Hey Babe,
Finally, some progress! Though they didn't call me, I had to call them, I did finally find out that my appeal won, and I'm able to get an MRI! Yay! Unfortunately, my doctor's office says they didn't get the notification, so I was scrambling at the end of the day trying to schedule it asap. Turns out my doctor's office gave them a different facility than the one I wanted to go to, and even though I checked with that one I want to go to, who assured me they took my insurance (I hope they do, I had my x-ray there last week!) but according to Cigna, they're not under contract. So now I have to go to Gainesville, to the same facility that I'm sorry to say, treated you so poorly the month before you passed (and who I partially blame for it!). I never wanted to set foot in that place again, but it looks like I may not have a choice, since this HMO seems to be so limited. I have to sort it all out in the morning, but they say they should be able to get me an appointment for the afternoon, the sooner the better! At least there's some progress, and I can look forward to being able to walk straight again, even though it may be months away. I had a useless PT session again today, I have very little faith in these folks that I'm using, I'm sorry to say, and will try to find another one for my post-op (if it comes to that) PT. Got back to camp around 5:00, had a nice chat on the phone with our old friend formerly from Staten Island, Cherryl, who's planning on coming up to WEC this weekend, so I'm hoping to meet up with her there. Meanwhile, another quiet evening once I fed the horses! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Spent another fruitless day making no progress with my knee, watching a lot of TV about Yellowstone Park, it's history and current ecology problems. Other than a couple of loads of laundry, I didn't have the pluck to try to do anything else, not even housekeeping. Every time I take a step I don't know if my knee is going to collapse, or I'm going to hit that spot where the acute pain makes me think I might pass out, or if it's going to hold my weight, or bend, or straighten, I never know! It changes from step to step. Very frustrating. After two weeks of "resting" it's clear to me that rest isn't helping. Sigh... Well, we'll see after tomorrow what needs to be done. Anyway, time for tea and bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Sorry to say my knee is no better, and as I said yesterday, I think it's worse with the icing I've been giving it. Had to struggle feeding the horses on crutches again today, and taking their blankets off and on. Other than that, I spent the entire day in my recliner, watching a series about the history of the West, a topic I've been concentrating on since planning my Yellowstone trip. Despite all the rest and all the icing (and putting a heating pad on my lower back, as that's starting to give me problems now, too), my leg was just as bad when I went to do the evening feeding. This is insanity, I know, especially if they really expect me to do this for another six weeks! Once the decision from the insurance company comes back from the appeal, new plans will be made. Meanwhile, reading and TV are it for the weekend, with the addition of laundry tomorrow. Flash was self-exercising this morning, a sign he's getting just as bored as I am! He's going to be a handful once I'm finally fit enough to get back in the saddle! Meanwhile, off to bed after my usual evening. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Another night of interrupted sleep, ended up not getting up till after 9:00, though I was reading for the last hour. Then I got a robocall from the insurance company telling my MRI request has been denied. Not a happy camper about that, I can tell you, especially when they said I would need to do a complete six week course of PT before they'll approve it. I immediately filed a fast track appeal (decision within 72 hours), since my knee has been bothering me even more lately. Oddly, I think when it was so swollen, it was too full of fluid to bend enough to get to the really painful bit, but now that I've been icing it for the last few days, the swelling has receded enough for my knee to bend farther, and now, it will suddenly hit the painful bit, and it almost makes me collapse. Just the weight of my leg is enough to pull it down that far now. Since I had nothing else to do today but fuss with it, I arranged to have lunch with Helen and DeDe at Willard's and it was very enjoyable, even though I was limping almost as bad as when I was at FITS three weeks ago. I used the crutches again to feed the horses, but even that was dicey, just the smallest movement was causing tremendous pain. I can't see me living with this for another six weeks of doing nothing! Grrr! Anyway, lunch was the only break I had, the rest of the day was icing my knee and putting heat on my lower back, which is naturally starting to give me trouble because of how imbalanced I am now. Not to mention my right leg, which is having to carry all the extra weight. So reading and watching TV was the order of the day again! Bed soon. Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hiya Sweetie,
Had to get up in the dark again today for my first PT session at 8:00, ugh! The session went about as well as could be expected, nothing very strenuous, but I was still limping a lot worse when I got home. Picked up some horse feed at Tractor Supply before coming home, struggled to lug that into the back of the trailer. Even Rick commented on how much worse I looked that the other day. Yeah, that's what happens when you try to do PT in the dark. I'm going to have to call my insurance tomorrow and fuss at them about an MRI. Got another stupid email from the pension folks in England, still telling me they haven't received my information, despite the fact I emailed it two weeks ago, after being told an email would work. Grrr! Spent the entire day icing and elevating my knee, no change for the better, that's for sure. So I read and watched TV all day, pretty sure all this laziness is going to catch up to me in the form of atrophy and an even longer list of jobs that need doing before I leave, which is beginning to look like it's going to be much later than I had planned. I've already cancelled two events I was supposed to participate in, and it's looking like it may even be a third at the rate we're going here. Not to mention I'm not supposed to ride during any of this! You can imagine my growing frustration! Hard to rest when my stress level keeps rising. Anyway, nothing I can do at the moment except bitch about it, and that isn't going to get me anywhere. Sigh... finishing my tea and soon off to bed. Silver lining is that I can sleep in tomorrow, no place in particular I need to be! Good night, darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin',
A rather choppy night with weird dreams until the alarm woke me up dark and early. I HATE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!!! Had breakfast first, and only had time to give horses hay, then couldn't find my darn keys, so I had to use my spare. I took Lola with me because it was a cool morning and she would be fine in the truck. My appointment in Dunnellon was at 8:00 and I got there a couple minutes ahead of schedule, then Wendy gave me a thorough examination and evaluation, concluding I need and MRI in order to plan a specific treatment (no surprise there!), so at least now we can pressure the insurance company into letting us schedule one, hopefully. We set up appointments for the next few weeks, just to see if it does any good (and no harm, which is my biggest concern), starting tomorrow at 8:00 again, but after that, they're all in the afternoon, thank goodness. At least we're progressing the plot! Wendy insists I put ice on it five or six times a day, along with a little rotating massage, so I spent the rest of the day doing that, with elevation. I finished reading the Healing Shine series that Nancy had recommended (an interesting take on horse training, albeit in a strange, choppy style), then watched a couple of movies and my latest series binge. Even with all the icing, I could see it was still pretty swollen, and it hurts in a different way now, but still hurts. Had a conversation with my outfitter in Yellowstone about saddles, and checked out some options for flights that seem to work better. So a relaxing day, one of many I see in my future, since I am determined to get this injury behind me as soon as possible! I hate being this achey! Anyway, only have tea, Spanish and bed left in my evening. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Babe,
I thought of you all day today, my love, on what would have been your 91st Birthday. I can't tell you how much I miss you! But I'm sure you know. So grateful for our almost 34 incredible years together! Yet life goes on, and I spent the day doing forest work. I got up early because Rick needed a ride from the shop where he was supposed to drop off his truck this morning, and I was almost there when he called to say the shop had postponed it but didn't bother to call him, so that was an hour wasted first thing! Then I got busy painting the rest of the trash receptables, then together we put the lids and hinges on. I finished up later in the afternoon painting the covers for the lids that are supposed to keep the rain out of them. I feel so tired lately! I never realized that limping would take so much out of me! I'm glad I'm not still on crutches, but I still can't put my full weight on my left leg, and compensating for that imbalance is exhausting. Anyway, I finally settled down for the evening in my usual way, and am heading to bed as soon as I finish my tea, since I have to get up even earlier tomorrow, leaving here before the sun even rised! Ugh! Anyway, Happy Birthday, my love! Good night!

Hey Sweetie,
Had a good night sleep and got more chores done, did some housekeeping before the rains came in, did laundry all day and into the night. The rain was quite impressive, with numerous lightning strikes so close there was literally no lag between the thunder and the lightning. The picnic area was under water for awhile, but there didn't seem to be any other damage. Lots of heavy rain, though! A perfect rainy Sunday, my favorite! Spent the day reading, watching movies, and otherwise just enjoying a quiet day in between loads of laundry. I think the week ahead will be busier. My knee is tolerable, but my range is still limited, it will be interesting to see what happens to it this week. Heading for bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Was up bright and early again, and headed out the door before 9:00 after chores and breakfast, to do some unnecessary things for the sake of my health insurance. They apparently won't consider an MRI until I've first had x-rays and physical therapy, so I figured rather than wait for them to deny approval, I'd just get it done asap. I finally found an imaging center that takes my insurance, CareFirst, so I headed over there, leaving a message at my doctor's to have them get them an order, which they did, but I still had to wait some time before getting it done. I didn't care, I just want to get this healing moving! Was nearly noon when I left there, but managed to get a PT appointment for next Wednesday, which wasn't easy. Got back to camp, chatted with Rick for a bit, he's brought over some trash receptacles that need painting, which I should be able to do next week, hopefully, then started trying to figure out what to do about my IRA. I finally figured out the reason why I was getting hit with penalty, apparently I'm not allowed to contribute to it with anything but "earned income," i.e. wages and salary, and since all my income now is from pensions and social security, which is considered "unearned income," I can't use that to fund an IRA. I don't know who makes up these crazy rules, it does nothing but discourage people from saving! Anyway, I chatted with my brokerage house and finally managed to make a plan to solve the problem, so hopefully I can get back to finishing my taxes one day next week. I'd do it tomorrow, but I'm going to take a chance and go riding tomorrow, I think. Anyway, finally settled down for the evening, lots of campers on the grounds today, walked around and said hi, then settled down for the evening, turning on the air conditioning, because, yeah, it's starting to get that warm down here. Heading to bed shortly! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!