Hidden Olympia, for Noobs [Part 1]

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Cosmo makes a short VLOG on a Friday afternoon to let people in on a “not-so-secret” feature of Olympia’s Famed Wagner’s Bakery – The Drive Up Window in the Alley.

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The Bad, The Good, and The Weird (News)

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{editors note: This post is made roughly two weeks after the bulk of the writing was done.  This is due to general busy-ness and the hectic transition of moving home after being in a hospital/nursing home for more than three months.  I have updated and made notes where necessary.  There is more info to come, please stay tuned!} 

The Bad News

Bad news is that after waiting a week to get an answer, it turns out I was not accepted to CHI Franciscan in-patient therapy hospital because pretty much everyone associated with my care and therapy all concur that I have advanced so quickly 🏃🏻 since being given the all clear for weight bearing, that I would be discharged from the in-patient and sent home for out-patient rehab. The new plan is to do just that, as often as possible with my insurance and the rehab facility.

My surgeon is with Olympia Orthopedic, which is a large medical partnership with a fancy new diagnostic, surgery and rehab center ♿️in West Olympia only a few miles from my home.

Oly Ortho Mothership

Olympia Orthopedic Associates in West Olympia

The Good News – Going Home

After 14 weeks and two days, (100 days!!!) 💯 I get to go home, and visit my kitties, 😺😺who were scarcely three months old when I left home that fateful frenetic night of the ankle injury. They are now 7 months old, have been spayed, and generally learning to wreak havoc as young cats do, while learning from, and running with a pair of German Shepherd Dogs filling out their “pack.”

Kitties in pocket.

Wee Manx kitties at 6 weeks.

In addition to the continued out-patient physical therapy, there is much work that will now fall on my shoulders.  Getting the cluttered house rehabilitated for safe living including adding additional handicap handholds in bathrooms replacing and reinforcing the stairway bannister to be more functional than decorative. Also installing the Tushy Bidet units (one ordered, to be delivered on Thursday) on the toilets, deep cleaning and some slight remodel of the master bathroom, which is in pretty bad shape right now.

{editors note: My handyman came over to fix the banisters, but I still haven’t ventured downstairs yet as I am waiting to see my Surgeon and Physical Therapist who can give me some guidance on what I should and should not be doing.  The Tushy Bidet attachment was also installed, and I believe it is a gift from whatever power you believe in.  How come these aren’t standard part of the toilet, I will no understand.  Americans need to get on “le cortège bidet – tout suite!”  Seriously, go buy one right now, you filthy barbarians! 🚽

Going Viral

On Saturday morning, February 23, the Fir Lane 🌲 nurse came in to wake us at approximately 7:10AM. She wanted to know if we had been told that the dining room was closed due to some patients in the other wing of the facility having contracted the flu. 😷

Biohazard Warning

Biological Hazard Zone Signs

Almost immediately thereafter, I made a request of my nurse to get a preventive course of Tamiflu, 💊 even though I had a flu-shot last year. Since we were captive to the facility, it seemed the only prudent course for them to help protect the residents. I sought out the newly appointed “interim director” (I’ve been here longer than he has) and confirmed that they did indeed have plans to make sure the residents had the opportunity to get the course of anti-viral drug, as requested.

Despite increasing cases of influenza amongst the residents of the “A” wing, hopefully, the measures taken by the administrators and staff here at Fir Lane will help check the disease from spreading, especially because there are many elderly people with compromised immune systems who are at very high risk for additional life-threatening complications.⚰️

{editors note: Sadly, a nurse’s assistant and at least two elderly residents (I was told) did pass because of complications of the flu outbreak.  The nurse’s assistant was a nice person, with a positive attitude, who worked fill-in on the wing I was staying in about 12 days before she passed.  Her death happened the same day they told us about the flu outbreak.  I don’t know whether she contracted the virus here, or if she was the original vector bringing it into the facility.} 😷
Yes we have no bananas today.

Event Schedule

The Love You Make; is Equal to . . .

While I’m excited about going home, and getting additional therapy on a regular basis, and to be free of the routine (good and bad) of the “skilled nursing facility” the recovery journey for me is far from over.  While I’ve been able to drop over 80 pounds, that is still less than half the total I need to lose to get back to a healthy sustainable weight.  I forever appreciate all the support I’ve been getting from friends, old and new, and especially enjoyed the gifts,  books, cards and old-school mailed letters. ✒️ One friend remarked that my ankle injury marked a moment that she defined as “a tragedy narrowly averted.”  Please know that I love you all and couldn’t have gotten this far along this journey of recovery without all the love ❤ reflected from you to me.  💯