A very eventful week...

Friday of last week I had my first day of subbing...only planning to sub for first grade and only when needed badly. I subbed in Sondra's class and enjoyed a nice day since her class was very attentive and very good. They worked hard that day and I must have too because I was very tired. That evening our Sunday School Class met for a party and dinner at the Nelle's house. At least I won the booby prize for losing the most during the night.

Next day I went to watch a little girl from last year's class play soccer. Her team had a game and she had sent me a copy of the schedule with an invitation to come so I went out and enjoyed the beautiful weather that day. Jim spent most of the day working on his newer aquarium of reef fish and animals....he's still got a lot to do on it.


This week is only half over and already I'm just about worn out! First of all, we got to see THE LION KING at the State Fair Music Hall Sunday night. It was absolutely awesome and incredible! We agreed as we drove home that night that both of us could see it again and again. The costumes were great as were the puppets and masks that each character wore. The music was good (written by Elton John and Tim Rice).



Next big thing that happened: When we got home late that Sunday night we had a message on the answering machine from my mom...asking us to call when we can. Normally I would wait since it was after 10:30 pm but something told me I should call so I did. She had fallen earlier that day (about 3:00 pm right before the Cowboy game started) and she said that she felt like she'd probably really goofed this time). She was trying to "dust" the shelves above the TV and standing on a small white plastic stool...The stool didn't tip but she says she guesses that she stepped off it wrong...lost her balance, and sat down hard on the floor. The carpet is so worn there that she said the floor was really hard and that Scott told her to sit there a minute to make sure she was ok before getting up...



Well, I don't know how she did it but, she sat and watched the cowboys get beat and eventually went to bed which was where she was when I called. I asked her if she thought she had broken something...she said she didn't think so and that she and Scott thought she had "sprained " a muscle and that she'd most likely be sore.



Next morning, Jim and I went to the hospital so that he could get all the pre-op stuff taken care of for his scheduled surgery this coming Friday--he's having his gall bladder removed Friday at 7:00 am. When we got back home at about 10:00 I called Mother only to find out that she had called Clay and also her mother and her mother's friend and driver to come over and help her...she didn't think she could get up from bed etc. So, I waited until they called again in the next 30 min. and then grabbed some books and magazines and my laptop and drove to the hospital to meet them at the ER at Baylor All Saints in FW. I just beat them there and then Bobby and my grandmother arrived with my mother in their car. Clay drove up too just ahead of me and they had to get help to get her out of the car and into a wheelchair. Now we were having to sit and wait...she was in a lot of pain by now and they gave her some pain meds to try to help. Following xrays we finally got the word at about 2 or 2:30 that she had definitely broken her hip and "who was her orthopedic surgeon?" We called her brother to find out who had put my grandmother (mother's mother) back together back last November when she broke her hip and then we called that Dr. to come and talk with us about mom.



She ended up having a partial hip replacement yesterday (Tues. afternoon). I had spent Monday night with her at the hospital (trying to sleep on two straight back chairs pushed together--believe it or not I did sleep some that night) so I drove back to the house and changed clothes and took a shower and then went back to be there during her surgery. Cindy Woelke, Lynn Rambo, and Jane Maxwell (all from our old church and mother's now church ...as well as Patrick's place of employment) came and sat with Scott and Clay and me in the waiting room. Jim Chandler, the new pastor at MUMC, came by the night before to pray with us and had also called yesterday morning and prayed with mom on the phone. (He refers to mother as "Patrick's grandmother" because mom hasn't been to church except to the musical in August, and he doesn't know of her history at the church: having been the church secretary for 27 years before retiring.)



This afternoon, I went up there to see her for a while...had to wrap up in a blanket it was so cold in her room with the fan blowing right where I was sitting. She was working with a physical therapist and she was glad to be sitting up on the side of the bed for a couple of min. before getting dizzy and having to lay down again. The doctors and nurses expect her to be there for 5 or 6 days and then to rehab for a while before she can go back home. In fact, she may come here for a while if she has to between rehab and home.



I'm very lucky to be retired and not have to worry about planning for a sub, etc. but I suspect that I won't have much time to spend up at school volunteering or subbing since Mother's going to need more help for a while. Now hopefully, Jim's surgery on Friday will be successful and not last as long. He's expecting to be home sometime after noon time and is planning to stay home next week to recover. Funny story about that is that we both grew up at church and at school (and Jim even lived across the street) with his surgeon, and we are both pleasantly surprised at what a great guy he's evidently turned out to be! Many people have told us of their own experiences with him and all that has been said has been very positive. So as you are getting up on Friday morning ...please say a little prayer for him and for his recovery. It goes without saying that I am happy to be on the other side of the hospital bed in both cases...hopefully I can manage to keep care of them both as well as they took care of me when I've had my numerous surgeries (which actually Mother has me beat in that area--after going through her entire medical history from 9:30 pm until midnight with the doctor who is coordinating her case at the hospital and then the nurse on duty and lucky enough to get mother as her patient. They were very thorough and I'm glad of that!)

Thursday (tomorrow) I have a baby shower to attend for one of our former team members (she's teaching second grade now)...and then there's always the trip over to the hospital in FW and hopefully nothing else!