I’ve tried to get Rhonda to post here to no avail.
Here’s a belated picture of Brad in the hospital when Hannah and Margaret Ann visited.
Brad will be fitted for his brace today, then visit Dr. Barrett’s office. This could hurt or feel good – we don’t know which.
Not much sleep last night and most of it was in a chair. He’s not able to lay in the bed hardly at all.
I rarely post softball pictures here because -I post so many at beth’s tournament team site. I also put the MRA school pictures on there in the last couple of days.
On that system, you don’t have to be logged in to see pics or leave comments. A tip…if you want a larger version of the picture (makes a better print), you can click on it to get the larger version.
Update: I took the softball site off-line.
Daddy went home yesterday (Thursday) as the bleeding has been stopped. He underwent a transfusion, a colonoscopy, and five days in the hospital. I guess it could have been worse.
Brad has continued to have severe pain in his back and lately starting in his neck, then shooting down his arm. It appears to be a pinched nerve. Rhonda took him to Dr. Barrett’s (the orthopedic surgeon) yesterday and Dr. Barrett conferred with Dr. Koury. Finally, they decided to go ahead and fit him with a brace. Brad’s kyphosis (humpback) has gone from 68 to 79 and his scoliosis (s-curve in his spine) is much worse.
Brad seemed to be looking forward to it, perhaps hoping some of the pain will end. We met at the place on Lakeland Drve where his brace will be formed. The guy made a plaster cast of Brad’s upper body, then will form a brace out of plastic. It will straighten him up pretty good, but I continue to worry that he can’t wear it due to pain. We’ll see.
We beat Jackson Academy yesterday. I walked up not long after the first game started and Beth was batting for the second time in the first inning. We scored 14 that inning.
He put in the younger players after that and JA only scored 4 runs against that team. The picture (Jessica) is a sixth-grader. That’ll be a good team in a few years. The final scroe for the first game was 14-4. We played another game afterwards and won 5-0.
JA’s park is the best I’ve seen, even though they’ve only been playing fastpitch for 2 years. It only takes money…
Hillcrest has one of the best fastpitch softball programs in the state. Last year, they were not as good as usual, but caught fire in the tournaments and won the overall State title going away. Last night, we made a giant step towards beating them and Beth played a big role. She bounced a double off the fence in her first at-bat. Then in the top of the seventh, she singled home a run from third base by going with the pitch to the opposite field. Everyone knows to pitch her outside as she pulls everything, so she just blooped it out to right-center. The next batter got on also (walk? I can’t remember), then Becca hit a home run. We were ahead by 4 runs with only two outs when the game was called by lightning. We’ll finish it out, but it’s looking good so far.
I went by the hospital last night after the game. Daddy was sitting there drinking electrolytes – 4 liters of it. They had fed him solid food all day, so he has to get all cleaned out before the procedure this morning. Typical hospital, but I bet Baptist wouldn’t do that.
Brad had a bad night last night with pain in his shoulder traveling down his arm. Rhonda thinks it’s a pinched nerve.
Brad hasn’t shown the progress I would like. He and Rhonda say that he blows 1500 regularly when I’m not around, but I haven’t seen it. Yesterday, we went to the pool for exercise and he just walked around at first. I told him I would go ahead and shave half the mustache if he swam all the way across under water. He did and I did.
Brad has a doctor’s appointment today. First, he gets an X-ray, then takes it to Dr. Koury’s.
In the meantime, my father is in the hospital. He was bleeding Sunday morning profusely, apparently from his colon, so my uncle and aunt helped Momma get him to the hospital. They’ll do a scope Tuesday to see if they can find the problem. He’s on so many blood thinners that it took a while for the bleeding to stop. In the last few months, his main problems have been pain in his shoulder and in his back due to bone spurs. When he arrived at the emergency room, he was in such pain from his back that they gave him morphine. He had planned a treatment at a pain clinic next week, but I guess that’s on hold. Please add him (Russ Corkern) to your prayer lists.
This past weekend, Beth and I went to Starkville for a tournament. All the rooms were booked in Starkville, so we got a cottage at Old Waverly. That’s a beautiful place, but we didn’t have any time to enjoy it due to the timing of the games. The first game was played right after a downpour with lightning, so the infield was kinda sticky. We wound up 2 & 2, which is not good enough. We didn’t beat any good teams.
Brad went to orientation at school today for 2 1/2 hours. He didn’t want to be lost when regular school starts, so the pain was worth it to him. He’s worn out now, though.
He doesn’t think he could make the full day Friday when regular school starts, but I bet every kid thinks that after summer. The original plan that the doctor told us to expect was that he would miss the first week of school. I don’t think he will.
He’s so skinny that his pants dropped to his ankles when he walked in the living room this morning. That could cause issues since MRA is so strict about the dress code. Hope he put on clean boxers.
Brad’s blowing 1250 on a regular basis now. When he gets to 1500, I’m shaving the right side of my mustache. The left side comes off at 2000.
Brad lost 14 lbs since the day he went in for surgery, which is more than 10% of his previous body weight. He tires easily, but complains more about his back now than his chest. My latest theory is that his back hurts worse due to being hunched over holding his chest and due to sleeping in the recliner.
He had a grand total of one Tylox all day Monday. He actually went under water and swam, which was great for his arms. It wore him out, however. He was asleep when I got home around 6:00 and he slept for quite a while. Biggest news – he slept through the night without Tylox.
He blew 1250 today (Monday) without cheating. Rhonda’s had him at the pool a good part of the morning. It must have helped.
I’m glad to see improvement. He’s been stuck at 1000 for a few days.