September 2025 Happenings

The big story for September was  JAC’S SURGERY!  

He’s been in major pain for most of his adult life, but it notched up many, many degrees in early August. We aren’t sure why — perhaps his knee injury caused him to walk differently.  Regardless, August and early September were full of MAJOR PAIN and loads of appointments (doctor, pain specialist, physical therapist, neurologist, x-ray appointment, and urgent care several times.) It became clear to everyone, including Jac, that back surgery was the ONLY option.  Since this was something Jac has dreaded for decades, this was scary news. For both of us.  But…we were also counting down the days, knowing surgery was the only way to make the pain go away. It became a long, excruciatingly painful slog, waiting WEEKS to get to the big surgery date — September 9th.

And finally the day came. Jac was in major pain that morning (since he couldn’t take any pain medication before the surgery), so we raced down to the hospital hours before the surgery time and literally begged them to help us (ie: picture Jac laying on the floor of the hospital entry way, writhing in pain!)  Thankfully, they did take us back into a bed, gave him a small amount of pain relief, and eventually, several hours later, the neurologist was able to give him some legit pre-surgery pain meds. And this was the result:   🙂

And then we waited and waited. Finally, after 5 hours of waiting, Jac got wheeled away for surgery.  (That was hard to see!)  It was TIME! Given the severity of Jac’s case, the neurologist scheduled it to be the last surgery of the day, and that was good because what should have taken 2 hours ended up taking more like 3:30!  All the while, I was in the waiting area…dying!  What is happening?  Why is no one coming out to tell us why it’s going so long?  Luckily, my mom was there with me (love her!) and that helped a lot.  

Eventually, the nurse called, and then the doctor, who informed me that it was one of the most complicated surgeries he’s done in years.  Once they opened Jac’s back, they realized everything they had planned wasn’t going to work. It was significantly more damaged than they had thought!  But…they were able to did it. They were able to complete the surgery with a few workarounds and end the surgery a success!  Yea! Yea! Yea! Yea!

About 12 hours later we first arrived at the hospital, Jac was rolled out of surgery and into his hospital room for the next few days. (His first words when he saw me was “This is my Betsy. I love my Betsy. I need my Betsy.” [said to the nurses pushing his bed.] Awwww!)

Here is Jac, just after arriving in the room. He was VERY out of it. I fed him apple sauce, tried to comfort him, and listened as he mumbled about fancy French foods and his love for his children. He even tearfully told my mom how much he loves her.  Aww! 

Over the following three days, Jac slowly recovered. He was still in a lot of pain, but he was soon able to eat…

able to get up and walk (shown here with the physical therapist)…  

and able to have visitors! Alexa and Madison both visited several times (awww!) and Quinn even flew down from Portland as a surprise!   

 

Jac’s kids were awesome, ready to step in and make sure Jac had all the love and support he needed to get through this hard thing. Here’s our shifts for the first two or so weeks:

Jac was in a lot of pain, but still overall he was happy Jac.  Here he is showing us his Jac juice (don’t ask):   

Here’s a copy of his after-surgery X-ray, showing all the screws and hardware that were added. Yikes!  Very cool but also kinda freaky! 

 

 

Recovery at home
After four days at the hospital, Jac was sent home. He was relieved; I was nervous.  He came home on a Friday and I had taken the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off…so I was able to help him and take care of him AND worry about everything under the sun for five straight days. When I pictured this time off, I thought we’d be watching movies, hanging out in the backyard, maybe playing some games.  D’uh!  He felt awful and I was busy!  There were side effects to deal with (fever, constipation, pain), medicines to take, bandages to change (wound below):

 

And cleaning and shopping and calls to make, etc.  It was a lot. 

But he got better.  Slowly but surely.  He was even able to walk around the house at regular intervals, with the help of dad’s walker and his cheerleader Billy (who ALWAYS hopped on for a ride). 

 

One thing that helped a lot during this time was Jac’s pre-made hobo dinners (30ish), plus
enough breakfasts for three weeks. Clearly he didn’t want to leave the
food to me while he recuperated. Smart man!

 

He had his first check up at the end of the month and got a thumbs up from the surgeon.  And now, at this point, Jac just needs to put in the time his body needs to heal. By the end of the month, the mental pain (boredom, some depression) was almost as bad as the physical pain.  Recovery can take up to a year. This is going to be hard on Jac on many levels!

And after dinner we had a little game of croquet (with a set Michael and family got for a STEAL….so jealous!)  It was fun! Maybe we need more croquet in our lives, lol. 

The garden and food

Throughout it all, the garden giveth. Here’s one day’s harvest. We got this amount every three days or so.  We didn’t get as many tomatoes as usual, but the other plants made up for it (especially all the delicious eggplant!)

Here’s another harvest (with some cookies in the background — gotta balance out the good with some naughty!)

And here’s some of how Jac used our bounty in delicious ways: