Update for April 26

Introduction Guess what? With John's recent hip surgery, the tables are turned! I'm getting to play the role of "caretaker" - that is if my friends will let me and if John will play "patient"! Mostly he likes to do it himself, fudge on the rules, or you have to tease it out of him, "do you need this?", "aren't you supposed to have a pillow under your leg?" Where I lose out are those tea and newspaper in bed; cleaning out the cat box, and love for clean kitchen countertops.

Of course this was all compromised by my great caretaker, Beth McKenzie, who was with me while John had his surgery, and then Kathy Pritchard took over bringing dinners, morning lattes and constant texts, "do you need anything?" Bob Ogg called with his concerns about our abilities and bringing lattes, and Mac, our construction contractor, took on Ed, the cat's neurosis and spring fever and just being here "in case"! Unbelievably, dinners kept appearing from various sources and one of our funnest ones was when we finally kidnapped Carol Gordon and Kathy into staying and eating with us!

Thanks for all your prayers, positive thoughts, visits and food! The surgery did not turn out to be the simple scenario (slip the liner out) that the Doctor hoped for. When he got in there, the hip was "dead" and had fluid and so he did the right thing by replacing the ball and using a few screws to hold the alignment in place. A few days later after monitoring his blood, he gave John a blood transfusion to get him back on his feet faster (at little too fast in my opinion!). Anyway, John is actually feeling better in this recovery than he did from the initial one done a year ago January. Wer're glad to have it behind us and he's looking forward to golf by July.

Update for Kerry. But enough about him! And yet, there isn't much to say about me since the last blog when I listed some of my main helpers and focus, i.e. Amy Haynes, Joanna Lester, Debra Shorrock, and Julie Rae O'Conner. I'm on schedule to meet with a nutritionist, Holly Greenwood, tomorrow. One thing I know she'll get me going on is tracking the food that I'm eating (food diary). I'm hoping to match my food up with how I'm feeling and seeing if I can link the pain, stomach aches, energy levels.

My friend, Olleke, recently returned from a tour of Bali and in listening to her stories, I'm taken by the spiritual and positive nature that their culture embraces. I need to introduce a regular ritual in my life to help me be in that positive frame of mind. What do you all do on a daily basis?

Featured Friend(s) - Sula Boyle (my Granddog) In my blogs I haven't yet mentioned the great comfort that I get from particularly my dogs, Sula and Katie. I've never met such a sensitive soul as Sula. When we get together she wiggles her long body in a direct and loving greeting. It's not about "where are the treats", but just a "hi, I love you" greeting. She's one of my trainers for being a grandmother! Thanks Sula!