My Poor Papa

Last week we had a scare when my sister from Utah, Mindy texted me saying my Dad was in surgery. I, of course, freaked out! Apparently, Dad scraped his leg a while back on some farm equipment. He noticed it wasn't healing but didn't think anything of it and went about his business. He started running a fever one night and by the next morning he couldn't put any weight on his leg because his knee was so painful. Mom took him to the ER where an orthopedic surgeon assessed the problem. Dad's cut had become so infected that the infection traveled to his knee and his whole knee had then become infected. The problem is that Dad has prosthetic knees that he got about 8 years ago during a very painful double knee replacement surgery.

The only option seemed to be immediate surgery to remove the prosthesis, let the leg heal for 6 weeks and then put in a new knee once the infection was gone. This means a Summer of difficult recovery and no fun for my Dad (no growing corn, no puttering in the dirt, no devising new and interesting ways to grow tomatoes...nothing). Poor Dad. He lives for the summer like a kid does. He is totally taken aback by this blow as we all are. I feel so bad for the poor chap.

I am going to go home next week to help cheer my Dad up and also help my Mom with some of the nursing responsibilities. He is home from the hospital but can only walk with a walker. He has a pic line for heavy antibiotic therapy. I'm hoping he gets well soon.

I'm currently contemplating fun ways to keep Dad entertained this summer since he can't do his usual "stuff." I wonder how he feels about spending the day at the pool with about 15 grand kids and me....Any other ideas??