Mother’s Day

It was an unconventional Mother’s Day for Corinne. Her children provided gifts and good wishes, but Corinne spent most of the day caring for me.

I’ve been unable to blog since coming home on Friday afternoon, but today the fog from the drugs is lifting as Corinne and the health care system nurse me back to health.

Over the past 20 years I’ve had hip surgery at two hospitals in Ottawa. I was apprehensive about having surgery done in Quebec because I believed that Ontario medical care was better. Well happily, I was proven wrong. My stay at Hôpital de Hull was superior in every way. I was made comfortable, the anesthetist and surgeon were excellent, everything was explained to me at every step of the process, the nurses and other medical professionals were caring and attentive, and my room was bright and cheerful. It’s by far the best hospital stay I’ve experienced, and the care continues through home visits.

I have a physiotherapy exercise routine that I do on my bed three times a day. To an uninformed observer, it looks like I’m lying on my back counting and wincing rhythmically, but after the routine I’m exhausted.

Today, a nice and knowledgeable nurse, Priscilla, came to our home. She changed my dressing and commented that my incision is the longest she’s ever seen. She measured it at 50 cm. I felt strangely proud. A nurse will visit again on Thursday to check out the incision, and tomorrow a physiotherapist will phone to arrange a home visit.

Priscilla taught Corinne how to change the dressing and left the necessary supplies along with a phone number in case help is needed. Corinne, being the good student that she is, took notes, asked questions, and documented the procedure.

Mother’s Day was different this year, but it’s one that we’ll remember.