is only about 5 minutes worth while I stood in the yard waiting for Stella to finish.

The official flood plane is across the highway so we are still safe here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Stella Supervises A Busy Friday

It was cold enough Thursday night after midnight that I had to shut the windows while we slept. The hounds don't like 47°. I left the small kitchen window open just for a little air flow. I forgot today was Friday but with cool temps predicted I had a couple of things on my list I wanted to get finished today. It went so smooth that I was finished by 1:30pm.

I guess this is a sign it's near October ??

I do much better with plants buying them after they have grown instead of trying to grow them.

Stella was ready to walk this morning. She woke from her sleep when she heard me about to leave and actually whined with excitement.

Snow boots were in order to keep my feet dry so my cargo shorts could get wet as we walked through the very wet grass. I actually had to break down and put on a sweatshirt for the walk.

Stella was into hunting for deer scat this morning ... but I stopped her from eating it each time she found it.

She follows the path most of the time.

And ... she has not taken off on me while off the leash.

The path is hard to see but she will follow it every walk we take. There are certain spots in the field that she has to go check out something but lately not too far off the path.

You can barely see the water droplets.

This is the exact spot that Heidi was sniffing yesterday. I forgot to post her photos here but I did post them on my Wordpress blog that's on this blog sidebar

I am not sure if it is a cat or a raccoon.

This was the first thing on the list this morning. It is just a small pile to move by hand. Next week I will have him dump a tractor bucket full right on the new pile I make today by the fence.

The picture does not really show the steepness of the erosion. Anyway that is the spot that I am going to put the rip rap rock. Why not use a wheelbarrow to move the stone?? I figured it would be about the same amount of time to move the rock by hand as it would to dig out the wheelbarrow that is in the very back of my small organized carport shed.

Stella assumed her supervisory position.

A good start.

She decided that she would follow me back and forth from the pile of rock to the fence. I didn't think she would last that long ....

And I was right ... a few minutes later she decided sleeping in the sun was the better option.

Asking if I am finished. She had things to do inside, like eat lunch, no matter that it was just a few minutes after 11am.

I started that rock job at 10:50am and finished at 11:12am.

The next thing on my list was washing windows. Not only the inside and outside of the regular windows but the two windows in each storm window. About an hour later when I was down to the last two bedroom windows, here comes Heidi heading for the door to be let outside. She walked across the yard to 'her' spot and soaked up some sunshine for a while.

Believe it or not that mailbox pole is NOT wobbly ... it is solid ... thanks to the great job of the Indiana Highway Dept 13 (joking) years ago when they had to move it further back after they widened the highway shoulder.

By 1:30 I was finished with my window 'washing' project and was enjoying the shade. At first I thought Stella might be exploring new ground in territory she is not allowed. I really don't want her in the front yard just in case there is a rabbit, a stray dog etc ... that she could chase and end up in the highway. All the years living here, Heidi has been the only hound allowed to be in the front yard.

Stella was only sniffing for the best place to take a short nap to catch that early afternoon sun in the western sky.

Once that mum blooms, it's going to be all crimson flowers.

Stella was eventually end up like this on the couch tonight while I watch the UCLA at Colorado football game. This photo was taken last night with my iPhone 8+ in low light. I did not edit any part of the photo.

Around 3:30pm I got some good news. An email from my TV ad on Craig's List and sold my Samsung 46" that was replaced a few months ago with the Sony 55". I added some new batteries for the remote and one HDMI cable to the package. I still had the owners manual in a drawer with all the other owner manuals. The buyer is getting a good deal and I am getting the TV out of the living room, while not being used.

I've rarely had any good luck with Craig's List.

A beautiful day in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.