Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Changing life experience begins

Tomorrow I will be going on FMLA to take care of my wife. For those who do not know what FMLA is, it is the Family Medical Leave Act. In the case of my company, I get paid leave for the time I'm out. If it wasn't paid leave, we would have had to make some difficult choices.
The procedure Susan is having done is called Hip resurfacing. She will have her left side done on April 16th, and the right side done on April 23rd. It is amazing how far doctors have come in joint replacement. The doctor who is doing the work, Michael Mont along with his staff are by far an outstanding group of folks who have gone out of their way to do everything possible to help and improve Susan's life. They return our phone calls, and take a interest in what is happening. I can not speak more highly of this team of medical professionals.
We will be driving up from Richmond Thursday morning to Baltimore for the day to do the prework. I have to put a air mattress in the van so my wife can make the trip. She wants something to do, so she has decided to finish the quilt she is making while laid up. We did the basting last night, so now she will do the quilting part by hand. She normally has this part done by machine, but since she will have lots of time with nothing to do, she thought it would be fun. I suspect she will see it will take days to do this. Then again, what do I know. She is the smartest person I know.
Early Sunday morning, we will first drive to Gettysburg to have lunch with friends, then return to Baltimore to check in to a hotel for the night. Then on to the hospital first thing Monday morning. We expect we will be there for about 2 weeks, and if everything goes as expected, we should be back home to sleep in our own beds April 26th. I plan to write about the experience here so our family and friends can keep tabs on what is going on with us. More tomorrow.

Peace
-m

4 comments:

Beth said...

Hey! Thanks for sharing the link to your blog. I'll keep you both in my thoughts and prayers as you begin this new experience.

And tell wifey that if she wants something else to do, I can teach her to knit ::grins::

Be careful, be safe and godspeed. Keep us posted!

Monet said...

Good luck to both of you. We will definitely be keeping you both in our thoughts and prayers and wish nothing but the best possible outcome.

April & Rick said...

This is very neat...Rick and I are pulling for you both :) and looking forward to reading the blog to get updates...This is a very smart idea for your friends and family so you don't have to keep repeating everything. That way we can check in when it's convenient for us and not have to bother you guys and it be a bad time :) Rick and I love you very much...Good luck! The end result is what we are all looking forward too

Anonymous said...

Wow! Thanks so much for the information/email and letting me know what's going on with Susan! Very best wishes for a speedy recovery... you're both in my thoughts and prayers. Hugs all the way around and a special one for "shira" - love, Donna