Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Celebrating New Knees and a Birthday!

My brother, Lonnie, is the proud owner of two new knees tonight!!!


I wish everyone could meet Lonnie!
 He is sweet and funny, kind and loving, steadfast and loyal!
He has also been in chronic pain for many years.


We were all there to cheer him on today as he underwent surgery on both knees!!!
Lonnie received excellent care and his nurse prayed for him before he was taken back to the OR.
The surgeon came in and asked his last few questions. "Do you have anything loose in your mouth?"
Our funny brother assured him, "Only my tongue!!!"
I'm certain he was very entertaining right up until he went under!!


There were five of us in the waiting room and we were there at the hospital from 7:00 AM to 2:00 in the afternoon when we were able to see Lonnie. Lonnie's beautiful and loving wife, Michele, Deanie, Charlie, Nita and I spent some quality time together chatting, sipping coffee (thoughtfully brought by Nita) and snacking on peanut butter and crackers (thoughtfully brought by Deanie) and praying for our brother.
See the LARGE area we held court in?
Let me tell you, Deanie arrived earlier and staked us out a really good place! She wiped down every square inch of the seats and arms on the chairs as well as the tables. She had a container of disinfectant wipes and cleaned it ALL up!!!
However, it was the WRONG waiting room!!!
She had to relocate and then clean up the one you see above - which she did and it was all sparkling and free from germs by the time we got there!!!
I was so silly to think that a hospital would be the last place you would need to clean!
Lucky for US that we have Deanie!!!

The doctor came out to talk to us after the surgery and told us Lonnie's right knee was in far worse condition than previously thought. He said it wasn't the very WORSE he's ever seen but pretty bad!


Lonnie looks much happier now that this is behind him and he is ready to move on the hard work of physical therapy and recovery. Plus - he got to EAT!!!
Thanks, Deanie, for the good pics!


Nita and I left the hospital and went to the Olive Garden to celebrate her birthday - which is tomorrow. It's not often Nita and I get to spend time together! You can count on one hand how many times this has happened and every time it was because of someone having surgery!


I gave her birthday present to her last night and she loved it!
Nita is working on a Santa wall of her own!!


She and I did a couple of errands after lunch.
She had never been to Trader Joe's before! GASP!
She has now and she loved it!
See the color in the tree???


I thought this was so clever! Texas doesn't have a lot of fall foliage so someone decided to help Mother Nature!


I was excited to see THIS!!!!
Looking forward to having some with coffee in the morning!

There's something exhausting about spending most of the day in a hospital - even when you are having a good time. Probably all that time sitting.
I came home and went straight to bed - even though it was 6:00!
Louis Dean spent the day in recovery mode from all his hard work for the last 10 days.
He was outside covering some of the trenches when I got home.
It's nearly time for some serious clean up out there! Mud is smeared absolutely everywhere and I think there's a different kind of mud as well......concrete!
At any rate, the rain has returned but his work was completed in time.
While that nap helped - I'm ready to go back to bed!


18 comments:

Kathy said...

So glad Lonnie came through the surgery well. Continued prayers for him as he recovers. That was so nice that you got to share Nita's birthday with her. I almost never get to share my birthday with any of my siblings. That fall garland in the tree is a riot.

Joy@aVintageGreen said...

a GOOD news post. So grateful that Lonnie is on the other side of his double knee surgery.

Small Kucing said...

Good news then :). Hope Lonnie will not be in pain anymore. Speedy recovery to Lonnie

Arlene G said...

I had to laugh about yall cleaning the WRONG waiting room!lol That would be me as well. Glad the surgery went well. I admire him having both done at the same time. My husband had one done and it was quite the ordeal. I am sure Nita did love that Santa Claus!!

Nita said...

I love my Santa painting, each of your Santa paintings have a very special place not only on the wall but our memory. Thank you so much for this one of a kind gift. Also for the great birthday lunch/dinner . I enjoyed our time together. I love you dearly ! (:

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

I'm glad for Lonnie. My Mom had both of hers done at the same time too, and she did well with it! It's made a huge difference in her life!

Your Santa painting is wonderful! Love that delightful twinkle in his eyes!

Praying that you do not have the flooding issues you had in the spring!

Deanna

Susie said...

Linda, I am so glad your brother got that surgery over with. He will be too once the pain of surgery is gone...but the PT is necessary. I think you and LD will need a couple days to just rest. I am praying the new drainage system works for your house. I can't believe the rain Texas is getting again. We are to have some tonight...so Ted and I have to clean the yard of all these leaves so they don't get matted down and ruin the lawn. Blessings to all of you, Love, Susie

Changes in the wind said...

Glad all went well and your Santa is BEAUTIFUL!

Vee said...

Wonderful how you all support one another. Praying that Lonnie does very well with his therapy. I have heard that people feel better right away even with the surgery because they were in even more pain before.

Take care of your sweet selves! Santa has the sweetest grin and a wonderful twinkle in his eyes.

Linda said...

Lonnie is very brave to have both knees done at the same time. My sister in law did also and it went well. My sister had one knee and it was hard for her. Lonnie sounds like a 'fungi' LOL or a fun guy. It was so nice of all of you to be there. I would have never thought of cleaning the waiting room...but that is a great idea.

Jan said...

So glad Lonnie came through the surgery well. Prayers for swift healing and that he'll soon up around without pain!

Estelle's said...

Wow! Bilateral knee replacements....big hugs to him as he will most likely need this for his recovery! How wonderful to have you all there for support. I am always so happy to hear what discoveries you have found and how you celebrated the family! Big hugs Linda...have a lovely weekend!

Carole said...

Glad to hear it went well. I think I might need a new big toe soon! Cheers from Carole's chatter

Nonnie said...

I'm glad everything went well. It's always great having family with you when you face any kind of surgery. It's still a mystery to me how a person can have both knees done at the same time. Love the pics and really like the Santa gift.

Angie said...

So glad everything went well with Lonnie's surgery. Hopefully this will give him some relief :)

Aloha Acres said...

I'm glad your brother is doing well. It sounds like he had it taken care of just in time.

BeachGypsy said...

just stopped by to see how Lonnie is doing? Best wishes for a FAST AND COMPLETE RECOVERY!!

Carla said...

Hooray for Lonnie. He'll be running circles around you ladies soon enough. LOL. Hey I've not been to Trader Joe's either. LOL
I love that Santa. The detail around his eyes made the picture.