Managing, An Unlikely Uprising, Quality of Life

So as the days pass I am learning the routine I need to maintain to at least keep my eye from feeling like it is going to pop out of my head.  I need to be very active with using lubricating eye drops.  I also have to take time every few minutes to force that eye closed so it stays moist.  Last night when I was out doing my post work chicken duties I had the eye patch on to try to minimize the wind/dirt/sand from irritating the eye. By the end of the day the eye was still sore but not as bad as the day prior.

I also changed the time I am taking the prednisone.  I was taking it around dinner but found it was making my sleep suck.  Cindy’s Aunt Cecelia mentioned the sleep issue and recommended I take them earlier.  I skipped taking them last night altogether and instead took them with breakfast.  I had my first uninterrupted sleep since Sunday night as a result.  This morning I woke up once again hoping someone turned the lights back on but a quick attempt to smile in the mirror ended that quickly.

So Kristen, our remaining Americana hen has now become low bird on the pecking pole.  She runs away from pretty much every other bird we have when challenged, including the “babies”.   However there is ONE bird she absolutely stands her ground to, the rooster, Daelin.  It’s fascinating yet baffling why she stands up to the biggest bird in the group when she runs away from all of the others.  Last night as I was out there the two of them had a genuine stand off that I had to break up.  Daelin had his neck feathers standing out to look imposing, Kristen did the exact same thing back and moved towards him aggressively.  Daelin was the one to turn and go the other way.  Chicken social dynamics are very complex, you just never know what will shake out.

My dad called me yesterday to check in on my post Bell’s Palsy existence.  During the call we talked about their upcoming move from western to eastern PA along with their roughly 20 farm animals.  Thankfully dad has been paying for some help in the packing/moving process but it still is an absolutely massive task.  By this time next month they should be transplanted across the state.  One of the main driving forces of the move was to be closer to my sister Meg who is due to have her second baby very soon.  The place they bought is still over an hour away from her but that is a lot more manageable than the roughly six hour drive that currently separates them.

My dad also talked about his upcoming surgical schedule.  He had his one hip replaced roughly 5 years ago but still has been experiencing pain that was beyond normal.   He was planning on getting his knees replaced but during the consult the hip situation was looked at further.  It turns out that the initial procedure was not done as it should be and the end result was a tendon is rubbing on the artificial joint due to it being higher than it should be.  So the new plan is to fix this hip, again and once that heals, do the knees.

With the long recovery required for these types of procedures you are looking at a period of potentially two years where you are going to be very limited in your physical capabilities.  That doesn’t sound like an ideal situation for someone that just bought another farm with it’s long list of maintenance requirements.  Hopefully dad can hire some farmhands to help handle the work so the entire load isn’t hoisted onto my step mom’s back.

At dad’s age this is a delicate wire to walk.  He wants to get these procedures to improve his quality of life, he has severe pain that makes even basic mobility a pain in the ass.  However two years of being more or less sedentary at his age could really make it difficult to get back to even where he is today if he doesn’t do the right things to manage his health during the recovery period.  Your body doesn’t just bounce back when you are in your 70’s.  It’s going to take a lot of hard work to make it happen.