Week Five

I'll bet everyone will be happy when I stop counting!

I'm rehabbing really nicely now.  This week I was able to get back into my "good" ACL brace, the custom fitted one, and can walk with only one crutch.  It's so wonderful to be ambulating without a brace that holds my leg stiff and two crutches.  I'm back to doing almost all of my pre-surgery exercises and machines at PT, but doing them slower and at lower levels and less reps.  At this point it's all up to me to get strong again.  My therapist talked to me about the local gym here in my little town and we discussed the machines they have available there for me to work with.  I went for two weeks between my therapy and surgery and it's a good alternative to PT.  But there's no cute therapist there!  My life for the past several months has revolved around those two days a week when I blew my hair dry, put on decent workout clothes, some make-up, and drove 60 miles round trip.  I guess the good thing is now I can go to the gym five minute away with wet hair and whatever workout clothes are comfortable.  Since there's no cute therapist there!  Wait, I already said that.  Seriously, though, I guess it's not uncommon to bond with those folks who have been helping you get well for months on end - and to miss them when you've reached your goals.  I'll send them a Christmas card but I doubt by December they'll remember who I am.  They see so many people each year.  But, yep, I'll miss them - a lot.   Dang!

Here's a picture of Penny on the car ride home after a month at the boarding place.  She was like "Who are you and where are you taking me?  I want to stay there and play with all the other puppies!"

Right now she's in the empty sun room.  I threw some old rugs down in there, and she drug this one over to where sun was coming in.  She stays out there until the sun goes away.  Silly dog!  And, yes, there's a shovel by the door going outside.  I call it my snake shovel and I carry it out with me each time I walk back there with her.  I've only seen one other snake since the first scare, and it was an itty bitty baby about pencil-length long.  It's harmless and she wasn't interested in it at all.  But I'm armed and ready just in case!  And, yes, those azaleas need trimming again.  I bought a battery-operated trimmer and will tackle those just as soon as my leg feels stable enough.  It's hard to find folks to do these little jobs for me.

Back five years ago (has it been that long?) when my late boss was so sick with cancer and I was working such long hours, Anne Sutton suggested that I get a needle project that I could do to relax.  I did one of her redwork patterns and really used it as a reflective time and the stitching was so relaxing.  Remembering what Anne said, I found this preprinted Santa face by Lakadaisies in a box in the Cottage.  I don't even remember buying it, but it was nice to have it all ready to stitch.  I used a dark plum on everything, but stitched the holly in a dark green and put a touch of gray-blue in his eyes. The thread was the Needleworks thread on a spool, two strands.  I had gotten a lot of this from Anne a few years back and although I have a lot of floss, it's my go-to thread for embroidery now.  This is definitely not my best work as most of this was done reclining back on pillows on the sofa.  I started it about two weeks after I was home from the hospital and finished it this week.  A couple minutes here and there when I would get frustrated or start feeling sorry for myself.  Thanks again to Anne for suggesting this type of project during tough or sad times.

Sadness - I'm so saddened by the tragedy that happened in Lafayette a couple of days ago.  It's so scary to think that this type of thing can happen in your community.  One of the beautiful young ladies who was killed was from my little town. Her parents live just down the way from my brother.  She was just 21 years old.  I just can't wrap my mind around this.  Please keep her family in your prayers, as well as all the victims and families of this senseless shooting.

I stopped at the market yesterday on the way home from getting poked for blood again.  I'm going to cook today!  Hooray!  Baked chicken and veggies, probably Brussels sprouts, squash, maybe asparagus, a butter lettuce salad.  The produce here isn't nearly as nice and varied as it was in SoCal, but I lucked into going in a nice market nearby that was just unloading their weekly shipment.  I'm ready to get real food in my tummy again!

Off to do my morning ritual of exercises before I get in the kitchen.  I lead a very simple life these days ...

Week Two

Today is two weeks post-op.  I'm now quite the expert using crutches on the stairs.  It would make a health care professional really nervous to watch me, but, knock wood, no crashes so far.

A few days ago my sister-in-law came over for a bit.  She stood by while I made it down the two steps into the sunroom and rolled backwards on my walker to the Cottage.  I pulled a couple of hand projects to work on.  We pulled the little green wagon into the Cottage -- there's a wheelchair ramp at the French doors -- and loaded her up.  I was able to find everything I needed, the light box, bias makers, etc., a couple of applique projects.  I was all set to prep some applique and get some stitching done while watching movies.  Unfortunately, everything that I pulled needed template plastic and I don't know where that is.  Back to Square One.  The next time I have some help over here, I'll get the Ezi table and the 350 in the main house to work on those bindings.
 
The boarding kennel that has custody of Penny has been sending me pictures and yesterday sent a video of her playing with three other dogs.  She's so cute.  The other dogs were rolling around in a tangled, playful ball of fur.  Penny was running in circle around them.  She looked like the referee at a boxing match.  The kennel owner said Penny is the sweetest dog -- I knew that already! -- and has made friends with every dog she's met there.  I have a doctor's appointment on Friday, and I hope to stop by for a few minutes to hug her.  As soon as I'm comfortable going down the steps and rolling on the sidewalk outside by myself I'll bring her home.  She's probably having way more fun there, though!

A new home physical therapist started visiting this week.  The doctor has revised my rehab plan.  I will be able to partially weight-bear sooner than six weeks, maybe as soon as this week.  It will be nice to be able to walk instead of rolling everywhere.  I just need to remember not to overdo it.  I'm one of those "give me an inch and I'll take a mile" folks.  I can't do that in this case.  And just an observation here from a senior citizen - being extremely cute must be a job requirement for being a male physical therapist!  I mean, I may be old and decrepit, but I sure ain't blind!  ;)

My iPhone today decided that I didn't need to connect to the internet.  Don't know what's up with that.  I'll call the service provider tomorrow and see if they can trouble-shoot it over the phone. 

I've taken a few pictures but never have the camera cord handy to connect to the laptop to download them.  I need to get an extra one to leave downstairs.  Something else to add to my things-to-do list.  I tell you, that list is growing and growing.   Last night I finally saw what was setting off one of the motion detectors in the back yard - a gigantic raccoon.  I snapped a picture along with shots of the hundreds of cardinals, a turtle in the very back of the yard, and anything I can see from the windows.  All of the pictures were from afar but if I can get them downloaded, I might can crop them in enough to see what's going on.

It's raining again and thundering.  I hear we will have clear weather this week.  I'll believe it when I see it!