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Monday, May 7, 2012

Nurse

May 7, 2012

I don't mention Walter very often on this page, except to point out how remarkable he is and how much I love and appreciate him.  I think he glances at the page from time to time, but only when he is extremely bored.  That (my mentioning him, not him reading Let's Do It!) may change in the next couple of days.  Walter is having foot surgery on Wednesday, and I'm reprising my role as tertiary house nurse (supporting Head Nurse Teddy and 1st Assistant Nurse Willie).  I hope to negotiate a deal with the patient, where I can share endearing and perhaps humorous tales with the public, without stretching the matrimonial pledges of trust too much.  What a great way to kick off National Nurses Week! 

Or perhaps I would be on safer ground if I proposed to you that from time to time this summer I will publish a fictional account of imagined encounters with an unknown person (perhaps I will call him Maximillian) recovering from a non-specific malady who has very limited mobility.

Here's an installment:

In anticipation of having at least ten weeks of non-driving and an uncertain number of weeks out of commission at the gym (did you know that Maximillian was a seven-day-a-week workout guy?), Maximillian bought a rowboat (do not think I mis-typed the phrase rowing machine) to attempt to get some cardio in while he recovered.  Now we just have to hope that he gets back on his feet and into the gym before drought conditions re-emerge and the lake disappears again.

Here are your two assignments until the next post:
  1. Maximillian's rowboat needs a name.  Please suggest your first choice.
  2. If you have had foot surgery, give me a hint what I might expect.




   

8 comments:

  1. I've never had foot surgery, but I can assure you that patience will be needed. On to the boat name. If you want the name to compliment the current status of your lake (and possible future status), I would name it WoeBegone. If you are a "glass half full" personality, call it Water Tamer.

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  2. Michael. That's a good name for a rowboat.

    Never had foot surgery. Broke my ankle. Got a cast on it. Soon afterwards I got stuff to keep water off the cast so Dad and I could paddle the New River Gorge (II-IV whitewater). Cool thing? My foot floated better (no, I did not swim out of my boat!, I tested out the "cast condom" to see if it worked!). I also got my boat off the top of the truck because I was sick of waiting for Dad and got myself downnnnn to the put in, because I was impatient with Mr. Engineer everything has to be dotted and crossed when we should just be getting on the freakin' river. Of course I was like 20, had just burned out from competitive paddling and so I was still in killer shape, and I was too young and not so smart enough to know I shouldn't be doing that. Also, way too independent too for my own good.

    What to expect? I guess my point is it all depends on how young and not so smart Mr. Walter is. I know he's not young physically, but those eyes of him give a hint that inside he's a lot younger than he appears. Plus he's an academic, so don't tell me he's all dependent and stuff, he wouldn't be in academia if he were! So, I guess seeing that, I'd be careful. He may just take off on his own and you'll be left alone, just you and your first assistant, and he'll be off hiking or whatever it is you Texas people do during the summer. :)

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  3. Saving Grace - because, you HOPE it will be his :-)

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  4. Never had surgery, but I've been in the nurse line up here a time or two. Please advise M. to dose himself with pain meds according to the doc's recs in the first 72 hrs, even if it seems unnecessary. He doesn't want the pain to get away from him, and sometimes that means beating it to the punch for the first three days.

    Good luck guys. He is lucky to be in quite capable hands.

    Name it Jim.

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  5. I've had lots of surgery but none on my foot. I have had broken feet though. I would agree to stay on top of the pain. Its definitely harder to control pain once it's begun. My sister had foot surgery in 2004. Her recovery was very smooth. She was on crutches for a few weeks, then in a walking cast. Pretty straight forward.

    As for the row boat name I would suggest one of the following:
    Reel Obsession
    Anchorman
    Reel Escape

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  6. Vickie's Respite

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