“A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running.”
Snow was on the deck furniture covers this morning in a couple of spots. I figured it came from a few stray flurries as last night was cold and it rained, poured, all day and night. Today is no better. I have to venture to the deck later to fill the feeders. Maybe I should be looking for my mukluks.
I have much to do today. Later, I’m heading to Boston to stay overnight at a hotel because I have to be at the hospital by six for surgery at 7:30. I’m having back surgery. My back has been horrible for a while, and I tried all of the steps recommended by my doctor before we decided it was time for the surgery. They’re fusing a couple of vertebrae and holding them in place with screws. I will be in the hospital for three days so Coffee will be on hiatus. I’m looking at maybe Friday but definitely Saturday for my triumphant return to the blogosphere.
The screws have given some the opportunity to make a few remarks having to do with my sanity. I abided all the barbs and added a few of my own. I admitted I was getting screwed, proverbially of course.
I have a bit to do before I can leave so I have to get myself in gear. Talk to you Saturday!
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: Surgery
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
November 8, 2010 at 9:51 am
Taking it upon myself to speak for the Kataholics, we will be thinking about you and waiting anxiously for your return. Feel better soon.
November 8, 2010 at 10:12 am
Thank you, my dear Hedley!
I am already looking forward to home, and I haven’t left yet.
November 8, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Who is supervising Gracie ?
November 8, 2010 at 2:14 pm
The dog sitter moves in tonight and will stay here. What is great is she has Tuesday and Wednesday off every week so Gracie will have plenty of company. She stayed here last June too.
November 8, 2010 at 10:25 am
take care, kat!
November 8, 2010 at 10:26 am
Thanks, Greg
November 8, 2010 at 10:36 am
Having a wife with (evidently) either lesser insurance or smaller surgery (they only had to keep her overnight), I can empathize and wish you very well. The hiatus may not be as short as you wish it were, due to pain and lack of urges to blog when more persistent and SHARP urges force you to relative inaction. Here’s hoping you have someone to serve your every wish and well-wishers to look in on you to spell the one(s) who serve you.
Bright roses and brighter, sun-shiny days to follow the operation!
November 8, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Rick,
You have to love sisters! Moe is flying on on Friday from Colorado and she and Sheila will be down on Friday to serve my every wish.
I’m hoping I can just relax and eat bonbons!
Thanks-sun-shiny days sound perfect.
November 8, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Hope all goes well and results are excellent. Look for you on Saturday.
November 8, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Caryn,
Thanks! I can’t take the back pain nay more so any little bit will be an improvement.
November 8, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Good luck and have a speedy recovery. Hopefully you have insurance. A procedure like yours will probably cost more than a new Mercedes Benz sports car. That amount is probably not including the bill for the hospital.
Who knows what will happen to health care and the recently passed bill now that the Republicans have won the House of Representatives.
Thank goodness I am still working and my family and I are covered by my employer.
November 8, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Bob,
I have Blue Cross so I am welcomed with open arms at the hospital.
I don’t want to think about the republicans. I need to be in good spirits to aid in healing.
I am proud to say I live in the bluest of the blue states. All 10 representatives are dems!
November 8, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Unfortunately, I live in the reddest of red states. We just elected a very right wing governor for the third four year term. He succeeded George W. Bush. I hope he doesn’t plan to run for national office.
The only good thing is that there is no state income tax.
You will do just fine.
November 8, 2010 at 12:58 pm
I´m already looking forward to Your next post on Coffee!
Great that You will fix Your back, I know how painful back pain can be! My hips were nothing in comparing to back pain. But I´ve just learned that my hips now are worth more than my home is 🙂 🙂 🙂
Take care my friend and have a speedy recovery!
Christer.
November 8, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Thanks, Christer
I remember your recuperation after your surgery so I’ll use you as my role model. I wonder if you can get home equity loans on your hips?
Thanks for the well wishes!!!
November 8, 2010 at 3:27 pm
I´ll have to ask about that 🙂 🙂 Great to have as a last resource if the money stops coming in 🙂 🙂 🙂
November 8, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Good luck, Kat! I loved your music pics of the day and will be thinking of you and wishing you a quick recovery. With any luck, soon you’ll look back on this and say, “it was well worth it!”
November 8, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Thanks, Nan
I was at my pain threshold end so anything will be an improvement.
I had to hunt to find just the right music, but I was happy with my finds! I’m glad you enjoy them.
November 8, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Make sure you ask for and get a morphine drip. They hook it up so when the recovery pain hits you can push a button on the remote and three hits and you’re back in la la land. It was wonderful for me and I wished I could have taken it home. Enjoy the blood tests, unnecessary x-rays, wired heart alert wherein they refuse to let you sleep more than 45 mins at a time . . . that’s fun. So is trying to get to the bathroom with the drip bag harnessed to a tree. You’ll have wonderful stories to tell by the time you get home. And for back pain don’t let them lie to you that there is no Tylenol 4. It works like morphine and if you can’t get a pill prescription for that get them to give you the T-4. Kills back and hip pain instantly. It does for me with my Nupagen shots. I’ll be thinking about you!
November 17, 2010 at 11:21 am
Z&Me,
No choice for a drip but I was right on schedule for the morphine they added to the IV. I had to use a commode -yikes! This was not a peasant experience by any stretch of the imagination.
November 8, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Will you be able to hear better?
Cheers
November 17, 2010 at 11:21 am
Minicapt,
I was just hoping I could sing-nope.
November 8, 2010 at 11:02 pm
How I wish I could help out, but hopefully your knowing I feel this way will do. If you can think of anything I can send your way to help speed your recovery, please let me know. And BEST OF LUCK for complete success. Try not to give those sisters TOO hard a time! Keep us posted.
(Re: the previous post from JMH: “MEOW!”)
November 17, 2010 at 11:23 am
im6,
My sisters are perfectly wonderful. They wait on me hand and foot. Also, the VNA is here in numbers.
I love you for your offer!
November 9, 2010 at 7:07 am
Now that I read you in the morning, I am always a day late for the party. I have only good wishes and vibes to send your way, dear Kat, and hope for a speedy recovery. Keep the music on and sing (only in your head, if need be) through the pain.
November 17, 2010 at 11:25 am
Cuidado,
Sadly the music left me only to be replaced by all my favorite obscenities. I do keep remininding myself it gets better.
November 9, 2010 at 8:23 am
Thinking of you and looking forward to hearing that you’re well on the way to feeling better.
November 17, 2010 at 11:27 am
Thanks, Sarah
I seem to be better today than yesterday.
November 9, 2010 at 10:07 am
Hi Kat –
Good luck with your procedure. Hope you have a speedy recovery. I have found from several surgeries that you need to push yourself to accelerate your recovery. Be well Herb
November 17, 2010 at 11:28 am
Herb,
I’m gritting my teeth through the pain when I get up or down. I figure your well wishes must help.
November 9, 2010 at 10:23 am
as usual i am a day late.
wishing you a speedy recovery and mucho pain meds.
if all else fails you can dictate a column to moe, or just let her pinch hit for you.
hugs and kisses and chicken soup with saltine crackers
xoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoox
November 17, 2010 at 11:28 am
Thanks, splendid
I never turn down a pain killer!
November 9, 2010 at 11:43 am
Good luck, Kat! We’ll be sending speedy recovery wishes winging north to you this week.
November 17, 2010 at 11:29 am
Sprite,
I got all those wishes!
November 9, 2010 at 11:59 am
Just wanted everyone to know that Kat came through her operation with flying colors. Got a call from the hospital, they reported that the operation didn’t take as long as expected and that she woke up in recovery quicker than expected (a family trait – I heard the nurses chatting about so-and-so, and they looked so surprised when I commented on their conversation).
Kat will be out in two or three days and my other sister and I will be heading down Cape to care for her. We’ll get her better and back blogging (pun intended) to you soon!
And thank you for all your good wishes. I’m sure they’ll help in her recovery.
November 9, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Glad to hear she’s doin’ fine. I know it will take quite a while for recovery but she’ll be ready for Christmas shopping in no time.
Give her my best.
November 9, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Will do, John!
November 11, 2010 at 12:58 pm
I´m so glad to read this!
Give her my best!
November 9, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
November 9, 2010 at 8:10 pm
A priest walks into a hospital room of a young man who is there for minor surgery and tells him “I’ve come to administer the Last Rites of the Church.” Somewhat shocked, the patient replies, “but Father, I’m only here for a little while.” In his most reverent voice the priest responds “we’re all only here for a little while my son.”
November 10, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Get well soon Kat. The blogosphere is not the same without you,
November 10, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Best wishes for a very smooth hospital experience and a quick recovery. I will think good thoughts for you. I do love your blog…!!
November 10, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Went to see Kat last night. She was feeling uncomfortable, a 4 on the pain scale. Per her request, brought her a cup of coffee. She drank it with a straw.
Spoke with Kat today. She sounded like Eeyore on meds, poor thing. The lady-in-the-next-bed’s husband spent his visiting time picking up all the things Kat had dropped. My other sister tried calling her tonight, but after the phone was picked up, it was dropped. Apparently the husband wasn’t there, because when she tried again, the phone was busy. As Kat has said many times, her clumsiness is genetic (from Dad) and now it’s in overdrive!
I’ve passed along all your good wishes and Kat is looking forward to blogging when she gets home. It should be a good one with all her impressions of her hospital stay with a humorous twist, as is her wont!
November 11, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Doesn´t sound nice at all with the pain! I do hope most of it is gone by the time she´s going home!
Christer.
November 11, 2010 at 2:23 am
Hi Kat,
Really sorry to hear about your hospitalization. Hope you have someone to take care of you –drive you around, fetch things, fluff the pillows, drip-feed you chocolate etc. All the things we need to make us heal faster.
Please get well soon. I very much look forward to reading your wonderful daily musings when Heaven, or the back, permits.
Jack
November 11, 2010 at 2:33 am
P.S. I’ve just scrolled through the thread and noticed the prevailing concern re. medical costs.
In Australia, I (like everyone else) pay $1650 a year for medical insurance. For that I get pretty near universal coverage. From ops to ambulance. Private room, any rehab costs etc. The cover also includes all doctor visits, dental treatment and eye check-ups. (There may be small top-up fees associated with both, depending on the practictioner.)
Reading the above posts put me in mind of how lucky we are in Oz in this respect.
November 11, 2010 at 11:37 am
Dear Ozworld – I have excellent coverage through our company including discounted prescriptions. However, for the three family members under the policy it runs $35,120 per year and we see 10% annual increases.
November 11, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I payed around 60 US dollars for my hip surgery and I have a high limit cost around 270 US dollars for medicine/year (Sweden).
Christer.
November 12, 2010 at 10:53 am
Ahh yes,that “Creeping European Socialism”.
Sounds good to me!!!
What impressed me about our visit to Sweden was the care and comfort given the elderly. Trained aides, rather than day laborers, to assist those who can no longer do everything for themselves and yet wish to remain in their own homes. We should be so lucky.
November 11, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Where do you live Hedley? That’s seems extremely high. Even with bypass surgery my costs here in the states was a whopping $12,000 a year. For just me.
November 11, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Zoey..Michigan and yes it is
November 12, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Someone commented from Australia that total cost contribution per person for everything including dental is $1625 per person. And that goes up the that in 2011. Let’s move there.
November 12, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Zoey and me..sign me up, but dump the cat !
November 12, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Feel better soon, Kat! Looking foward to your first post-operative post!
Is that gramatically correct?
C.
November 17, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Coleen,
Grammar excellent but sentiment perfect!
November 12, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Six hour, twenty-six minutes, and counting.
Cheers
November 13, 2010 at 6:06 am
Kat’s probably going to be on drugs for a few days. She’ll need TLC. Those back operations are tricky stuff.
November 13, 2010 at 10:21 am
Z&M – A Hallucinogen influenced KTCC could be very interesting indeed. I shall be suspicious if “Are you Experienced” suddenly appears instead of Peter Paul and Mary.
November 14, 2010 at 12:57 pm
tune in
turned on
back to bed
November 13, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Dear Kat – as a recent spine surgery contestant, I can report a totally favorable outcome, and I wish you the same! Please use your reacher/grabber, don’t bend to the floor, and above all take it easy so you can mend!
I mean this when I say, if I were around, Peggy and I would come and help. But I’m sure there are plenty of others to do so. All the best to you and please rest well!
November 14, 2010 at 12:58 pm
brownies anyone?
November 17, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Alice,
I prefer mine with nuts.
November 14, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Anyone have any info on Kat and her recovery?
November 14, 2010 at 5:08 pm
My very best wishes to you for a complete and speedy recovery. It is Sunday now and nothing new on here, so it may not be as speedy as you would like, but it will come and we, your fans, will all wait.
MT C
November 17, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Carl,
I was kept far longer than I expected, but I figure they know more than I. Being home, though, is as healing as anything the hospital has.
November 14, 2010 at 5:50 pm
been checking back daily for updates. hope no news is good news.
November 17, 2010 at 3:39 pm
im6,
Alive and well and a bit feisty!
November 15, 2010 at 6:11 am
Not seeing any new posts worries me. The back is a sensitive and complex area and now I’m frequently thinking of all that could go wrong.
Hope to “see” you back on your porch in good health real soon.
November 15, 2010 at 9:44 am
Sorry, Kat’s fans, I have been remiss in keeping you up to date.
Kat is still in the hospital. She has been having severe pain in her leg and it’s taking longer than expected to address that. We are still in a holding pattern, but believe today may be homecoming day.
Gotta go, my other sister needs to go to a walk-in clinic for antibiotics. Hope these things don’t come in threes!
November 15, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Not nice at all! Send her my best wishes! I guess some nerves has gotten jammed somewhere. I do hope she gets well soon!
Christer.
November 15, 2010 at 9:00 pm
… then your family would have had triplets?
Cheers
November 15, 2010 at 12:52 pm
In preparation for Kat’s return, you might enjoy LAGWAFIS
November 15, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Well it is good news that she is only delayed with leg cramps. I wonder if she could get those Morphine pills to take home. Worked for me.
November 16, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Kat, C’mon …. you’re breaking hospital records over there. We better hear some good news from you tomorrow or we’re forming a posse, even Christer is rowing his boat over from Sweden. Get well my friend.
November 17, 2010 at 1:19 am
Yes I´ll start rowing in a day or two now if we don´t hear anything 🙂
November 16, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Give Kat our best…. the leg business sounds nasty. You mess with the back – you mess with the legs. That’s how mine’s been all my life – luckily I can live with the discomfort. I’m sure this recovery will take her most of the winter, but at least it’s winter and we all spend a greater percentage of our time indoors anyway.
I hope, though, that she’ll be able to make it to Chicago for the Christmas market she mentioned. We (Sandy & I) could have even had a meet-up with her. But, I’m thinkin’ that air travel will be out of the question for quite awhile. Damn.
As I said, give her our best wishes for a quick and complete recovery.
November 17, 2010 at 3:42 pm
John,
The doctor told me to expect a month of pain which is enough to make me grimace. The worst times are at night but the days make up for them.
Thanks for the well wishes, and I won’t miss Chicago!
November 16, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Sorry it’s late, but I hope you’re doing better…dough chew no, coming out of hospital when it’s raining is good luck.
Don’t know if you know this guy, but thought you’d enjoy this post:
http://www.daysoftransition.blogspot.com/
November 17, 2010 at 3:44 pm
J,
Ralph and I were in the Peace Corps together in Ghana and still remain close friends. Thanks for sending me there as i am so far behind in everything I probably would have missed it.