Ric's Road to Recovery

trying to follow Roses suggestion of jokes, this one is silly-
A business executive injured his leg skiing one weekend. By the time he got home Saturday, the leg was very swollen and he was having difficulty walking, so he called his physician at his home. The doctor told him to soak it in hot water. He tried soaking it in hot water but the leg became more swollen and painful. His maid saw him limping and said, "I don't know, I'm only a maid, but I always thought it was better to use cold water, not hot, for swelling." He tried switching to cold water and the swelling rapidly subsided. On Sunday afternoon he called his Dr. again to complain. "Say, what kind of a doctor are you anyway? You told me to soak my leg in hot water and it got worse. My maid told me to use cold water and it got better." "Really?" answered the doctor, "I don't understand it. My maid said to use hot water."

Read more: Hot Water or Cold Water http://www.medindia.net/jokes/viewjokes.asp?hid=28#ixzz2lulP5vlv

Hope you are still A OK Ric!

Saw the Dr. They removed the staples and said the wound is healing very well. The Dr. seemed impressed with the amount of pain drugs I've used and said I can drive and get in a pool to exercise in 2 weeks. I'm walking every day, usually just a bit more each day and have begun taking Alfie, which he loves.The inactivity is making me crazy, but just a day out to the Dr's office after my exercise wears me out.Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and can find plenty to give thanks for.

Ric--

You and I are of like minds when it comes to recovering from surgeries.

"Mind over Matter--If You don't mind----it does not matter!"
My motto in life!!!

You are doing VERY, VERY well!!! Happy Thanksgiving!
I bet there is NO way you will stay out of the kitchen!

Big hug to you both. Ric gets the first one!! Gita

--Mark's (SIL) grilled Turkey---awesome!!

Thank You Gita, Mark's turkey looks great.
As a matter of fact they did keep me out of the kitchen. Dear Cortney, Josh's SO, even baked my mince meat pie for me and made the mashed potatoes, which is usually my job. We both have large Kitchen Aid mixers which do an excellent job of making creamy 'taters, although I still rice mine first. We only had eight for dinner since both daughters went to their in laws. We did have 2 guest, Holly's aunt Marge from California and her daughter Patty from The Windy City, Detroit.All the food was great and everyone had a beautiful day. The weather was sunny and beautiful, although a little chilly. I tired easily and slipped off for a couple restful naps during the course of the day, but did manage to greet, eat, share with everyone.

Glad to hear you had a great celebration. Speaking of...that is great news that you seem to be managing your pain well and wil be allowed to drive sooner than you probably expected. Just listen to your body and rest it often. Glad you are getting your walks in. When my DIL had back surgery in March, we went just a little farther every day till she was going around the block. The inactivity is most likely your hardest obstacle. Praying for your recovery.

Had a couple of bad days this weekend, but I may have been a little enthusiastic about my PT Friday. I had increased my walk and did a few more of my very limited exercises as I was feeling better.The Dr. said it would be a slow recovery, I guess he meant SLOW. Trying to occupy myself is the worst chore, Holly is helping. I've been to the greenhouse, watched the tube and I do like to read so, I've been doing better.

Ric--
Perhaps you could "occupy yourself" by doing some mundane things--
like filing all your papers, going through, and discarding the ones no longer
needed, sorting out old bank statements, and such.

I KNOW how much I HATE to do any of this--and all my papers are scattered
everywhere. Wish I could take my own advice.....

How about starting to write out your Christmas cards? Many of us always
leave this to the very last moment...

Does your silverware need polishing?
Your garden tools may need cleaning and sharpening....

etc....etc...etc....this should keep you busy!! Gita

Ric, looks like you'll be doing the Inner Game of Gardening for a while.

If your approved to do/want to do list includes some computer/MAF time I'd love to hear more about this Hort Rehab. I understand that PA is known nationally for this type of rehab. Is your pain Doc affiliated with this? I'm sure you have had a number of thoughts on what you would do if indeed you did get involved with one. Maybe that could be my new and latest carreer!

I'd also love it if you felt up to it if you restarted a food thread!

Other than the above would you be up for participating in a MAF play list thread with some real oldies but goodies? Who else would join in?

And, I know this is a lot to ask, but since most of us do not have a greenhouse it would be lovely to have you and Holly give us all a glimpse into the daily life of a green house these long cold days. Pretty please?

Have you ever heard of George Weigel (I think we may be related way way back) who does a radio show and column up your way for Central PA?
http://georgeweigel.net/

sorry for the setback Ric
I've just been playing Youtubes by Weird Al Yankovic. SO FUNNY!

I do have a few things blooming in the GH:
1. Verbena brought in for cutting
2.American Bush Violet "Browallia speciosa" I got from Greenthumb
3.bougainvillea
4.anthurium, I got a couple of these after last Feb/March's show in York and they've bloomed ever since.
5.and a hanging basket of red Oxalis with pink flowers

1. & 2.I don't remember what this was from Coleup
3. the last are some of my cuttings, the darned coleus almost need to be cut back already.

George Weigel is the plant guy for the Harrisburg Patriot and does all the local shows, workshops, a weekly column, and usually guides a couple neat tours each year, places like Wales and South Africa. Since the paper quite being a daily we haven't really followed his stuff.

Ric--

#1 is thre "new" Twister Lipstick Plant" Coleup got for everyone.
#2 looks like a regular Lipstick Plant

I trimmed back the longer branches from the one I got from Coleup,
and rooted them and gave them away at the May Plant swap.
And--just for the H--l of it--I stuck several of the fallen off leaves
in a tray of soil too. HA! Many of them are rooted, but I have NO idea
when they will actually put out some growth. It was just for fun.....


My Coleus cuttings are way too tall. They are touching the lights. I need to decide
whether I want to cut them back and root the tops all over again---
or cut them back and let the bottoms re-grow...or both, which would double my
count of plants. This did not work too well last year. I had too many!

I will cut them back--like I did from my garden, and then pot up the new top cuttings.
I think that will be the best....and, of course, I will allow the bottoms to re-grow too....

1--My overgrown Coleus cuttings..
2--the Inky Fingers cuttings..I need to re-pot these--it is a tough grower.
They are still in one cell pack.
3--The one Champ! Olga's Fig Tree cutting. All the rest are rooted--but no leaves.
4--The twisted Lipstick Plant leaves--rooted...now what????
5--The three Acalypla cuttings that are doing well. None of the red-leafed ones grew.
These are all the brownish/rust. beige ones. i SO wanted a red one to root...

They all look great, Ric and Gita. Ric, the GH must be such a pleasure this time of year!

Ric, ya got yer horticulture therapy right there!

Yes, I got plenty to do down in the GH, but still haven't found the ambition. I really need a muse to sort out all the little things I can do, and Walter Mitty be dam*ed.
One of the things I want to do is work with my orchids, the timing is perfect to separate them, repot or mount some and get them ready for their natural floral cycle.

Ric, I like the orchid thing. And I hear you on the Muse and a detailer of what works and when it is too much. The Zen of gardening...effortless effort....

Absolutely crucial to me is the right height work surface and changing positions often. Swivel stools and chairs and lazy susans to bring the work to me were as important as the pillow propping for best sleep alinement or driving comfort. Since I had little range of motion in my neck I had to learn to do many things by moving my eyes instead of my head. Had to learn where my center of gravity was and to carry things at the center of my body and not to either side and to roll out of bed rather than hop! Well, you get my drift. And your healing up body/mind is your new clock and not to be compared to "before" as it is set to now as in the joy is in the journey, not the destination.

Pulling for you buddy! Say, what is on your play list these days? Don't you just love the quality of light in the greenhouse!

There is an Open House this weekend at a local Orchid growers GH. I am hoping to get Ric there, a bit of a drive for him a good 45mins but I think it might give him the incentive to re-pot his orchids and there maybe a few new ones in the GH when we get home. LOL

Ric-

Glad to hear you are doing better. What is that plant behind the coleus? It looks like a fern.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=9720782&extraimg=1

Paul, That's a fluffy ruffle fern, a variety of Boston fern, with a maidenhair fern volunteer. It's one of the after Christmas plants for the house. We move a few nicer looking GH plants in after the tree leaves. After they get beat up and dried out spending late winter in the house they return to the GH for R&R. LOL

The group will include any nice Anthuriums and any orchids that are in bloom.

This message was edited Dec 5, 2013 6:14 PM

We went to an open house at Fishing Creek Orchids, yesterday (Holly and I posted about it in "Indoor Gardens") and had a nice time. We also stopped at Giant for a few thing on the way home. By the time we got home I was miserable but not regretting our day out. A good nights rest and I was back in order. When the Dr.said slow recovery, I did not imagine this. I want to take it one day at a time, to heal as well as I can, and hopefully be better than before. As of Tuesday, I'll be allowed to drive and visit the pool for better non-weight bearing exercise. Since I had months of Aqua-PT to try and avoid this operation, I have a good grasp of what to do to restore strength to the core muscles involved.

Aaaaah, aquatic therapy! That's some pretty wonderful stuff, huh? I had to do that after I got hit by a truck several years back, and I LOVED it! By the end, I had better mobility than I did before the accident, AND I'd lost nearly 25 pounds! =) Ric, when you'd done it before, you didn't find the over-abundance of the chlorine smell bothersome? I've heard of some (my Boss included) who get physically ill from it, and have to quit due to nausea and "sicking up". (I hate that "V" word! < =/ ) I hope it doesn't affect you that way.

Now, when you can snatch this pebble from my hand, you'll know you're well-recovered! =)

Our health club has gone to a saline system in the pool and it feels wonderful. No more chlorine smell, burning eyes.
hit by a truck…my gawd

mm, a hot whirlpool would be lovely for a day like today!

Oh yes, it does sound wonderful, huh? Where do I sign up!? < =D

Ooooh, that saline sounds soooooooo much nicer!! I wonder how they 'work' that, sanitation-wise? I think they over-chlorinated the therapy pool for.. ya know.. sanitation reasons. It's a really warm room (gotta keep those muscles warmed and limber!), and there get to be so many people in that pool. I think I would like the saline pool much better! =)

Saline sounds fabulous -- I've never heard of that. Just like floating in the ocean! And much better for the environment I would think.

Chlorine never bothered me in the concentrations used in pools and hot tubs. I thought the hot tubs that use a bromide system were downright nauseous. I experimented using a system that used copper and nickle electrodes and a small electrical charge. The release of copper was to control algae and the nickle acted as a germicide. I still used less frequent and less concentrated chlorine as a backup.
Aqua therapy exercise is very good as there is little weight bearing and higher resistance. Some trainers claim 3x the workout. The H2O pressure also helps promote better circulation in the lower extremities just like the air socks they use in the hospital.
Our hot tub needs the injector pump replaced but using it as a spa is ok, I also have a lot of Epsom salts in it.
My neighbor has a saline pool outdoors and it is always crystal clear. I didn't understand how it works, but there was something about his controls changing the electrical charge and it's effect on the water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_water_chlorination

I guess I erred in calling it a saline system. Sorry!

crossed with ya Ric!

The salt pool we use feels so nice when you get in. It feels 'soft'!!

Everytime I see this thread I think "Ric's road to Ricovery…"

I found this Youtube which is the whole album of Jim Croce in one, its playing all the songs. He was good! Well, my sister used to play this album. He died in a plane crash at age 30, how sad. Ric, you can tap your toes at least maybe?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVPWURTV5KM

Funny you should post that Sally. I had a friend back in the 70s who was an amazing musician and had attended The Juilliard School of Music.The news of Croce's death inspired him to repair an old Fender classic guitar he had. I enjoyed hours of him playing Jim Croce, Elton John, Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel and others. He belonged to a small acoustic group, 3 guitars and voice mikes, I was the roadie, driver, and mixer for their gigs.They often practiced in a spare room we had set up for music.
Right now tapping my foot is enough. LOL

This message was edited Dec 9, 2013 7:34 PM

Ahh good times. Here's for you Roadie!! This song takes me back to 1979 or 80.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pHlX1xGARA

Sally, I LOVE that song -- I love the transition to Stay, I love Rosemary Butler's voice. I must have listened to that song a million times.

Gee Sally I remember that one well. I looked like that in the 70s, slim, no mustache, and too much hair. Holly resembled the red headed Afro, but she said her's was never that neat.LOL Thanks for the memories.

Wow, there are lots of whole albums on Youtube. Now I'm listening to Doobies . Michael Mcdonald, such a voice...

Oh sorry, Terp. You see, there used to be a group called the Doobie Brothers, back before you were born.....

Sally, the first concert I remember going to featured "The Sons of the Pioneers", one of the first movies I remember going to included a song "Love Me Tender". Advanced sales of the single were a first exceeding one million and resulted in changing the name of the movie.

LOL, Sally! Some of the earliest popular songs I remember are from the Beatles debut in the States--Love, love me do, you know I love you, I'll always be true, So ple-ease, lo-ove me do, da da dee dum dum, and of course, I wanna hold your ha-a-a-a-nd

Oh my GOSH, I used to love "I wanna hold your hand"!!

I was always a big Connie Francis fan when I was a wee lass. "Who's Sorry Now?", "My Happiness"!! Ooooh such good music!! =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUBT69YWqBA

is Karaoke in our future as a Swap activity?? I've long wanted to see if my Patsy Cline would hold up to public scrutiny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OVtpnpCOKM

Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh I LOVE this song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh God bless your fuzzy heart Sally!!!!!! Gonna keep it playing in the background while I goof off here! =)

I'm SURE your Patsy Cline will hold up, I'm ready to cheer you on!! =)