Wild Strawberries

I thought I would share some pics of the wild strawberries we have at the cottage. They grow in one area of the yard, near a back corner of the cottage, like a beautiful ground cover. The area is kind of like a tiny meadow with a lot of moisture in the spring and some higher grass nearby. They attract birds, insects and other creatures that love to eat them. Wild strawberries are useful, tasty and look beautiful too.

 The berries are so very tiny but bursting with flavour and taste wonderfully sweet.  They are not something we want to gather and use for cooking or a meal because they are too tiny and really not great a quantity of them hiding in the grass. They are perfect for reaching down and having the occasional little berry nibble. 

My family went to the lake last weekend and brought me back a little handful of the strawberries and took some pictures for me.

Strawberries that in gardens grow
Are plump and juicy fine,
But sweeter far as wise men know
Spring from the woodland vine.
No need for bowl or silver spoon,
Sugar or spice or cream,
Has the wild berry plucked in June
Beside the trickling stream.
One such to melt at the tongue's root,
Confounding taste with scent,
Beats a full peck of garden fruit:
Which points my argument. — Robert Graves

Home from the Hospital after Hip Replacement Surgery

 I have been home for a week now. The hip revision surgery went smoothly. The surgeon actually wound up changing the artificial hip parts and needed to repair tears in some of the supporting tissues of the joint that tore during the dislocation in December. It looks like there was no possible way the hip could have ever healed properly and stopped dislocating, so it was a good call to go forward with the surgery.

My new parts are a little more high-tech than the last ones and are much less likely to dislocate. I was concerned about the original plan to have a constraint liner in the socket limiting my mobility and how much I bend. Still, I knew something had to be done! The surgeon used a different version that won't constrain my hip movement any more than before.

 Hopefully, it won't have me living permanently with  Hip Restrictions, about not crossing legs ever, not bending from the waist more than 90 degrees, and so on. That doesn't mean I get to be stupid.. no fancy dance moves. I certainly need to watch out for falls, but I should be able to still have an active life... once we finally do a knee replacement and fix my left knee!

At the time of my surgery, we were still high in the third wave of covid in Manitoba, making for complications with our health care. The hospital my surgeon works from is one of the hospitals that has a covid ward and intensive care units, and it was beyond overwhelmed. They needed to send people out of the province to other hospitals because of a lack of equipment and staff. They closed down non-emergency surgery and admissions. Fortunately for me, my surgeon put in appeals and got permission to use the other large hospital with an orthopedic program for a few of his patients that he considered in need of the most immediate care.

  

It was all kind of odd because I technically was still a patient of hospital A, where we had initially planned the surgery before Covid closures. I went to that hospital for covid screening the day before surgery and for X-rays. Then on surgery morning, I reported to hospital B for the actual surgery and 5 nights for recovery and my first physiotherapy and rehab sessions. I get my staples out this week, and that will occur at the cast clinic at hospital A.  

On arrival at the hospital, I had to have a security guard help me got from the entrance to the ward and helped carry my overnight bag, my walker, cane, a cold therapy machine! They started me off in the room I would be returning to after the surgical recovery room. That was kind of convenient. There was a bag for my clothes and the gown and housecoat right there waiting for me. 

They had an absolutely miserable time getting an IV into me but that is nothing new. I must say this location on my dominant hand was especially horrible once I needed to use my hands to push off and move around after the surgery and for the physiotherapy.

Next to the surgery cancellation, the hardest part for me about surgery during the Covid Pandemic was going into the hospital all by myself and not having visits from my loved ones.  The phone is just not the same and despite having a truly lovely roommate,  (Hi Pat) I was lonely and missing my family. I was so happy when I finally got home to my family and my own bed!

I am finding the recovery easier this time compared to my first hip replacement for various reasons. Since I dislocated it in December, I have been under a lot of restrictions and have been in pain and too some level gotten used to moving carefully.  I think we have gotten a better handle on my pain management too. I believe all that lying around in the brace has made my leg a lot less stressed physically. Still, the downside is I have most certainly lost a lot of overall strength in the past 6 months since I got hurt. 

I had been expecting to have knee surgery... and then it suddenly changed to hip revision, but the prehab exercises to prepare for those surgeries are very similar. I know the exercises well. Same as three years ago, and this time, I had lots of lead-up time, like it or not. Even though most of me feels like jello, I have tried to at least strengthen the muscles affected by surgery.

I have successfully lost some weight since my dislocation, so I am sure that has also made my recovery easier. I will eventually put up some posts about my weight loss experiences. It is a big part of my living health journey, and I rarely talk about it. I guess I am more than a little sensitive on the topic. I was a chubby kid that has also spent most of my adult life as an overweight person.  People, the struggle has been a hard one. I was not tempted to overeat with the hospital meals though.

I have an appointment set up with my new Physiotherapist in three weeks. Until then I will continue to do the hip exercises assigned by my hospital physiotherapist at least three times a day.

I am going to be editing my previous post Preparing for Hip Revision Surgery which included my plans about packing for the hospital. I had most of it correct but now I have even more helpful ideas and suggestions.   You do want to get your packing correct to make everything easier and as pleasant as possible during your stay at the hospital. So "stay tuned!"

Just in case you were wondering... I'm not really sure exactly what kind of hip replacement prosthetics I got, but it will be similar to what they discuss in the link below..

'Dual mobility' hip replacement reduces risk of dislocation (medicalxpress.com)

Surgery Tomorrow!

 I am having my Total Hip Revision tomorrow morning.

 Third hospital time is the charm for getting this hip functioning properly I hope.   I’m not looking forward to surgery or the recovery period but know that I need to do all I can to keep being mobile.

Cross your fingers and say a little prayer for me, please! 

Picnic Time at St Vital Park

Bob and I decided it was time to get out a little more. 

We have always loved visiting different parks and landmarks, and we decide we just need to get out a lot more often and check out places near us. We both have enjoyed outdoor cooking in all kinds of forms, and we even have a pretty cool picnic backpack, but it has been sitting there never used. So we decided it is the time!!

This week we visited St Vital Park. It is about 46 hectares of park space located in the city beside a river. It features BBQ areas, lots of picnic spaces, soccer fields, volleyball, and many trails. There is even a charming duck pond. Another nice feature is a rock and flower garden that would be lovely for things like wedding pictures.

We parked the car on the side of the road when we spotted a couple of lovely picnic spots toward the river. We were looking for a table located with some shade on this beautiful but still very warm day. Jasper, the dog, really is well adapted and insulated to both hot and cold temperatures because of that furry coat. Still, no need to push it, so we find places in the shade for him to lie down. 

Between the road and the picnic spot we picked, a family of geese were enjoying the shade. Once we got out of the car, the family got their kids up and headed across the road stopping traffic. There were large trees and lots of lovely wildflowers nearby.

Jasper loves picnics. He has a bag of his own that comes complete with a water bottle, doggie water dishes, a big bag of his favourite treats and the all-important poop bags.

Our dark green picnic backpack has lots of pockets and an insulated center compartment for our picnic lunch. We are starting off with simple food, but I hope to get into more exciting menus over the summer. 

Here we really enjoyed our unplanned "grab and go" lunch from our fridge at home

• a ham and cheese bagel with mayo and lettuce.
• potato chips
• fresh fruit from our fridge
• a soft drink
  

After we cleaned up, we ran our supplies back to the car and went on a little walk on the trail by the river. I am not up to walking much right now, but the lovely walking trail and fantastic views were so beautiful they encouraged me to walk a little further.

I shall soon be rested... to sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure, is the most perfect refreshment. 

~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814