Connie's Knee Surgery

Since last summer we have known that Connie had to undergo a knee replacement. The surgery was put off until after the Christmas season and finally the day came on Jan. 11th. Wouldn't you know that another winter storm was bedeviling the South. Global warming just isn't given much credence down here in North Carolina. Anyway, here is the "real deal" type of bionic knee that now resides in Connie's left leg. Now comes the fun.

Here's the girl on the afternoon of the surgery -- with Greg & Becky's flowers giving her comfort. She was alert after coming out of recovery, but snoozed off after getting into her room.

The next morning they got her up early and ready for action. Here she is with her dandy brace and "On Q" pain pump. Pretty high tech stuff for Nash General Hospital in Rocky Mount.

Later in the morning roses arrived from Kristy & Brian. All the nurses comment on how great the room smells.

Then at lunch time we joined the other knee replacement patients for a group lunch. They roll the recliners from the rooms right into the eating area. Connie is having fun with her new friends.
Each patient has a coach (spouse, family member or friend) who is invited to the lunch times.

After lunch the patients are returned to their rooms so that the lunch room can be converted to a Gym.

Then it is therapy time with the "Joint Replacement" staff leading the athletes (patients) in strenuous exercise. Connie won the prize for the day by bending her knee by 114 degrees. Tomorrow will be a more difficult day because the heavier doses of pain medication will be eliminated. But she is doing great!

Funnin' with Fosmark & Mincy Fams

On Thursday, Jan. 6th, we had the privilege of a fun night to meet Gail & Paul Fosmark, plus a stealth visitor -- Andy Fosmark -- and Sara & Dave Mincy and family. Gail and Paul escaped eastern Canada to brave the East Coast post-Christmas blizzard to visit the Mincy's in the Raleigh area. Unbeknown to them there was a plan to bring Andy to North Carolina for a surprise visit. We were able to meet the gang at "Sweet Tomatoes" in North Raleigh.

It was a short visit, but we enjoyed it immensely!

Gail and Paul looked great, although Paul has had some health challenges lately. Pray for him as he deals with a skin cancer issue.

It was also wonderful to see Andy for the first time in almost ten years. The last time we saw Andy was in Hollywood, CA., in April of 2001. Andy looked great!

Even though we are live close to the Mincy family, we don't get to see them much. Here is Sara, Dave, Wes, Will, and Skye. They are a fun bunch.

The Mincy kids had their own booth -- right next to the oldsters.

Wouldn't you know -- before we left "somebody" hoisted Skye up in the sky -- er, tree.

Guess who? (Hint: he traveled the farthest...)

Happy New Year

The Carlson family gathered for our bi-annual Christmas get together in Rocky Mount. This year the travel to North Carolina was a breeze. The Walkers' had clear and clean roads and the Wisconsin crowd actually arrived a half hour early to RDU airport. It was great to have us all together again.

We don't have many opportunities when the boys can see their sister, but they do keep close via cell phones.
Kristy was still finishing up some classroom work. Here she is showing Kirk her new laptop that helps her teach online classes for two different colleges, in addition to her high school teaching duties.
And I seized the privilege to have my temporary "in house" mechanic look at a few problems. Chad put a quick fix on a truck issue and then helped me solve a tarp installation for the trailer. The weather was beautiful on Christmas Eve. But snow was coming...
Of course we had some great eating. Connie did her usual outstanding job of providing handsomely for us all -- and then some!
After eating and gifting, and eating some more, we all journeyed out to the Positive Action building on Christmas afternoon for a viewing of the super-animated DVD Wall-E. Here is the comfortable Media Room at PAFC that is a great place for us to enjoy.
Looking down the main hallway of the PAFC building the camera caught the "4 Boys" in this candid shot. Nice hat, Kirk.
But in the night after Christmas...the snow began to fall. And it continued to fall and fall. By mid day it had piled up to be a foot deep! Very rare for North Carolina.
The problem was that our Wisconsin crowd was scheduled to fly out of RDU at 12:30 PM on the day following Christmas. We got to the airport on time, but knew that the flight was already cancelled. The road to Raleigh was treacherous. The bad news was that Delta couldn't give them a flight until Wednesday. That wouldn't do! So, we drove them to Charlotte (3 hours from RDU) and they flew out on Monday morning. Chad had the foresight to purchase trip interruption insurance and that was a blessing to cover the extra expenses. It was truly an exciting three days.