Archives for March 2021

Hi Honey,
Glad to report I had a better night sleep last night after taking that last oxy, then took three ibuprofen this morning to get ahead of the pain curve. As a result, I felt a lot better, and a lot more mobile today. Guess I just have to keep up the painkiller routine and wait another week before trying to wean my way off them again. Did some reading, then some running around, getting fuel and dropping off an Amazon return before PT. There was a package at the end of the driveway with the parts for the RV repair, but they only sent three of the four items I ordered, so I had to get on the phone with them to find out what happened, and the woman there, Janet, who had helped me earlier with the order, said she’d ship the missing parts overnight so I’d have them tomorrow, at her expense since it was their fault they didn’t get here on time. Did my PT while Jeff ran down and got his first Covid shot, timed it pretty well, he got back about ten minutes before I came back down. On the way there I was talking to Jeff about getting in touch with some folks I met here last year about helping me get the trailer up to the Stuart mechanic, and would you believe, I got a call while I was in PT from the very woman I was going to call as soon as I got home! Her ears must have been burning! There’s a local trail group planning some activities later in the month, one of which is a poker run, and she was wondering if I wanted to come, and if she could borrow Apollo for her boyfriend to ride, and of course I said yes. If I’m well enough, I’d like to ride, too, but if not, I’ll go ahead and volunteer to help anyway I can. They were on their way to a fishing trip at his cabin, but he said he was planning on coming back Sunday night, so it’s possible that he’d be able to help me Monday morning, which would be great! If not, she said she could help find someone else to help. Of course, I can always pump myself full of painkillers and do it myself if absolutely necessary, but I’d rather leave that as Plan B, with Plan A getting someone else to drive. We’ll see what happens over the next few days. PT was good, it hurt a bit, but in a good way, I felt better after I was finished. I had taken a couple for ibuprofen before going, and I’m going to keep doing that until we get this inflammation down and it stops getting so stiff so fast. Walking is getting a little easier, though, once I work the stiffness out. Stopped at the feed store on the way back for Jeff, then home by 4:00, where I settled down for the rest of the day. Getting to be time for bed now, so I’m heading that way. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Had a decent night sleep, took a couple of acetaminophen before going to bed, but I still felt achy in the morning. I confirmed with my doctor’s office that I would be better off taking ibuprofen, since that works on inflammation better, so I took some of those in the morning. It doesn’t feel like I’m making much progress, but I suppose it’s too early to tell. I started to walk up and down the trailer a few times after every icing session, that seems to help loosen things up a bit, but it does hurt a lot when I start. Grrr! I also confirmed that if I change the appointment I have for the trailer on Monday I’ll lose my spot and will have to wait a couple of months until a new one opens up, which means my leg either has to be good enough to drive by Monday, or I have to find someone to drive this thing. Jeff won’t be back from the Gator Nationals until Monday afternoon, and James doesn’t really have the experience with a long trailer like this, so I’m not sure what to do, except maybe try to find someone locally that I’ve met in recent years who knows how to pull a rig this long. It’s too scary long for most people, so I don’t blame them. I’m probably just going to have to tough it out. At least I can put it on cruise control a lot of the way. Anyway, another listless day reading, watching TV, doing my PT and otherwise sitting around, living through the pain every time I stood up. I sure hope things start to get better soon! This is pretty frustrating, but I’m still hopeful that in the end it will all have been worth it! PT at the office tomorrow, and Jeff will finally be getting his first covid shot, which, considering he’ll be in a crowd all weekend is probably a good thing. So I’m off to bed now, going to take my last prescription painkiller (though they offered to refill those, but I think I’ll stick to ibuprofen for now), and hopefully not be feeling any pain for a few hours! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’, I don’t know if it was because of the PT yesterday or taking a couple of awkward steps last evening, but I had a lot of pain today, despite taking a strong pill last night and a couple of OTC pills this morning. I keep feeling like things aren’t exactly in the place they’re supposed to be, though my PT gal keeps telling me she thinks it’s all okay. I did my required knee exercises, but then when I went to do this one exercise I’m supposed to do several times a day, I definitely felt something slip. There was a moment of pain, but then I was still able to walk on it, but I’m getting to the point where I’m almost afraid to move on it for fear I’ll damage something worse. The problem is, if I don’t move enough, the swelling gets worse, and if I move too much the swelling also gets worse. Trying to find the balance is the key, but I’m not really sure how to do that. I iced it all day, in fact the only two times I left the trailer was to get more ice, the rest of the day was sitting, reading, watching TV, and just those few exercises. I just hope this is all normal, but who knows what normal is supposed to feel like? I thought the pain would have subsided somewhat by now, but that’s not happening. I guess I have to go back to a regular regime of pain pills and hope for the best. So frustrating! Anyway, otherwise a quiet (too quiet) day. Off to bed now. Good now, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Slept well, almost through the night, and didn’t have any pain in the morning so I didn’t take a pain pill at all. Felt good enough to feed the horses this morning, which required a good walk out to the paddock and back, and even took my icer into the house and refilled it from Jeff’s freezer. He has an amazing ice machine, it literally can refill the entire box in 24 hours! What else could you expect from a refrigeration guy, huh? Got several icing sessions in before going to my first PT for my knee. It was a bit tough, though not as bad as I supposed it could have been. I’m still not entirely sure I didn’t do damage when I fell, but Allie seemed to think that if I was going to twist my leg that bad, doing it on the day of surgery was probably better than doing it a few days later when things had a chance to get more set in their ways. I hope she’s right, but I did have a couple of sharp twinges later in the day when I was back home. I managed to get Jeff signed up for his first Covid shot, I went through the county Health Dept. Rather than Publix and was able to get him an appointment just after he drops me off for me next PT session on Thursday. Allie gave me a bunch of exercises I need to do every day, and if I combine them with my shoulder exercises I’ll have quite a workout! I asked about driving on Monday, she was hesitant (understandably), but didn’t exactly say no. I’m considering calling the RV place where I have the appointment on Monday to see if we can push it back a couple of days without completely screwing up the schedule, just so Jeff can drive it up there for me, but I’m not going to change it if it means a long delay. I was glad to hear the CDC loosened some of their covid restrictions, I’m going to work on my Equity contract tomorrow to see if I can do anything toward getting a contract, thus allowing me to eventually get my insurance back, which is due to expire at the end of the month. I just don’t understand why they won’t just let me pay the premiums and keep me on the fund, but their bureaucratic system won’t flex enough to do that. I’m supposed to be able to go on COBRA, but I’m not sure how that works yet either. Lots of work to do on that in the next few weeks! Anyway, I didn’t try to feed the horses their dinner, the boys took care of that for me, but I’m going to try breakfast again tomorrow, especially now that I have a better idea what the goal of the PT is, what parts I’m supposed to be stretching and flexing. Took the rest of the day relaxing and icing, not sure how well I’m going to hold up doing next to nothing for weeks to come! Not like me to sit around like this! But everyone is telling me to be patient, so that’s what I’m trying to do. Anyway, bedtime for me. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Honey,
Another great night sleep with only one wake up spell, just enough to take a pill and get back to sleep. Rested most of the day again, though I did go out for a walk around the yard for a bit, just to make sure things don’t stiffen up in my knee too much, or I don’t atrophy or anything. Felt pretty good, actually, so I think everything in my knee is working okay, fingers crossed! Took my first shower since the surgery, down to just a single heavy duty bandage on my knee, but wrapped it in Press N Seal wrap to keep it dry per the nurse’s instructions. That felt wonderful! And I had no trouble standing in the shower, I thought I might have to use the seat but I didn’t. I’m way past my time for taking a pain pill and it still feels okay, so I’m just going to take one before I go to bed, and that may be all I need. Of course, I’ll know better after PT tomorrow. So I’ll be heading off shortly, once I find a new book to read. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Woke up again in the middle of the night, took another pain killer, then managed to get back to sleep again for most of the night. Spent the day doing next to nothing except taking my pills and icing my knee down, which I’m hoping will set me up on a good road to recovery. Jeff and James looked after the horses, and I never left the trailer, just reading and watching TV all day and night. Another day like this tomorrow and I’ll have finished most of the pills the doctors prescribed for me, so by then I should know whether I hurt anything with my fall on Thursday. Didn’t need the walking stick quite as much today, trying to put a bit more weight on it like they wanted, walked up and down the trailer a few times just to gently work it, don’t need it to get too stiff. Had a few stomach cramps off and on. A cold front came through, lots of rain and the temps dropped so much I had to put the fireplace on. Heading off to be early to read some more, hoping for an even better night sleep, trying to get back to normal as much as possible. So good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Woke up at about 3:15 and couldn’t really get back to sleep, I guess being unconscious for a couple of hours in the afternoon has disturbed my sleep cycle somewhat. Not in pain, just awake, so I read for a couple of hours, might have dozed a bit, but got up about 7:00, being very careful I didn’t take another fall. I managed to get back over to the trailer by about 8:30 and pretty much had a restful day, while Jeff and James looked after the horses for me. The day was controlled mostly by timers today, timers for pills, timers for icing my leg down, I haven’t used my phone timer so much since the last time we did dialysis! I spent the day mostly reading, wiggling my feet per nurses’ orders to avoid blood clots, I finally ordered all the parts for the slide-out, and they’re shipping them out 2-day air on Monday so there won’t be any last minute hiccups, hopefully. Jeff is going to the Gator Nationals nest weekend, though, so he won’t be back in time to drive the trailer up to the repair shop in Stuart for me, so either my knee will have to be good enough to drive by then, or I’m thinking about asking Mike next door, since I know he’s pretty experienced in hauling. My original plan was to see if I could spend a couple of days with our friends in Melbourne, but since my surgery was delayed for three weeks, I’m not sure I could make it up their stairs or down to the beach, so I guess I’ll just come back and stay in Jeff’s guest room until I get the trailer back. I was also hoping to leave after it was done, but again, with the delay and the need to continue PT for awhile, that’s not going to happen. Well, at least the weather’s nice, so no complaints there! So after reading and watching multiple episodes of Heartland, I’m ready for bed, my own bed tonight. I’ve been using your beautiful Brazo’s walking stick, it’s been a lifesaver today since I can’t fit the walker in here. Tomorrow I can start to unwrap my leg a bit, and they said it’s okay, in fact, recommended, that I start putting my full weight on it, so I have been doing that occasionally. The nerve block has lasted until well into the late afternoon, I think, though I started taking a pain pill about 3:00, to avoid the time delay of 30 minutes until the pill kicks in. Fortunately they don’t make me as loopy as they made you, but they are doing a good job on the pain. Just took another one before bed, along with a bunch of others for inflammation and other stuff. Anyway, time for bed, hoping I can sleep through the night and get back to my regular schedule at least. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Baby!
FINALLY got my knee surgery, yay! Slept later since I could, then after chores Jeff and I headed down to Coral Springs. He dropped me off and went off and kept busy for the day, while I went through all the paperwork and procedures until they put me under. Of course I don’t remember anything that happened in the operating room, I don’t even remember the operating room! They put me out then woke me up in recovery, which looked exactly the same until I noticed a different piece of art hanging on the wall. Got all my instructions, though I was still a little groggy, but they wheeled me out to the truck and I managed to pull myself in. We got back to the house and Jeff helped me into the house, which I needed. My knee feels like rubbery Jello, can’t support anything. He bought me some lunch from Turtle Tavern and heated it up for me, fetched all my essentials from the trailer, and helped me get settled into the guest bedroom. The nurse advised that I be near someone for at least the first 24 hours, just in case. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow to see if I can get back into the trailer tomorrow night, but I don’t want to rush things. I took one fall on my way back from the bathroom, hoping I didn’t do any damage to my new knee, Jeff had to help me get back up to my walker and into bed. I’ve got a load of pills to take tonight, which I’m about to do, and I’m hoping that Lola will behave, she’s curled up in her dog bed next to the bed, but you know her, she’s likely to try to sneak up on the bed during the night, though hopefully not. I’m not in any pain yet, the nerve block is supposed to last for awhile, but the nurse said I should probably take a pain pill at bedtime to make sure I don’t wake up in pain. Anyway, that’s the plan, and I’m starting right now. Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Darlin’,
With my knee surgery tomorrow (at last!), I spent time today doing the things that I would have to do to get ready to leave, only early because I don’t know how long my recovery is going to take. I put the satellite dish away and cancelled the service (I managed to record nearly 170 movies, so I don’t think I’ll be running out of anything to watch for awhile!) and put the sewer tank back up top as well. I did a little housekeeping, did a bunch of loads of laundry, tried to finalize what parts I need to order, though that’s still not completely done because I’m waiting for other people to get back to me, went to PT in the afternoon, shopped for a couple of things at Walmart, picked up some hay at Town and Country, shopped for a couple more things in Publix that Walmart didn’t have, got home and put everything away, fed the critters with James, and settled down for the evening. My surgery tomorrow was originally set for 9:30, but then it was pushed out to 11:30, so there’s no need to get up at the crack of dawn. I’m hoping I’ll get the order in before I leave in the morning, since it seems like it’s going to be a long day. Really glad I got the dash lights working, it may be close to dark by the time we get home. I already had my shower this afternoon, so now I just need to make my bed and get in it! That’s coming up shortly! Good night, sweetie! Love you!