Oh, My!

Just to avoid my perpetual whining about physical therapy, let me update our housekeeping arrangements. As you know, if you have read this blog since its inception, I spent the first two and a half weeks after surgery sleeping exclusively on the daybed in Stan's office which is on the main floor of our house. On July 31, I moved downstairs to the basement to sleep because, to be honest, I just can't stand the heat. Even when I turn down the thermostat for the evening, it's still in the mid-70s upstairs and I find that to be quite miserable for sleeping. I've always liked sleeping in a cold room and like nothing better than to keep my window open ever so slightly even in the dead of winter, so I find it refreshing and relaxing to sleep in the basement which stays around 62 degrees (more or less) year round.

Stan's office has slowly returned to normal since I'm no longer even napping in there. I still reserve the right to lie down on the daybed, however, on a hot afternoon if I want a cool, quiet place to read for a while! The family room long ago returned to its former state (on August 1), so the house is mostly back to normal. I go upstairs to shower each morning and, although it's not completely necessary, I have left the shower bench in my shower. It's nice to wash my hair sitting down and using the hand spray, so I may leave the bench there for another couple of weeks, but eventually it too will be retired.

That's what's going on in the house--not much, but satisfyingly back to ordinary life. And now I will whine just a little bit. Physical therapy is great for the first 45 minutes. I do a lot, I use the machines, I stretch, I get on the balance board and wobble, I do all sorts of things that are quite gratifying. You know what's coming though, don't you? Yes, the horrible bending the knee backwards routine! Today, however, the therapist took it to new heights of pain. She pushed back and then told me to push my leg as hard as possible downward while she was pushing hard backward. OH, MY!!!! It hurt so bad. I got through the first two rounds, but on the third round, when she pushed my leg back as far as I could stand it (farther really) and then made me push downward, it was so utterly painful that I told her I couldn't go on. Oh, just 5 more seconds she assured me, but I gasped out my refusal and pulled my leg away. It was just awful and I regret to say that my boasting about my stoical nature and my ability to endure pain must now be retracted. I couldn't stand it. I'm sorry, I feel like a failure, but I couldn't. How will I endure it all over again on Wednesday, and Friday, and Monday, and......? Even the Percocet (which I still take right before therapy, and only then) didn't dull the pain enough to endure this last challenge. Well, I'll try to work on it tomorrow afternoon here at home, and see if I can't stretch my knee some in preparation for Wednesday. But oh, my!