Got the Call / How Dry I Am / One House Too Many

Three kind of interesting things happening at the same time, so without further ado . . .

• Starting back up at the IRS next Tuesday, my fourth season. Monday's a federal holiday, so they save some money by not calling us in until the 22nd. I've been told that I will get to be an instructor for the new hires this season, but I won't know that for sure until I get there. Looking forward to doing something constructive, and getting paid. Especially the getting paid part.
• Got up this morning to messages on my voicemail and nothing coming from the faucets. Seems there's a leak somewhere between the meter and the duplex, which makes it the landlord's problem and not the water company's. Somebody's supposed to be out to fix it this afternoon, but I haven't seen them yet. Of course, the plumbing still works at our old house, so there are options.
• But not for long, hopefully. The people who wanted to buy our house back in October still want it, and our realtor says that they've made nice with the bank and things are looking good. Of course, it's not a done deal until we're signing papers and getting paid, but fingers are crossed.

That's all for now. More as it happens.

Back In One Piece

Saw my orthopedist this morning, for the very last time. Three months after ankle surgery, I am officially, completely healed. No boots, no braces, just a 9-inch-or-so-long skinny metal plate and nine titanium screws. The doc did a great job, and he told me I was a great patient, mostly because I actually did what he told me to do. Following doctor's orders is, apparently, a problem with a lot of his patients.

Of course, there's no way I could have pulled that off without the constant help and support of my beloved wife, Louise. The amount of stuff she took care of while I was laid up was staggering, and I love her more than ever for it. Also, huge thanks to the many fine people at Faith Presbyterian Church in Austin, who provided company, meals, rides to the doctor, cards, books, and more. Thanks to you all.

That's a great start to the new year. Now, if we can only get our old house sold, we would be golden. We had accepted an offer and were looking to close in mid-October, but things fell apart. The people who were going to buy the house needed to sell the place they were in to get the financing to work, and when their buyer fell through, so did their deal to buy our place. So now I'm paying rent on the new place and the mortgage on the old one, plus utilities on both places. We moved in order to save money, and all it's done has been cost us.

That's it for now. More if anything interesting happens.

Things Are Looking Up

Unless of course, you live in the eastern third of the nation . . .

But even that disaster has a silver lining for me, as I have been called in to help man an overflow FEMA disaster assistance phone bank. I start this afternoon.

"But wait, Scott," some of you might be saying, "what about your ankle?" It's doing great, thanks. Saw the doctor again yesterday, and he says things are going very well. Wants to see me in another three weeks to make sure the healing is continuing, and he -- of course -- wants me to "be careful" at all times. Hey, not like I was going to take tap dancing lessons or anything.

The next big challenge is getting this move organized. With both of us working, it's going to be tough, even though I don't expect the FEMA gig to last more than a week or so. What we really need to do is rent a foreman, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. More information (and our new address!) as it becomes available.

Good luck to my East Coast friends. Stay safe.

October Surprise

Wow. Been a busy, eventful couple of weeks. Plus, it's October, my favorite month of the year, when the weather turns, I get to watch a month of high-drama postseason baseball, and it all ends with Halloween. What could be better?

First, the ankle. My follow-up with the orthopedic surgeon went very well. He told me that the surgery was a complete success, he was very happy with my post-surgical progress, and that after just a week or two more to make sure the healing is solid, I can start being more mobile and kiss the hospital bed, wheelchair, and walker goodbye. I have a feeling the walking boot and a cane will still be with me for a while after that, but I'll know more after the next doctor visit at the end of the month.

Second, moving. After a tense couple of days where we were scrambling to get cashier's checks for security deposits, filling out lease applications, and then sweating out a selection process where the owner had two sets of financial data and had to choose which one he wanted . . . we got the house! Well, it's a duplex. But it's on nearly a half-acre and it is exactly what we wanted -- still close to Buda, much smaller than our current house, and much cheaper. We get the place on Nov. 1. Closing on our current place got pushed back to Nov. 16, so we have a good-sized window to get the move done. We are extremely happy about this turn of events.

Good news all around!

Ow

Well, that was fun. And moderately painful. The good news is that the surgery appears to have gone quite well, and it ended up not being as complicated as it could have been. The surgeon visited me in pre-op with a final little pep talk, and told me there would definitely be one incision along the outside of the foot and lower leg where he would install a plate and some screws to completely stabilize the broken leg, plus if he found some other problems, up to two other incisions in other places to make further repairs.

When I came to in post-op, the surgeon was long gone, having moved on to the next half-dozen or so operations he had lined up. But the nurse informed me that I have just the single incision, and I take from that the guess that things went well.

The leg is completely wrapped in a splint and some sort of adhesive gauze from the foot to nearly the knee, and is quite immobile. It also hurts a fair amount, less if I keep taking the pain drugs they gave me. It's just the first day after the operation after all, and I expect it will hurt less as time goes along.

So, bottom line: Doing OK. Still immobile. Looking at another 4-6 weeks recovery. Yawn.

Under the Knife

My, how time flies when you're . . . well mostly, I've been laying in a bed or sitting in a wheelchair, staying off my injured ankle and hoping it would heal on its own. That hasn't happened, so it's operation time.

I will be getting orthopedic ankle surgery tomorrow morning at Seton Hays Hospital. It's a day surgery, which means I show up really early, they operate, and then I'm sent home that afternoon. This tends to make me think this surgery is not a big deal, but I also know that all surgery is, one way or another, a big deal. So I'm a little nervous (also, anxious and trepidatious).

Post surgery, they tell me I'm looking at another 4-6 weeks recovery time doing pretty much exactly what I've been doing all this time already. The only difference will be that with a couple little metal plates screwed into my fibula and some other ankle parts put back in their proper place, it really will heal this time.

Theoretically.

I'll log on later this week and let you know how it all went. Send whatever psychic, karmic, emotional, or spiritual good vibes you care to. Thanks.

Bam!

Great news on the housing front -- somebody made us an offer, and we accepted it! A few more hurdles have to be, uh, hurdled, but if it all goes well we will be out of here by the end of October. Yay!

So we have kicked the search for a new place to live into a higher gear, and Louise has already found one place she's pretty excited about. Still a ways to go on this front, too, but we've got some time to nail this down. Fun with real estate!