Well, we had planned on camping over the long Thanksgiving weekend, but as it turned out we only got to spend the afternoon on Thanksgiving Day at the campground with our friends – probably worked out for the best, as I had a lot to do before hubby’s hip replacement on Dec 7th. Surgery went well, daughter Lisa and I stayed in Santa Barbara four days (ooo, a vacation!) and I cannot say enough good things about our doctors at the Sansum Clinic and the Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara. This is a hospital where a routine part of your pre-op appointment is a warning that YOU WILL GET NO REST! There is at least one person, normally two, every 20 minutes checking to see if you are feeling okay, need something, food, water, nurse, meds, pillows fluffed, whatever. Newspaper is delivered to your bedside table each morning, and the meal bearers are nice young men in dressy black slacks, white shirts, and black ties who merrily say “room service” as they deliver your meal and announce with a flourish what you are being served. And I love their valet parking! This is so unlike other hospitals where I was afraid to leave Duke alone and you could ring for help for upwards of two hours and get NO response! I swear, Duke actually enjoys each visit! He makes the whole experience fun, joking and chatting with all the staff, and this trip they fondly referred to him as their “fun” patient!! His doctor is wonderful, with a sense of humor to match Duke’s. They jumped through hoops to get him discharged and on the road by 9AM (thought there was more snow coming) and we drove the four hours home on Thursday well ahead of the rain. Thank goodness we missed the big snow and ice storm earlier in the week! We had the very best of house sitters, so never had to give a single thought to the house or 24/7 care of our horribly spoiled dogs! It was nasty job getting our perpetually shady lower driveway by the front door cleared of ice before we arrived. Fortunately, our long steep driveway is about the first thing in town that is melted and dry as it faces due south. Duke is doing very well compared to the “other” hip which was broken only one month following the surgery to repair his broken neck. That time he was in the hospital for nearly a whole week and then a rehab center for two more weeks. We did have an issue with some inch-diameter blisters on his foot yesterday, but after conferring with the visiting nurse, visiting physical therapist and doctor by phone, we headed to the emergency room. That too went well, until the doctor called us as soon as we got home and says “I stabbed myself with the needle that I used to drain your blisters and you will have to come right back in to be tested for HIV!” Excuse me?!?! No. You want blood? Send someone over to the house and get it... you know, like maybe the nurse that was just here this morning to draw blood to deliver to you?? They swear… well, the doctor swears… it’s hospital policy to do this onsite. Tough tacks. Duke’s policy is also to do it onsite. Our site. Geesh! Anyway, I made it to work today for a whole four and a half hours, hope to do longer tomorrow. Duke still has to relocate between bed and chair every two hours (even though I had to leave him for five hours today) and he can’t get up out of his chair by himself, and is unable to manage pillows and blankets under and over his various body parts by himself, so I need to work out two trips home during my ten-hour days or do a shorter day and bring work home with me. The only other issue is “someone” hallucinating big time on all the pain meds… no, it’s not me! We’ve had rousing unwinnable arguments about spiders, mice, bats, giant wooden bread boxes and fences that were so NOT sitting in the middle of the living room, but the best episode (so far) was Duke suddenly waking up and yelling “pretty!” while looking at the reflection of our living room lamps in a mirror… sigh… does this qualify me to work in a mental ward?
The “fun” patient!
The fun orthopedist, Dr. Bliss
Here’s a picture of one of the visiting critters - another perk at the Cottage Hospital! Her name is Diamond, she’s 17 months old and her “dad” brings a big selection of homemade jeweled necklaces for her to wear. What a cutie! She visited every single patient and all the waiting rooms – Lisa and I got to see her three times!
Since I didn’t put up a tree or any decorations this year except for a strand of lights on the outside of the house, I thought I’d share some pics of past years. This little tree sits on our dining room table. On it are the vintage pinecones from my grandmother, and these STUNNING pink balls from my dad and stepmom. My Anna Lee critters fit right in! 
