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Home > Knee improves, passport arrives!

Knee improves, passport arrives!

October 16th, 2021 at 04:38 pm

Knee Surgery Recovery Continues

I'm happy to report I am starting to make real progress in recovering from knee surgery.  I had 2 visits so far with the physical therapist, and I noticed a significant improvement after the very first session!

He did some massage and a lot of pressing down on my knee (I can't straighten out the leg completely), and while it was kind of painful, it seems to have jump-started something and I left there feeling much more flexible in the leg. And since then, I've been able to walk upstairs normally (I still do one step at a time going down as that's a bit too much of a stretch).  I am also walking more normally, though I still have a ways to go yet.

Someone from my Buy Nothing group gave me a stationery bike, and while it's an oldie, it does what I need it to do: let me cycle, starting with little to no resistance. However, she couldn't bring it up my outdoor stairs herself, and since I couldn't help her, she put it in my garage for me, so that's where I go now to use it. Luckily, this fall has been very warm and comfortable, so it's actually nice to go out there and do it, but when it turns cooler tomorrow, I'll just bundle up more.

I have just 4 more PT sessions left and I hope it's enough. There's still quite a bit of swelling in and around the knee and I have been icing, but without a proper gel pack, which I ordered on Amazon and which should be arriving tomorrow.

Garden & Yard Work

You'll be happy to know I was able to fling the deer bones with a shovel last week into the woods and off my lawn.  And since the weather has been divine for the past few weeks, I have also been doing a bit of yard work, slowly and not much. 

I did move a Dark Knight Bluebeard which I spent a fair amount of money on last spring to a better, sunnier location. It was completely shaded out by my amsonia. I don't think it liked being moved as it shed a lot of leaves, but I've been watering it and I got the whole root ball so it SHOULD survive into next year. It's a great pollinator plant.

Yesterday I also was able to dig up a Japanese iris (they tend to spread) and gave it away on Buy Nothing; I also completely fenced in (plastic fencing) a lot of new growth on an old rhododendron that the deer chew to bits in winter; I'm determined not to let that happen this winter, so it's pretty much like a box made out of fencing that's tied together along the seams with string so they can't push their head through.

I'll wait til December to initiate Phase 2 of my plan to rejuvenate this old rhodie, decimated by the deer and some kind of gall disease. I'll be doing a hard pruning of its long branches, which will make it look better, stimulate even more new growth and make it easier to weed under it. There will also then be more room to plant perennials. Smile

Worst come to worst and it dies, I will continue using the roughly 8 foot diameter circle it occupies in my lanw for more pollinator perennials. It's a good sunny spot.

After I fenced in the new growth on the rhodie yesterday, I began attacking the mile a minute vine that took over my entire back wild area, and then some, mid-summer. By the time I noticed it I couldn't do much because of my knee, even though the time to pull it out is before it gets its berries. I ripped a fracton of it out, but many more blue berries fell on the ground than I was able to collect, ensuring this awful invasive remains for years to come. Very sad. My only consolation is that maybe it will smother and kill other invasives it's growing on top of, but I need to clear a path to my beautiful red maple in back because I see the mile a minute vine has begun climbing its branches, and I won't allow it to be killed.

I could only work a few hours because, strangely, my leg felt fairly fatigued. I guess it shouldn't be too hard for me to understand that after a year and a half of hobbling around, favoring that leg in an effort to AVOID surgery, that the leg would have become weaker from disuse. Even though I steadily continued my indoor workouts throughout this time. Now I need to start building it back up again.

Stocking Up for Next Year

I've been busy harvesting seeds from my various mostly potted plants this year, which include mainly coreopsis, lantana, nasturtium, cosmos, calla lily, marigold and ragged robin. I am well stocked now for next spring. Not sure I'll have any space to plant stuff like the cosmos, but I have continued giving away a lot of seed.

I'm still waiting for all the bills for my surgery. So far I've paid just the anesthesiologist one, which frankly, was quite small in comparison to what I thought it would be: $312.

Flu Shots and Lunch Out

Today I got my flu shot. Next week I'll focus on getting dad his flu shot. We had a lovely lunch at one of our favorite country taverns, which was a nice drive with the foliage changing color. This was my dessert, a "triple chocolate mousse."

You never know where a conversation with my father wil take you. We discovered we both admired Vespa scooters, and before I knew it, dad was offering to buy himself or me one. Um, dad, you can't drive one.

Passport Arrives After 3-Month Wait!

I am very excited to have finally received my new passport in yesterday's mail. It had been so long since I applied for it (last July) that I had no idea what it was when I got the "official government business" envelope. I see a lot has changed in the design since my old one. Like, my old one's cover was kind of like a royal blue color; this one is a dark navy blue. I don't have specific travel plans, but I figure if I'm going to go anywhere, it likely will be in the next 10 years.

They have yet to return my original birth certificate, which they indicated would come in a separate mailing. Sure hope they don't lose it!

Making My Christmas List

My cousin, the one who was here during my surgery, announced he has decided to order me my Christmas present now, in case, there's a delay, and I can choose to open it upon receipt or wait. And that it was something he thought I "really needed," and that he would order it from William Sonoma.

Honestly, I think he likes to tease me with "hints." I have no idea what it is I so badly need, but he tends to be very good at picking out presents an he always buys the best. This is good, but a little initimidating when it comes to me choosing a gift for him. I'm always afraid that he's not going to like it. In the past, he's told me what he likes, but it's not much of a surprise that way.

I want to start my Christmas shopping EARLY to avoid delivery issues.

2 Responses to “Knee improves, passport arrives!”

  1. Dido Says:
    1634600617

    I'm glad to hear you are seeing progress on your knee. I hope you feel sufficiently recovered by the time your insurance-provided PT runs out, but if you need more, you can pay out of pocket. There is a practice near me that does this for $60 a session including "remote rehab." Let me know if you are interested after your insurance-covered PT runs out and I'll send you the info.

  2. rob62521 Says:
    1635103798

    Glad you got your passport! I had read that they were behind.

    Good news on the knee progress!

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