Chronological Account of the Weiss family with contextual remarks, some weather, sports and other news.
You can write to me at: mhw20854@yahoo.com
The people in the Weiss family are: Martin, Ann, Beth and George. I also sometimes write about other people or our pet.
Saturday, November 02, 2024
With the God Hath Noah Walked
I couldn't find a good image to illustrate the title of this post. Thus I used the Sistine chapel Michelangelo painting of Noah offering a sacrifice post flood. Near the beginning of the Noah story (6:9) is a phrase usually translated "... Noah walked with God." I used a somewhat more literal translation in the title of the post. Anyway the Noah reference is because today I walked to synagogue on Sabbath for the first time in several months (a bit under half a mile each way). I'm not claiming divine approval or authority however. BTW, there is another later famous 'walking' verse in Genesis, 17:1 (where God tells Abraham to walk before him) and I could have waited for that one. Also last week there was a walking with God verse 5:9 but after Enoch does this he is gone (dead or up to heaven). It wasn't a real comfortable walk because on the way my sock seemed to get caught in one of my toenails and it wore me out a bit. ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ I got there before even the blessings of the dawn ברכות השחר, had started but left after the silent Mussaf amidah. Left the house about 840, home about 1150. It was a relatively long service since it was also Rosh Hodesh so we had Hallel and a few other odds and ends.
We had fewer than two dozen trick or treaters. However, one of the first groups (girls only) was dressed in super hero(ine) costumes. As in the image (which I got from the internet), some were Marvel, some were DC Comics.
.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... All well behaved.
I'm pretty sure I've taken a picture of this scene in other years. The camera doesn't capture the vibrancy of the red and gold colors.. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
but it is still nice and visible from our driveway or our sunroom or the dining room.
Just a few blocks away there are a lot of Holloween decorations out. Big pumpkins, big ghosts, etc. Most of these we've seen before. But this year at least 3 or 4 houses have, in their front yards big skeletons. They all seem to be from the same vendor so it may have been a group project. .........................The second image has a display of ghosts that I remember from last year.
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. One of the skeletons seems to be at least 10 feet high and he is walking a large skeleton dog. Click on image to enlarge.
In a dream, I had parked my car in a garage. I think it was at a museum downtown because Ann had been talking about going to one of these. As I approached my car I saw a number of pieces of paper on the windshield held there by my windshield wiper. I thought I was going to find a bunch of parking tickets. But when I got to the car and looked at the pieces of paper they were all invitations to some, presumably museum related event. I was pretty happy.
...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Then I woke up and wasn't in a sweat of breathing heavily or anything.
I was contacted a few days ago about some family needing bamboo for the sechach (roof) of their sukkah. I think this is the 3rd or fourth time. Anyway, they came today with a big truck and cut away quite a bit. The image is taken from my neighbor to the east looking at the bamboo barrier between our yards. ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... You can actually see the sunlight through a relative gap. You can also see that a lot of miscellaneous vines are growing into the bamboo. I'm hoping the vines choke the bamboo but don't think they will.
I went to Medstar for a post operation consult. The first image is the X ray. It shows the twin hip prosthetics. Doctor was pleased but I will need to have a consult after one year and then once every three years.
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
... I joked that I hope they don't readmit me to the hospital since I had a cut on a finger.
A lot of things to report. On Thursday 10 October, Ann was discharged from Montcare. She got home fine and had a reasonably good day. Friday 11 October was a bit different. I 'supervised' a team from the MJBerman Hebrew Academy who constructed our sukkah from material we store under our sunroom and easily portable table and chairs from other parts of the house. George did some additional work after YK bringing some broken items to the curb for pickup and using some cotton fiber string to tie down the roof of the sukkah. Ann was not feeling so well Friday and had some trouble moving around and basically stayed in the bedroom all day beginning Friday late afternoon. I brought her some food there. Today we had our usual household help from Capital City Nursing and the person helped Ann take a shower but she was worn out from that. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Image is the sukkah.
Back a few months ago (I don't remember the date) Ann couldn't find her I-Phone. After awhile we gave up and got her a new one that was a bit smaller and would fit in her pocket easier. Today, George was over here looking for a sweater for Ann who had requested one from the rehab place. He found a sweater in a chair in the dining room and in the pocket of the sweater was the old phone. \
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................' and so sometime later this fall, Ann will have a spare I phone to keep in the upstairs office while her regular phone stays in or near the familty room.
Somehow after I came back from surgery on Sept 9 I lost my most recent glasses (the one with the small round lenses - I call them Strelnikov glasses because they look like the ones that the character Strelnikov had in Doctor Zhivago). I started wearing my spare glasses and thinking about making an optomitist appointment to get another pair. Today the cleaning team we have once a month found the old pair. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ I still plan to eventually see the optomitrist since my far sight vision keeps getting better and that makes the 'new' pair a bit out of date.
Ann was in rehab for Rosh Hashana, much to her discontent. I had a problem with swelling in my right foot and didn't make it to hear the shofer. I did buy the expensive apples (one of the 'Crisp' varieties) to go with the honey. Because sabbath came right after Rosh Hashana, I was pretty tired of meat by Sabbath morning and my lunch was gefilte fish. George came over after Sabbath and had some of the meat.
On the other hand, Oz got to blow the shofer for his gan (see image).
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ My appetite still hasn't returned to what it was before the first hip operation. I was down to 209# when I weighed myself today. Probably the weight loss doesn't hurt and I think I should probably weigh more like 180# or so to relieve more pressure on the lower joints.
Both Ann and I are in rehab. My right hip is still healing and I'm doing rehad exercises at home. Ann is in a rehab facility. She will be there through Rosh Hashana, which she doesn't like. To make it slightly easier, I brought her some wine (in a coke bottle) and some challah (made by Rabbi Antoine of Beth Sholom) ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
I also brought her some honey cake (not shown in the image).
This morning there were numberous white spots in the lawn. Looking at them closely I am pretty sure that they were spider's webs which had gotten wet in the early morning mist. Each of them (there were perhaps a dozen in the front yard) was about 10 inches in diameter.
.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Anyway I thought they were pretty.
Oz and Tamar were at the Bialik Mall near their home in Ramat Gan at the time of today's missile attack by Iran. They were told to shelter in the center of the mall or in the underground parking. They went to the underground parking until the 'all clear' communications. ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Oz commented 'There were no toys in the Bomb Shelter'
Montcare had their first rehab meeting for Ann yesterday. Attending were the OT, PT, Nursing Dept, Ann and myself (by speaker phone). Ann is currently able to walk about 50' with a walker and has no observable issues with blood chemistry or blood pressure. The staff hopes to increase her endurance via PT. Her weight was down to about 122#. ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Shortly after this meeting, I had PT and was given clearance to drive. My first drive was to Krispy Kreme and I brought a dozen glazed donuts to Ann shortly thereafter. I expect some of the donuts will go to Montcare staff but given her weight I didn't think it would be a problem to supplement her diet with a bit of sugar and fat.
One of the steps (pun intended) in recovering from hip surgery is going from walking with a walker to walking with a cane. This is important if you intend to go somewhere because getting the walker in the car (or a bus or a cab) is quite a bit more difficult than getting a cane in the car. On Friday, 20 Sept. I mostly used my cane and today I didn't use my walker at all. Actually, I can walk without either if it is only a few steps.
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................When my PT comes Monday, I expect to be able to walk much better and to show him and get his OK to drive.
We have been getting mail for William Howard for twenty plus years, perhaps one to four letters per year. As near as I can tell William Howard has never lived at 8211 Postoak. There is someone by that name a few doors down and across the street. I was intrigued by the odd salutation above the address. It certainly seemed like they wanted to come across as personal and friendly. I could open the letter and, if it has a self addressed letter enclosed, inform they that William Howard doesn't live here. Anyway, one good thing about higher postage is that eventually there will be fewer of these. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... or I could just throw it out.
This is the main therapy room at Montcare. This is where Ann has been transferred from Suburban Hospital. They are located only a few miles from our house and are within the property of the Potomac Tennis and Fitness Club, a pretty location with lots of big mansions in the neighborhood.
.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Montcare has won lots of awards and has lots of glowing testimonials on their website, https://www.mcpotomac.com/
Different hospital, different problem, different patient
On Thursday evening (12 Sept), Ann was taken to Suburban Hospital (in the image) with extreme weakness and disorientation. I am just getting around to posting it. They did an MRI to check for a stroke and didn't find anything. A blood test didn't show any big issue either but there was a nasty urinary tract infection, UTI. A UTI is a common cause of disorientation and delirium in the elderly. They began treating it and as of yesterday evening (14 Sept), the disorientation was diminishing but not gone. As for the weakness, I have no good information as they haven't really begun to seriously address that other than seeing if treating the UTI helps treat the weakness. Between what the hospital already had from a previous visit and what Ann could remember (even while disoriented), the hospital had a good record of her medications and physicians..
...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................I haven't been able to visit her because of the surgery last week but George has been there twice. More to come on this.
BTW, I have to admire how, with not too much change in the basic Georgian style architexture, the hospital exterior was able to be modernized recently.
Is the third day after the operation the most painful
In the Babylonia Talmud in tractate Bava Matzia on folio page 86, Rabbi Hama says that the day that God visited Abraham (Gen 18:1) was the third day after the circumcision. Commenters on this said that the 3rd day after an operation has the worse pain. Actually, given my operation was early on 9 Sept. I'm not sure whether 11 or 12 Sept is the 3rd day. Anyway, yesterday was a big increase in pain. So far today, the pain hasn't increased from yesterday. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... We'll see.
