Mother's Mishap - The Rescue Squad...

The Rescue Squad took Mother to the Emergency Room Sunday night, March 30th, with severe hip pain. They did an X-ray and a CAT scan but found no fracture. Her doctor saw her Monday afternoon. He agreed with the ER doctors that it appeared to be a hip sprain/strain and prescribed bed rest.

Mother could not think of anything specific she did to bring on such pain. It is my sister, Anita, who saved the day. About 9 p.m. that evening, Anita called from Ohio, having just talked to Mother, and asked us to go check on her. Maybe Anita's motherly instincts sensed the pain in Mother's voice. And, sure enough, we called the rescue squad. Thank you, Anita!

Her doctor is sending Home Health nurses in for several weeks. One is an Occupational Therapist who helps with life skills such as bathing and gives her exercises. The other one is a Physical Therapist who focuses on exercises to build leg and arm strength.

For me to manage all her meals, meds, and sleep at her house was taking its toll. We were blessed to find a lady to come in to help out with various household needs. Ed has been a Godsend through all this.

I think there is light at the end of the tunnel......Mother started feeling a bit better yesterday. She has "graduated" to a cane and has put her bedside potty chair into storage. We're in the process of adding grab rails in the shower and bathroom for added safety.

Tomorrow, the therapist plans to start working on getting up and down the outside back porch stairs. Mother's looking forward to going back to her Wellness Center for her water aerobics class three times a week and for just getting out in general.

Pelicans, Pelicans

Ed, Mother, Phil (my bro), and I went to a restaurant on Cape Canaveral called Grill's, which is on the water. The pelicans hanging around gave us a free show. They were everywhere and we happened to be there in the afternoon when fishermen were coming in to clean their catch for the day. As they worked, they flipped scraps off the table into the water below. It was hilarious to see about 25 pelicans fight and go after each bite. One would get it and others would sometimes take it right out of their beak!

We went back to Grill's another day for lunch and once again enjoyed our food but enjoyed the pelicans even more! Ed and I were ready to go and Mother was still on the dock watching the pelicans.

"Houston, we have NO problem!"

Mother, Ed, and I have been house-sitting for one of my scuba diving buddies in Rockledge, a town near Cape Canaveral, Florida. We came the first week of January and plan to return to Virginia in the middle of March - yes, we're "snowbirds" this year.

My brother, Phil, came from Texas for a long weekend. Mother, in her usual curious manner, said, "Let's go to Kennedy Space Center." It turned out to be a fantastic day. We got a wheelchair for Mother, which worked well for all. It was one of those blue-sky-fluffy-cloud days,in the 70's, and they were there the whole day!

We first saw an IMAX 3-D movie - the kind where you wear those funny glasses so you feel like you're in the movie - of walking on the moon. We took a bus tour, which included 3 different stops. We saw two of the modules that were to be added to the space station in the next two launches. Lastly, we went through some of the displays and saw another remarkable IMAX movie about life inside the space station. One of our questions was answered - yes, they do shave, exercise, etc. The guy would shave a bit, then release his razor and it would just hang right there in midair.

It's hard to really perceive how humongus these shuttles are! We saw Europe's $2 billion science lab, Columbus, which was anchored to the space station on February 12.

This is a great animation showing all the segments of the Space Station, the modules and the international partners that have helped create it.
Click here: SPACE STATION MODULES