Biding Time
AJ Robinson

Now that my wife is out of the hospital, she begins the long slow rehabilitation process. It was only a week ago she underwent major back surgery. Now, she’s up and moving around!

Granted, she has to wear a brace, which makes her look like a turtle. She also uses a four-wheel walker to steady herself. Oh and she can’t go much of anywhere.

Yet, she’s doing great. Based on what the visiting medical help has observed, she’s way ahead of the pack, so to speak. One of the rehab people said he’s seen people with lesser operations who couldn’t even get out of bed without help, at this stage. Guess that means Jo, my wife, is doing well.

Still, she has a long way to go. She can’t lift anything heavier than, well, just about everything. As the doctor said, “Don’t lift anything bigger than a gallon of milk.” Guess she won’t be holding our new godson anytime soon. Although our grandson is light in weight right now, the little fellow is poised to bulk up; he seems to have a good appetite! Jo knows she has plenty of time to hold him in the coming years.

Jo also can’t bend or twist or, well, do much of anything. Our friends and families are here to do those things. Our daughter came up this past weekend to help. I had to work, so she was here to help with cooking, cleaning, laundry, and she even left us a great dinner, plus some spaghetti sauce for a future dinner.

She’s a good kid.

Then there’s our move. Yes, we’re moving from our current apartment. We found a slightly bigger one on the other side of town. Jo did a lot of packing before her surgery and we’re almost ready to go. Now we’re almost ready to get to the new place.

The new apartment should be nice. The layout is better, it’s in a great neighbourhood and three are bedrooms. We’ll be able to have people come visit and set things up for our publishing company; the place also has a dog walk and Juliet will be pleased.

Although, I do imagine the squirrels will have to learn to get out of her way or chased. Ah well, the squirrels at our current place will welcome the rest. Juliet is also Little Miss Concerned when it comes to my wife’s health. First off, she missed her terribly while she was in the hospital. I’d come home, she’d welcome me, and then she’d sit and stare at the door for a while waiting for “Mommy” to come in.

She was very sad when she saw that I was alone.

Never was Juliet happier than to see Jo Ann come home. Of course, she had to check her out; sniff her all over to see where mommy had been, and what was wrong with her. She now stays very close, and she’s not alone. I have a feeling we’ll all be staying close to Jo for a good long time and she feels certain she’s going to be feeling great in no time. Her next goal is getting back in the pool to do water aerobics. Yeah, it’s going to be a while before she’s strong enough to do that, but that’s not about to stop her; she has goals and she’s going to achieve them.

It’s going to take a lot more than a little back surgery to stop her achieving anything.