Beth is finally getting some relief from the allergic reaction. She saw Dr. Williams last week and he just peeled the tape right off. She had been leaving it on despite the reaction because he told her “the longer the tape stays on, the prettier your scar will look” several weeks ago. So it’s been gone for a while now and it’s getting better, but still going on a bit. Doc also told her that she’s doing well enough that she doesn’t have to go to the PT center any more, as long as she keeps doing her stretching and exercises at home since she’s doing so well. So she had her last PT session this week.

I’ve decided to try something new with my own exercise. I started running again on New Year’s Day this year (it was nice enough that I even ran outside) after a nearly 2-month layoff starting because of the blood blisters on my foot from the LN2 treatment for plantar warts, plus the stiff back and hip pains, waah. But I’m certainly not getting any faster as I get older and ran a 5k then in over 30 minutes. Snail’s pace. So I’m going to add an elliptical workout a couple times a week (at least, I intend to now) instead of more running during the week. I did my first elliptical workout this week, and I cannot believe how very very sore my calves are. Especially going down stairs. Wow. I guess I don’t use those muscles much when I run, somehow. Anyway, I’ll think of this as an experiment to see if it improves my running on weekends. 

Tonight Beth and I went to see a lady from Beth’s workplace speak at a church in Nappanee about her experience with abuse and trafficking and how she’s healed from it. It was really amazing; Beth had no idea the kind of things she went through when she was a child. 

Today was the annual FCC chili/soup supper and all-member vision/mission meeting. Beth had gotten a wild hair at some point and decided that she was going to enter TWO soups, but I think that was when only 10 had been entered so far and they were worried that there wouldn’t be enough. Well, there were over 50 pots of soup and chili by the time the dinner came around. Even I made one. Beth also didn’t really “make” the soup, she called out instructions for me and I made it. We made a pot of the Soala soup and we finally got to try the jalapeno popper chili, otherwise now known as “broken rib chili” because that’s what Beth made last fall when she tripped over a rock and splattered the whole pot all over the place at Ric’s (see 10/8/2023). It’s very good, but didn’t win anything. Neither did the Soala. And mine…. well, I thought there would be a lot of bacon and grease and salt so I decided to make a soup that was healthy. Low carb, low fat, low salt, gluten free, vegan, the whole thing. So I made a Moroccan lentil soup, and it was terrible. Nobody had it because it was obviously awful. 

Beth’s birthday was also today. I kind of blew things, by assuming that we were pretty much past the birthdays thing. So there was nothing. No card, no present, no flowers. I got a bit of a lecture (“I expected there to be something”) and got her a card the next day, by which time she seemed a little sheepish that she had made a big deal and she seemed happy with it. So I’ll have to really rock Valentine’s Day, I guess. 

Beth continues to do really well with PT, although still in pain. But less pain than before. She’s getting around with a cane all right now, so she doesn’t use the walker much at all any more unless it’s icy somewhere. A new development though is an apparent allergic reaction going on in her leg. She’s all hives and itching like crazy. It appears to be an allergic reaction to the surgical tape that is still in place covering her incision. We don’t know why it wouldn’t start until 3 weeks after surgery, but apparently it’s not that uncommon for it to happen that way. So she’s taking a lot of Benadryl, which she doesn’t really want to because it makes her sleepy (not as bad as it does to me) but she’s taking it because the itching is driving her insane.

I got more than I bargained for yesterday. I took the van to Discount Tire to get the tires rotated, and after it was done the slight pulsing that I have noticed lately (for which I’ve been intending to get around to taking the van in to the shop to have checked out) was suddenly a lot worse. It had become almost a constant pounding. I took the van back and asked them to check it out, and good thing I did because they finally found that one of the tires had a flat spot on it. Just about the size of your palm, inexplicably located on the outside edge of the tread. The tire had just ben rotated to the front which made the pounding much more noticeable. They said it was unknown what would cause it, but it was like the tires had been locked up and skidded hard. Don’t know when that would have happened, but they couldn’t tell any other way it would have. So I wound up getting 2 new tires for the van that I wasn’t planning on. 

Beth had two more PT sessions this week, still doing very well. Still in quite a bit of pain but doing better. She was also able to go to church with me this weekend! We brought the walker and found a good way for her to have her leg elevated but we made it work.

Well, I guess Christmas break is officially over. The nest is empty again, for now at least. Today I took Missy back to school (without Beth, because being in a car for that long would be awful for her). We all went to church this morning and had lunch, then got her all packed up and hit the road in the afternoon. I took her to Wal-Mart to get a few things she needed for the new dorm room, then we went and unpacked her and got her bed put up and assembled and arranged things. She seems to be making a full and clean break from the entire “friends” group she had, which is good, but therefore is starting over, which isn’t great, but I’m positive it will be better for her. Her new roommate was out when we got there, but came back just as we were about to leave and get dinner. She seems nice. Double major in art and dance. From Chicago. She declined my offer to come to dinner with us (already eaten). So Missy and I ate at Chili’s and then picked up a few more things she needed at Target before I dropped her off and headed home. 

Saturday, we said so long to Alex. He had a 2:55 pm flight from Chicago Midway, but between the holiday travel and traffic and the weather (drizzly) and all, we didn’t know how much time it would take, so we left home at about 10 am. And of course, that meant that there was basically no traffic all the way in to Chicago and security was a breeze. There were only a couple people in line for check-in and hardly anybody waiting at the security checkpoint, so there was plenty of time for lunch and still he had a couple hours to kill. But he got there fine and Scott got him back to his apartment. 

Beth had her first PT session Thursday. Everyone says she’s doing great, although she was in a considerable amount of pain doing the exercises and stretches. All normal, apparently. Riding in a car is pretty painful for her too.

Happy New Year! I thought it was better to post today instead of yesterday because of the natural break in things with New Year's. I guess break is just about over, just as well because it's been awful the last few days. Beth had her total knee replacement on Dec. 27th, last Wednesday, and she's suffering big time. The surgeon told us the first week or two would be just survival, but still we weren't prepared for how bad it would be. We went to the hospital early in the morning, her surgery was at around 7 and she was done by around 9 or so. Maybe earlier. They already had her walking a little bit, even up and down a few stairs, as soon as the anesthesia wore off enough that she could feel her legs. But she is sore sore sore. They sent her home around 3:00, which is still kind of amazing to me that a total knee is outpatient surgery. We borrowed a potty chair, a shower chair, and a walker from the Churchills (Virgil's had both knees done, and Sherrie's had back surgery) and a good thing we did. She could not no-how have done the stairs at the house. So we set up the potty chair and everything at home and for the first several days she sat in the couch, only getting up to go to the potty, and in terrible pain whenever she got up. A few accidents but not on the carpet, at least. I was sleeping in the recliner for the first couple nights, then on the floor, then back to the loveseat... which wasn't great for me either... getting up to help her get up whenever she needed, getting her meds, cleaning up. Alex and Missy were working so I got them to work when needed, and cooked dinner if nobody was bringing us a meal (we did get a few). Otherwise, nobody left the house much. She's now getting to the point where she can get up and down the stairs leaning heavily on the railing, and she walks from the living room to the potty to the kitchen and back around a few times a day. Things are getting better, but not yet to the point where the pain is less than what it was before the surgery. The day after, Beth and I went back in to see the doctor at his office so he could look at her, because we were getting scared at how much pain she was in and how much the incision had bled in the past day. He checked her out, changed her dressing, and said what she had was no unusual and told us that the first week or two was just survival mode. We just weren't prepared for how bad it would be at first. She has showered a couple times now, once upstairs with her leg out of the tub because she couldn't get it over the side, and once downstairs with her leg out of the shower because there wasn't enough room for her to sit in it and close the door. I'm keeping laundry going to keep us in clean towels and bedding, and trying to keep the bathrooms good and clean because her getting an infection scares me to death. 

Last Tuesday, the day before the surgery, we all went back out to Ohio and took Natalie out to dinner for Christmas and gave her her Christmas presents. I'd told Alex and Missy that they didn't have to go if they didn't want to, but they both wanted to (maybe because we were going to Flat Top Grill). We got there, drove back into FW, had dinner at Jefferson Pointe, and drove back to drop her off. She still seems to be doing ok, although we do wonder where the money for the house and food and everything is coming from. Seems to be coming from her friend's family. I just hope things stay stable for her. Dinner went fine, though. She didn't speak to the other kids much if at all, but she seemed to appreciate her presents (mostly gift cards). 

This week, I finally finished (pretty much) the Lego project I've been working on for basically the last year. I've been re-assembling the kids' old Lego sets, ordering any few parts that have been lost, and putting kits up for sale on ebay. I always knew there was a reason I kept as many of the instruction books as possible for this long. Well, I got them up for auction this holiday season, starting in November, figuring it would be the best time to sell Lego sets on ebay. All in all, I sold 42 old Lego sets and profited a total of $920.10 for them. Ninjago sets went like crazy...the biggest sale was for "Ninjago: Epic Dragon Battle" which went for over $120 and profited me $111.69. I'm just passing the money on to the kids, so Alex made $545.19 and Missy made $374.91. The only things that didn't sell were a few mini Star Wars ships and some "Legends of Chima" speeders. And I only have a small container of miscellaneous Lego parts left over.