New and Improved Hubby....

Kenny had his surgery Friday morning. We arrived at UCSD Medical Center bright and early (6 a.m.) for the surgeon's first surgery of the day.

Here is a picture of Kenny in the pre-op room getting ready to go. This was before his IV etc. I was amazed how many people asked him what he was having done and which side it was being done to. How, with all that double checking, do people get the wrong procedure or cut on the wrong side? One of the residents signed his initials on Kenny's hip as yet another check. Kenny added his own smiley face sticker as a special "hello" to the team.



I'm pretty sure this was taken right before they wheeled him off to surgery.


Jana texted me not to be surprised or worried when the surgery took longer than expected. I am thankful for that. The pre-op documents said it was a 90 minute surgery. The surgeon, Dr. Ball, told us with anesthesia etc. it would take around 2 1/2 hours. They were supposed to go in between 7 and 7:30. Dr. Ball came to talk to Kenny's dad and I at 10:15. He told me that the surgery was a success. There was a LOT of arthritis etc., more than he actually expected. He scraped away two pretty big bone spurs. All of this should really help Kenny's eventual range of motion. He said that he had extremely good muscle tone and bone density. All of this should help with his recovery.

The arrows point to the bone spurs, I think.... the arrows are mine.


Here is a picture of his new hip. He is now part metal (cobalt-chrome) and will need to be wanded every time he goes through the airport. He said he is happy to drop is drawers and show them his scar. That's my Kenny.


That is when the waiting really began. Dr. Ball had told us that Kenny was awake, but would be in recovery for two hours or so. We read a little, went and ate lunch and sat for quite a while. At 1 p.m. the recovery nurse called me on my cell phone (isn't it interesting what technology does to bedside manner?). She told me that Kenny was still groggy, but would be moved to his room in about 10 or 15 minutes. Forty five minutes later, we FINALLY saw him being wheeled to his room. I had started to worry that something had gone wrong. She told me that they were waiting for the room. Hmmm.... she had my cell phone, couldn't she have called me?? Grrrrrr.....

Kenny was still a bit groggy. He was pale and didn't talk much. A couple times he got a bit emotional and just asked to be hugged. It was hard for me to see him like this. I think we were both surprised that the anesthesia hit him so hard. He was also in some pain. I could see it on his face. They asked how much pain he was in on a scale of 1 to 10. When he said "four" as he winced, I said, "really? are you sure? You don't have to be a hero." He then quietly said, "well, maybe more like a six." They gave him a bit of morphine at that point. That was the only morphine he had.

This picture might have been taken after the morphine.


By Saturday, he looked and felt much better. I brought the kids to see him and it did a world of good for them and for him. Jackson was excited to see him, but had to be reminded that he needed to be gentle with Daddy. It might be tough for Jackson not to wrestle with Daddy for quite a while. Luckily, he's a pretty go-with-the-flow kid. Amelia gave Daddy a quick hug and kiss and then found things in the room to entertain her.





Unfortunately, there isn't too much to do for a two-year-old and four-year-old in a hospital room. Kenny's parents (the kids' Mimi and Boompah) took them back home for lunch and naps. I stayed with Kenny for several more hours. I was able to see the occupational therapist with him as well as the physical therapist. The physical therapist, Jeanette, is a mountain biker and was asking Kenny all about mountain biking in San Diego since she just moved here from Northern California. I think that made it a fun session for Kenny. He did three laps around the wing, when she only asked him to do one.

Things were going OK and Kenny didn't feel that he needed me as much. His parents had been SUCH a help to us, especially with the kids. We knew that it was hard for them to be away from home for any length of time, so we told them to go ahead and head home. I am not sure what I would have done without them. It was GREAT to have them here to help us. And the kids loved having the quality time with them.

Yesterday was a bit more frustrating. Kenny called me at 10 a.m. and said, "they told me to call my ride... I can go home!" Since the doctor had started the discharge paperwork two hours earlier, this didn't surprise me much. The kids and I arrived around 11 a.m. Kenny had just been told that there would be a slight delay. There was some sort of mix up with the drugs they were supposed to send home with Kenny and they were tracking them down. Well....THREE HOURS, several walks with Amelia and an interesting lunch in the cafeteria later we FINALLY left the hospital. While the service at UCSD was friendly, I wasn't too impressed with their administrative prowess on their discharge procedures. AND... we ended up having to go get the prescriptions at a CVS pharmacy anyway. Grrrrrrr.....

So he is home now. He is walking well with crutches, including going up and down the stairs. I had thought he would stay upstairs the entire time, but going up and down is part of his rehab. He doesn't stay on the crutches for long because his hip starts to ache after a while. He is taking a nap now... oh wait, Amelia just went in to see him. Nap over. Oops.

He showed me his incision last night. Yikes. That is quite a cut. I am, once again, reminded why I could never be a nurse. I am way too squeamish! Here is a picture of it. I hope you don't mind seeing a picture of Kenny's butt. LOL. Avert your eyes if you are also squeamish. You have to scroll down a bit so everyone doesn't necessarily have to see it. This will be the end of this post.....

Future rock stars??

Jackson may be the lead guitarist....


But Mia has future lead singer written all over her....

I know the video quality isn't so great, but it was taken on Kenny's phone. LOL. We were at some friends' house and they had a Rock Band game. Amelia picked up the microphone and just hummed along to Rush's Tom Sawyer. The way the game works, if you mess up too much (miss notes etc.), your turn ends and you get boo'd off the stage. Amelia lasted with the other players doing the guitar, bass and drums. She's a musical prodigy!!!! *wink*

Here is one more of her singing to Iron Maiden:

Jackson is more comfortable singing songs he knows the words to. I don't think he'll be good at improv at all. Some of you may recall his "American Idol" videos he did when he was two and three years old.

Jackson April 2006

Jackson April 2007

We DON'T live in the south. I suppose if we moved there, Jackson would take on a Southern accent pretty quickly- he seems to have the ear. ;-) I can't believe these were taken over a year (and two years) ago! Where does the time go??

A bicycle built for FOUR.

We had a great evening last night. We went to Lake Murray to go ride on the quad-bike that Ellsworth (the company Kenny works for) has as a prototype. It definitely turned some heads...

What IS that thing??

How it works is there are four seats and four sets of pedals. The kids couldn't reach them, so Kenny and I did the pedalling. Each set of pedals has its own shifter and it took us a while to figure out the best way to shift up and down for the many little hills at Lake Murray. Four adults could get this thing cookin'. I didn't want to get it going very fast because a) we had precious cargo aboard and b) I have a huge race coming up and don't want to be battered and bruised from falling off a bike. :-)

The kids really enjoyed themselves. They looked at the lake, the people walking their dogs, birds etc. I hope that Ellsworth manufactures these bikes because I definitely think there is a market for them. At least there was plenty of interest among bikers and walkers along the trail at Lake Murray.

We may have a future bibliophile...

Or at least I hope! I actually hope that both my kids have my love of books and reading.

Last night Kenny came home from work late. It was well after 9 p.m. He was able to tuck Jackson in (his bedtime is around 9), but Amelia was already in bed (we put her down at 8). He went in to give Amelia her kiss (he does this if she is sleeping or awake). She was still awake. She is often known to talk to herself and play in her bed for an hour or more. What Kenny found warmed my heart. I now kick myself for not going in and seeing myself, but I don't want her to stay awake longer than she needs to.

Kenny found Amelia laying in her bed with her legs bent. She had a book propped up on her thighs and she was calmly turning the pages to her book. She looked up at Kenny as he kissed her and continued to read her book. She has a reading lamp next to her bed and we leave it on dim when she goes to bed. I'll go in sometimes and find the lamp turned up. I guess I know now that she turns it up to read.

How can I be upset at her staying up late "reading" when I do it myself on a regular basis?

You know you've done something right.....

when your son makes you proud when you aren't even around. My job as a parent is to instill values and a sense of right and wrong in my children. I hope that they behave as though I am there watching them.

Jackson spent the day with our friends' daughter. Lisa had to work all day and she had a sitter for her girls. She thought that having Jackson there to play with would take some of the boredom out of being in the house with a sitter all week. Apparently, Jackson behaved well and he and Kristen had a great time.

The pride I felt came when I said to Lisa, "I hope that Jackson was good." She replied, "Jackson is always good." We all know that isn't true, but it is so nice that he has that reputation.

Crock pot roast beef....a failure of a meal

I actually consider myself a pretty decent cook. I make simple things that taste good. I am also married to a man who isn't a very picky eater. This combination makes mealtimes incredibly easy (except for the kids, but that is another post entirely). He is easy to please, so I can experiment and try new things without much risk. No matter what I make, Kenny eats it. He will give feedback if I ask and let me know when something wasn't his favorite.

Tonight's meal wasn't even an experiment. It was a simple roast in the crock pot. I figured that it would be easier to do the crock pot so I could get some other things done around the house. I threw in some carrots and potatoes. I browned the roast on the stove before putting it in. I added some water and some lipton onion soup mix. Various recipes indicated various times. I set it for 6 hours and turned it off after 4 or so.

It was HORRIBLE. The meat was super super DRY. Way overcooked. It also had very little flavor. I would have been better off roasting it in the oven. Even my hubby who likes everything didn't have a second helping. He did, however, raid the fridge and eat some leftover pasta. *sigh* Oh well.... you can't win them all.

Any suggestions for cooking a roast beef in the crock pot? Am I better off cooking it in the oven?

New and improved hubby on the way....

Kenny is getting hip surgery on June 6. It has been a long time coming. He has had a bad hip since I have known him. Actually, it was re-injured when he was in Costa Rica with his friends right before our one year anniversary of finding each other. He hasn't been the same since.

For the next few weeks, he needs to eat a diet high in iron in preparation for the surgery. It makes sense, but it also seems like a convenient way for him to get steak every night ;-) So during the same time I need to add carbs to my diet, he needs to eat steak. Hmmm... it seems like there should be some sort of nursery rhyme in there-- "he could eat no carbs and she not too much protein...."

I also have to be prepared to give him shots in his stomach. Eek! I am the most squeemish person I know. I know that subcutaneous shots are the easiest to do and the needles are small, but I can't even look when they give me shots, let alone my kids. Actually giving the shot? All I can say is good thing it's true love.

I am nervous and excited. Obviously, I am nervous because this is major surgery. I am excited for Kenny to be pain free. At least his hip will be pain free. I'm not so sure about the rest of his body. In the past 6 months he has torn his MCL, sprained his shoulder and came very close to crushing his heel/achilles. I hope that the hip surgery will be the beginning of a completely pain-free year.