Today, October 12, is my birthday and it has been exactly
one month since I wrote my last blog entry. It seems like a good time to do an
update.
Tomorrow marks five weeks since I had my full knee
replacement on my left knee. The surgery
went well, but the return home was difficult as I had problems with my pain
medication. Eventually, those problems
got resolved and these days I am just taking Tylenol for the pain and using ice
packs three times a day for 30 minutes each.
My sister Pegg lent me a recliner chair and it has been perfect for
using the ice treatments. Thanks, Pegg!
I am resuming many of my traditional activities, but I don’t
have the stamina that I once had. For
example, I will use the log splitter for 45 minutes and then I’m exhausted and
have to come inside. I’ve been trimming
back some apple trees in our back yard and, similarly, I find I can work for 45
minutes and then I need to take a break.
The other thing that has changed is my sleep patterns. I just can’t find a way to make the knee
comfortable at night and allow myself to go to sleep. I end up taking cat naps instead. This morning, as an example, I was awake all
night and then when it was time to go to church, I laid down on our bed for a
brief nap and several hours later I awoke and realized that I had missed church
entirely.
I am in my second week at the Hereford Physical Therapy
Center and I have discovered several friends are there also including my
neighbor’s granddaughter who is training to become a physical therapist. They have a bunch of folks who push you to
the limit, but they are very nice about it.
I go three times a week for an hour and we have seen substantial
progress in the two weeks that I have been attending.
Meantime, there is the matter of the missed
50th Catonsville High School reunion. I really wanted to go but it took two months
to get on the surgeon’s schedule and I needed the surgery. None the less, several of my classmates did
things to help me “experience” the reunion in various ways. The biggest event was a dinner organized by
my friend Paulette Geisenkotter Hammond in which she invited several other
classmates who also missed the reunion.
And then there was the concluding meeting of our reunion committee which
Rick Webb organized at a Hunt Valley eatery for my convenience.
These are memories that I will cherish forever.
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