The Last PT

Despite many misgivings about getting out in the world today, I did go to physical therapy this morning.  I had today, next Monday, and next Friday remaining, so when I talked to the office person  on the phone this morning, I told her to let my physical therapist know that this would be my last session.  I wanted her to take all the measurements she needed in order to make the final report to my surgeon.  As much as it is often uncomfortable and sometimes downright painful, I will miss my PT sessions and wish I could have gone to the last two, but it just didn't seem prudent.  Today, therefore, was not only my last PT session but probably my last venture out into the world for quite sometime. Happily, PT ended on a victorious note.

Guess what?  My final measurements were 120 and 0--perfection!  I am so thrilled that I was able to end on that high note!  To be totally honest, I hadn't exercised that much the past three days but I had done one thing which doesn't seem like much but which was apparently efficacious:  the tried and true knee bends going up and down the stairs.  It's sort of hard to describe but here's what you do:  Stand on ground level, then lift your surgical leg up two steps.  Then lean forward so that your knee is really bent.  Hold that 5 or 10 seconds, relax, repeat.  This picture shows her only lifting her leg up one step, but my therapist told me to lift my leg up two steps for a better stretch.

So, while I didn't do my full round of exercises, the only thing I really needed to work on was my flexibility, and these knee lunges/bends certainly stretch your muscles around your kneecap.  It worked, and here I am, with 120 flexibility, my ultimate goal.  Go, me!

My final appointment with my surgeon is scheduled for next Wednesday, about nine days from now.  I can't imagine that I will want to get out of the house at that point, especially not to go to the hospital where he's located, but I will defer that decision until later in the week.  All he'll do is to x-ray my leg one more time to make sure everything's in place, but I'm pretty sure it is.  My therapist manipulates my knee each session to make sure it all still feels right, so I'm not worried about it at all.  My scar is healing well, and my PT goal has been achieved.  It would seem to me that this final appointment could wait a month or two until all the Covid-19 worries may have settled down a bit.  But we shall see...

So, dear reader, this may be it for a few days.  I'll let you know about whether or not I go to my follow-up appointment, and if I get bored being here at home, I may review another couple of products, but for the next couple of days for sure, I won't be writing.  It's been a journey, and it's almost (but not quite) over.  See you around the blog!

Just a Note

Nope, as warned, I'm not going to post much anymore except on days when there's some "knee news," and on this very quiet weekend, there hasn't been any.  Due to the ongoing Covid-19 event, we are staying home, puttering about, reading, napping, cooking, watching TV, and talking.  I'm doing some stretching exercises to get ready for tomorrow's PT, but nothing to write home about. 

Hope you are enjoying the quiet life also!  Will write tomorrow evening to update what happens at physical therapy.

Beginning to Socially Distance Ourselves

In a way, all the Covid-19 (i.e. coronavirus) news has nothing to do with my knee, but I have to say that I'm tremendously grateful that I'm near the end of the TKR journey rather than at the beginning.  There are anecdotal accounts on my Facebook knee groups of people who are suddenly having their surgery rescheduled so as to keep hospital beds open.  There are people who just had the surgery a week or two ago and now face weeks of going to physical therapy, worried about exposure to the virus.  Fortunately, I have only two more PT sessions for sure and then my follow-up checkup with my surgeon, and at that point, I'll be more or less done.  All one can do is wish good luck to those still in the thick of it!

For the next who-knows-how-many days or weeks, Stan and I plan to stay mostly at home due to the virus which is most dangerous to older people and people with compromised immune systems.  That doesn't mean we won't go anywhere, but we will be extremely selective.  Stan went hiking today, for instance, but obviously hiking doesn't put you in close contact with anyone else.  I stood outside talking to neighbors for a long time this afternoon, but I tried (unobtrusively) to stay six feet away, and besides, it was quite breezy.  Next Monday I'll go to PT and then to pick up groceries I ordered, but I won't have to get out of my car.  I canceled my hair cut appointment, however, because it's just not necessary.  The only reason I wanted to get my hair cut was to get ready to go to a convention in a couple of weeks, but the convention was canceled today just as soon as our governor declared a state of emergency.  So, no convention, no need for a haircut!

Over the next few weeks, I must continually challenge myself to keep my knee flexible.  I know myself well enough to know that I'm not going to exercise religiously every day, but I can peddle my little "bike" while watching TV, remember to bend and stretch my knee as I go up and down the stairs, pay attention to my gait, and walk as much as I can.  The end is near for this journey--but not until I get those 2 more degrees of ROM!

Work Harder

While I wasn't surprised at PT today to find that my flexibility was still 118, I am quite fussy with myself.  Yes, I was super busy the past couple of days with preparations for my teacher organization event, but I'm still vaguely disgusted with myself. On a more positive note, I pressed 70 pounds with just one leg and 90 pounds with both.  I got up and down from a chair 30 times in a row without holding on to anything, I climbed lots of steps, and more.  So I think I'm doing fine but over the weekend I absolutely MUST work at bending my knee more and more...and then more.

Stan stayed home today (social distancing has begun) and he seemed to enjoy working in the backyard.  By early afternoon the sun finally came out for good, so we sat in the sun (in shorts!) and soaked up a little Vitamin D.  There was a lot of cleaning up and putting things back that needed to happen as the result of yesterday's event, so I spent a good amount of time on that.  And what more can I say?  Now that Covid-19 will keep us even closer to home than usual, I fear my daily updates will become redundant to the point of being meaningless.  I will, however, keep updating until March 25 when I see my surgeon, although do forgive me if I don't update every day. 

There are still a couple of items that I should mention in my continuing review.  Tonight let's talk about toilets.  Yes, it's a tad embarrassing, but the first several weeks, bending the knees to access the toilet is quite painful and precarious.  Stan installed these rails on the toilets in our main floor powder room and in the master bathroom.  I really don't know what I would have done without them, and I heartily recommend installing these rails in at least one bathroom, and preferably in the bathrooms you use both day and night.

The powder room rails were removed yesterday morning before my teacher event, but I see no reason to remove the master bath rails quite yet.  Safety first!

Party Time

When I was little, I always used to say that I was too pooped to pop.  Where on earth did that saying come from??  I have no idea, but I think it applies to me this evening...but in a very good way.  Today, if you remember, was my teacher organization event, half meeting and half party.  I spent most of the day getting ready for it and thanks to Stan's invaluable help, everything was prepped and ready by the time people started arriving a little after 4:00.  We had a wonderful time and I'm not sorry I went ahead with having a bunch of teachers here (and yes, there were sniffles and coughs).  I suppose I'll be a lot happier about it in a week or so when I'm sure that Stan and I are both still healthy!

Needless to say, there was no time for anything but party prep  today.  Stan and I went AGAIN to the grocery this morning for just a few things.  We came home, ate lunch, and then I remembered something I'd forgotten at the store, so Stan went out again.  He is so patient! For the next three hours, I cooked, cleaned, and scurried around tidying up all the stuff in the house, much of it having to do with my knee recovery.  In the end, the event and party all went well, and we were both happy to have a Domino's pizza for dinner and watch a soothing documentary about mammoths!

Was there time to do anything even vaguely relating to my knee?  In all honesty, no,  Other than doing knee stretches and bends as I went up and down the stairs, I haven't done anything.  I'll try to motivate myself in a few minutes to do a few heel slides, but mostly I just want to take a nice long shower and go to bed.  PT in the morning....how will it go?  I hope I don't go backwards!

In a Tizzy

Usually I'm rather obsessive about planning events, and to some extent, I've been pretty good this time, but I'm not nearly ready for my teacher organization meeting tomorrow afternoon.  This is a yearly occurrence and this meeting was scheduled last April, so almost a year ago.  I would not, obviously, be planning a meeting at my house now considering  my still lagging energy not to mention the coronavirus news, but I did commit to it so I'm going to do it.  But I'm not as prepared as I usually am for such an event, and I'm in just a bit of a tizzy.  I'm sure it will all come together, but there's still a lot to do.

So, ready or not, Stan and I were up and out the door by 10:00 which is early for us (I know....I know, but we're retired!).  We went by my old school to pick up some plants for the meeting tomorrow and, by the way, to do a bit of chatting with the office staff and a couple of teachers who happened to wander through. Next on the list of errands was a drugstore stop to pick  up a prescription and to wander around looking at sales.  The real focus of the morning, however, was to do yet another grocery shopping.  I had thought of a few more items I wanted for tomorrow, Stan needed a few things, and in general we continued stocking up on basics in case we need to stay home for the next two, three, or more weeks. By this time I'd done a lot of walking and it was fine.  Really, my knee doesn't hurt at all walking for a distance and for a long time; however, I would say that my stamina is still not 100%.  The old "use it or lose it" saying is true, and I'm still on the upswing from having spent several weeks mostly on the couch!  In other words, I was ready to go home.

By the time we'd unloaded all our groceries and put them away, it was time for lunch, and by the time that was over, we were both ready for a rest if not exactly a nap.  Surprisingly, the sky cleared an hour later, and we enjoyed a little time sitting on the porch.  I wish we'd had a real winter with a blizzard or two, but if we can't have winter, we're both happy to enjoy this spring weather.  And from there, our day and evening proceeded as usual.  It was a good day, a normal day, and isn't that the ultimate goal of all this effort, pain, and time?  I just want to have a normal life again and be able to go places, do things, and WALK!  You know what?  I almost can do all that now, and within the next two or three weeks, I'm confident I'll be all the way there.

Now, let's do a quick review of things that helped (or didn't) help with my recovery.  One of the things that I thought would be helpful, especially based on my previous knee surgery experience, would be to have a foam wedge that would keep my leg straight and elevated.  Last time I used pillows which were a little awkward and kept slipping down so I thought this would be helpful. 

Was it helpful?  Kind of, but not enough to justify the price.  I used it for maybe the first two weeks, but it's big, it's awkward, and it just wasn't worth the money.  If you can borrow one for a couple of weeks, by all means, go for it.  Don't buy it, however.  Now I've got a big foam wedge and I'm really not sure what to do with it!

Surprised

Did you read yesterday's entry where I opined that getting to 117 ROM today and 118 or 119 by Thursday was my tentative goal?  Well, color me surprised!  At PT today, despite not having done much in the way of exercising over the weekend, my ROM was 118, and that was with not a bunch of agony or pushing.  It was just there.  I was actually quite stunned.  Do you think I can get to 120 by Thursday?  Well, it's fine one way or the other.  When I "graduated" from PT back in 2011, the goal was 115 and I had 117 when I left.  Both my doctor and therapist were very happy with that and so was I.  Here I am, not yet done with PT and two weeks from my final checkup with my surgeon, and I am at 118.  To say I'm pleased is an understatement!

After a soporific weekend, Stan and I had a busy day which was somewhat tiring but a nice change.  My PT was at 11:00, so we didn't do much before that (we are NOT morning people).  Stan dropped me off at PT then went to Wal Mart, CVS, and Home Depot.  I truly don't understand how he can shop and do so much in one hour.  I'm barely halfway through the grocery store in one hour!  At any rate, he picked me up, we came home and had lunch, then while he rested, I went to the grocery to buy lots of frivolous goodies for a teacher gathering I'm having here on Wednesday afternoon. Yes, I know elderly people are supposed to avoid gatherings, but I committed to this a year ago (it's an event I host every year), so I'm going through with it.  After it's done, however, I will do my best to avoid groups of people in close surroundings, especially teachers.  Having been a teacher, I know what walking petri dishes they are! 

The afternoon was spent unloading and putting away food, briefly relaxing with a book, and then, because of the glorious weather, we sat on the front porch a very long time.  One of the main reasons I fell in love with this particular house was the front porch and my enthusiasm for porch sitting has never waned.  I love sitting there, snacking, chatting, watching people come and go.  And on a day when it's sunny, low 70s, and low humidity, the weather couldn't make the whole experience any better.  A perfect end to the afternoon!

Bracing for Tomorrow

The only real difference between yesterday and today is that the weather was much nicer which meant that Stan and I weren't cooped up in the house all day.  We did, in fact, spend a long, long time sitting in the sun on the back porch which, despite the fact that it wasn't all that exciting, was very pleasant.  All that Vitamin D, you know!  Aside from that, however, we had a mostly interior kind of day. 

So how's my knee doing, you may ask.  Well, after a couple of days of still being quite sore, it was much better today....just in time to get pummeled again tomorrow at PT.  I tried to do as many knee bends and stretches as possible today plus I did step stretches every time I went up the stairs.  I hope that will be sufficient to get my ROM a little further along.  If  you recall, I finished last Thursday with 115 which, to be honest, seems quite good enough to me; however, since the therapist has set 120 as the goal, I just want to get there and be done with it.  I actually like my therapist a lot.  She's been great, and I love that she still starts every session with a long thorough massage.  Sometimes she does deep tissue massage which isn't at all fun, but mostly it's just a good massage that really loosens up my muscles and gets me ready for what's ahead.  No, it's not that I don't like her, and it's not that the exercises themselves are painful, it's the pushing down on the knee that she's doing now.  That hurts--a lot--and I think that's what makes my recovery from PT take a least one day (or more!). So let's hope I increase my ROM tomorrow to at least 117 and then maybe by Thursday to 118 or 119 and then finish it all off next Monday at 120.  Hoping, fingers crossed, and a little more stretching tonight going up the stairs!

As I've been doing in recent posts, I'll mention another item that has been almost essential in this recovery journey.  My 2011 therapist didn't do massages, and really didn't even look much at my knee but with this therapist, if I hadn't had a couple of pairs of extremely loose pants that can be easily pulled up to mid-thigh, I'm not sure what the procedures would have been like.  Fortunately, however, I'd bought a couple of culottes or yoga pants or palazzo pants or whatever you want to call them which I've worn to every PT appointment and which have greatly facilitated the ability of my therapist to do the leg massages.

Even though your therapist might not do as much massage as mine, I guarantee that the first few PT sessions your therapist will need to look at your incision and these culottes make it much easier.  They're on Amazon and they are nice enough you'll want to wear them in the future.  

That's it for the day.  Now just wish me luck at PT tomorrow!

An Elderly Day

Here's the deal.  I promised to write every day, so I am, but with all the novel coronavirus worries going on, and with the CDC's announcement that elderly people should stay home if at all possible, we had the quietest of quiet days.  We went nowhere, we didn't have our usual Saturday night family dinner, we didn't leave the house except to take out the trash and get the mail.  I cannot even begin to describe how quiet our day was!  I'm not complaining (yet) but sleeping, eating, napping, reading, more eating, and (soon) more sleeping are not exactly exciting attributes for a day. 

Stan seems to be a little better, but he's still lacking in energy and has coughs, sniffles, and sneezes periodically, but they aren't nearly as frequent, so he's getting better.  My knee is still a bit sore from the exertions of Thursday's PT so I did some easy exercises, and will probably do a few more, but I'm also not exerting myself.  So there, that's been our "elderly" day of avoiding contact with others.  The weather tomorrow should be much more salubrious, so maybe there's hope for sitting on the back porch in the sunshine for a while.

That's it.  Good night, and don't forget to change your clocks!

Cold again

These up and down weather days are sort of disconcerting.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, it was wonderful to be outdoors.  Yesterday was chilly but sunny and not at all bad; today, however, we are back to cold, damp, drizzly, and gray--not a good day to go out.  That's exactly what we had to do, though, because of a banking matter that needed attention, so Stan and I ventured forth mid-morning to go to the bank to take care of business.  On another day, with better weather and without Stan's continuing sniffles, we might have gone out to lunch, but today we just went home and washed our hands before settling in until lunchtime.  As if knee recovery and such variable weather weren't enough, now we have to worry about the Covid-19 virus.  Oh, well, nothing lasts forever.....  So, after lunch, we rested and were quiet here at home for the next few hours.

As for the rest of the day, it was the case that my leg was a little sore from yesterday's workout so no, I did no strenuous exercises.  I did do the bending my knee as far as possible with each step up and down the staircase which is not an inconsiderable exercise, so I don't feel entirely like a slacker.  But between Stan's cold, my sore knee, and general grungy weather malaise, we had a mostly lethargic day.  I did, however, make a brief afternoon foray to the local restaurant to meet up with some teacher friends, so that was a nice bit of frivolity.  Once I got home at 5:00, we both decided that we just weren't hungry, so we ate some leftover chili and watched a BBC archaeological program.  And that, my friends, is just about all there is to say about the day.

Continuing the review of items that have been particularly helpful during my recovery, I now present the hospital table: 

Of course you could use something you already have at home, but on the other hand, this is so handy for so many reasons. We ordered this before my surgery and had it set up beside my corner of the couch to be ready for me when I got home.  Apart from the first couple of days when I was still too weak to stand up from the couch, I have spent a good portion of each day on the chaise end of our couch with this tray in front of me.  Unless  you already have an ideal set up, I highly recommend this.  It scoots right up, the height is adjustable, and there's plenty of space for "stuff" and for you to eat.  While it's certainly not necessary, it's a useful addition to your recovery planning.

We're both yawning, so maybe climbing into bed with a good book will be the perfect way to end the day.

Inch by Inch

As my therapist told me today, the last few degrees are the hardest, and I suppose that's true considering my progress today.  Fortunately my appointment today was before lunch, so after a quiet and relatively short morning which consisted of breakfast, shower, computer time, and thirty minutes of icing and elevating, Stan drove me to physical therapy.  He's still awfully sniffly so I tried to convince him to stay home, but he insisted he'd like to get out a little. 

My therapy sessions progress predictably these days.  My therapist starts with about ten minutes of massage before progressing to "manipulation."  This consists of pressing down hard on my knee which is stretched out straight on the table. Ouch!  After a bit more massage to loosen my muscles, she begins to move my leg up and down, back and forth, bending my knee ever more tightly.  By then it's time to measure my ROM which today was 115.  It had been 113 on Monday and I was hoping for more progress, but oh, well.  At least it was progress, but I'd exercised a lot last night (after writing my blog entry) and thought I'd stretched my kneecap muscles more.  Still, however, it was definitely progress.  Just five more degrees to go!  This all takes the first half of my therapy and, after that, it's several different exercises.  Some are the same (leg lifts, squats, etc.) but there's usually at least one new form of "fun" each time.  Today it was wobbling around on the balance board.  It's not that it's physically demanding, but I really don't enjoy it.  After several more exercises, I finally get to put my leg up and enjoy ice for ten minutes--always a relief!

Stan, who had gone to buy a loaf of bread while I was in therapy, was obviously not up to doing much else, so we went straight home, had lunch, then both napped for an hour and a half.  He was tired because of his cold, and I was, as usual, semi-exhausted by my therapy session.  I'm always somewhat surprised that it tires me so because at the time it doesn't seem that strenuous but I almost always feel like staggering out the door when it's over! 

Still, I have to say that I feel almost normal now.  It's been days since I've even thought about needing to use a cane.  I can climb up and down stairs foot over foot.  I can walk and walk and walk without any discomfort at all.  Aside from PT days, I need no pain medicine except my usual morning aspirin.  Everything is going super well and I'm surprised, delighted, and gratified, all in equal amounts.  Despite being many years older than my previous experience, I think I'm doing better than I was at this point 8 1/2 years ago. Go, me!

So, aside from the mundane of details of weather, dinner, evening, that's it for the day. We're already thinking about an early bedtime!  See you tomorrow...

Staying Home

After Stan's exhaustingly long day yesterday, he definitely wanted to stay home and recuperate.  He's also had a cough and sniffle, so he needed to eat healthy foods, take a nap, and sit in the sun for a while, all of which he did.  I had nothing pressing to do either and was more than happy to spend several hours this morning reading political news about yesterday's elections.

To be honest, we had a somewhat desultory day but it was good in the sense that Stan needed a day of complete rest.  He slept quite a while this afternoon giving me a nice long stretch of time to read and do a few exercises. I cooked some nice spicy chili for dinner (cleared the sinuses!) which, surprisingly, Stan ate with a good amount of gusto.

In one significant way, this was a very special day--it was older son's birthday.  We were happy to have a nice long Skype with him but we're always a little sad that we are rarely with him on his birthday.  Coming when it does early in March, it's never quite spring break time so either he, we, or his children are busy with school (or were in the past).  So no, we almost always have to make do with a phone conversation.  But it's still a wonderful day and he has always made us grateful to be his parents!

Since there's not much to say about knee or me today (and that's great--all is well!), I thought over the next few posts that I'd mention items I bought which have been particularly helpful with my recovery.  Oh, before I go on, I should tell you that  yesterday was the end of week five since my surgery.  The difference a few weeks can make when it comes to how I feel and how I can get around!  Anyway, one item I ordered which may seem rather extraneous has, in fact, made a tremendous difference.  I'm not sure I'd be sleeping in my own bed even now without it.  And what is this wonderful item?  A step stool!

We have a very tall bed in the master bedroom and even before my surgery, I had to sort of flop on it and pull myself up (the joys of being short), but after surgery, there was no way I could get into bed.  As fate would have it, the second time I went to PT, I couldn't get  up on the table (again, too short) so my therapist went and got a stool like this.  It feels remarkably stable and the handle makes all the difference so I went straight home and ordered one.  A couple of days later, I was able to get in my own bed.  Not that I could sleep, mind you, but at least I was wakeful in a more comfortable bed!  Speaking of sleep, about which I know I've complained many times, I can't say it's good yet, but it's better.  I now can sleep two or three hours at a stretch, then will wake up for 10 or 15 minutes, and will go back to sleep for another couple of hours.  Considering that I could only sleep 30 or 45 minutes or so just two weeks ago, this is a vast improvement.

Well, enough of all that, but I love this stool and may just keep it around for quite a long time.  I actually managed to get in bed by myself last night, but why should I?  Safety first, right?  It was a good investment!  More recommendations in the future!

Long Day

Yes, it has been a long day.  It's well after 10:00 p.m. and I'll plan to stay up longer to keep watching the Super Tuesday presidential primary results as they come in, so this will be a brief entry.  And by the way, I should mention here that this blog will end whenever I "graduate" from physical therapy and when my surgeon tells me I'm at the end of the formal recovery period.  But until then, I feel obligated to tell you a bit about each day.

Stan, as I mentioned yesterday, left at 4:30 this morning and finally got home at 9:15 this evening.  He didn't feel so good when he got home, he appears to have a cold, but he did eat three bowls of the chicken soup I'd made which will hopefully help a bit, but mostly he just needs a good long night's rest.

My day, therefore, was spent pursuing my own agenda.  The morning was spent with a good friend whom I hadn't seen for several months, so we had a lovely time catching up.  Nothing cheers you up like time spent with a friend!  After she left, I puttered around, had a bit more coffee and kept an eye on the weather.  I wanted to go vote and then pick up a yummy treat for my lunch, but it was raining.  On the other hand, it was time to do what I wanted to do, so off I went.  It took little time to vote and then I drove to a nearby grocery.  I really intended just to get something fun and different for lunch, but I kept seeing one thing after another that seemed like it would be useful to have in the pantry.  In the end, I spent...well, quite a bit.  And that meant I had a lot of groceries to carry in once I got home.  By the time I'd carried all that in, put it away, and had my lunch, I have to admit I was tired.  But hey, it was a good tired and I felt I deserved my afternoon nap.

Quite a while later, I woke up and got busy making the soup for Stan, read to the end of my latest book, and then went to sit out on the porch to enjoy the (by then) gorgeous weather.  The rest of my late afternoon and early evening were spent watching news channels.  Stan got home, we recapped our days, and now it's time to call it a day...except I'll watch TV a little more!

All About Stan

For the past five weeks, it's been all about me.  The food had to suit me, the temperature had to suit me, the activities and visitors had to suit me.  Today, however, it was all about Stan because tomorrow is election day.  He has the alarm set for 3:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.  He'll leave at 4:30 and drive to a nearby school and at 5:00 all his helpers should have arrived and all the equipment should be ready to put in place.  The doors open at 6:00 a.m. and they are expecting quite a respectable turnout so he wants everything to be ship-shape and in good working order for the first voters of the morning.  He's already in bed at 7:30 (although I doubt he's asleep), so I've been cleaning up the kitchen and in a bit will retire to my couch to read for an hour or so.

Today, getting back to the topic of this blog, was my usual physical therapy day although not at my usual time.  You would think that wouldn't make a difference, but I think it did affect how I "performed" to some extent.  All my other appointments have been late morning so that breakfast is far behind me and I'm about as awake and energetic as I ever am.  Today my appointment was, for the first time, early afternoon which really threw me off my schedule.  I ate an early small lunch and by the time we were due to leave for PT (1:00), I was ready for my afternoon nap.  I felt really tired and somewhat sluggish so perhaps I didn't do as well as I might have.  I did fine, however, with my flexibility number 113 (it was 110 last time).  I had really hoped it would have been 115 but I'll get there.  As I had mentioned, today was "test" day and I had the fun experience of having my leg strength tested by a little machine.  My up and down strength was quite good, my outward press was okay, but my inward press was relatively puny so that's what we'll be working on in the next couple of sessions.  But I am making progress and today was a pretty intense session which I weathered without any complaints.  My therapist is getting much more physical, pushing down hard on my knee both when it's straight out and when I have bent it as much as I can.  Yes, it hurts, but it's what needs to happen to make my knee better. 

Once we got home, it was mid-afternoon, so Stan went upstairs to rest and I also tried (and failed) to snooze a bit.  I finally gave up and read until it was time to start cooking a very early dinner. I wanted Stan to have a comfort-food, nutritious dinner so I cooked a dinner that seemed to suit him.  We watched a bit of TV and the at 6:45, he went on upstairs which is where we started tonight's entry.  So, it will be a different kind of day for me tomorrow since I won't see Stan until 9:30 or 10:00 tomorrow night.  I have a list of little jobs that need doing--we'll see how far I get on the list!

Just Hanging Out

Super Tuesday is coming up in just a couple of days, so Stan was up, dressed, and ready to leave just as I got up this morning.  He's an election chief and had to go pick up all the paraphernalia needed for his precinct, so I had a particularly quiet morning.  Not to be too much of a couch potato, however, I also was showered and dressed by the time he returned, so after unloading his cart of "goodies," and after looking over everything once to make sure it was all in order, we left to go out for a small shopping expedition.  We really didn't need much, but it was a lovely sunny day and it felt nice to get out and go pick up a few things that were terribly necessary--some chocolates and toothpaste mostly!  They go together, don't they?

On the way home we decided to stop at one of our favorite semi-fast food places, Noodles and Company, for lunch.  After a yummy hot bowl of Thai Chicken Soup, I was more than happy to come home and spend the next couple of hours putting things away, doing a bit of laundry, and generally piddling.  And yes, there's always a nap these days, so we both took a nap and then reality intruded in the shape of doing my exercises.  As far as exercises go, I'm not doing much for the extension side of my knee since it's been at 0 for some time now and I have no problem keeping my leg perfectly straight.  I'm really pushing and stretching, however, to get my knee to bend more, then even more. Just looking at my "bend," Stan says it looks comparable to my other knee which is 120+ so I'm really hoping that tomorrow's measurement will show improvement.  My therapist did warn me that tomorrow would be "report card" day and that she would be testing me in various ways--extension and flexion, knee strength, over all leg strength, etc. and would then send the results to my surgeon.  Although I don't take any pain medicine except aspirin and the occasional ibuprofen when we go out, I still take Percocet right before PT so that I'll be able to do everything my therapist requires of me.  I will be very glad when I can ditch the rest of it, however, because it continues to make me vaguely nauseous.  It's a necessary evil, I suppose, at least for PT.

That's really all the news from today about my leg, but life went on normally and pleasantly.  Stan really wanted a pizza for dinner, so we ordered out, watched TV, Skyped with older son and grandchildren, and generally relaxed and chatted away the remainder of the evening.  It's a busy couple of days coming up, especially for Stan, so time to call it a night!