not disappointed at all!

 The new loveseat is quite fine.  It's "fast" furniture, came in a box, wouldn't last through kids jumping on it, but it's lovely, for eighty dollars.  

This is the stock picture from Kohl's.  It's just as nice in real life.  Thing is, it's supposed to replace this:

See how messy it looks?  Old Kitty likes it.  This is still in it's spot, one of these days...in the meantime, the new little couch fits in near my chair, and looks kind of nice on that wall.  So will we get something different for where The Red Couch is?  who knows.  

In other wonderful and exciting news, we booked a campsite for a weekend in August, in the Adirondacks!  Lots of the family are booking sites, we're right near Evelyn and Nate, they got a water site.  Summer seems like a distant memory already, especially today.  It's raining on the metal roof, and it's dark in here.  So grabbing a piece of summer, reserving time away, yay!

Last night was another rough night.  My knee just hurt, especially when fully extended.  I tried to sleep in the guest room, it's a super comfy bed, but nope.  I couldn't fool, pester, or cajole myself into falling to sleep.  At one o'clock, I got up, which...again, sounds easy, but HA.  I did it though, I walker-ed out here, got one Tramadol, a big drink of water, switched out my ice, used the bathroom, and headed back to bed.  Well.  Same thing, even with the pain pill.  It just ached and hurt, down the back, up the front, in the middle, it all took turns.  I finally got up and came out here, switched the ice, used the bathroom, ect.  I think I slept for two hours in my chair, woke up at 6:15,...switched the ice, used the bathroom...at 7:15, Paul was up and Sunny's feet were tap tapping across the floors.  I fell back to sleep until 7:45, woke up again, and gave up.  

So tired doesn't begin to describe it.  I called the ortho office and got a refill of the Tramadol, I think I need them at night, as well as before PT, for a while still.  I was cranky and sore and discouraged this morning, truth be told.  But.  I decided to NOT wallow.  I had my coffee, then did my exercises, didn't push really hard, just went through them, challenged myself a little but not to the point of horrible pain, like in outpatient PT.  Then, iced and elevated, then walked around, then back to my chair with fresh ice.  

Outpatient PT is not fun for me.  Life is filled with things we would rather not do, so I'm trying not to hate it too much.  

Charlotte Claire brought Miss Cam to her dentist appointment this fine morning (no cavities!), then they stopped at Aldi.  They got some pizza dough, and I have a cauliflower pizza in the freezer.  Sonja is coming over with her pizza dough, and Kathryn is coming later and bring some more.  We will have a pizza making night!  I will give constructive criticism.  

I like when they come over, it definitely helps distract from my aches and woes.   :)

It seems it is time to get up and get moving again....bye for now!

Little Miss Sunshine...her face!

a little bit of fun and exciting!!!

 You know me, full of ideas and haunting Marketplace...I found a loveseat!  What?  You didn't know I "needed" one?  Well.  We have The Red Couch.  It's in front of the window at the end of the living room, where the kids' toys are.  It's the Dog Couch.  I kept it covered for a while, and it's actually not too shabby, fabric wise.  But the cushions are old and all askew, and Sunny rolls around on it and they fall off and it needs to be readjusted continuously.  It's red plaid, which I thought was sharp, 20-30 years ago when I bought it.  Now...nah.  It also takes up a lot of room.  So I started thinking...I shouldn't replace it with another couch, but a loveseat!  

This is all I have to go on, the lady said it's tan.  Is it pleather, or cloth, I don't even know.  But it's brand new, and only ten minutes away from us.  Paul was fine with going to get it after PT, and it worked with the lady for him to go, so off he went.  It'll be nice even if it's kind of ugly, in my humble opinion, to get rid of The Red Couch.  It's for Sunny, so we'll keep it covered.  See, she HAS to have a window perch to make sure Paul's coming back whenever he leaves, she has to keep watch.  If we get rid of The Red Couch and don't put something there, she will just have to get on the nice couch, which she is not allowed on.  

So he will be home with that in a bit, and I'm excited about it.

I'm sitting here in my comfy chair, with ice on my leg, sipping the coffee Miss Char made for me, and eating some cranberry nut trail mix from Aldi.  It's getting dark out already, but dinner will be stew from last night, which was delicious.

Can we talk about PT?  First, let me back up and chronicle my night...feel free to skip this part...

We watched the second Gladiator movie, then I got settled flat on my back on the couch, for my first nap of the night.  Sleep didn't come.  Where was it?  Oh, it was dancing right out of reach because of the throbbing pain right in the center of my knee!  I tried to tell myself stories, sing some songs in my head, I prayed...but the pain was insistent, and I could not fall to sleep.  I got up, swallowed both my resolve, and one tramadol.  I lay back down, which makes it sounds like I just did that, but really I scooted with the walker, sat on the edge of the couch, swiveled around, lifted my leg up and put it on the couch, got all settled in flat on my back...and I forgot to get ice!  I was not getting up again.  I fell asleep for two hours, got up, went to the bathroom, got fresh ice, and tried again...no go.  So I got up and settled into my chair, slept for one hour.  ugh.  

The knee just hurts more today.  I don't know why.  I did all of my exercises religiously yesterday, iced and elevated afterward, didn't sit for too long, did everything right.  Then PT today, and he really pushed the limits...had me do straight leg raises until my whole leg was a-fire.  I had to go into the gym and put on an ankle weight (okay, it was only one pound!), and do leg lifts.  I bent as far as I could, and reached:  85!

So Friday was 70, Monday 80, today 85!  He wants 90 on Friday.  harrumph.  I hope so, I want more flexibility too!  But jeepers.  It's a heck of a process!  

Something else fun and exciting:  we bought new tires for my car!  It REALLY needed them, to the point if you drove in the rain you could feel a loss of traction, scarily.  So they're here, and Paul's having them put on at the garage in town next week.  It'll be so nice, especially with winter arriving.  

Tomorrow I'm going to call the ortho office and see if they'll refill the Tramadol.  I'm parceling it out like a hawk, want it to last for those Torture Sessions, ha.  I don't have too many left.  

Camille made some cupcakes for her friend's birthday, aren't they beautiful?  I hope she doesn't leave any home, not sure I could resist right now!

So that's my day, fun and exciting!  I'll be sure to take a pic when we get that new loveseat put together.  Maybe one of The Red Couch too...you all have a good night now, and stay warm!  

a very special day....

 37 years ago, when I had my very first baby boy, I didn't know how special it was that he was born on Veterans' Day.  I just knew it was special.  Emily and Abigail were my little girls.  We lived in a nice mobile home (it really was nice, we bought it brand new, it was on a huge grassy lot with trees, it had a big cement patio and a deck, and we put in a swingset, and a garden, a sandbox...anyway.  My mother was there the night I was in labor, she knew exactly when it was time for me to go to the hospital.  She was making dinner for the girls, and Paul was peeling an orange.  He came over and squatted down in front of me, asked how I was doing.  I told him to get away from me, he smelled like oranges.  My mom said it was time to go, ha.

I got there at 6:30 pm, he was born at 8pm.  I timed it just how I liked.  To be fair, I must mention that I had already been in the hospital in the morning, but the nurse told me I'd be better off going home for a few hours, until the contractions were "real toe curlers".  

Anyway.  Benjamin Paul was my smallest little baby of all the babies.  He weighed a mere 6 pounds 3 ounces.  When he was born, he stared and stared at me, like I know you!  I was smitten.  I had forgotten, in all the prep of having a third child, how much I would actually love the baby!  It seriously hit me like a ton of bricks, the love and affection for him.  

I remember mentioning to the pediatrician that I was worried about how small he was, dr. replied He'll grow.  

He did.  He grew and he grew and he grew, right out of this house...to college, to the Army, to marrying Ashley...he lived in Seattle for a few years, but now he's ten minutes down the road, and I still don't take that for granted.  

Now he's a husband and a daddy, with his own two little girls and little boy.

If you all were reading back when he was a medic in Afghanistan, oh dear.  I'm glad that is over and done.   He was so young.

Samuel was also in the Army, my dear son Sam, so aptly named.  (with Grace, also aptly named, she's truly Grace) 

We are having some snow here in NY state.  It's given the living room that Christmasy vibe.

Another picture stolen from Kathryn.  Her kids are enjoying the snow!

Why I am so against taking the Tramadol is a mystery to me, but it brings me peace not to rely on it.  I took one yesterday an hour before PT, and have alternated Tylenol and ibuprofen since then, the one before that was the day before.  Yes, I have pain.  It isn't unbearable, at least all the time, but there are moments.  I'd like to be in a haze but I hate putting all that stuff in my body.  You know me, I googled the side effects,....possible seizures.  I'm just one of those people that, if there are going to be side effects...

I have to be weaned off them at some point anyway, so I made a decision, that I will only take one an hour before I go to outpatient PT, unless things really really hurt.  I've been tempted a few times, but decided I was okay.  Maybe this gives me the illusion of some control, I don't know.  But it's a peaceful decision for me.

It feels like I'm running as fast as I can in a swimming pool, and I'm just not getting anywhere, like when you're running in a dream, and using your hands as paddles too to propel you forward, but you're just not getting traction.  My daughter in law Grace had a dream after my surgery, that I floated right down the stairs like a Disney princess, right after.  I'll take it!

But life isn't like Disney, and we have to work hard sometimes.  My day:

Bed at midnight on the couch, flat on my back.  Sleep three hours.  Get up, use the bathroom, bend the knee a bit, get back to the couch, another two hours of sleep...up again, use the bathroom, get in the chair (which requires moving my pillow and blankets).  One hour of sleep, Paul gets up early, Sunny is out here clicking her nails all around, whether I wanted to sleep more or not ha.  He makes me coffee, I get up again, get cleaned up, back in the chair.  I get up every hour, walk around or go to the bathroom.  
First PT was at 11, then iced and elevated on the couch.  Back to the chair, ice on and off all the time I'm in my chair.  PT again at three, just got back in my chair with fresh ice.  It doesn't seem to change, yet it does, incrementally.  Sometimes I get up and it all kills and aches and the new knee clicks around and it seems like I'm stuck in the movie Groundhog Day.  

But.  I am not wallowing. Just mentioning, ha.  Also, the therapist told me yesterday that I shouldn't be doing all the bending the knee things that I showed him I was doing every hour.  He said every two hours was frequent enough, that I was possibly making the swelling worse, and that I should ice and elevate after each session.  

Kitty Kitten Kettler, aka Old Kitty is here on my arm, purring away as I type.  She's equal parts annoying and comforting, but I'd never tell her to her face.  She loves me.  

Paul is making beef stew today.  I'll be honest, it's hard for me.  This past summer, for one of our camping trips, it was 100% forecast for a chilly rain the first day up there, so I made this excellent instant pot beef stew with fresh garlic and cooking wine....we put the little pan of it on the stove and sat there and ate it while the rain drummed on the camper and the candles flickered.  I found two more packages of the stew beef on clearance at Target, and knowing they were in the freezer and that I was going to make it again was such a good though...well, he offered to make it because he knows it is one of my favorites, but he wanted to use the crock pot...fine.  It's fine.  He browned all the flour dredged meat in the iron frying pan first, it'll be good.  It may not be exactly what I was envisioning, but it'll be good.  Because it's made with love and thoughtfulness, like when the kids were little and they'd help make the cookies and dump too much in and get mounds of the flour mixture on the counter, yet they would be the best cookies ever, because of their blessed little helping hands.   It didn't make sense, but when love is in the mix, it just doesn't always make sense.

(that's your daily sappiness, you're welcome)

Paul is out shoveling and snow blowing now, we got a lot of snow...less than a foot, but more than six inches, for sure.  It's falling off the branches now, but it sure looks like a winter wonderland!

The girls have been busy today, they're totally immersed in their school work.  They watched the movie The Gladiator, last night, turned it off with an hour to go, as it was midnight.  It's a long movie, one which I had no plans to get immersed in, but ha.  What a time to live in, they rounded up all the poor people and homeless people and prisoners and made them fight to the death, against animals too. Barbaric.  NOT a movie I would choose.  

Anyway.  These days tend to be a bit claustrophobic here in the northeast, with the sun setting by 4:45 today where we live.  Add in cold weather, and not being able to leave the house, and well, it's different.  It's not what I would choose, but it's what's happening, so I truly try to make the best of it.   I enjoy the HECK right out of my coffee.  This morning, after my second PT, Miss Char made me a second cup.  It was so good, I was savoring it.  I got up to walk around and use the bathroom, and Paul refilled my water bottle and took my coffee cup away...rinsed it out.  WHAT?!  He said, It was almost gone.   Okay.  It was almost gone.  He is such a good guy, I am working on being nicer, but shh, I sort of reacted...you dumped my coffee, it was so good!   heh.   It's a good thing he likes me.  

Anyway, you all have a wonderful dark afternoon and evening, enjoy it all you can.  :)

not a whine fest...

...nor a pity party.  No, just a day in my new life.  I went to PT today.  Dreaded stairs, down with the bad, half a flight down to the foyer...then onto the porch, down two big steps, walker to the car, which Paul so nicely drove right up to the front of the house, in the snowy grass.  Getting in was a bugger, I can let go of the walker and sit my rear end on the edge of the seat, but there is a ledge, so when I slide back, then attempt to pivot the bad leg up and into the car, it gets hung up.  It doesn't like the twisty motion, it's like there are sensitive sensors in the knee cap, putting their little whiskers out for any kind of twisty stuff, so they can screech.  

I made it into the car!  It was snowy and cold and damp and chilly. 

(I stole this pic from Kathryn, I didn't even bring my phone or glasses to PT.)

My session today started with the assistant, Jamison, lifting my leg, straightening it, then pushing it back towards me...more and more, and holding it there, then releasing it...getting past that scar tissue.  It killed.  He did this several times, then I did my exercises.  They were about the same as they were on Friday, then he measured my flexion:  80!  It was 70 on Friday.  Not too shabby.  I was looser and moved better, getting back into the car, then going up the steps is always easier than going down.  

Camille made a wonderful chicken soup for dinner.  Sonja and baby Kaia came over, Sonja vacuumed for me.  Char made me a nice after PT cup of hot coffee, and brought out some crackers and pepperoni.  It was nice, and cozy.  

The knee stiffened up even worse, and swelled.  It didn't like that session.  It's two steps back, I tell you.  I took one tramadol an hr. before PT, and am surviving on tylenol or ibuprofen.  So it's been a painful evening.  Right now the girls are watching a movie, and I'm icing the knee.  

I am not getting bored yet.  I do like when the older kids come to visit though.  It's supposed to be quite snowy here tonight and tomorrow, so no one will probably come tomorrow, and I am certainly not going anywhere.  One of these days after PT we might go for a ride, a drive....

Paul took stew beef from the freezer, it's in the refrigerator...he'll make it tomorrow.  MMMM.  I will enjoy that.  

I'm trying super hard not to indulge in crappy food or snacks.  I want less inflammation, not more!  I do have some mini chocolate almond bars, and I had a few of those after my chicken soup.  The girls have those gummy Nerds clusters, nope, I do not need to "try" one, because we know I'll like it!

My body does ache from not going in the pool, and from sitting more, and when I do lie down to sleep, it's flat on my back on the couch.  But, this isn't a pity party, right?

The days aren't awful, they are sprinkled with trials and doubts, but they are good days.  Overall, I'm hopeful that things will get better, and I'll get that range of motion.  The therapist mentioned the bike next time...we'll see!  

You all have a good evening, and thank you for bearing with me!  :)
 

wait, was that the weekend? so fast?

Now, I don't want to be a Debby Downer, but tomorrow is Monday, and on MONDAY, I have to go to the torture chamber again, the one referred to as Physical Therapy.  Oh, you can only stretch it that far?  That's what YOU think!  See, you did it!!

Not my idear of fun.  But.  I concur, it's a necessary evil.  It loosens things up...only for them to tighten back up again, AND swell!  One step forwards, two steps back, knee replacement surgery is the Bunny Hop.  

On Friday afternoon, Molly visited with Ophelia.  Evelyn and Sonja were here too. 

Sonja with Orange Guy on her lap, Evelyn getting the bug that Ophelia so confidently said she'd get, then she saw it and threw the tissue at it...Camille does not like bugs, and Char was just eating her Chinese take out.

Ophelia got to hold her baby cousin Kaia...

Smitten.  Absolutely.  

Charlotte Claire braided my hair for PT on Friday.  

Ophelia didn't want to say goodbye to Kaia...

Camille got some nice gifts, I got her a blue Yeti for her coffee, some new slippers, and a few girly gift sets, with lip plumpers and things like that.  She got nice shampoo and a gift card and some other things.  We had take out from the Chinese place, but I only ate a few bites then had a piece of chicken, that was marinated in vinegar and salt and pepper, air fried.  I just didn't want all the salt with the swelling I'm battling here. )

Yesterday, Evelyn and Nate came over, and Nate was bearing gifts.  He brought ingredients, and made us all Nashville hot chicken sandwiches!  We never deep fry anything, but he turned this place into a nice restaurant for the evening, fries too!  

He made those nooks and crannies, it was so good.  Spicy but flavorful, not tongue scorching.

Sonja and Oscar came over too, with Kaia, and we played some really funny games (jackbox), and laughed ourselves silly.  I was super glad for the distraction, amidst my home pt sessions, and limping to the bathroom.  I had a shower last night, which was a production.  The shower chair is in the shower, there is one four inch ledge between where I stand and that shower chair, chair has no arms, I had to lower myself onto it, I thought it was going to tip or slide...but it didn't.  Paul majorly helped me.  (I put on a big tank top, then took it off when he stepped out of the bathroom, ha, if you must know.). It was exhausting but felt wonderful.  I slept for a few hours on the couch, then a little nap in the chair.  

It's going slow.  Not to be a Negative Nancy, but it's slow.   REALLY slow.  The progress.  The exercises loosen things up minimally, then swelling, and stiffness...I'm trying to space out the Tramadol a bit more, but then it really hurts.  The new knee is wobbly and clicky, and I am not in love with it, but it's part of me now, so I am honestly trying to embrace it, strange as that sounds.

Here is my hope:  I can keep bending the knee, strengthening it, improve the range of motion, get it working, and move on with life.  This place I'm in right now, is almost suffocating, and I know it's only day five, but I want to see progress.  I'm weary of the deep aching pain, especially when I lie down on the couch at night and elevate my foot, the back of my knee hurts like the devil.  

I make myself get up every hour, walk, usually use the bathroom.  When I sit in there, I bend the knee.  It doesn't seem to get any easier.  It's so tight.  

And tomorrow, I have to go down those stairs again, to PT.  I know it'll be fine, and why am I worrying about it already, but that's how it is for me right now.  There are always various trials in life, everyone has them.  We need to learn to deal with what we're facing RIGHT NOW.  Forget yesterday, and do NOT worry about tomorrow!  Because THIS, sometimes this, whatever it is, is really hard or really painful, but I can do this.  One more rep, one more lift, just this...tomorrow is none of my business.  

Overall, I am very happy.  The girls are busy but help when they can, and Paul has been great.  I have no complaints.  The kitties have been a royal pain, however, especially Ms. Kettler, Old Kitty.  She is always up here, but she sidles down to my lap and kneads my thigh, she put her claws right into the bandage yesterday.  Then when I get up, she scrambles into my seat, and I have to shoo her out when I get back.  She looks at me, so saltily!  But, she forgives me and jumps right back up.  

Anyway.  Life is good, and I'm glad I was able to have this done.  I do not see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, but I am hoping it's there ha.  Thank you all for reading, and for comments and kind thoughts and prayers.  Feel free to keep me in line, I don't want to meander into Poor Me territory.  :). Have a good night...and if you live anywhere around here, enjoy tomorrow evening's SNOW!!!  (can you believe I'm saying that four letter word already?!)  

and a huge-0 happy birthday to...

 Miss Camille Anaya, the baby of the family!  She was the grand prize.  Of course I'm thankful for all of my children, but she was special from the start.  I had thought I lost her, and mourned for weeks before finding out at 15/16 weeks that I was still pregnant!  She has been a blessing all of her days, and now she's eighteen years old!  She had on her light up Sketchers, she loved those things!

Look at how cute!  Cam and Char have always been like twins.  The were asked if they were, by strangers when they were small, and they said YES.

Cam, Jonny, Char

Richard Scarry books, then you blink.  And can we just mention how Suri was the most adorable dog, that face!!!!  I'd take another one of her in one second, that's why I try not to look too hard ha.  How can anyone resist a black Labrador?

Camille knows what it's like to have knee issues.

She is a good travel companion.

Both at the same time!  Whoa, girl.

Twinsies...

With Sonja...

With Char

Charlotte Claire, Cam, me...

I am so very proud of Miss Camille.  She's creative and funny and sweet and smart.  She's in college now, has to take extra time to catch up because of biology and chemistry, but she'll get there.  She's a writer and a baker and she refinished an old vanity, and just repainted a dresser that we had painted gray a few years ago.  She does such a nice job.  She taught herself the violin, and plays like an angel.  

Cam at the Phantom of the Opera party... they are having a small birthday party here tonight.  Chinese food, ice cream pie, maybe a movie, just some of the girls...I'm here in my comfy corner heaving myself up to limp to the bathroom every hour or so, and they're going to just party around me.  I don't mind, they don't seem to.  It certainly takes my mind off of me!  

Yesterday, Sonja came over with baby Kaia for a while, then Kathryn with Achilles, Jamie, and baby Ellis. Here's Char with Kaia...

Is she not adorable?

And baby Ellis, oh such a darling...(Kaia was picking up steam to roll over again!) I enjoyed having the company.  Kathryn did an order pick up and got me a package of chicken.  Camille turned that chicken into chicken parmesan, which was wonderful.  I didn't have to do anything, and the kids were super good about not bumping into me.  (This picture Char took when I said, "Take a picture, take a picture!", and I meant of Sunny and Orange Guy on the dog bed...it was hysterically funny...I thought she was being a jokester when she took my picture, but she thought that's what I meant...)

Anyway.  I'm thankful for the distractions, and for how nice the girls have been to me.  And, I love love love seeing the kids! 

I just want to mention this:  someone very special gave us a gift, out of the blue, and it is super nice, thoughtful, and so helpful.  I find it easier to give gifts than to receive them, honestly, but it's really a blessing.  Thank you, B.!  

I also want to apologize for the disjointed writing, I feel a bit foggy still.  I traded in the oxycodone for Tramadol, which seems better, but dang, I am not good with medications!  I am a side-effects googler, that doesn't help.  :)

Thanksgiving plans are rolling forward, we are having dinner as a family this year.  Most of us will be there.  We made a list of all the dishes, and each family will bring something.  I already bought all the nice plates, and stuff for stuffing, and some of the other stuff.  There is a pie list too, and I will be sure to clue you in on that, because there will be TONS of pies!  I don't know what I'll be capable of yet, but it is so amazing to me that all of these children of mine have grown up, some have married, but they have all gotten so responsible.  They are making dinner!  I will be there.  I never imagined such a thing!  

So I have been sleeping in my comfy chair in the living room, and just an aside:  it starts to get NOT so comfy, my aching rear end!  Anyway.  Last night, the lights were out, I had my leg all straight and propped up, and was trying to get to sleep, when the old kitty jumped up onto the coffee table, took her paw, and actually swung it at a glass of water one of the girls had left there.  She purposefully knocked it over, then crouched there and licked it up so daintily.  

I slept well last night.  Char and Cam put on a movie, The Martian, with Brad Pitt...we watched that, it ended at eleven, I was asleep by 12, and awake only once in the night to use the bathroom!  But, oops, I dropped my foot when I was trying to gingerly lift it from the stool, oh dear.  The nerve block is wearing off...tingles and aches.  But not too terrible.  Although shh, I have to go down the stairs in like an hour!  The physical therapist was having none of my I'll come in next week nonsense.  I did try.  :). Paul is going to bring me, he has been a champ.  He took the week off to go hunting, yet here he is, working and helping me.  And so nicely too.  

Oh well.  I'm going to get up and get ready...wish me luck!  (I am very very hesitant of being able to make it down those stairs!  I'll let you know how it goes!) And have a really nice day, chilly and dreary here in the northeast...snow on Monday!  But you Florida friends, dang...enjoy it!  :)

there are pros and cons...

 specifically about taking that oxycodone.  It works like a dream, in some ways, but when I feel so nauseous and dizzy and like my breathing is so shallow, no thank you.  I took Zofran in the hospital with each dose, but I don't seem to have any here, ha.  So I haven't taken any since last evening.  Sometime today or tomorrow the nerve block will be wearing off, so I don't know.  But.  I am working on living in the moment.  This is what I'm doing now, this is all I have to deal with right now.  Not what will happen tomorrow or how long until I drive again or how much pain I'll have in outpatient physical therapy.  Just right now. And right now, I'm okay.  I got up every hour and a half, two hours last night to walk to the bathroom.  In the wee morning hours, I went to the freezer and got an ice pack (I have two), it's a strap on thingy, so I slung it over the front of the walker, and oh that felt better when I positioned myself into my chair.

You can't just sit down.  You have to back the walker up, hold on to the arms of the chair, use your "good" knee to bend as the other one slides forward, then you park on the edge.  I get my little stool scooched forward, it has a blanket and a pillow and a foam cushion on it.  Then I get my dog leash thing and lift the leg up onto the stool, then inch back into my chair, ahhh.  

The ortho guy who came to see me in the hospital told me to do buttocks clenching, tighten and release, over and over again, to help with the leg swelling.  He said those are the biggest muscles in the body, (excuse me?  But I don't think he was talking about me)).  He said to keep the leg straight while sitting and push down on your thigh to press that leg into straightness.  Also, keep doing to foot pumps.  My job, he said, is to keep moving.  "Act like you didn't have surgery, and just move."  It goes without saying that is easier said than done!

We won't get into the details, but there are bathroom things that need to happen.  I can't shower yet but I did take a sponge bath with one dollar cloths from the Dollar General, and put on clean undies.  Shh, no bra around the house, which has never happened with me before.  I just don't care enough.  I still get dizzy and feel a bit exhausted and yucky.  Paul made me coffee this morning, it was wonderful, then I ate a Built protein bar, mmm.  I don't like taking ibuprofen on an empty stomach.  The girls got me daily hydration packets for my water bottle, so I stirred in a strawberry lemonade.  I didn't stir it well, and the first drink was a big chunk of it, oh dear.

So when you're in the hospital, they ask you medical questions, background, ect.  It was inevitable that each nurse/healthcare professional would ask how many children do you have.  I tell you, I am sheepish each time.  I go from being an ordinary middle aged woman to...being a weirdo, in two seconds flat.  

The hospital nurses and employees I dealt with were golden though, hard working and kind, really a good experience.  

It might be nap time...I plan to take several little naps, since that's all I got last night when I was supposed to be sleeping!  I won't leave myself alone, if I woke up, I'd think, "I should get up and get the blood flowing!"  So up I got.  One step at a time.  That first step is always a doozy.  But I loosen up by the time I'm coming back to the chair.  It feels, in case you're wondering, like a very tight band all around your leg, with deep aches coming from it, like a hidden spring of aches, an artesian well.  Then the knee itself clicks and feels unsteady, like it's ready to just dislocate at any moment, while walking.  The muscles around it need strengthening, yet all they want to do is scream and feel sorry for themselves.  (I asked the dr about the clicking, he explained it to me and it's normal, and it's disgusting...I mean, they cut off the top of the femur and put a metal ball there...he kept giving these details, I think I turned white. ) 

Anyway.  If you're getting sick of the daily diatribe of the post knee replacement, I'm very sorry!  You all have a good day, and thank you SO much for kinds comments and prayers.  I love hearing the details of others' experiences (thank you Cheryl!  And you're practically my neighbor, that's like an hour away!), and I really appreciate the encouragement (Terri!  thank you!). 

Have a good day...and ha, don't be surprised if I bother and harangue and blather on and on again later, as I don't have too much to do around here, than I CAN do, anyway...:)