Most recent segmented bowl - Yellowheart & Walnut

New Bowl - February, 2013

On the Road Again

We left home on May 25th for our four month+ summer trip. We are trying to do a video at each of our stops and they can be viewed on YouTube if you have the link. If I am not sending you the link and you would like to see the videos send me an e-mail and I will add you to the list. We are currently in Tulsa, OK and will be on our way to Kansas tomorrow. These first few stops are to do Golf Digest visits, first to Southern Hills in Tulsa and then the Alotian Club in Little Rock. Much more info on the videos so if you are interested just drop me a line. I will try to do some updates here as well but I must say the best info will be in the videos. Be safe.

March Update

Tippy and I visited her surgeon in Dallas last Thursday for her one month check-up. The wait was longer than the 85 mile drive but oh well. They took x-rays of her hip and the doctor said everything was looking good and healing properly and she should continue doing what she can do, except doing steps and driving. We go back to see him on May 3r5d and hopefully at that time she will be totally healed and he will okay her to drive and to negotiate steps. Motorhome travel is obviously out, four steps, until May so we will be sticking around here in the meantime. Tippy has been doing quite a bit of walking around the house and has been doing some leg exercises that the PT's gave her when she left the hospital. She can stand for longer periods of time and has been doing much more of the cooking with my added help. Our days seem to go by very quickly so I am sure May will be here before we know it. I have been cleaning up the boat a bit, had to buy a couple of new batteries. I have also been doing some work on the trolling motor power, or lack of, and the live well pump is also not operating. It may be just dirty and needs to be cleaned but just haven't gotten to that yet. The fishing is real good right now, at least according to the Texas Fishing Forum, but I haven't been out yet. We will miss several events with David and his family this month - our three birthdays, Maryn's baptism, and Grandparents Day at the kids school. They will know we are thinking about them and wishing them well. Heck, we might even get in a phone call or two. be safe.

Tippy Update # 2

Well things are definitely better here today! Tippy has not taken any pain meds in 24 hours and her hip is feeling pretty good. She now gets herself out of bed and around the house but she does need help swinging her legs back onto the bed. She is working on that and I bet it won't be long until she can do that as well. We go to see the surgeon on March 1st to get his take on her progress and hopefully Tippy will get a good report. Tippy walks around the house pretty well and can stand in the kitchen giving me directions as I learn to cook, at least a little. She has gotten pretty good at the direction giving and that concerns me a bit but I am sure it is something I can break her of when she gets better. Our days seem to fly by with meals, computer time, TV time, and of course an afternoon nap. We had another couple inches of rain the last two days and the lake is now less than four feet low. I hope to get out in the boat soon, maybe next week as the weather looks good and Tippy is doing so much better. Well just wanted you to know how things are here in Texas. I am sure Tippy would love to hear from you so give her a call. Be safe.

Tippy Update

Well we continue to have some improvement in Tippy's hip but she is still in considerable pain. She has been walking around the house and sitting up for a couple hours at a time. The walkie talkies allow me a little freedom around the house but I try to not get too far away. They have a range at least to the mailbox, about one mile, and when I am off the property we have the cell phones. I have made a couple of runs to the grocery store and to Walmart for more pain meds, otherwise and I have been staying close. Our neighbors have been wonderful in volunteering to assist in any way possible. They have brought food which has kept me from having to try to cook. Jana Brown brought a great chicken pot pie in a large pie dish which was delicious and provided several meals. Our next door neighbor, Debbie, brought a pan of lasagna over and I haven't finished all of it yet. Beverly Gibson also brought down a great pot roast in a crock pot which again provided several meals. The only problem I have now is we are out of food and I will have to start cooking and/or grilling or go to the TV dinner department pretty quick. More later. Be safe.

A broken bone

Tippy and I were on the deck last Saturday starting to grill some ribs. I got the fire started for her and the grill cleaned a bit and she loaded on the ribs. I turned and took a couple of steps to head down to the boathouse to check out the rising lake level when I heard a bog THUD! I turned around to find Tippy sitting on the deck and in obvious pain. Right away she said her hip was broken as she remembered the feeling and the pain from her previous experience a couple of years ago. I had my cell phone withy me so I dialed up 911 and waited for help to arrive. Our local Southern Oaks Volunteer Fire Department were the first on the scene, one of their members, Pat Markam, lives in our development and two others responded pretty soon after Pat arrived. It took the ambulance from Corsicana almost 40 minutes to arrive but they quickly got Tippy loaded onto the gurney and into the ambulance for the ride back to the hospital. At the emergency room they took x-rays of her hip and her elbow, she also banged that in the fall, and sure enough the hip, at least the femur, was broken. The main Orthopedic surgeon in Corsicana, Dr. Malone, was not on call that evening and the second guy, a Dr. Sandu, couldn't do the surgery until late Monday or Tuesday. This was obviously not acceptable so we began to look for alternatives. We discovered that Dr. Mayfield, her previous orthopedic surgeon in Tyler was no longer with the hospital there so we headed to Baylor Medical Center in Dallas where a Dr. Gates was waiting to help Tippy. It was almost 9:30 PM before they began the transport to Baylor, the accident occurred at about 3:30. Tippy and I decided that the best thing for me to do was to stay home on Saturday night and drive up with the motorhome on Sunday. I was able to find, with the help of my son David, an RV Park about 15 miles from the hospital. The Dr. began the surgery early on Sunday morning, even before I was on the road. I had most of my stuff loaded the night before but I finished getting ready not travel and was on the road by 9:00. I got to the RV Park by 10:30, got settled, and headed for the hospital. I was in Tippy's room waiting when she returned from there recovery room. I had a call before I left from one of the pre-op nurses and she informed me that Tippy was going into surgery and that she was doing fine. On the way I had a call from another nurse saying the surgery went well and that Tippy was heading to the recovery room. While driving to the hospital Dr. Gates called me and told me the surgery went well and that he had installed a short rod and a screw to repair the break. He had used two small incisions to get the job done. The PT folks were in to see Tippy on Monday and had her walking, 65 steps, that day. By Tuesday she had walked 100 steps in her afternoon PT. She has pain when walking, as you might expect, but it doesn't seem to near as painful as the first break. She continued with her two times a day PT work on Wednesday and then the social worker came in while I was there to inform us that the Dr. had written orders for her to go to a nursing home on Thursday but the PT's thought she could just go home. After discussing the alternatives we decided to she should come home but the Dr. didn't want her climbing any stairs right yet which meant the motorhome was out for her transportation. We decided that I would take the motorhome home and come back on Thursday to pick her up with the CR-V. I left the metroplex around 2:00 and headed home. Tippy called before I was even out of the area and told me that the social worker had returned and informed her that the insurance company said they would cover her expenses only until midnight and then she would have to be out of the hospital or pay the cost herself. I told her not to worry and that I would call the insurance company when I got home. Well I had probably driven about 40 miles when Tippy called again and said the social worker had returned and informed her that the insurance company would cover her through tomorrow, apparently due to the fact that she was going home and not to a rehab/nursing facility. So my blood pressure started to go down and had a much more enjoyable drive home. I spoke with my friend/neighbor Leon and he agreed to check on Alex while I was gone. Tippy was scheduled for PT at 10:30 so that was my target arrival time and I was right on time. Only problem was the PT's decided to come at 9:30 instead and Tippy was sitting in her chair ready to go home. The nurse came in, apparently saw me arrive, and got her all checked out and called for transport to the pick-up area. We got Tippy into a wheel chair and all her stuff loaded onto a cart. The transport gal left with Tippy and the cart and I went to get the car to meet them at the pick-up area. We were able to get her into the car easily, all of the stuff loaded, and we were on our way. I hadn't had anything to eat all day and Tippy was a little hungry so we stopped at a Taco Bell on the way home and got some food. Tippy had a couple of Tacos, only ate one, and I had a supreme burrito. With some food in my stomach we drove the rest of the way home without incident. At home we were able to get Tippy out of the car and standing with the help of her walker, left over from first hip problem, and she walked to the door. I brought one of the dining room chairs, on wheels, for her to sit in and we wheeled her into the house and took her to bed for a while. While she was resting I drove to Walmart to get the medications prescribed for her pain and some walkie talkies to help with communications. Later in the afternoon she got up to check her computer and play a game and then we watched some TV before she was ready to return to bed. I grilled some pork chops and heated up some peas but she didn't feel like eating and went to bed. I guess I can say that she slept like a baby since we were up about every two hours getting her to the bathroom. By morning we were pretty good with getting her into and out of the bed and her walking to the bathroom and back was good exercise as well. I had built a small step last time to help her get into bed and fortunately we still had that as well. She was able to back up to the step, step up, about 4 inches, and then sit down on the edge of the bed. After she gets herself into the right position I raise her legs and swing them onto the bed. As I said, by morning we had the procedure down pretty well and the ins and outs were pretty smooth. We did some leg exercises this morning in addition to her walking and I hope that she will continue to get stronger as the days go by. On a brighter note the lake has come up enough, only 4.4 feet down right now, that I can float my boat. That being said I don't think I will be able to use it for a while as I am pretty busy with Tippy and until she can get in and out of bed by herself I feel uncomfortable leaving her by herself. We had a couple week trip planned down to South Padre Island here in Texas to meet some friends but obviously we had to cancel that adventure. Our next outing isn't until the middle of March but we will have to see her progress before deciding on that trip. More as it happens. Be safe.