HOME AT LAST :D

 HAPPY MONDAY NIGHT
2222HRS


It is hard for me to believe that, I have had my surgery, Monday February 6th 2012,
0900 on the dot :D  they were right on time.  When I woke up I was in my room,  
My sweetheart, Eric was there, with Vena and Tyler.  It was good to see them.  
   I have to laugh,  My toes to cramp and my it feels like needles going into my heel just 
like it did before the surgery.  I have tingling in a foot that is no longer there.  :D  I have 
met others who have phantom pain they do not find it humorous,  but I do.  I have to laugh
how in the world do you feel pain something that is no longer there?  I have not been able to
convince my brain, I no longer have a lower leg.  :D  I am thankful he was able to do what is known as  a  RBKA -----   RIGHT LEG-- BELOW THE KNEE AMPUTATION------------
     On the second day,  of my hospital stay,  I began to transfer to the bedside chair,  using my left leg
I pushed and with my arms I pulled my body up to the top of the bed because I always seem to slide down somehow.   The thing I found the hardest ......... I am on 20 mg of lasix  ( water pill )  :D
I am also on full liquid diet.   not clear liquid......
  breakfast consisted of.......
grits ( which i do not care for) 
apple juice
orange juice
ice cream
pudding


lunch :D 
pureed cream of chicken soup  ( tasted really good)
ice tea
hot tea
juice
pudding
ice cream


dinner  :
pureed cream of celery soup  ( it was really good )
ice tea
hot tea
juice
pudding 
ice cream :D 

this continued Monday through Wednesday  
yeahhhhhhhhhhh  finally a real food diet. Actually the other wasnt bad at all. The flavors were really good and it reminded me when i got my tonsils out  :D ice creams, puddings  etc.......   
the downside is .........with all of this liquid.......  I had a very hard time tyring to get to the bedside chair without wetting all over everything,  lasix and liquid diets do not mix  :D 
Every time I moved I wet to bed,  Oh believe me I still went to the bedside chair and had plenty 
there but wow........ it was hard.  lol and to me :D quite funny.   
   The second day,  the therapist came in, got me out of bed,  and with nerve damage in both arms
one leg working and minus one leg,  The got me up on a walker to walk down the hall,  Can you believe this???????   how does a person with one leg, never damage in both arms use a walker to walk down the hall?   I highly suggested the belt and they did use,  I felt much safer and I headed down the hall.  I was at the end of the hallway and about 10 rooms up through the doors was the nurses station. I didnt do too bad..... I didnt make it to the nurses station but close.  Now the hard part  
lol  I have to get back.  I made it and I was so happy to see my bed.   :D yeahhhhhhhhhhh......
   From that day on I continued to progress.  I walked a little farther down the hall than the day before,  :D  not much but a little.   I must say that my Nurses, CNA's,  ect........  took wonderful care of me.  There were alot of student nurses there,  that week.  they were also amazing and were quite fascinated by me.  lol  Cant imagine anyone being fascinated by me .......  I have always tried to keep a 
good attitude and no it is not always easy.  I have to admit,....... LAUGHTER is the best medicine.
    When you are smiling and joking,  it makes those around you feel better, more at ease with you and 
your day will be better and so will theirs.  
Because of my attitude,  the cna's,  didnt mind me calling them because I had accidents, or when I wanted to take a bird bath.  My first Cna  would not smile and the first thing I thought was........
hmmmmmmmm   I am going to make her my friend :D   I ignored her non smiles, stern ways,  I laughed, joked , always requested  never demanded,  I always thanked her.  These are things I always do ....... I did  not change or try to be somebody I wasnt,  It was not long and she smiled and was very kind to me.  All to often the Aids are not appreciated,  people demand from them most of the time more than they can give,  the pay is low and those who think they are better than the aids are like 
the Bullies at school.  You are not above them,  you need them.  Dont kid yourself. Try going to the hospital and do everything yourself,  the waitress,  you look down on........  if it were not for him or her, you would not have anyone to bring you a meal.........
   I am going to change the subject now and here are some photos of me when I was in the hospital
the first photo was taken about 2 hours after waking up from surgery.  the second one is of my amputated wrapped leg.  The third photo is my leg being held by AnnaMarie my nurse,  when she was changing my bandages,  one of the student nurses took this photo.  
  I am very tired tonight, praying you have a blessed Tuesday.  Hopefully my Therapist will be here in the morning. My nurse Linda came Sunday.......  she was with me for three hours working on papers, correcting things,  teaching me how to change my bandages,  teaching me to take care of my leg.  

   Night , Sweet Dreams and have a wonderful day :D  

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

    IT is so hard to believe that 2011 is over and 2012 is now here.  When you look back what are your favorite moments?  your worst moments?   Did you fix an extra special meal or did you smoke out the kitchen :D    
  January starts a new year, a clean slate, last year is wiped away, a new year is beginning, I want 2012 to be different.  March 2010 My beautiful son passed away suddenly at the age of 24 one month away from his 25th birthday.  December of 2010 one of my best friends passed away suddenly, her heart failed her.  May of 2011 a high school friend died of cancer,  my best friend of 30 years found out she had cancer, she is one of many friends who are fighting this disease.  
   I am having surgery February 6th 2012, I am thankful for this. If I was not able to have this surgery, within 6 months I would not be able to walk at all.  
  As the time gets closer for my surgery.  I cannot help but be nervous, even though this is at my 
request.  I find myself getting a little snippy sometimes and that is not me.  I am an easy going happy person, the biggest percentage of the time.  
  I have found a place near my home that makes PROSTHETICS AND ORTHOTICS....
they are the company that made WINTER THE DOLPHINS TALE,   so she could swim and 
have normal motion for a dolphin.  She has been an inspiration to so many,  young and old alike.
   I have also began reading about NATIONAL CHALLENGED ATHLETE FOUNDATION.
An aquaitance of mine runs marathons for this foundation.  He us to run for many foundations until he met CODY MCASLAND, who at the time was six years old at the time and double amputee.  :D 
He won Tommys heart. He has children and this little energetic, smiling face would not let him walk away from this foundation  :D  
    When I am walking again, and doing well, I want to become involved with this foundation.  


http://www.challengedathletes.org/site/c.4nJHJQPqEiKUE/b.6466441/k.C44D/Florida.htm




  if you have not checked out this site, please do so. :D  it is an amazing.  
Life is what we make it.  I want a clean slate, a new start, a new journey,  I want Gods blessings upon my life,  I am so thankful he has saved me, kept me, protected me.  He has kept his angels around our home,  I cannot tell you how many times,  he has healed my body, my mind and my soul.  
    Praying you have a blessed 2012 and it continually gets better as time goes on.  
Sending lots of  prayers, hugs, and wishing all of you a wonderful safe NEW YEAR  :D

SAW MY SURGEON TODAY NOV 9TH 2011

   Hello and Good Morning,
 Eric and I went to see my surgeon Wednesday November 9th 2011.   He asked me if I decided
if I wanted above the knee or below the knee.  I told him I would like below the knee, but he 
knew more about it than I  do and what ever he thought would be best.  
   We decided  below the knee and if there were difficulties, with the healing due to blood flow
He would have to go above the knee.  I did find out that above the knee,  it takes about 
eight months to one year to learn to walk.  I guess it is more difficult  because of the joint not 
being there.  
    I told Eric I felt so safe with him.  He asked me why and I told him, going through everything
I have been through,  he has also went through it with me and now this.  It makes me feel safe
to know someone who loves me will be there while I am having the surgery,  while I am healing,  
and also after it is all over and I am walking.   :D  
   Of course with this being my right foot that means that,  I will not be able to drive for awhile.  
This bothers me more than the amputation.  I realize that there is a reason for everything,
and everytime I have ever been through anything.........  It has made me stronger.  I do not like
what I have been through,  like i posted before.......GOD WILL SEE ME THROUGH............
   Praying whoever reads this has a Blessed day and safe one
hugs
Candy

Journey To Amputation

 October 17th 2011  Monday


   Hi My Name is Candy,
 I was born in Ohio, to wonderful parents. My dad worked for General Motors and my mother was a stay at home parent who went to work during the holidays to help with buying groceries. Every year, GM would go on strike from  November thru December into January. .  
     I am blessed to have wonderful parents, when I was born, my right foot was deformed,  5 little toes, bones that protruded out on each side of my ankle, which of course made it hard to wear the shoes they made at that time.  They were like the stride rites I purchased for my son and they may have well been stride rites. I do not know.  I was blessed to be able to do just about anything I wanted to do re: sports, However I was lousy at basketball and I could never master the art of making an accurate basket.  I loved tap dance and throroghly blamed my teacher when I was not able to participate becaue I could not do ......HEEL TO, HEEL TOE,  my heel would not touch ground.  I cried, I was so angry with this beautiful teacher who was kind to me, yet would not allow me to participate, I was 6 years old and could not understand.   my mother tried to explain, I cried my heart out.  I started gymnastics and this was something that I loved and it allowed me to do many different areas. With the exception of the .....DREADED BALANCE BEAM.........  ohhhh how I wanted to be able to master it. I tried over and over.  The uneven Parellel bars were my friend and I did very well on them.  The Teacher wanted me to do a program, alas  I was now too shy and could not imagine doing that. 
Maybe it was due to my heartbreak from tap dancing, maybe not. It didnt matter, I just could not do that.  The funny thing is....... I was not worried about making a mistake, I was the only in the class that would do a round off flip from the top bar to land on my feet properly. I was blessed to be able to do just about anything I wanted to do while growing up. I was able to do cheerleading stunts until I was 45 years of age, then my body said ...... NO MORE ..... gymnastics, the uneven prallel bars were my favorite. ,  I ran track, not very well I might add as my right foot wouldn't hold up under the pressure.  However, I was able to enjoy walking anywhere I wanted to go.  It seemed to hold up if I wasnt running and pounding it to the ground.  
     My first surgery was at two years old.  While they were in there,  the surgeon cut off two inches of  bone in order to straighten out my foot.  This left my leg two inches shorter than the left leg.  
I wore a cast for about one year.  Amazinly enough,  I learned to walk a second time. 
   At first it wasnt too bad, then as I got older, the ankle as I found out didnt have a joint in it.  
I grew taller and :D not much I am still only five foot two,  as I grew, I walked more on the front
of the foot.  The pad is calloused and has been well used over the years,  my heel to this day is soft, it has never really touched the ground.   I wore stilettos from the time I was in high school, until my total left knee replacement in August 2007.  Suprisingly enough,  they were the best shoes since it lifted my right foot to what would be a  natural postion for it.  I use a pumice stone on my feet, soak them, dry them off , to try to keep my feet looking decent, I massage coconut butter on them. My left foot, does well, that poor right foot never looks like it has seen a pumice stone or lotion.  
   Last year my right leg below the knee was going to be amputated.  My only child suddenly passed away and left this world to be with our Lord.  Mentally,  there was no way I could go through any type of surgery.  He had planned on staying with me for a week or so after my surgery.  Now he is gone.
    After I have the DOPPLER ,  Tuesday the 18th of October,  I will have an appointment to go back in to speak my surgeon and we will begin to make arrangements.  I do not want to have the surgery,
during the holidays.  In January 2012 after the twelth I would like to have it.  My foot is not life threatening, it is very debilitating.  The older I get, the harder it is to walk.  My toes are curling under and thank goodness I have a wondeful Podiatrist.  He fixed a toe guard to keep my curled toes from being walked on.  I am so thankful for my Dr.'s.  It is a shame not everyone is able to have Dr's as good as mine.  
      When I was eleven years old,  the surgeon told my parents, that they could stop the growth in my left leg so my right leg could catch up.  The surgeon went in,  cut my ligaments, cartlidges,  placed three large metal staples on each side of my knee on my growth bone.  It did prevent my left leg from growing, what they didnt anticipate is, instead of being five foot five,  It turned out I am only five foot two.  Not what they had in mind.  Here I am at 11 years old learning to walk again for the third time. 
   I always joked with everyone that since I have learned to walk three times you would think I would really be good at it.   :D.   When I had my surgery August of 2007,  Once again I find myself learning to walk for the fourth time.  With this amputation, I will start a new journey for the fifth time in my life.  Not bad for being 54, How many my age can say that at 55 they have learned to walk for the fifth time.  :D   Life is beautiful.  God has provided so much beauty around us, A person cannot help enjoying life.  
   Today is the first day of the rest of my LIFE.  This is a really good motto,  my favorite is :
LIFE IS TO SHORT TO BE GRUMPY.................
I follow this motto every day when I wake up.  Going through the grief with my son. It has not been as easy it use to be.  Through God, family and friends,  I have been able to at least make it through this ordeal.  Something I never ever thought I would have to go through.  
      Tomorrow is my doppler, time to reflect, think, pray.  

Have a blessed day and always be safe