There's puke on Batman's cape ...

Sorry for the radio silence. It's been a madhouse here.

Evil Genius Husband is ill and two of the babies seem to be emulating him. Bitty Girl has a nasty hacking cough and Boy's nose is running. I'm anxiously hovering over the other two and hoping nothing turns into the flu.

I gracefully dropped my cell phone and broke the little door on the back that holds the battery in. It's been working on and off (mostly off) ever since and I've got it jury rigged up with - yes it's true - duct tape. The one bit of advice Jerre Hill always gave his little girl was that you should never be without these two essentials: a pair of Vice-Grips and duct tape.

I've also begun my physical therapy on my knee and now the joint in question is swollen up to the size of a cantaloupe, hurts like blazing hell, and my left leg and back are aching from my limping gait. I'm slightly frustrated with all of it. PT didn't help before and I don't think that bad swelling 3 days later is a good sign.

I'm a little concerned about the drive up to see Dad today because of this. Normally, the day after a trip, my knee is swollen and painful and I'm not able to do more than hobble around. Well I'm like that now. I sure as hell don't want to have to ring up EGH and have him have to drag his sick self and the babies up to retrieve me. I plan on eating a handful of Advil and keeping my fingers crossed.

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On a good note: I've made a few feeble attempts at hacking through the clutter and grime that has consumed my house. I'm considering a front-end loader to assist: just scoop up stuff en mass and dispose of it. All the crap I donated to the thrift stores doesn't seem to have made a dent. *sigh*

The babies have had a ball wallowing in the seemingly hundreds of toys that they received for the holiday. We always ask that the family buy simple stuff (no electronic toys) and I'm amazed daily at how much fun 3 little people can have actually using their own minds. Folks oughta try it with their kids sometime.

The only hitches so far is the magnetic doodle-pad thingy that got stepped on and broken and the Incredible Bulk spitting up on the Human Crash Test Dummy's Batman cape that I made her. She was one cross young lady.

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Yes, yes, I'm gonna talk about Jerre ... *pictures bored readers scrolling down ... down ...*

Here's the gameplan for Dad again:

He has surgery on his leg on the 4th, then a load of follow-up appointments crowded into the 10th. My plan is to have him go straight from the hospital (post-recovery) down to a facility here in Columbia after the 10th.

All of this hinges on the availability of a bed down here. We cannot start the application process now: we have to wait until he is 'medically ready' for discharge. The facilities won't even consider an application until then. So there may be a brief stay back at Oak Summit after the 10th.

Several factors are at play here: male beds are v. difficult to find and Dad's physical progress will be a factor in where he goes. He's getting noticeably better each week so I have hope that he'll be strong enough after the 10th to be eligible for an assisted care place (as opposed to a skilled nursing facility like Oak Summit).

We'll just have to wait and see. I'll keep you all updated.

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Time to hit the road. I'll try to blog again tonight to let you know how Dad's doing. In the meantime I have to rinse out Batman's cape.