Momma
My mom got a new hip!
The surgery and recovery have been very difficult. I'll spare you all the details but the bottom line is that the doctor admitted that the system failed my mom and a surgery that she should have received within 2 months of seeing the surgeon (he put her on the emergency list and red flagged her file) ended up taking over a year with the result being that her hip bone was so thin that the doctor could poke his finger through it! Although she ended up with a super strong hip (titanium!) built for a 25 year old man, she has to learn how to use it and how to walk all over again because her quad muscles have atrophied down to nothing due to disuse. Dragging it behind her as she shuffled and limped around the house has lead to the muscles' demise. A week or so more in rehab should see her strong enough to go home!
It's been tough being so far away and feeling totally helpless. When all this is over, my mom and dad are going to get a very stern talking to from me about moving closer to one of us kids. If something had happened that night of surgery (and it looked pretty scary at some points), none of us kids would have been able to get out to see my mom. There were no flights that I could take, no amount of driving that I could do, and no train that I could take to get me to her that night. It was so frustrating!
And scary.
So when dear Mommy is well enough to get up off the couch and run away from my topic of conversation then I will attempt to have a looong discussion with her and my dad about the benefits of moving closer to civilization...with hospitals, medical centres, and yes, family!!
Pony up mom, start running!
The surgery and recovery have been very difficult. I'll spare you all the details but the bottom line is that the doctor admitted that the system failed my mom and a surgery that she should have received within 2 months of seeing the surgeon (he put her on the emergency list and red flagged her file) ended up taking over a year with the result being that her hip bone was so thin that the doctor could poke his finger through it! Although she ended up with a super strong hip (titanium!) built for a 25 year old man, she has to learn how to use it and how to walk all over again because her quad muscles have atrophied down to nothing due to disuse. Dragging it behind her as she shuffled and limped around the house has lead to the muscles' demise. A week or so more in rehab should see her strong enough to go home!
It's been tough being so far away and feeling totally helpless. When all this is over, my mom and dad are going to get a very stern talking to from me about moving closer to one of us kids. If something had happened that night of surgery (and it looked pretty scary at some points), none of us kids would have been able to get out to see my mom. There were no flights that I could take, no amount of driving that I could do, and no train that I could take to get me to her that night. It was so frustrating!
And scary.
So when dear Mommy is well enough to get up off the couch and run away from my topic of conversation then I will attempt to have a looong discussion with her and my dad about the benefits of moving closer to civilization...with hospitals, medical centres, and yes, family!!
Pony up mom, start running!
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