Cordelia's Mom, Still

Hands Across the Border

Posted on April 24, 2024 by cordeliasmom2012

Bloggers are the best!

I’ve made so many friends here on WordPress – from all over the world. The support I’ve received in response to my recent “learning to fly” event was overwhelming.

Teddy Rosalie and I were both thrilled when a package arrived in the mail from our friend, Ladyryl (her blogging name), who lives in Canada. Enclosed was this note:

How awesome is that?! In her recent post, Ladyryl related the back story – I am honored that another blogger would spend so much of her own time (and materials) to make me (and Teddy Rosalie) feel so special.

The package included a beautiful, extremely soft and warm shawl for me to wrap up in:

Close -up of the card, with contact information.

Teddy Rosalie couldn’t wait to try on her new outfits:

Now that she has so many new duds, Teddy Rosalie has been begging me to take her out. Which I will do once fully recovered from my accident. While the ribs have healed nicely, the right leg is still painful, and I have some trouble maneuvering and driving. Hopefully within the next few weeks that will resolve.

One of the places I had planned to take Teddy Rosalie was The Buffalo Zoo. She so enjoyed her last visit, and there have been many renovations over the least few years that I was looking forward to seeing. Unfortunately, the zoo recently announced it is raising admission prices to a level that makes it impossible for me to visit ($23 for senior admission! Regular admission is $26, and children’s admission is $16 – what family can afford that these days? If I have to make a decision between paying for my medication or going to the zoo, the zoo is not going to win.)

Like they say, poor Teddy Rosalie is all dressed up with nowhere to go.

So, unless someone out there is willing to subsidize Teddy Rosalie’s sightseeing tours (hint-hint to all you publishers – email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com), I guess we’ll be limited to free parks and the homes of friends and relatives. I suspect those friends and relatives may get tired of me really soon.

Although no one could ever get tired of Teddy Rosalie. She’s just too cute.

Hugs, all.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Twitter page (@cordeliasmom), or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio

Posted in Health, Teddy Rosalie, That's Life | Tagged blogging, Buffalo NY Zoo, teddy bear | 14 Comments

Old Bones

Posted on April 2, 2024 by cordeliasmom2012

The healing process has been steady, thank heavens.

It’s been just over two weeks since I fell and broke those two ribs, and at the same time wrenched my right leg/knee (the good leg, unfortunately) and right arm. I still can’t sleep lying down flat, although I’ve managed, finally, to get onto the bed so as to sit and do my crocheting while watching DVDs. Of course, I can also do that in my comfy new recliner, but being able to climb onto that mattress all by myself was the high point of my week.

Puppy Cody doesn’t seem to mind that I currently sleep sitting up in the recliner, right next to where she sleeps on the couch. She snores, I snore. She dreams, I dream. Last night, I heard thumping and looked over to discover that Cody was wagging her tail in her sleep. Hopefully, I don’t do anything like that, but at least I know the dog is having happy dreams.

Going up and down steps is still a bit of a no-no because that right knee isn’t behaving yet, so hubby (bless his heart) has taken over making sure Puppy Cody goes outside when she needs to. I don’t think any of us would be too happy if I tried to take her out after hubby left for work and then face-planted again, thereby becoming one of those old ladies in the television commercials who have “fallen and can’t get up.”

The good news is: Prior to my most recent incident, I had been having trouble with my left knee. I wrenched that leg when I fell off the porch steps a couple of winters ago (again while taking the dog out, and again having to drag myself up by clinging to the fence and the porch railing). But now that leg seems to be ok; perhaps wrenching the right leg somehow straightened out the left one? Who knows.

In any event, each day seems a little less painful and I steadily become a wee bit more mobile. I even managed to stop the [very nice] pain meds a few days ago, now relying merely on acetaminophen before bedtime. I kinda enjoyed the narcotics – and that’s exactly why I stopped taking them. Wouldn’t want Cordelia’s Mom to become a druggie, now would we?

Hopefully soon I can return to the occasional glass of wine in the evening. But only if I’m not planning to go up and down steps or to take the dog out. When Cordelia’s Mom drinks, she does so responsibly.

And I’m still not driving yet, so for now hubby (again, bless his heart) will be taking me for any upcoming medical appointments. I hate having to depend on someone else, but at least it’s a temporary situation.

Needless to say, I will be enjoying the upcoming total eclipse in the comfort of my own home, safely ensconced in my comfy recliner for those 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Anyone else who wants to stumble around in the darkness among thousands of total strangers is welcome to do so. Have at it, adventurous tourists! (I hear Niagara Falls will be packed – good luck maneuvering through those crowds.)

Hugs, all.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Twitter page (@cordeliasmom), or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Image by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio

Posted in Health, That's Life | Tagged broken bones, falling down, recovering | 15 Comments

Teddy Rosalie Gets Caught

Posted on March 25, 2024 by cordeliasmom2012

We gets lots of Amazon packages.

But imagine my surprise when I opened one containing a tiny teddy bear outfit!

Yes, Teddy Rosalie had, indeed, “borrowed” my credit card and gone shopping.

Fortunately, she was very conservative in her spending. She really just wanted something (anything) new, and chose a single outfit that would be appropriate for road trips with mom.

After delivering a carefully worded lecture on the evils of “borrowing,” I decided that since Easter is just around the corner, Teddy Rosalie could keep her new outfit. This time. Because she does look adorable in it:

Like I really needed the stress of a mis-behaved teddy while recovering from my broken ribs, but she promised she would never do anything like this again. And then she obediently waited in my new recliner for our next more-or-less hourly nap.

That chair has been a life-saver for me. It’s the only way I would have been able to sleep sitting up so as to allow those ribs to heal better. Kudos to hubby for picking it out without any help from me – he even managed to choose one that complements the rest of the living room decor. Guess I’ll keep him a little longer.

Hugs, all.

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Posted in Teddy Rosalie, That's Life | Tagged shopping, teddy bear | 13 Comments

Guess Who Spoke Too Soon?

Posted on March 21, 2024 by cordeliasmom2012

I was so sure nothing was broken. I was wrong.

After my impressive “flight and crash” on Thursday, I spent the weekend taking Aleve and Tylenol and seemed to get a little better each day. However, on Sunday my legs swelled up dramatically and I had to discontinue the Aleve.

Monday the pain was worse but fairly manageable. My mistake probably was that I never should have gone to bed. On Tuesday morning I awoke in such pain that I knew I had to go to the emergency room.

Hubby came home from work to take me. Such fun trying to get my sorry ass into the car; I finally had to opt for sitting in the back behind the driver, and it took forever to manage that.

By the time we got to the ER, I was trembling with pain – on a scale of 1 to 10, it was definitely a 9-1/2. Fortunately, we arrived mid-morning when they weren’t terribly busy, and I was taken for x-rays and then into an exam room right away. The x-rays came back as “unremarkable” – no fractures.

Say what? How could the pain be so severe if nothing was broken? Now the concern was a ruptured spleen or damage to some other internal organ, so a CT scan, with contrast, was ordered.

Bear in mind that once lying down, I was unable to move without crying out. The exam room cart was uncomfortable enough; I could only imagine how awful the CT table would be.

I was assured that I would not have to move my own self onto the CT table, that medical personnel would transfer me. I knew they could, in fact, do that because two nurses in the exam room had already managed to boost me up in bed via the sheets. I was actually amazed – I’m not a small person, and those nurses simply grabbed the sheets and up the bed I went. (Flying again, but at least this time it was a controlled landing.)

The transfer to the CT table was just as easy. But the test got delayed when no one was able to find a vein for the IV. Four people tried, and four people failed. Finally, they just gave up and did the test without contrast.

The good news is: no internal organs were injured or ruptured.

The bad new is: I have two broken ribs.

I was discharged from the ER with the “good” pain medication, but wouldn’t you know it, that made me vomit (not a good thing when you have broken ribs). I’m currently waiting for my own physician to prescribe something that won’t make me throw up.

It will take up to 6 weeks to heal, and I’m told it’s best to sleep sitting up. Hubby went out to buy me a power lift recliner, which will be here tomorrow. (What a good, loving guy – guess this makes up for all the times I’ve thought he was an uncaring jerk.) Meanwhile, my executive desk chair is pretty comfortable when used with that $30 footstool I purchased a couple of years back.

Things can only get better, right? As I’ve said many times before: It’s hell getting old[er].