On the 5th of Sept. Mom was picked up by a transport company and transported from the Hospital to Woodmont Genesis Health Care.  She will stay at the Rehab center until she regains her strenth by going to Physical Therapy.

When Mom got there she had a room mate, but her room mate left after 2 days.  Now Mom is in her own room for the time being.  She got to change  beds.  She now is by a window
she can look out when she gets tired of watching MASH episodes. If that is at all possible.  Her room number is still 208 but she is now on the B side.

 Yesterday, she worked really hard at PT. 

Our first goal, is to get Mommy to
 stand with help.  She is so afraid of falling.  At this point, PT has to get
 her good leg strong enough to hold all of her weight on the one good leg.
 They are a great group of people and they really seem to care about their
 patients.  I am glad to have the two PT's that Mom has. They are two happy
 and upbeat girl's that make Mom laugh and tease her when she just stops
 doing the exercises because she gets distracted watching other patients.  I
 was able to go with her and be her cheerleader today.  I even did exercises
 with her to show her how it was done.  :0)

 Her leg is beginning to heal and she has a follow up appointment with the
Ortho. on Tues.  He will tell us when her staples and stitches can be
 removed.  She is in great spirits and loves me coming to do her hair and
 visit with her everyday.  I am really enjoying the time I get to spend with
 her.

The facility has many activities Mommy can choose from, so today she went and got her nails done.  She was really happy about that.  When she finally got into bed, around 7pm, she was exhausted.  I can honestly say she will
sleep very well tonight.

On August 27, 2012 my Mother-in-law fell in her home and got a compound fracture.  Around 7am my Father-in-law found mom in a pool of blood when he got up to let the dog out.  He called 911 and followed their directions to apply pressure to the wound.  When the Paramedics came, Dad called me and told me Mom had fallen and broken her leg.  I told him I would meet him in the ER and rushed to the hospital to be with my Mom. 

Once I got in the ER. I asked to see my Mother-in-law.  They told me what room they were in and told me I could go on down to see her.  As soon as I got to the room I knew it was bad.  Mom didn't seem like she was in much pain, but there was a lot of blood and a huge gaping gash across her shin bone. 
There were about 6 people in the room doing different jobs.  One nurse saw me and started asking me questions about Mom and her medical history.  She had tried to get info from Mom, but I think she was in shock because she couldn't focus to tell her anything. Someone gave her some morphine even though she didn't seem like she was in pain.  Then the x-ray tech came in to take her x-rays and another tech came in to take an EKG.  There was also a CNA taking her vitals.  Soon two Dr.'s came in to look at her leg.  Then they went out and got a third Dr. to look at her.  They all introduced themselves to me, but things were happening so fast I didn't remember their names.  Then a Paramedic came in and hung an IV.  There was also someone taking her blood.  There was so much commotion going on it was hard to stay out of their way.  At one point I stepped out of her room and saw Dad walking toward me.  He ask how Mom was and I gave him the report of what I had seen and heard.  Then we both returned to her room.

Things started slowing down once they admitted her and she was ready for the OR.  She needed to be operated on as soon as possible since the bone was exposed to the air and the outside environment.  The Dr. said the longer they wait the more chance of infection to set in.
 
They soon got the labs back from her blood and had to give her potassium since she was low on it, but everything else was good to go.  The some people came in and took her to get a CT Scan.  They wanted to make sure she didn't hit her head when she fell and now had a brain bleed.  She soon came back and waited in the ER room for about 10 minutes.  While she waited, they came in and put a Foley catheter in so she didn't have to worry about going to the bathroom.  Shortly after that, they whisked her off to the OR.  There we met with Dr. Harding who was the Orthopedic Surgeon on call.   We also meet the anaesthesiologist that was going to put her under.  Dr. Harding explained what he had to do.  Since Mom was on a blood thinner we had to wait to do the major surgery until Friday so the blood thinner medicine would get out of her system.  For the temporary fix he still had to do a 2-3 hr surgery to get her bones aligned and pinned in place.  He explained he would be putting an external fixator on her leg.  This would protect her fracture and her skin until it was safe to perform the operation. (Fixator below)

 

Her operation took about 3 hrs.  Dr. Harding told us the operation went very well.  Mom did better then he thought.  He also told us he would see us back on Friday so he could put a rod in her leg and she could then could start to heal.  He told us this type of injury would take 4-5 months to heal from.

 

After Mom came back from the OR they put her on the 5th floor in the west wing.  Her room was right across from the Nurses desk so the Nurses could keep an eye on her.  She wasn't able to get out of bed at all and she was very hard to move her.  She was just dead wait.  She had trouble rolling over because of the Fixator and it kept getting bumped and then Mom would get hurt.  She survived until Friday and around 12pm they took her back to the OR to perform the second surgery.  Once again we waited 2-3 hours for her to come out of surgery.  She didn't come and we started to worry.  I went to the OR waiting room and talked to a nurse about what had happened.  She assured me the surgery went well, but Mom was taking some time to come out of the anaesthesia.  She ask if I wanted to go back and see her.  Of course I did, so she let me stay with her until someone was free to wheel her back to her room.

 

Dad was very glad to see she was back and all was well.  The Dr. then called and I talked to him about how the surgery went.  She once again did very well and the Dr. said in a few days of watching it and keeping infection out of it he would transport her to the rehabilitation center of our choice.  I didn't think anything of it.  I am a here and now kinda gal.  One step at a time. 

 

Mom did very well, and soon she was able to move a lot better.  She still had a hard time rolling but she was able to sit in a chair if someone got her up.  Most of the time they had to use a lift to get her  up.  Like I said she was dead wait. 

 

On the 5th of Sept. she was scheduled to be discharged. 

 

New York Trip

Yesterday I headed to NY with my youngest and my Hubby.  We started off around 5am when my Son, Samuel took us to the VRE.

Here's our bags.  Ida's is the largest.  Then mine and Norm's is the smallest.  We took the train from Fredericksburg, VA to Union Station in DC.  It's almost a 2 hr ride in.

Once at Union Station Norm went and picked up the Amtrack tickets.  Then we went to find some bagels and juice for Breakfast.

Here we are waiting for our 8:05 train into NYC.

The train ride was great.  It didn't take long at all, but there were lots of people since it was spring break.  We all got seats together and entertained ourselves with movies or music from our Ipods or Iphones.  They had Wifi on the train, but it wasn't the best since it kept dropping.  Overall the train ride was perfect.  No traffic and no train problems.

Once we got to Penn Station we decided to walk the 16 blocks to our Hotel.  What were we thinking???  Even though NY has very shot blocks there were so many people.  NY is such a busy place in general.  I have shot legs so Ida and Norm were walking really fast.  While I had to run at times to keep up with them.  It was a bit of a nutty, but we soon were at our hotel.

The Hampton Inn was a perfect place to stay.  It was clean and right in the heart of the action yet far enough away that we were not bothered by the noise.  I came to love that red Hampton Inn sign after being on my feet all day.

We weren't able to check right away in, since we got there so early, but the bellman took our bags and locked them up for us while we decided to see more of NYC. 

Of course the first place on Norm's list to go, was a good Jewish deli.

 Everywhere you looked was scaffolding.  I guess there was a lot to repair.  It is an old city.  This place was amazing.  I can't even begin to tell you how busy it was.  When we walked in there was 5 waiters that you would walk to just to get your set in the back of this restaurant.  There were so many people eatting already that the place was packed.  We even sorta shared a table with an older couple.  I forget where they were from, but they were to nice to be New Yorkers.

Ida looking at Dad and asking how she was suppose to finish all of that herself.

First thing, Norm orders Ida and him Matzo ball soup.  Wow!!  Those were hudge Matzo balls.  Norm said they were very tasty.  I'm not much into Matzo balls so you can't go by me.

My Cornbeef sandwich was to die for.  The portions were hudge and I couldn't eat the whole thing, but it was so yummy. The walls of this place had  headshots of famouse people in black frames hanging everywhere.  It was fun to see who had eatten there.  Ida even got to see a picture of Taylor Swift.   

Suprizingly the menu wasn't even big enough to line a birdcage, but it sure made up for it when the check came. I'm not sure I ever paid $76.00 for just 3 people at lunch time. Ouch!! 

After lunch we were stuffed beyond our capacity.  We walked around the block and who should greet us, but Extra TV.  They asked us if we would be Extras in their clipit.  Of course we said we would.  We stood next to AJ Calloway while he looked into the camera and did his spill.  It took us only about 15 minutes, but what a great experience to be part of.  We were on TV that night for just a few seconds. Our moment of fame!! I personally would of loved to have met Mario Lopez.

Here, we are just heading down to time square.  I think there is some excitement in the air.

We thought this was funny.  Look in the background.  There was a hudge sign a Letterman, but I'm not sure where in this picture it is.

Of course we had to hit the M&M store in Manhattan.  Ida and Norm had a blast.

 Here, Ida has a blast picking out her colors of her M&Ms.  This guy, reaches over and puts bunny ears on her, but I had already taken the picture.

 Very fun store to go into.  It was 3 floors of delisouse smelling chocolate.  Ton's of M&M's everywhere.

 

 We are in the heart of Time Square.  Above, is where the ball drops on New Years Eve.  Below is a place people can sit and look at all the bill boards as they change.  It is a very cool place.

I was amazed to see all the mega trons.  It wasn't like this when I came into NY in 1989.

There were tons of people dressed in costume.  They would let you take a picture with them and then you would have to pay them money.  It was a big thing down there.  We learned our lesson fast.

Above is the Disney Store.  This is a fun place to go into as well.

Just amazing!!

 This was sooooo cool.  This whole building was a mega tron.  It change colors and advertizements every 5 minutes.

New York is just a super fun place to visit.

 The above picture was so funny.  There is a guy in the background with a mohawk.  He was holding a sign that said I need weed.  Everyone wanted to take his picture, but if they did they had to give him money towards buying weed.  Right next to him was a policeman.  He couldn't pick him up cuz he didn't have any weed on him.  Only in NY...

We decided to go back to our hotel and check in.  About this time Ida was tweeting and noticed that Nick Jonas was going to be at Planet Hollywood.  We jumped in a cab and rushed down there to stand in a line for about 1 hour.  We met some very nice people in that line.

 Once we got here.  We relized only100 of his fans got yellow wrist band and would be getting Nicks autograph.  It was ok, cuz all Ida really wanted to do is see him in person. He was a very nice kid and let 25 more fans come into Planet Hollywood to see him donate his costume.

 Donating his costume to Planet Hollywood.  I felt so bad for this poor kid.  He had a hard time with all the flashes going off in his face.  There were tons of fans there.

Michael Urie, Nick Jonas & Stepahnie  Rothenberg

Can't see Nick in the middle very well, but he was there.

 Here I was taking his picture through plexi glass, but it still turned out great.

He is such a shy kid.

 Nick leaving and telling all his fans to go see his broadway Musical.

Jonas brothers handprints on the wall of Panet Hollywood.

 Ida thinking of Kristen as she see's a hudge piano on the wall of Planet Hollywood.

Above, Norm get's his picture taken of the true hero's of NY.  After getting mobbed by thousands of streaming girls.  He was such a good sport.

Now off to the Empire State building.  The day is almost over, but there is still tons we want to do.

This is the first picture you see when you enter the building.  There were so many people here it was a bit of a nutty.

Norm is showing Ida the buildings we will see once we are on top and out side.