Cubital Nerve Decompression

I had my elbow surgery done Monday, May 3, and everything went okay. The surgeon discovered cartilage covering and compressing the ulnar nerve, which he removed. This was good news, as it could have been lots worse.

One problem was that it took four sticks from two different nurses before they got my IV inserted correctly. Evidently, from all the IVs I've had over the years, the veins in my hands and arms have become ropy, lump, and nearly impossible.

Everyone was very nice to me. The surgery took about 1-1/2 hours, and I awoke with a splint, dressing, and a heavy Ace bandage going from the top of my hand to just below my armpit. The surgeon used staples to close the 3" incision. I'm to see him this coming Tuesday, when hopefully he will remove the staples, the splint, and most of the dressing. It's a pain in the arse do try to do everything one-handed.

Arnie cooked cream of wheat for supper the first night, as I had to eat bland food. He's in charge of cooking and washing dishes, so we're getting take-out the rest of the week because his cooking skills are very limited! That's fine with me.

Montana has to walk on my right side. I was a little worried because for 2-1/2 years he's walked only on my left except during practice sessions. What a trooper! He is walking on my right like he's been doing it all the time. He knows when what I ask him to do is for real and not just practice. What an outstanding dog he is.

We took him to Virginia Tech yesterday to have his eyes examined by an opthalmology vet. It's a free service offered once a year across the US for working dogs, including service dogs, seeing-eye dogs, police dogs, search and rescue dogs, etc. It's a wonderful thing they do for our dogs. Monty's eyes checked out perfectly normal, thank goodness.

We have a few more trips planned, including one up around Winchester, VA where we'll spend three days seeing different things. For one of those days, Arnie has hired a private Civil War guide to take him to different places in the area. Montana and I will hang around the hotel that day. The other two days, we're seeing things that interest both of us. Next week, we're going to Staunton, VA to the Blackfriar's Playhouse to see a Shakespear play, a comedy that for the life of me I can't remember the name of right now.

Before surgery, I got over half of my seeds planted and all of my plants planted. I've had to water every day, because it's been around 90 and sunny, but everything is looking good and I've already got seeds sprouting. I want to get a chickadee/nuthatch birdhouse, because they eat aphids. Last year, my hollyhocks and one other section of flowers were overrun with aphids. My neighbor is going to build bat houses and swallow houses to see if he can keep down the mosquito population. Maybe he'll build me a birdhouse, too.

Peace to all my friends.