My Summer of 2026

 August 21, 2026

Does anyone have a set of noise cancelling head phones I can use?  Momma has been quite noisy this summer.....and they complain when I give a few barks to let them know that Amazon has arrived.  Humph!!  I know I choose to bark and that Momma can't help all the involuntary moaning due to severe pain, but she sure wakes up the house...possibly the whole neighborhood.  She takes noise to a whole new level.   I can't even begin to match her.

You see, Momma had a hip full of arthritis BUT she also had skin cancer on her right leg right above her ankle. In November last year, her dermatologist said he'd fix her right up with 20 radiation treatments:  Four weeks of treatments, five days a week.  Well, he got rid of the skin cancer by Christmas, but unfortunately created another issue.  Extremities don't heal quickly and when you factor in Momma's age on top of the fact that good cells were killed off as well as cancer cells with the radiation.........well, now you've created the next problem.  

Momma complained of pain in the wound area so the dermatologist prescribed some meds, ointment, did a culture and when there was no improvement....to the point that Momma couldn't even stand to have a sheet touch the wound, finally referred her to a wound care specialist who has lots of  heal promoting 'tricks'.  Unfortunately, those tricks including debriding, Coban compression wrap, wound vac, HBO, stem cell skin grafting don't produce overnight results so Momma and the wound care staff have bonded over the weekly visits since her initial visit in March, back when Momma was naive enough to think we would be heading out for an excursion this summer.  Ha ha  Weekly trips to doctors have been the extent of travel....and I don't even get to go.  Maybe Momma needs to get me one of those special vests to wear, but I don't think that will ever happen because when I'm around people, I just can't resist asking them to play with me😊 I have a more playful personality rather than service.

The wound was full of yucky 'slough' - dead skin cells that had to be debrided (scraped off) to get to the good cells.  Unfortunately, that is a very painful process which takes months to accomplish in Momma's case.  Santyl, a $311 prescription ointment (insurance pricing) was applied to aid in the debriding but that was so painful it turned out to be one of those screaming times I was speaking about.  Momma just couldn't handle the burning pain, so therahoney was prescribed.  Not quite as effective, but definitely not near as painful or expensive.  Dad got involved as the designated driver as it is impossible to drive safely, paying attention to the highway, when you are still in pain after a debriding treatment.  Dad also got to use his creativity to create a waterproof shield to keep the wound area and compression wrap dry during a shower.  Can you imagine going months without being able to shower?

Momma had high hopes of healing that wound quickly so the hip replacement could take place and the cane sent back into storage but the months dragged on until one painful day during a hyperbaric oxygen treatment,

'Getting lined up to slide into chamber/tube

Cindy had to haul Momma out of the chamber before her 90 minute session was over due to spasms in her left leg. (Did you know Medicare won't approve Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment (HBO) until 6 months of attempted healing has passed?)  That prompted another visit to the orthopedist who had said even though the wound hadn't totally healed, he would be willing to perform the left hip replacement.  Celebrate!!  

The appointment with the orthopedist took place on a Wednesday.  Dr. Pulido asked how soon did Momma want to have the surgery and Dad responded with how about this Friday.  Doc laughed and said three weeks would be the best he could do as there are pre surgery events that need to take place.  So Momma recorded August 11th, hip surgery, on her calendar.

She had a follow-up appointment with the surgical prep team who called in prescriptions to be taken pre surgery and post surgery.  They gave Momma forms for her GP and cardiologist to sign off for the surgery and info on what to expect when West Marion Hospital calls to set up pre admission screening/tests.  

When she dropped off the paperwork to the cardiologist, she was informed that her doctor was on vacation but they assured her that he would be returning in time to submit the form.  Momma's GP set up an appointment and she received the call from West Marion admissions with a scheduled time. Things were moving along as planned...until....the morning of the West Marion appointment.  

I had settled into full sleep mode when I was awakened by this horrible moaning and crying.  It was 12:30am and Momma was in trouble.  Severe muscle spasms in the left thigh.  The only position that seemed to reduce the severity was standing.  The only way Momma could move was backward.  Needless to say, there was no sleep to be had for the rest of the night.   Momma was determined to make her 9am appointment so Dad got her loaded in the car and they headed out for the 35 minute drive with Momma screaming every time a new wave of spasm would attack.  I wish I could have gone along to see Momma trying to walk backward with small, painful steps while Dad stood in front of her, holding her hands and guiding her.  A helpful gentleman brought a wheel chair, but that ratcheted the pain up so the less than graceful backward movement continued down the corridor to room 160.  Momma definitely lacked Michael Jackson's graceful finesse with his famous Moonwalk dance step.  And her 'music' wasn't at all pleasing to the ear.

After bloodwork, an EKG and chest xray, the staff was able to get Momma over to the ER part of the hospital so she could get some relief.  But that wasn't a simple process either as they wanted to do an ultra sound of the leg to rule out blood clots.  Dad was surprised at the ultra sound techs words.  He kept apologizing for putting Momma through such pain.  He wasn't the cause.  It was just her body but he was gentle and compassionate, trying to perform the test as quickly as possible so Momma could resume standing, which offered minimal relief.  

Finally, after receiving muscle relaxer and pain meds, Dad loaded Momma in the car once again as they headed back to me.  There was really no hurry to return as Aunt Pam had been available to come over and let me out as the day was getting rather long.  Momma still wasn't feeling the full relief from the meds, and she was quite uncomfortable in the car.  Dad just knew he was going to be reported for abuse as they sat at the traffic light with Momma screaming every time another wave of pain set in. 

Well, the new meds got Momma through the wekend and she weaned off of them and got ready to begin the pre-meds prescribed by the orthopedist.  Momma said those pre meds gave her the best, nearly painfree week she had had in months!  Then she was made aware that the cardiologist office had indeed sent over the paperwork....in the same blank condition that they received it. I told Momma not to panic, just because someone was incompetent and didn't perform their job.  Luckily, Momma's phone call lit a fire and the SIGNED form was sent immediately.  In the meantime, her GP hadn't signed off because she wanted one additional blood test that wasn't performed at West Marion.  This was the Friday before the scheduled Tuesday surgery.  Momma was able to secure a time slot on the on-line website for that afternoon, so once again, I was left at home as they headed for Quest.  

Tuesday morning, August 11th arrived and Momma received a phone call asking if she could arrive an hour earlier at 10am rather than 11.  No problem,  she had her required special antibacterial soap shower and was more than ready for the event to begin.  Now, the assumption is, that ambulance that had arrived bumped her timeslot as the doctor finally came by to tell her she would be going in soon.  They were just finishing up and there was only one more ahead of her.  By that time in the afternoon, not having any of her meds since the night before, her discomfort and pain were beginning to climb....rapidly.  There is a definite advantage to being scheduled for early morning!

I am happy to report that everything went as planned with the Doctor showing Momma the after surgery xray pic of her 'new' hip.  Now it was time to let the healing begin with the assistance of a wonderful team of nursing staff.

Momma was given excellent care while she spent a night in a room on the fourth floor.  The morning brought a visit from the PT tech who had Momma up and parading down the hall.

As Momma approached the elevator at the end of the hall, it opened up calling to her, but her escort blocked her path.  She and Dad had a filet mignon lunch to enjoy and another scheduled hall walk before being released.

This lunch didn't look or taste anything like hospital food!

With the afternoon walk completed.   Dad brought Momma home to what didn't turn out to be the smooth recovery everyone had anticipated.  Yep, it got noisy once again as muscle spasms gripped Momma on the outer side of her left thigh. Same leg that had spasms pre surgery but a different location in the thigh.    It was Friday and the hospital pain blocks had worn off and the post meds weren't enough to keep Momma pain free.  A call to the doctor's office resulted in a new muscle relaxer med to add to the collection.  

Sadly, those pills weren't stopping the spasms that spiked at 12:30 am on Sunday morning.  Fortunately, the Summerfield ER is only a couple of miles from our house, where Momma received a shot that took the pain away....but only for two hours.  Upon returning to the ER after departing four hours ago, she was given a muscle relaxer and pain meds with a script that would allow her to continue taking the  meds at home.  

Home PT was surprised by the unusual amount of pain Momma was dealing with, but then again, Momma is unique.  The newest muscle relaxers seemed to be fine during the day but by midnight, Momma is up walking and pacing, but no longer howling as the pain level was much lower.  It's a shame Momma looses about three hours of sleep every night to spasms that have her up pacing the house.  I have gotten used to her sleep interruptions and just curl up and resume my night of sleep.  She has been in constant communication with her doctor's office speaking with the PA whose latest recommendation was to try heat.  REALLY??  Is that the best you can come up with??

So if anyone should ask Momma if it is true that hip replacement is easier than knee replacement, her response is "I never had this much post surgery pain with knees and I had both knees done at the same time.  Post hip has certainly been a painful battle!!"

At least the roller coaster ride has more good times than bad with movement improving daily.  The wound care doctor is anxious to get Momma back into the hyperbaric chamber when she has healed enough with her hip.  And I'm looking forward to the day when we hitch up to our fifth wheel and get the wheels turning once again.  All we need is for Momma to successfully complete her hip replacement PT and get untethered from the wound doc.  

Dad has performed all the preventive maintenance he can think of on our fifth wheel as well as around the house. Now Momma has given him some cooler projects to tackle working in an AC controlled environment on 'inside the house' projects.  Unfortunately, it involves muscles that haven't been challenged lately working low on the floor.  It turns out that swapping out the regular toilet for a chair height toilet has led to changing out the floor covering in that area.  

But the finished project was well done and looks fantastic!  Dad is a champ.

Hey, great news!  The September Golden Triangle Campers campout is being held very close to home.....right across from that Summerfield ER that Momma has visited several times.  And I just found out that we have a site reserved.  If Momma hasn't rehabbed enough to get up the camper steps, we are close enough that Dad can drive her back and forth from home to camper.  Now if the weather would just cool off a bit, I'm certain I can talk one of my camping friends into tossing a ball for me at the campout.  I can't wait to see everyone!!

I'm Chloe