Time for an update. On July 16, we were proud to help Leslie celebrate earning her master’s degree and watching her walk in her graduation ceremony at Safeco field.

After the early morning ceremony, we had a small party for her at our clubhouse. It was a long day, especially for Janie—sitting in a wheelchair for that long is pretty tiring. Many of you were aware of Leslie’s pursuit of both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and we are very proud of her accomplishments. Jess was also a major support to her behind the scenes.

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Unfortunately, on the evening of the graduation, Janie’s knee buckled on her, and she wound up collapsing on her ankle. We called the fire department to assist getting her onto the couch, and we thought it was at least a bad sprain. By morning, we began to realize it was more than a sprain. Since she can’t stand on one leg alone, we called the fire department again, and she went by ambulance to the ER. There an ankle fracture was confirmed, and the orthopedic specialist informed her that she would have to be non-weight bearing for at least 6-8 weeks. We’ve since learned that it would likely be even longer. She could not go home because she cannot stand on the other leg alone.

Janie was in the hospital nearly a week while we made arrangements for home health caregivers, and equipment that would allow us to move her around at home. As soon as we knew that her leg was fractured, we knew that the recommendation would be for her to go to a rehab center, and we knew that we would do anything to avoid that choice. She has been in 3 different rehab centers with previous fractures and the experience has not been good in any of them. In some cases, the staff tried to move her in ways that were specifically contrary to her post surgery instructions and could have caused further damage. Add to those experiences the risk of Covid, Norovirus, etc., and we were pretty set against another trip to “Shady Pines,” in spite of medical advice. I have already been doing caregiving duties since Janie became unable to walk. It’s not the same level of caregiving as someone who cares for a loved one with dementia. Janie is well able to help out with her mind and her web browsing abilities. Still, we didn’t really know what to expect in adding the mobility limitations to the mix. We arranged for a Hoyer lift—not a fun way to travel (she says it reminds her of medieval instruments of torture)—and arranged for “Visiting Angels” to assist me part time. 

We already had house cleaners who come once a week, dog walkers for some of the walks and we shop online. We are doubly fortunate that Leslie lives close by. She cooks for us at least twice a week and helps out with lots of other things. As it turned out two weeks was enough for the extra caregivers. By then, we had routines down, I had enough practice driving the lift and we had Home Health checking in on Janie. We were ready to go it alone, and it has worked pretty well. We are talking to our cleaners about coming a little extra, just to take the load off.

Janie was to go see the surgeon’s Physician’s Assistant after a couple of weeks to check her progress. That was another “adventure.” We arranged for a cabulance—a specialized vehicle that you can roll a wheelchair into. The trip to the doctor was OK, but the trip home was traumatic. During the ride, Janie started slipping down in her wheelchair, so that when we arrived home, we couldn’t safely get her out of the cabulance without the risk of her falling completely out of the chair. Once again, the fire department to the rescue! They helped us reposition her so that she could be moved safely. After that trip, we made modifications to ensure that it didn’t happen again.

At the appointment, the x-rays looked good. The bones were healing, but Janie had developed a pressure sore on her heel from the splint. This became more of a concern than the fracture, and we wound up making 3 more follow-up visits (3 more cabulance round trips) to various clinics. At first, it looked like the wound was getting worse, but at the last visit, it was improving, and they were able to switch her from a splint to a boot which can be removed to care for the wound properly. That’s where we are now. No more doctor visits are scheduled for the time being. The visiting nurse will be bringing a special wound care person and then the nurse and I will be doing wound care.  Janie and I are both very satisfied with our decision to bring her home.

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