Spoke Too Soon

My weekend of rest and relaxation was a bust. Little Sister called me at 6:45 Saturday morning to say that Daddio was being loaded in an ambulance again. His blankety blank artificial hip popped out for the second time in less than a week. He had to endure not one, not two-but three anesthetized attempts to get it back in before they got it in a place where they could unceremoniously dump him into the back seat of my car like a sack of potatoes and send him on his merry way.

Twelve hours later and less than an hour after the last procedure and with no food, no fluids and no real recovery time he was put on the curb. Yes, I'm talking about you AGAIN  Calvert Memorial Hospital. We've had our problems in the past but this was a new low. Little Sister had begged and pleaded all day to get the old guy some help.With two hip dislocations in less than a week and an obviously failed prosthesis all you could say was that he didn't meet the criteria for even an overnight stay to recoup from this week long assault on an already frail body. We spent Saturday night in tears listening to his post anesthesia induced ranting and raging in between screams of pain as we tried to keep him immobile as per doctor's orders while at the same time trying to meet his physical needs of food and toileting. As careful as we were, we don't have the equipment they have in the hospital, the medications or the manpower to move a brittle and broken patient correctly. This level of suffering shouldn't be. Just shouldn't.  All I know is that my dog gets better care at the vets.

One but Not Done

 Finishing off the first thumb of the Selbu mittens was hard work. I was a wreck and I knew I would goof it up.

Of course I did. When I pulled the yarn through to close it off, I split a couple of stitches. Pulling it all out was no fun.

Once done, I was doing the happy dance. It all came together pretty well.

Front thumb.

Back thumb.
Now all that's left is the other thumb and happy dance number two. I hope.

Home! Sweet Home!

I've had very little time in my holy mess of a house this week. Thank goodness Daddio had the sense to have three girls because I wouldn't have survived much longer without the help of Little and Middle Sister.

I've got projects galore that need attention this weekend along with a filthy fish tank and a cruddy parrot cage.

Someone else is happy to have some big chunks of free time in the schedule this weekend. I know I am.

Toil and Trouble

Daddio hates it when I spend too much time around his place because I am a notorious "pitcher" meaning I throw everything that's not nailed down into the trash without a blink. He doesn't know it because he can't get into the kitchen at the moment but I tossed all his slimy kitchen sponges away and replaced them with some knit dishcloths. After use, I always give them a good thwacking and then drape them over the soap bottle and they dry in a flash. That's got to be so much more sanitary than a yucky sponge, right?

Of course he needs a pile of them so I've been making them whenever I get a second during the day which is not very often.

A few rows here and a few rows there gets the job done-and is helping to keep me sane.

Taking a Tumble

Poor pup has been my constant companion while I struggle through the day trying to meet the needs of a very grumpy old man. When she decided to photobomb the picture I was taking of his tumbler quilt in progress I just had to laugh at that face she's making. All day long she looks at me like "it's time to go home now, right?" She's not very happy in this strange, stinky (he smokes) place. As soon as she settles down for a nap, he does something to aggravate her. He can be a real booger.

I pulled out these pieces after seeing another beautiful tumbler quilt over on the Delighted Hands blog. Daddio hand pieces his and since he's more than out of commission at the moment, I guess I need to add this to my workbasket and see about getting it to a place where it can be finished. I should also mention that the old man took two major tumbles himself today. Thank goodness he has neighbors that can help me get him back up. I've never seen anyone who can flip over a walker like he can. I'm going to have to tie him down.

Busy Work

 Taking care of Daddio is like babysitting a toddler. There's a flurry of activity and then mercifully, there is naptime.

 During his many naps I've been trying to catch up on all the projects he has laying around waiting to be finished.

I also brought Arietta along for the ride. In five more pattern repeats she will be done. I can't wait.

The Joke's on Me

I thought I was so clever whining about the hard times I thought I had been having with Daddio in yesterday's post. Little did I know then that things were going to get even crazier.

At that time I was talking about how much of an issue it has been to get the old guy a hospital bed for the house. His mobility is limited so we needed some help getting him up and down. I fought for two weeks with doctors and Medicare to get it all taken care of only to have him tell me that he hated it. That's after I had turned the house upside to make room for it. I was not amused.

Then, yesterday morning when I went to to pick him up for his swim therapy at the pool, I found him stuck in the bed (not the new hospital bed, but another one) with a dislocated hip. All from bending over to put on his socks-just like he is doing in the photo I took of him in the new bed last week. He has two artificial hips so bending over is a no no. He never uses his little sock gadget or waits for help to arrive so he is always an accident waiting to happen. Once again he took a ride in an ambulance and once again I spent the day in the hospital staring at all the beeping machines. Only this time I never touched the knitting I brought along because my brain just wouldn't let me. I wish I could say that all this was an April Fool's joke but I'm not laughing-except for the part where he had to spend the day in the hospital wearing only his bathing suit and socks. That was kind of funny.