I’M RETIRING!!

This is Ronnie.  Yesterday was “doctor day”.  Four appointments, three of which went great.   No problem with the stitches coming out from the “pre-cancerous” spots that had been removed from head.  Follow up at the shoulder surgeon was the most encouraging.  The surgeon said, “I couldn’t be more pleased!”  He let her discontinue her sling, told her she could drive and now is on “phase 2” of recovery.  The first phase had been basically healing with some assisted movement.  Now she will get more into total movement of her arm.  This will be the focus for the next 6 weeks.  She still isn’t suppose to hold anything heavier than a coffee cup and has to be careful about what she does with her arm.  The next phase, in about 6 weeks, will be strength training and trying to build the muscles back up.  So, we are getting there.  We’ve seen and heard about people that just started back doing things after rotator cuff surgery and at times it was discouraging to hear that from people.   After talking with the physical therapist about it, he explained to us that rotator cuff surgery has many levels.  He said it’s like saying you just ate a meal which could have been a cracker or it could have been a five course meal including steak.  He said the type rotator cuff surgery Sue had would have ended most professional athlete’s career.  It was the worst there is in rotator cuff surgery.  So, that helped, because Sue would think, “am I just a wimp?”  Both the surgeon and the physical therapist made it very clear that what she had done was major.  But, they are both very excited about how Sue has been doing her “motion home work” and taking it seriously.  They say that is what will make the differnce in not just making it better now, but fixing it for life.  Physical therapy has now been dropped to once a week during this phase.  Later in the day, we went to the oral surgeon to discuss the options about Sue’s tooth (which began hurting again a couple of weeks ago).  This surgeon suggested she look into a root canal first to make sure it is a cracked root, before spending the money on the implant.  So, I think that is what we are going to do. Who knew this tooth would be such a confusing process.  We were in Greensboro on Sunday at Sue’s mom’s house with her family for an early Christmas dinner. It was a great time and fun to see everyone again.  Katie and Steve spent the day and night with Steve’s parents over in Garner and will be back about mid day to particapate in “Cookie Day at the Lowe’s.”  Katie and Steve, Jeff and Lyndsey, and Steve’s brother Pete and his girl friend Lindsey will come over.  We will have pizza and decorate some Christmas cookies.  Should be a good time.   We really enjoy when everyone is around.  We are not making a lot of plans, just kind of playing the days “by ear” and enjoying the time we have with our kids and their very special spouses.   So now the retiring part.  Well, after much thought, I’ve decided it’s time for me to retire from updating Sue’s blog.   She has come a long way in the last 6 weeks and it’s time for her to take this back.  Thanks for checking her 0ut and once again, God Is Good All the Time.