Is Steve really having surgery?

On December 26, Steve and I attended the Logan Temple to do some sealings for family names.  It was a choice experience and we hope those ancestors will accept the ordinances.

On the 27th we drove to SL to meet with our siblings, including all children of Ann & Harvey for a holiday dinner.  It was fun to get better acquainted with Harvey's family and great to see most of my own siblings. Jackie set up her camera on a tripod and timer to take this photo of the group.

We were back in SL on Saturday to address some issues with my brothers, Steve and Greg.  While we were there, our Steve, hung a much needed shelf in the laundry room for them.

We needed to take down the Christmas tree and put things away before Steve's surgery so Jameson and AJ willingly helped us remove the decorations.

Steve had all of his medical equipment ready to use during his recovery period.  He was feeling a little apprehensive about having his hip replaced. It is a BIG deal.  Sunday evening, Adam and our good friend, Larry Hogge, came over and gave Steve a beautiful priesthood blessing.  We are so grateful for those blessings which help to calm our fears and help us be aware of Heavenly Father's love and mindfulness.

We took this quick selfie together before leaving Monday morning for the hospital.

Here they are preparing Steve for surgery.  The doctor and staff were a little ahead of schedule and we thought that was a good sign.

Off he goes!

When I first saw Steve after the surgery, he looked pretty pale.  He wasn't in pain because of the spinal block they gave him but his blood pressure gave us a little scare.

Within a couple of hours after surgery, the physical therapists were getting him out of bed and having him stand and take a couple of steps.  After that he made several bathroom trips with his walker and the nurses assistance.  I was pleased with how well he was doing.

Nothing like a chocolate milkshake to make him feel better.

He was able to order his food from a full menu which was nice.

They had him practice walking and doing some stairs the next morning.

After drawing some blood and giving him further instructions, we were on our way home.  We arrived home 24 hours after his surgery had started.  I stayed with him at the hospital during his entire stay.

These beautiful flowers were given to Steve by my brother Steve.  They have been a beautiful bright spot on our counter.

We were so blessed to have Heather drive down from Idaho on New Years Eve day and McKay fly into SL and drive up on New Years Eve.  They both worked to avoid big snow storm scheduled for New Years Day!

With three of our children around, we did our best to turn the visit into a party with lunch from Kneaders and dinner from Café Rio.  Dad had a good appetite and gets around well with his walker. The meds were wearing off and his pain increased so he finally had to give in and take a small dose of tramadol.

It was so delightful to have the kids around visiting and distracting Dad from his discomfort.  Our thanks to them for making the effort to come.  It was truly a blessing to have them visit.
Thursday afternoon, we had our first outing to the physical therapist.  He was very light and gentle with Steve, but Dad was tired from the outing nevertheless.

McKay was able to attend the therapy session as he didn't leave until early the next morning.

Here is Steve doing his exercises on the bed.

Steve was able to make his first trip upstairs to fix a problem with the printer.

I worked on our disastrous storage room so I could put Christmas decorations away.

It still needs a lot of organizing but it is much better than it was.

Sunday the little boys came over to see Grandpa for the first time since the surgery.

They were intrigued by his equipment.

They helped me set up the table downstairs for dinner.

Since it was the day before Jameson's 8th birthday and our neighbors across the street had given us a couple of take and bake pizzas, we added bread sticks, salad and ice cream and turned it into a birthday party for Jameson.  He is very excited!

The north side of our house has become a sledding hill for some of the neighbor kids.

We hope and pray they don't get hurt or damage the garage door or house. 

They really put Dad to work at his Monday PT appointment.

He was really tired the next day.  After his PT, we gave him his first full shower.  Once we removed the dressing, this is what his wound looked like.  I texted it to Shawn and he said it looks really good and is healing properly.

His knee is bruised from the procedure.  He feels pain in his knee and back as well as the incision site.

This is a x-ray of his new titanium hip.