Surgery, Renovation, & Recreation

Once we returned from South Texas and Mexico in late January, it was time to prepare for Gloria’s rotator cuff surgery, which was performed at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, TX in late February. The shoulder had been badly dislocated in Hawaii one year earlier. The surgery was not easy due to three different tears, but our patient endured the trauma with the help of ice packs, advil, and a special sling, which was reinforced with a padded body block. The sling was removed after eight weeks, and Gloria performed her own therapy. Meanwhile, she began experiencing severe hip pain, and could hardly walk for 100 yards without sitting down. Eventually she was given a shot of cortisone, and now both the shoulder and hip appear to be in good working order. She is now rebuilding muscle.

In addition to many trips to see Gloria’s doctors, we have been immersed in renovating our sunroom. It was an unattractive, long narrow room (originally a covered porch), which had inexpensive windows with grids, and it was trimmed with painted Masonite. New windows and a full-length glass door have now been installed between the great room and the sunroom. We pushed the outer sunroom wall 22 inches, installed sliding, insulated, double-pane windows with no grids, and added a quality patio door. Now we have an excellent view of our flower garden and wooded hillside. The mason did a great job of matching our house bricks with a new lower wall, and the Masonite ceiling was replaced with drywall. Our contractor son-in-law, Steven, and his crew from near Austin added false beams and ceiling chandeliers with fans. (We were glad that he also brought our grandchildren, Lucie and Lincoln, who are avid golfers.) In addition, they upgraded the 32-foot long floor with trimmed 2 x 6s and a plywood sub-floor. Jerry did the design work and the painting and staining. However, the Bunker Hill green door casings may not meet Gloria’s long-term approval. The room is now ready for our new Armstrong laminate flooring, which will cover all of our floors this fall after our Airstream travels. It will be good to be completely rid of carpeting.

With all of the medical issues and house construction, we did not forsake our involvement in our church. Jerry has even joined the choir, but will not be a featured soloist anytime soon. Our church Valentines Day dinner party was blessed by having a terrific Christian Nashville country music awards recipient as the featured attraction. He grew up in our area and has a heart for Hillsboro.

We have continued to enjoy Bridge and dinner every week in our clubhouse. Jerry has joined the NTAC (North TX Airstream Community) exercise group. We attended an outside arts and crafts show in Fort Worth with friends, Curtis and Sue. Also going with us was Norma, an Airstream buddy from Northern VA. She and husband, Eric, now live at NTAC in a leased home. We hope they will eventually buy a property and stay here. Another activity we liked was working with church friends, J.D. and Jean, at the Hillsboro Interfaith Ministry (HIM) downtown clothing thrift store. Following that effort, they took us on a wonderful 40-mile antique road trip.