We're home

8:30 p.m....Well, I thought maybe her pain was getting better, but the bad pain is back. I just had to call the doctor to see if he can call her in something stronger for the pain. It's the kind of pain where you just moan because it hurts so bad. (9:00....the doctor just called back and doubled her pain meds.)

Just got home. Surgery went fine, but was very long. She's in a lot of pain.

Thank you to all of you who sent messages and prayers. And when she turned her phone back on in the car, there was a text message from Scott. Edit: And then late tonight, she talked to Ethan online. She talked to Adam on MySpace. Everybody has been so good to check on her and pray for her. I really appreciate it.

On the way home, we drove through Walmart's parking lot, because she wanted to wave at Jim (he's the door greeter) like she was in a parade. So the manager and others came out to see her. She had to tell them how to fix a computer problem while she was there. Our daughter, the computer geek. But I'm glad her bosses think enough of her to want her there, because they know she can fix a problem.

One of the nurses at the hospital is one of Beth's regular Walmart customers. She told Beth she better get well, so she could check out with her at Walmart.

The kitties were glad to see her.

She has to wear a compression stocking on the right leg to keep down the possibility of bloodclots, as well as have a shot of a blood thinner in the stomach once a day.

The left foot is in a half cast and is bandaged heavily. She had a ruptured tendon that had to be repaired. The stress fracture has apparently healed itself. He said the thing he originally called a bone cyst, is nothing to worry about. They broke the heel bone and repositioned it. It has a huge screw up through the bottom of the heel. He split a tendon length-wise, drilled a hole in a bone, looped half the tendon through that,  re-attached the tendon at the original spot, and filled in the hole with "bone putty". I wondered if they can get that at Home Depot. He did not have to break the bone on the top of the foot. He thought he might. He said after 8 weeks, she has to have a lot of physical therapy, not only to strengthen the joint, but to loosen the Achilles Tendon. It is so tight now that it makes it difficult to flex her foot.

In pre-op, Beth and I started laughing so hard, one of the nurses thought I was crying. She asked me if I was alright. But we were listening to all the questions being asked of other patients...and then hearing the answers....and some of them were just stupid. And we just couldn't keep a straight face.

One nurse asked a patient if she was taking cholesterol lowering medication to lower cholesterol   Steve said, "No...we just like the taste." The same woman who takes that medication said she had both her thyroids removed (You only have one. I has 2 sides, but it's one thyroid.) And she said she didn't need her glasses to see...only for writing.

They have signs above the beds that say because of the privacy act, they are required to ask you if it's ok to ask all these health questions in front of the people who might be with you. Yet, it's ok to ask them within earshot of every other patient and their visitor in the pre-op room. The beds are only separated by a curtain.

Beth said, "Step outside the curtain so you won't hear the answer!"