Surgery on Thursday

 

Yesterday we resumed our school year. It was far from a smooth start due to a variety of factors including my pain and lack of mobility, the noise from new flooring being installed in the dining room, and the fact that it was hard to find out school books because they are usually in the dining room and everything had been moved so the flooring could be installed. The worst subject by far was math, which is always a challenging one for my kids, and having 3.5 weeks off didn't exactly help. The floor installation is complete. We moved the dining room table and curio cabinets back into the dining room last night. Hopefully tonight the two bookshelves and dining room chairs can be moved back into the dining room. The new flooring is thinner than what was there so there's now a white stripe above the floorboard. The walls are green. I don't exactly feel up to tackling that painting project right now. 

I had abbreviated the lesson plans for today because I thought we'd be at co-op from 12-4:45. I added back in Spanish and piano/flute, but we still skipped history today. Nadia babysat for about 90 minutes while Paul took me to an orthopedic doctor. Thankfully, despite the interruption due to my appointment, things went much more smoothly today (although math was still a challenge for Nadia). We finished MUCH earlier today even with me being away part of the morning. Nadia mowed another section of the lawn today, and she also made tuna noodle casserole for dinner with only a little bit of help from me. In addition to taking me to the doctor this morning, Paul also ran into the library to return a few items and check out a few that I had requested. 

They x-rays of my ankle today showed that my ankle is in worse shape compared to the x-rays from September 12. He said it wasn't good that I waited 3 weeks to see a doctor. I wouldn't have waited if we weren't on vacation. Although the vacation was pretty much over for me after my injury, I didn't want to cancel it for Paul, Nadia, Ian, and Oliver. I need a plate and pins inserted in my ankle. The surgery will be this Thursday. They will call tomorrow to tell me what time the surgery will be. I need a plate and pins inserted in my right ankle. I'll have a fiberglass cast for at least two weeks, and then back to a boot for the next probably four weeks. I can't drive for 6 weeks following the surgery, which will mean I won't have driven for 9 weeks plus 4 days. I typically have a very adverse reaction to anesthesia. I'm praying they will give me anti-nausea medication to help prevent me from being violently ill. The doctor said that one of the plates will be on the outside of my right ankle which is an area where there isn't exactly any padding. He said a majority of patients eventually request a second surgery to have the plate removed because it annoys them so much. I hope that isn't the case for me, but I'm trying not to think about that at the moment. 

Since we're entering another lockdown of sorts, I have been cancelling plans for the next couple of months. The most expensive cancellation was the homeschool co-op. On June 15 I waited in line for more than two hours to sign the kids up for the co-op, and I wrote out checks that totaled a little over $400. That was a lot of hassle to go through and a lot of money to spend for only attending co-op one time. By the time I am allowed to drive again, there will only be 3 weeks left in the semester. It seems pointless to rejoin after having missed 10 weeks. Other things I cancelled have included two service projects (food packing), a homeschool roller skating party, and attending a concert in Hershey at the end of the month. Tomorrow I need to call and reschedule my upcoming dentist appointment. Thankfully, another mom is going to pick Nadia and Ian tomorrow afternoon to take them to Bible Bowl which starts at 4:30 at our church. Our neighbor is going to take Oliver and I to church at 5pm for dinner and then Bible study. This fall our church has started offering a meal on Wednesday night at a very reasonable price from 5:15-6:15. This is a big blessing in particular for those who attend Bible Bowl at 4:30 because last year Nadia had to be DONE with dinner (at home) by 4:10 because she was at church from 4:30-8:15pm. Now they can eat dinner in between Bible Bowl (4:30-6:00) and youth group (6:30-8:00). The Bible study I'm joining is meeting upstairs, but I found out they have a chair lift I can use. I climb on my bottom up the stairs at home, but I'm not willing to do that at church! 

The same neighbor has also offered to bring us a meal on Thursday night, for which I am very grateful. Margie ordered me a plastic cover for my cast so that I can get a shower or bath during the two weeks I have a fiberglass cast. Also, Yvonne and Andrew are flying from Quito the US tomorrow to spend some time with Jenna during her fall break. She offered to come up and spend some time with us on Friday and Saturday after they pick Jenna up on Friday afternoon. I'm not sure how much I'll be up to visiting with anyone, but at least I can stay in our bedroom and she can handle cooking dinner on Friday night and such. Yvonne, Andrew, Jenna, and Toby (Jenna's boyfriend) will be the ones spending some time with us on Friday and Saturday. I wasn't expecting to see Yvonne until next summer so this is one unexpected blessing that is coming from my painful injury. Oliver wishes that one of the younger cousins was also coming, but Nadia is looking forward to spending time with Andrew and Jenna.

Not that there's ever a good time to break your ankle, but another reason this wasn't exactly a good time to do so is we just switched our health insurance at the beginning of September. The rates had skyrocketed as to what they were charging Kennedy Concrete to provide three employees with health insurance. So Paul stopped offering insurance, and we switched to a private health insurance. The biggest disadvantage of our current plan is that we owe a certain % of hospitalizations and surgeries. The co-pay for doctors appointments and prescriptions and such is fine. I haven't had any surgeries or hospitalizations in 9 years. It would have been better if this had happened when we were on our old insurance. Hopefully the bills won't be TOO high. We shall see. It's not optional. I need to have my ankle repaired so I can walk properly!