I finished 2 months of Boot Camp with Jeremy and Sarah at Tall Trainer. YAY! That rocked. Lost 11lb and got strong for surgery.
Had my knee replaced on December 2. I stayed in the hospital for only 7 days (exactly). At least once a day, an attendant (nurse, aid, therapist) remarked at how young I was to be having TKR. I assured them, there was no mistake. I was very physically strong, which helped ease my recovery. I was in decent pain for the first 7-8 weeks, during which time I was on narcotics. They weren't super-helpful, but that was what I had. I did physical therapy at FFTH three times a week for the first 2 months, then twice a week for the 3rd month, then I stopped with formal PT. Those folks were really good to me, made me cry only once, and gave me good goals to strive for. I have continued the conditioning and working out daily here - with walking workouts, elliptical, stationary bike, and rowing machine. I became fond of NCIS... too fond probably, because now it is my favorite show to the exclusion of other helpful things like cleaning & chores! I came back to work one day a week at... day 15 I think. Twice a week by mid-January, then full time by the week of Valentines Day. It was a WONDERFUL day when I was doing steps at PT, and realized the sound-effects and the pain WEREN'T THERE!! No crunching. No horrible bone-on-bone agony. I think besides the pain, one of the most extraordinary things I discovered was, how TIRED I was, and how my brain wasn't up to speed. I realize now it's a factor of how tired I was/am. The more good rest I get, the better that ol' brain works. I was reduced to one-thing-at-a-time, which isn't always practical in this life. But I like it and I strive for it even now that I am improving. I actually was concerned enough to have a brain scan (turns out I am fine). I realize though how important REST is, down-time, simplifying, not carrying stress around with you.
I am starting back to Boot Camp tomorrow, May 2, and am very excited! I am striving to consistently get more sleep, and I do know how to eat properly. When I was sore after surgery, early January when they had to do some intense scar-tissue breaking-down at therapy, I actually forced myself to over-eat, because that was the only thing that brought me comfort. The flavor and the satiation was the only good thing I had that day. That did let loose my eating restraint. It will be great to work out, to know my knee is improving, to be accountable to someone I don't want to disappoint. Funny how knowing Sarah is going to know what I ate, is more incentive to eat right than ME knowing I shouldn't eat something! As of this morning I am up 5lb from the morning of surgery. Someday I will feel comfortable with giving out numbers, but not right now. It's not even that I don't have confidence that I will be successful. Just not really ready for that now. Someday when I feel victorious, I will.
Bertha passed away last weekend, Saturday, April 23 at 7:15AM. She hadn't been right for about one day. I don't actually know what happened to cause her to lose her life, but she just drifted off and I found her when she was nearly passed. We zipped off to the hospital so I could put her to sleep, but she had passed on the trip in. I cannot thank her enough for being the one in control of her passing. That was a difficult decision for me to make for Chilli last fall, and those kittens... they are like kids to me. I don't want to be the one, even though... that is usually the way of it.
I adopted a new cat in January; Harry's daughter Cleo. She is a Pipsqueak, so most of the time I call her Pippy. She is a live wire. She LOVES her Daddy, and he her. She's not quite tame yet...she's a bit catch-me-not. But she likes me and we're working on the taming thing.
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