State of the household entry

Before the home therapist stopped coming, he asked me, "Do you plan to have your other knee done?"  
"Not unless it gets worse than it is right now," I answered.  
"Well, if you ever do, don't expect it to go this smoothly."  
It seems I've done everything ahead of schedule, starting with my getting out of the hospital after only two nights.  
At this point twenty-three days after surgery, I don't have much pain.  I haven't taken a hydrocodone for two days, and don't plan to take another until a couple hours before I go to therapy on Friday.  Then I'll take two, because those therapists are brutal.  
Now that I'm much more active, muscles all over my body are starting to wake up and squawk; they all thought I retired them three weeks ago.  For that muscle pain, I take ordinary, over-the-counter, generic Tylenol.    
Up until yesterday I couldn't become enthusiastic about fixing meals.  I searched for any and every excuse to either eat out or have sandwiches, and I wasn't all that excited about eating, either.  Oh, I cooked, but it was a half-hearted effort.  Poor Cliff didn't complain.  I developed a craving for peanut-butter-on-whole-wheat-bread sandwiches over the past couple of weeks, and that was a frequent supper for me.  
Yesterday afternoon something stirred in me that headed me back to a more normal state of mind.  I went out and pounded four steel fence-posts in the ground for some tomato cages; I walked back on the point to see if the river bottom was flooded (it isn't... crops are growing there).  I made some Jello for Cliff (I'm not a fan of Jello), and put some pinto beans to soak overnight.  Today we had corn bread and beans for dinner.  
Yes, folks, I do believe I'm back... it's really me!  I still tire easily; there's still swelling in my knee.  But my walking speed has picked up until it's almost normal.  I even slept pretty well last night.  


Cliff, meanwhile, is anxiously awaiting retirement.  After this week, he has four weeks left to work.  We've had temperatures in the mid-nineties, and his place of employment isn't air-conditioned.  Not only that, there are ovens going that super-heat the building even more.  When Cliff had open-heart surgery, the doctors told him he wasn't to expose himself to temperatures over eighty-five degrees, but he really had no choice if he was going to work.  It will be so great for him not to have to go into that fierce heat again during the summer.  
I've been checking and double-checking our budget; we finally got the official word that Cliff will receive his first Social Security check in July, and I will get an increase in mine at that time.  Several people have told Cliff that the hardest part of living on Social Security is getting used to one payday a month.  Since I'm already using the envelope system for groceries, clothing, pet expenses and prescriptions, I don't see that anything will change that much.  When the envelope is empty, I don't buy any more until the next month.  Of course, the doctor-and-prescription envelope might have to have some help in emergencies, but we have a fund for that.  
Before my surgery, I debated whether I should ride the motorcycle again; my doctor, of course, is against it.  I've almost decided now that I probably will ride again.  When old folks buy a motorcycle, they're taking a risk every time they get on the thing, so what's one more risk?  A busted knee replacement would probably be the least of my worries.  That's where I stand on the situation today; who knows how I'll feel tomorrow.  

Where have all the orioles gone?

I only spotted my first Baltimore Oriole two years ago, drinking from a hummingbird feeder.  I didn't even know what it was, but if you google "orange-and-black bird", you come up with oriole.  
Last year I read and talked to everyone I knew that had orioles in their yards and began doing whatever I could to entice them.  Grape jelly seems to work best, and they also like oranges.  This year I found out they like grapefruit just as well.  
So, both last year and this year, I was rewarded for my efforts.  Orioles, both male and female, ate the grape jelly almost as fast as I could put it out.  
After about a month of such activity, the orioles disappeared.  Both years.  
A neighbor across the highway who has only recently discovered orioles called over the weekend to ask if I was still seeing orioles.  His have disappeared too.  
I've done one Internet search after another and haven't really found any information telling me where the orioles have gone.  
UPDATE!!!!  It's 8 A.M., and I just saw TWO male orioles at the feeder.  Perhaps there is yet hope.


Today it's been three weeks since my surgery.  When I went to the therapy clinic last week, the guy told me I could stop doing the exercises my home therapists had me doing, unless they still challenge me.  Well, a couple of them do; and besides, I don't want to risk losing what I have gained so far.  So I'm still doing those twice a day, plus the ones the new therapist wants me to do.  These exercises seem to be waking up muscles in the rest of my body as well as knees and legs.  I'm learning to climb steps like an adult rather than take one step at a time with both feet the way a two-year-old does.  Hard work, folks!  
I'm still working on getting my surgical leg to straighten out all the way.  Oh, it looks straight enough to me, but stretched out in bed, it starts hurting after about five minutes.  So I force myself to keep a foot suspended on a tall stool when I'm watching TV, which really puts the stretch on me.  It's hard to keep it stretched like that for over five minutes because it hurts.  

This is my favorite pain-reliever.  Cliff keeps that little cooler stocked with ice.  I plug it in to an electrical outlet and cold water is pumped to the pad that is wrapped around my knee.  I use this for fifteen minutes at a time after doing therapy exercises, or after being on my feet quite a bit.  It is very soothing, and not addictive.  It's supposed to help with swelling, too.  I don't know how long the swelling is supposed to last, but I'm getting impatient.  I'd be a lot more flexible without my knee being so swollen.  I tried googling information about this, but one has to be careful:  You're liable to find things in a google search that you'd rather not know, if you know what I mean!  


    

pictures from after surgery

I really looked forward to mealtime.  

In a big way!

Like my bed-head?  This shows me reunited with my Ipad.  

My first walk the day after surgery.

The home health nurse measured my incision and said it's longer than most she's seen. 

 Cliff's nephew fed Jody for four days; now Cliff has inherited the job.  

He's doing other jobs he isn't used to, as well.  He says at least his fingernails are clean.  

My knee

That's Doctor Cliff, taking care of my knee.

I think the doctor wrote on my leg so they'd be sure and work on the proper knee.


That's my wrinkled-up knee. There are two little incisions at the top of the picture (lower part of my knee) and one at the bottom, left-hand side of the picture.



This was taken this morning; there's no redness or swelling, so I'd say I'm doing fine. Now, as to whether the surgery did any good, it's too soon to tell. The procedure was supposed to take thirty to forty minutes, and ended up taking over an hour. Dr. Strong told Cliff there was a lot more arthritis than she expected... spurs and such. I guess that's what took so long.

If it should happen that I still have too much pain, I'll move on to the next step: partial or total knee replacement. I'm really taking a hard look at THIS SURGERY. I printed the article, and I'm taking it with me when I go to see the orthopedist for my follow-up appointment to see what she thinks. I've been told I would be a good candidate for partial replacement because the bone-on-bone is only on the outside of my knee, on both knees.

This isn't all bad

I had the arthroscopic surgery on my knee today. I'm supposed to take it easy for a couple of days and keep my right leg elevated. So here I am in my Lazy-boy with the laptop in my lap and an icepack on my knee. I'm not really in any severe pain. Although I wouldn't really have to use crutches, I'm using them at least for today. Cliff stayed home from work to babysit me. Actually, he's occupying himself on my desktop at "the best of Craigslist" after my telling him about it yesterday. Every once in awhile I hear him in the kitchen laughing uproariously, or saying something like, "Oh, no!!!" followed by more laughter.

So if he hears me put the footrest of the recliner down, he hollers to ask me what I want. Geesh, I could do a few things for myself, but no. He wants to wait on me.

So now I say, "Oh WAITER," every time I want something.

"What do you need?"

"I'm hungry."

"OK, what can I get you?" And I tell him.

"Oh waiter," I say again later, sweetly.

He comes running.

"I'm thirsty."

I wonder if I could make this recovery thing last a little longer.