A word here about Miss Martha. She has exhibited a quiet and gentle strength through all of this process that is an inspiration to our daughters and to me. She truly has "the right stuff". I am blessed.
For those unfamiliar with this surgery, suffice to say the actual operation is a relatively quick one. A couple of hours and you're back into the world of the living. The after-story is quite something else. There is a great deal of pain and an unfathomable amount of hard work and physical therapy. She came home with a device that her leg was strapped into for 6 hours every day. This thing slowly flexed her leg constantly, increasing the amount of flex by several degrees each day until she reached a 90 degree bend. It's called a CPM machine....our name for it rhymed with "witch". She said at least I didn't wear an executioner's hood and robe when I came into the room to set her up in it.
But she's turned the corner. Her outpatient physical therapy will begin in a few days, and the machine went away. Thanks be for all our friends who have kept us supplied with meals. At least, she didn't have to suffer from very much of my plebeian attempts at cooking. While I pose no threat to any of the current Grammy contenders, I wrote this little song to commemorate the event. Enjoy!
The Knee Replacement Blues
(Sung to the tune of Folsom Prison Blues)
I hear the walker scraping
It’s comin’ down the hall.
Martha’s on the move again
I pray she doesn’t fall.
She had a knee replacement,
And time keeps dragging on.
She’s got lots of swelling,
It wakes her up at dawn.
The walker is a bother.
But it helps her motivate.
And when she gets some better,
To a cane she’ll graduate.
She’s coping like a trooper
And eating Tylenol.
But she’s off the Oxycodone
And dreaming of the mall.
The Old Man’s washing dishes
And nuking little plates.
Doin’ two-step with the dust mop
Runnin’ the vacuum that he hates.
She had a knee replacement
And folks come dropping in.
They bring food and goodies
This fight we’re gonna win.
