Birthday Celebrations

This time of year is full of birthdays for our family and, as it turns out, for lots of little friends of our granddaughters. We had one granddaughter's birthday party yesterday, two birthdays today (Stan and our daughter-in-law), a birthday party tomorrow for a little friend, a dinner out tomorrow night with old friends and their (relatively) new baby, and a birthday Sunday for a little friend. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a big deal, but it is more tiring than I would have expected. That's one thing about TKR surgery--it apparently takes quite a long time to get back to your normal level of activity and energy, even if you feel quite good--and I do feel quite good!

The main event of the day was physical therapy. Not being a particularly athletic person (okay, not at ALL athletic), I've been surprised by how much I enjoy the "gym" aspect of therapy. The recumbent bike is fun, the leg press machine feels quite good, and the machine where I pull weights up with my knee is challenging but also feels satisfying in a strange way. It just feels good to use muscles and to know that they are getting stronger. The therapist also had me walking up and down the gym sideways, as she has before, but this time with criss-crossed elastic bands providing a lot of resistance. I could really feel a lot of pull up the back of my legs and into my hips, so that was great exercise. BUT THEN......two forms of torture were inflicted on me. The first one was the pushing down on my knee quite vigorously when my leg is stuck up in the air at a 45 degree angle. That hurts, but my extension (how straight I can hold my leg) is still at 0 degrees (i.e. the best it can be), so even though this hurts, it's not unbearable. But, oh, my! The therapist really pushed back hard and long on my knee this afternoon--five times, holding for 30 seconds each time. I just can't begin to emphasize how badly this hurts. I know it's for my own good, and I suppose I want her to do it, but I've come to dread the "Lie on your stomach on the table" command. I know that agony is about to ensue! But all good (and awful) things come to an end, and then I get to sit up with pillows and ice packs and watch the big screen TV until I feel better!

During the late afternoon and evening we went out to eat with our son and his family to celebrate Stan's birthday and our daughter-in-law's birthday (yes, they really do have the same birthday). It was a lovely meal in a marvelous restaurant (just to give a plug, it was Clyde's Willow Creek Farm, a beautifully restored colonial restaurant). Returning from that, we had a nice Skype conversation with our Florida son and his family. Despite everything that I might complain about, I can't think of any possible improvement on life than to be blessed with a wonderful husband, a sweet mother, sons I'm proud of, daughters-in-law who are just as nice as I could have ever hoped for, and the most beautiful, precious grandchildren EVER!