Here she is, friends! My grandmother, Dorothy Hess, is ready for the Olympics in the parallel bars gymnastics events -- at age 93!Well, maybe not, but I'm awfully proud of her anyway. She broke her hip 10 days ago and had a rod inserted all the way down to her knee, and here she is at physical therapy. Way to go, Grandma!
On Monday, my mother wrote this update: "This afternoon Daddy and I went to the nursing home after lunch and weren't there very long before a nice physical therapist named JR came in to work with Mother. First he got her sitting on the edge of the bed for a while, then helped her to stand at the walker. Had her sit and rest a little bit and then had her stand and sit in a wheelchair. Daddy and I followed her to PT where JR helped her stand at the parallel bars. Since this was her first success at getting to her feet in a week, she was naturally tired. On the way back to her room, JR started to ask her if she knew why he was asking her to look at him. I think it was so she'd stand straighter, and also so he could see how she was breathing. Anyway, she looked up at him and smiled and said, "Because I'm beautiful."
Grandma, you are gorgeous! I love you so much and hope you get better soon!
In other orthopedic news, I thought a few days ago that I had a stress fracture in my ankle / foot since it had been really sore for three weeks and I didn't remember injuring it. Thad took me into the Jewett Orthopedic Clinic convenient care center yesterday morning. We had to wait a while, but after I got the X-rays taken, the guy said it just ligament damage. He spent quite a while with us recommending safer exercises for me than jogging at 5 mph on the treadmill at the YMCA, which is probably what did it. I guess that's a no-no for me. He says I should use the elliptical machine or the recumbent bikes for aerobic exercise, or walk slower on the treadmills. I can also continue with the FitLinxx weight machines to build my bone and muscle strength. I do need a lace up ankle brace for a while until it recovers, which may be several weeks. He also looked at the wear patterns on my sneakers and told me to go to Track Shack and getting fitted for supportive athletic shoes based on my feet and my gait. He said they do a really good job figuring out what each person needs. I ran into my friend Joanne Haver at Sam's Club a little later, and she said there is also a smaller family run store called Fleet Feet in Uptown Altamonte that does the same thing for their customers. She says they even watch you on a treadmill in the store and take a picture of your feet. I think I will go there.
We liked the thorough service at the Jewett clinic, and they gave us a 50% discount for paying right away since we don't use traditional health insurance. If it had been over $300, our coverage with the Samaritan Ministries health cost sharing program would have kicked in. Samaritan Ministries is much more cost effective for our family. We pay less than $350 per month for 10 of us, and we've never had a problem with getting reimbursed for medical costs in the 5 years we've been on this plan. Fortunately, we haven't needed them too often!
While I'm thinking about it, I'm going to post an old article on "Saving Money on Health Care Costs" in a minute.
Blessings,
Virginia
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