Getting stronger.

Had I known this hip surgery would be so easy, shucks, I wouldn't have been so skeered. Fear of the unknown, that is just what is is. Solved by complete trust and faith in my surgeon and my God. Gosh I should have known, but then I'm only a poor dumb human. It will be three weeks since my surgery on this Tuesday, and I still have had little or no pain from my hip, or the incision since I left the hospital. The only complaint that I can think of is that the muscles in my other leg, lower back and arm and shoulders, hurt more than they usually do. They are compensating for the loss of weight bearing on my repaired hip. I am still using a walker which makes me feel like I'm 90 years older than I really am, but I could walk across the room without it I am sure. I hesitate to do anything that my doctor told me not to do, so I continue to be just an old dog. Judy has taken me out for a ride in the car, which was a treat, but I miss working in the yard and flower garden more than ever. I am going to follow the doctor's regimen to the letter and remain steadfast in my exercise and do the drugs as he has prescribed. I know in my heart that is best, I will continue to improve. Please return next week after my follow up with my surgeon, I may have more encouraging news. You all know that this is for the benefit of anyone who is contemplating hip surgery, and to put you at ease. Thanks for reading. Mike

Continuation of the Hip Hop

Well, here I am two weeks to the day after my surgery. I have a nurse come to see me once a week to check my vital signs and to check my blood to see how the various drugs are affecting me. They ask me to evaluate my pain on a scale of 0-10. I'm pleased to say that it is a 0 most of the time, with and occasional 2-3. Most of that pain is not from my hip, but from my other muscles which are taking over the task of supporting my weight that I cannot put on my hip. There are 3 things that I must keep in mind, according to the doctor. 1) only 50% weight on my left leg, no more. 2) the angle of my body bending at the waist cannot excede 90 degrees and 3) my foot and leg cannot cross a line equidistant between my feet. So crossing my legs is a no-no. Also I must walk like a duck with my left foot pointed to the outside of my body. It must not be forced to turn to the inside.These things are getting hard to remember as it is difficult, with no pain, to resist just getting out and running or jumping or climbing trees, as I feel that I can readily do all that. I sleep at night very well, but it must be on my back. I have adjusted to that as I am a side sleeper. Judy said that I snore mightily on my back. So to insure a sound night for her, I must sleep where all my growling bear noises cannot be heard by anyone. (She suggested the car in the garage, but I nixed that) I am still a little uncomfortable siting and typing on the computer as it is close to the 90 degree rule. As time allows, and time does march on here, I will keep anyone interested apprised of my progress in future blogs. thanks for reading. Mike

Midsection Pain or the St. Johns Hospital Hip Hop

About three years ago now, when we were in Texas avoiding the Michigan winter, I noticed something of a pain coming from my leg near my hip joint. It was rather painful to walk so I took some aspirins and it went away. It went away until about 6hours later. Then one day I was riding my bike and took a rather unintentional, awkward, and embarassing spill landing on my side. Watching me do this inglorious act was a group of about 10 picnickers about 10 feet away! I dusted my self off, smiled as if it was a regular occurrance, righted my bike and said that I was fine, and not to call EMR. The next day I had to cancel my golf game with the fellas I usually joined once a week. A few days of rest and a few ibuprofen tabs later it felt all right again, except for a few elbow scabs that were healing. Nothing severe enough to keep me from playing 18 holes for sure, and at that time I was coming in 1st or 2nd in our group of 6. Never had to buy a round of beer as the bottom player.
Well winter came and went and we returned to MI and I continued to play my usual golf once or twice a week limping around at all the local courses there. I kept the OTC drug companys in business. I was switching between Motrin, naproxin sodium, acetaminiphin and aspirin on consecutive days, never taking more than the recommended dosage. My liver meant too much to me.
Meanwhile we moved to MO. I limped my way through that.
Advancing to 4 months ago, I had my physical where they took an xray and informed me that I had an arthritic hip and warned me that I had a hip procedure coming soon.
Not me! Said I. Can't be true as I am too tough and indestructible for this, besides it scared me as I had never been in a hospital before..since I was 9 yrs old, that's almost never and I really don't remember much except that then there was no TV and my entertainment was a nurse who came in once in a while to play checkers.

About August 10th I went to Washington MO to the Patients First Clinic to talk to an Orthopedist about getting a new hip to replace the old worn out one. I engaged Dr. Dean Lusardi to do the surgery and he scheduled me for 195 minutes in the Operating room on Sept 7. I counted the hours, days, and minutes until the big day arrived. I got up at 5:30 AM, showered with the antiseptic soap that they gave me and Judy drove me to St. Johns Hospital where they prepped me for surgery at 9 AM. I don't remember anything after that until I woke up in the recovery room at about 12:45PM. Where did the time go? Birds were singing, music was playing and I was floating in the air. Wheee, what fun that was! They took me for a ride up in the elevator to my private room. (don't remember the elevator ride either)

I felt like a special king of kings as the nurses were looking after my every wish.

My doctor came in and asked me how I was doing, and I remember telling him that I was still alive. I still was feeling no pain and all I wanted was to drink water and sleep. That night I must have awakened 10 times to go potty. Had to call the nurse to help me get out of bed. Then every two hours the nurse came comes in to take my temp, blood pressure, and a blood sample. It was a very long night.

The next day I had my wife and my pastor visit me. I enjoyed seeing someone whom I recognized. The hospital food was horrible that day, but got much better as the days wore on.

I think the explanation for that is that my taste buds were screwy, and I got hungrier as time passed.

Hospital nurses are so kind and gentle, and that is just what I needed, as being moved from position to position for eating, pottying, and sleeping was a little trying.

My hospital stay was 3 days, I was really ready to leave. Driving home from the hospital was an hour except there was an accident that blocked the road for another 45 minutes.

Now in retrospect, the experience was not that unpleasant. I am glad that I had the procedure done. I'm exercising every day for my new hip, eating well, and sleeping like a dead man. In another 3 weeks, my doctor says that I won't know I've been through anything like this. I have a new perspective on life and looking forward to more golf. Thanks for reading.

Christmas 2009 is now history...and what a time it was!

We had lots of plans this Christmas and the following pictures tell the tale of some of them. We had wonderful times with friends and family. December started out with 3 dinners one each week...one at our friends', the Fould's house, one at ours, and one at our friends', the Smiths' house. We have known each other for a looooong time...and live in kind of a triangle from each other...about an hour apart from each other. We planned on sleeping over at each other's houses the night of these parties...so we could have some glasses of Christmas cheer. Each one of us cook and decorate differently...so that makes it interesting. Each party is a little different and each party was wonderful!



We started at Barb's where she had a wonderful array of appetizers to start us out with.....

Their two kitties Doozi and Sunshine entertain us between courses always...and are sooo cute!Then we tucked in to a wonderful, fabulous meal of paella! What a great time! Wonderful meal and beautiful setting! Click on this picture to make it bigger and see that beautiful paella!

The next dinner ...about a week later was at our house....we had appetizers in the parlor....

Here is how it looked before I put all the food out actually....pics reversed! Mike got me the wonderful centerpiece for one of my Christmas gifts!And here is the table before we started eating.....being the hostess I never took another one until we were done! But I made Cocquille St. Jacques....thanks to Julia Child! Yummy if I do say so myself! And I heard everyone else thought so too.....

The next dinner was at the Smiths who live on the family farm in the country....a wonderful spot! Jan's hobby is trains and dollhouses and her train is really fun to watch!The table before......They made a fabulous beef roast stuffed with mushrooms which was to die for....should have got a shot of that!Thanks Ron for taking this picture...I am so rarely in them! I think all three of us had spectacular trees....should have taken one of Barbs which is the biggest and absolutely wonderful!The Smiths have beautiful horses on the farm.....Ron relating to one.....







My sister and brother in law came for the holidays and during that time we got together in St. Louis with some dear old friends of both Susie and me.....here at Seamus McDaniels in Dogtown are: Kevin, John, Lynn, Susie, Dennis....And ME





Before my relatives arrived on Christmas Eve...we had the kids and grandkids over on a Sunday for Christmas Brunch and gift exchange...as usual they were darling. Hats were the item this year for both grandkids....Luke.....Geeez...look at those eyelashes! He is sooo handsome...but does not really like his picture taken at this age.....My wonderful niece Becca knit this hat for Ella....she looks so cute in it!And she loves to have her picture taken at the age she is at!

Then Christmas Eve came and my sister, brother in law, and nephew came in on a rainy Christmas Eve! Thank goodness it was not ice or snow. It did snow that night and we did have a white Christmas which is so rare for Missouri! But was pretty. We were very glad we did not have to go anywhere that day though.......

We had Prime Rib....which turned out great! First time I ever cooked it!

Corey, Mike, Susie and Dennis before dinner......We had so much fun with them...but it did involve a lot of running around to get Corey to the bus station to go see his dad and then to the airport...we handled it though and the weather pretty much cooperated. And we were so glad he was here!!



We got some rather bad news a couple of days after Christmas. Our brother had had chest pains while he was at the hospital for another medical emergency of another family member in he and his wife's family. He was rushed to the cath lab and ended up having 2 stents put in. Very scary for us. Heart disease runs in our family and our mom died of it way too young. He is fine now though. We did drive down to Springfield to see him and so glad we did! He was in the hospital for a few days and he and his wife, Pam did not make it here as planned for New Years. We missed them! But are glad all ended well!



Paul....another brother, his wife Judith and their son Evan did arrive for New Years from Chicago though and we had a nice lasagne dinner the night they arrived....

We went to a fun old quaint restuarant near here on the Gasconade River for New Years Eve dinner. It used to be an old mill and will be fun to go to in good weather and sit outside and watch the river. But that night....Great food....great company!We all then came back here and played games and drank champagne until midnight. Missed Steve, Pam....and David and Nat...but was great to be together! Had lots of fun during the families visits...and the weather was not too bad. Played cards, watched DVD's, caught up with talk....ate a lot. What you do during the holidays. They were great in our new home and we hope we have many more like them with family and our best friends! Thank you all for coming! And Happy 2010 to all who read this!!!!

Getting ready for Christmas

At last it is December.....and 2009 will be over soon. What a year it has been for us! So happy to have found this house and to be living here. We always will treasure our times and friends in Michigan and are so glad that we lived there for so many years...but are now very glad to be here. Hope that 2010 brings us a buyer for our house up there! But Michigan will always be in our hearts and we will always visit dear ones there!

I am happy to have found a job I love...even though I have an hour and half commute to get to it. I have just completed orientation to be a hospice nurse for Visiting Nurse Assoc. of Greater St. Louis...who I worked for for about 15 years when I lived in St. Louis previously. When I see patients, I will get paid by the patient so my hours will be my own and I won't have to fight rush hour traffic to and from St. Louis. I think I will find it very rewarding. I am only going to work one or two days a week.

We have started decorating this old house for Christmas and it has been fun. We don't have too much outside except for lights....and lots and lots of candles inside. But I plan to go to after Christmas sales and stock up on bargains for next year's decorating! My sister and family are coming for Christmas from Maine....and we are sooo excited to have them here! Then two of my three brothers and families and are coming to join us for New Years. Also we will host get togethers with the kids and grandkids and some of our wonderful friends, so the holidays here in Owensville will be very special for the Balluffs! We wish everyone who follows our blog a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Will post pics of holiday gatherings after...and I promise to keep it going in 2010! Please keep in touch with us!!!

Thanksgiving

We were so happy this year to be able to spend Thanksgiving with family!! It was a great day. Luke was in the St. Louis Thanksgiving parade playing his trumpet in the HS marching band. He is only in Jr High...but is THAT good with the trumpet. We saw him on TV but did not make it in to see the parade....had a BIG turkey to stuff!! Everyone brought dishes and wine and we had a great time. Too good of a time to take too many pictures. But here we are.......

A fall day....

A couple of weeks ago...we had Ella and her parents out for some touring around the countryside, to a winery and some shops and then to spend the night. Can you tell I like taking pictures of Ella? These are at the winerySometimes she gets tired of posing for sooo many pictures!What a great family!Dancing in the field at the winery.....It is a beautiful setting.....and she looks sooo small...Playing Old Maid with Yeye back at the house.... Believe me...she knows the rules!Clowning around with Yeye....Relating to Cali....