Thanksgiving for 2 1/2 stomachs

     Although Cindy was working today, she did not have to go in until four so there was time for a turkey dinner.  We had all the classics, but on a small scale.  Durelle found a 9 1/2 pound turkey which we accompanied with mashed (riced) potatoes, stuffing, gravy, butternut squash, boiled onions, cranberry jelly and pumpkin pie.  Everything came together right at two-o-clock as if by magic.  It all started with stuffing the turkey.

     That's the potato ricer in the background.  I had recently read a couple of food articles in the run-up to Thanksgiving that claimed that mashed potatoes made with a ricer were absolutely the best way to make mashed potatoes but that, alas, no one has a ricer anymore.  Guess what?  Perched on top of one of our kitchen cabinets as a decoration was Durelle's mother's ricer complete with the conical wooden "pestle".  I got it down and Durelle cleaned it up.  Who knows how old it is...a century?  I did a dry run last week and today turned out a wonderful batch of potatoes.  Instead of dirtying some other implement, I also used it to mash the squash.

     Once the turkey was stuffed, properly seasoned and oiled, the roasting pan was carried out to the Traeger pellet fed grill.  I have a remote thermometer.  One sensor gets inserted into the inner thigh of the turkey.  The other clips to the grate of the grill to provide the oven temperature.  These temperatures are wirelessly remoted to a monitor inside the house.

     The spritzer bottle holds apple juice which is used to periodically to baste the bird.

     Here it is almost done.  Is that the smallest turkey you ever saw?

     The table to which this bird is headed is equally modest...just three plates.  

     Besides, Cindy with her gastric bypass surgery, was tortured by the small size of samples she could have.  Her mother's stuffing brought great appreciative sighs at each of the two bites she felt she could have.
     Still it was a great Thanksgiving.  The scene below has nothing to do with triptofan.  He always looks like this.

     I hope your Thanksgiving was as enjoyable as ours and that you stop from time to time to recognize all that we have for which to be thankful.

Thirty Thousand

     This is a picture of one of the many blossoms on our Confederate Rose, hibiscus mutabilis.  It is pretty, but the da#### thing is still a weed.  In three years it has grown from a mere cutting to where it is taller than our eaves and is covering our back door.  Plus, it was planted inches from the foundation.  When it is done blossoming, I'm cutting it down.  I MAY save a cutting for another location.
     The real reason for today's post is to note the milestone of 30,000 page views.  In the world of professional bloggers that's a day's tally.  In my world it is a few loyal readers who have stayed with me for over five years.  I will take this opportunity to thank you all...or by now I should be saying "y'all".  At any rate, thank you very much.

Halloween

     Over the past few weeks I have posted pictures of several examples of the assorted wildlife that has wandered into our yard.  Thursday there were several more strange examples See the pictures below.

     It is also about time for an update on my shoulder.  After the "excitement" of the immediate post-op period, recuperation has settled into a more conventional routine.  The arm is still in a sling and will be for the foreseeable future.  Initially, the PT will be limited to "no-load", small movements well within my comfortable range of motion...which isn't much yet.  I'm afraid it will be a while before I can begin to rebuild it.  Last Tuesday I had an interesting post-op meeting with the guy who operated on my shoulder.  'Twas a bit humorous.  After 15 minutes of my telling him about tape damage to the skin, several unsuccessful IV attempts, an IV in the neck, a dye-assisted CT scan and two days of a suppressed lung function, he interrupted to say, "By the way, I successfully repaired a completely torn rotator cuff."  I had to laugh.  He thinks that if I am careful, I should regain full motion and function, but he is talking in terms of months. 

     I'm mobile; I can drive; and I can do most everything I need to do.  Although I managed to shave left-handed this morning, I asked Durelle to trim my sideburns.  She has taken over some of my chores temporarily, but I hope that will be short-lived.  The bottom line is that I am fine and recuperating (slowly).  The hip may have to wait a while.  Physical therapy starts Monday.

Surgery

       I know, I know...it has been three weeks!  Many of you know that I am a two-fingered typist.  Now, with my right arm in a sling, I am a one-fingered typist...and the left one at that.  Plus, you should try operating the mouse with your non-dominant hand sometime.
     Having finished with my excuses, I can tell you about the repair to my right rotator cuff.  It was done at Roper-St. Francis in downtown Charleston by Dr. Keith Merrill last Wednesday afternoon.  The surgery took a couple of hours.  As part of the procedure the anesthesiologist installed a drug distribution system to dispense 10 ml per hour of "super-lydocaine" for 50 hours.  There is a sphere the size of a large orange in an external pouch and a very thin length of tubing inserted under the skin to dispense the numbing agent right next to the nerves that need to be numbed after the general anesthesia has worn off.  It works like a champ!  For the distaff side of my readers I'm told it is similar to an epidural. There was NO post-op pain.  Don't worry; there's a "however" coming.
     Thursday afternoon I began to have some shortness of breath.  By lying flat and consciously trying to slow my breathing I could get my respiration rate down from a rapid and shallow 30 to normal rates.  BP, pulse and temp. were all normal.  I called Dr. Merrill and left a message.  When he called back to tell me to go to the ER, I answered the phone from a gurney in the ER to tell him that I was already there.  It was Durelle who said, "Let's not wait for the call-back."  When you say, "...difficulty breathing" in an ER, they move fast.  Within seconds, it seemed, I was on a gurney with my shirt and sling off, and I was plugged in to oxygen and an EKG.  The next procedure was dye-assisted CT scan to make sure that there were no wandering blot clots from the surgery lodged in the lungs.  Two phlebotomists in two arms were unsuccessful while leaving large (6-8 sq in) hemotomas behind.  In their defense, I was dehydrated.  We needed the IV for the dye so the doctor tilted the gurney to lower my head and used a vein in my neck!  On Halloween he'll probably go as Dracula.  At any rate, the lungs were clear.  He then did some tests to measure my lung capacity.  He put a mask on me and had me inhale a medicated mist for a while.  By then I was breathing normally.  He gave me an inhaler and sent me home with instructions  to go to the main ER downtown if it happened again.
     Guess what?  It happened again on Friday.  I just could not get enough air.  I could not speak more than four words without stopping to breathe before continuing.  Cindy, who was off work doing her own post-op recuperation, drove us into the city.  Again, the "can't breathe" gambit got their attention.  Again, out came the oxygen tubing and the EKG and other sensors.  Then in walked Dr. Louis, a personable and perceptive young man.  Within five minutes he had asked a few questions, listened to my lungs and decided that the "super-lydocaine" being dispensed by the "OnQ" device was leaking over to the phrenic nerve that has a major role in lung function.  He was helped by the fact that all the usual causes had been eliminated the afternoon before.  So he turned off the dispenser and left me, still on oxygen, for a couple of hours (I had my Kindle) so that the drug would get out of the system.  He then asked me how I felt, and I said,"Normal".  He sat me up, pressed a stethoscope to my back and exclaimed,"Oh, Wow!"  After living in a world of puzzling, gray area diagnoses, a nice black and white success has to be very satisfying.  For my part it sure was good to get my lungs back.  There was only a couple of hours left on the machine.  He told me that if the pain returned to the shoulder, I could turn the flow back on for a half hour shot.  That would be enough time to sedate the shoulder, but not the lungs.  He was right on.  Saturday, nurse Durelle pulled the tube out of my shoulder and removed some tough tape, and I was finally able to get dressed without the "medicine ball".
     With the sling and keeping the shoulder as still as possible I can now get by with no pain meds.  I even managed a bath today while keeping the dressing dry.  It will get removed tomorrow morning.  It was an exciting few days, but "All's well that ends well."  My hat is off to Dr. Hunter Louis.  Meanwhile my arthritic hip is patiently waiting for the shoulder to be well enough to manage a walker so that it can be replaced.
     
     

Contest is over

     It appears that no one is going to venture a guess as to the identity of the blossom on our crepe myrtle.  Today was a good day for critters in the back yard.  Durelle thought she could see a lump in the crocodile's belly that may have correlated with all the lost dog pictures on the area's telephone poles.  He moved before I took the picture so I "can neither confirm nor deny" the existence of a "lump".   His ribs are clearly visible, so, I guess he's not overfed.

     Also providing a nice wildlife presence to our backyard is our nesting pair of bald eagles.  There are frequent photo ops of one of them handsomely perched on a top branch in front of a blue sky looking positively regal.  Here's one of them taken this morning.

     Someday I'll get a picture of him in flight, perhaps with a fish in his talons.  In the meantime I'll happily settle for stationary pictures such as this one.
     Monday and Tuesday are doctors appointments which I hope to use to initiate some positive steps to restore my mobility.

Horticultural Challenge

     Let's start with a picture of a blossom I took in our yard just a few minutes ago.  I intentionally cropped out anything that would give you a sense of scale

     I'm sure that several of you will recognize the flower.  For others it will be a puzzle. 
     I saw the neurologist this morning.  My main problem is the arthritis in my right hip.  That issue is not in his bailiwick.  We kicked the neuropathy can down the road; i.e. I'll stay with the Lyrica for two to three more weeks.  If it doesn't help, I'll phase off of it.  Thursday is our primary care physician.  Hopefully she can pull the whole picture together and we can make some progress.
     Durelle and Cindy are on the golf course.  When they finish, we'll meet for a late lunch at the "Noisy Oyster".

Evening Sky

     Last evening Durelle yelled, "Frank, get the camera. The sky is beautiful."   I do what I'm told, but she was certainly correct.  There was nothing special about the sky earlier to indicate that it was going to be a great night for sunsets.  Here's another.

     It has cooled down enough that the AC sees only occasional use.  Everyone is quickly getting retrained to a conventional house, and I am really enjoying the Jacuzzi.  Cindy's being on vacation this week has been a pleasant addition.  Can you handle one more sunset picture?