On the Bike Again

Randy and my brother-in-law, Rich, put together a recumbent stationary bike for Ben. Here he is on it, pedaling for the first time. Whew! That is nice to see.

Homecoming - Where You Ben?

We are so happy. Ben came home on Tuesday morning after being in the hospital for over a month. We were so pleased with his care at the hospital, but it is always nice to come home. He has been doing so well. He is able to transfer from the bed to the wheelchair and back without any assistance which I didn't think would be possible at first. Also he can get into the bathroom easily without help. So nice.

When we arrived, Randy had signs and balloons all over the yard.

Ben was really touched. Two of his other biking buddies came over as well and we had a pizza party.

What a nice way to be welcomed home after such a long time in the hospital.

John is not the only one with a possum problem

At some point before we get started on building a house for John, I will elaborate on John's possum problem. Let's just say that they are involved in making his current abode less habitable than it should be.

I put some cat food out on the front porch for the only remaining feral cat left - Blackie. (Big Head disappeared, probably the coyotes got him or perhaps a jealous husband.) I noticed that my house cats were all clustered around the front door extremely interested in what was happening on the porch. 

This is what I found - a possum convention. That's 3 different possums making themselves comfortable on my porch. You can even see one of them sitting on the kitty bed, grooming himself. 

You can see the door is slightly open when I took this photo. One of the cats is peeking out. 

More X-rays

I've got some photos of the "after" x-rays. You can see where the ortho doc re-created the hip joint, the acetabulum. It looks really nice except for the size of the screws. I've include the scapula X-rays as well, but I really can't interpret them. It's not an area they operate on very often and it's not an area I am very familiar with. Children don't break their scapulas.

Hip X-ray during surgery. The large metallic objects are retractors holding open the surgical site.  But you can see what a nice hip joint they re-established. 

Post-op surgery X-ray showing the sizes of the screws. Whoa! You can also see the hip joint well on this view.

Shoulder post-op films. Don't ask me about it. I don't really know what they did except stabilize the fracture.

I also included a photo of the current "bump in the road" as the doctors and therapists at the rehab hospital call it. Ben developed a DVT - a deep vein thrombosis, despite getting heparin regularly. It happened due the nature of the injury, surgery in the pelvic region, and his degree of immobility. Pretty frustrating for me. Wildly frustrating for Ben. He's back getting therapy now after a 3 day hiatus. Also they put him on coumadin, an oral anticoagulant to prevent any further clot formation or extension of the clot. Basically it is up to his macrophages to consume the clot which can take months. 

I couldn't understand the ultrasound that showed his DVT except for the words that said "thrombus" so I am including the drawing which clearly shows his DVT.  

Obviously, home repair and energy upgrade plans are on the back burner. Just trying to figure out how to set up the house for him. Fortunately, Ben lives in a one story ranch which was set up for my mother who had serious rheumatoid arthritis and is pretty accessible. 


I need to go deliver a chocolate milk shake to the wounded cyclist. Ya'll take care.  Keep your helmets on.