you've got to be kidding me now...

that's the low tonight and tomorrow... are you kidding... and I'm going to go and find a jacket to wear in the house as soon as I post this... are you kidding me... I mean really...

I'm tired and I just woke up....

39.... ???????

Wow...that's some global warming for ya!!! We will be down to 48 a couple nights.

we will be down to 35 for the next couple of nights... so much for spring around here....

and of course the heat is back on .... choices of a summer cold is not an option....not the one....


Emily... are you ok... keep up posted... always caring...

Sunshine....have you physically moved in yet or are you moving slowly.... and hope they have you connected to internet upon first day of the move...that's where tablets come in handy...

Takn... I'm still stuck on the April Fools post and concerned about Thing 1 and Thing 2....I know it was a prank but still....


there's piece in the valley...just cold as always... overcast is over the top... when I went to Columbus... all I saw was sun and cool temps... came back here to Hellsville and overcast... no signs of the sun... the further South you  go in Ohio... the more sun...  I say that as I take another Vitamin D tablet....damn!

Oh!  Good Morning!(http://www.aesopsretreat.com/forum/Smileys/classic/hattip.gif)

I'm ok thanks luv.  It's been 80 degrees here this week.  My son just went back to Las Vegas and he was hoping to escape the heat when he was here but our part of Oregon heated up unusually for this time of the year.

Hubby just drove into town with our dog to get some stuff that he can't get here locally.  Before he went he forbade me to go upstairs while he was gone and here I am................upstairs!   I had to make some international calls which I can't do from my laptop or tablet.  I have my desktop computer set up with Google phone and it only costs pennies to call the UK.  I will have to get down before he comes back.  I am doing fine and we went to the market yesterday and I walked all around getting a full basket of stuff that hubby couldn't find when he went.  I showed him where to look so he would know but he can see that it won't be too long now before I am off and out and he won't have to do marketing anymore, which he detests.  He said it is like sending me to the auto parts store............nothing there interests me and I also wouldn't know where to find anything.

It's just over 4 weeks since this knee replacement surgery and now I know why some people have two done at the same time.  It's because if you have one done, you will never go back a second time.  I hope I never have to and I am doing fine but night times are the worst because the knee seems to heat up and tingle after about an hour and I am awake by 1 am.  I bought some Advil PM while I was out yesterday and it helped last night even though I was aware of the stiffening and tingling, I still got back to sleep.

My further sessions of Pain and Torture therapy just got authorized by my medical insurance (Bummer!) so I will continue on for another 4 weeks and then I hope they will sign me off.  I hope by 8 weeks I will be able to forget this ever happened and only have the scar to remind me.

I have one load of boxes left but I am too pooped to finish today so Monday I will finished. And...it leaks in the family room and MB....sheesh...gonna be a fun summer. Found posison ivy growing in the bushes...and 3 inch bug. So right off the bat I will be waiting for a handyman.

Emily.... let him do everything for you at this time... and I agree with him... don't go back up those stairs...he can bring you what you need and that's why we have those phones that you put into the electric outlet now that allows you to call from  any room now...the station is attached to your computer... I have 4 stations attached to my computer so I can have a phone in every room... seriously....

there's nothing like getting a phone call when you're outside and run and try to get it upstairs... by the time you get up those stairs they've hung up... and a good reason for caller ID...

So continue to give us progress cause you never know when it may happen to one of us... like me... my knees have been bad for years and back also... I'm just a walking body of pain these days...

Sun... sorry to hear that but I know it will go fast and you're be in the place you will be once it's built... and how much fun that will be... I'm hoping that the place is smaller cause you really don't need anything large at this point in life... I'm thinking... downsizing is the way to go... and no stairs is the best of all... unless you plan on an elevator and some folks do that... I may if... crossing that bridge after I get Memphis in order...

Luv...one level house with basement. Finished level is 2100 sq feet and yard is super small but still a separate house....and they cut the grass!!!!

One level, smaller house and no yard work sounds like heaven right now.  When I think about moving and all the stuff we have to get rid of I get a mental block.  The worst offender is Hubby's workshop (or Man Cave).  It's like Ace Hardware and Napa Auto Parts combined.

Luv I did fine with the stairs and didn't get caught.  I do have a landline phone in each room and my mobile but I don't have international calling on them.  As I have so much family in the UK I make a lot of calls and I have a great plan through Google on my desktop computer upstairs and it doesn't break the bank.

just got threw talking to the agent about the house I wanted and the one that had me on hold... they won't bent on the price and I can't either... so I'm back to the drawing board... but full speed ahead... I called my second choice and expect a call if they return it on Monday... it's hard to do this online... they have another 3rd choice but it's just too big and I don't want that... I'm trying to keep it smaller so I can control the heating cost...

kinda disappointed but hey... that means no major renovation...whew! that was the stressor... getting everything all together... for each house I have to considered renovation factors for each before I call... so I can price it correctly... and I tell you the picking is slim... there is one that's really small and nice location but the neighbor look like yard apes.. so really on a back back burner....

and after it's all said in done... I'm betting I won't be in Memphis at all... but close...

Houses are more expensive the closer to  town you get.

I had knee surgery three years ago next month...Things are fine now...but it took the better part of 4 months before I could sleep in a bed... Every time I stretched out in bed the knee would ache so bad that I would have to get up.

Acgtually I had to sleep in the Lazy Boy most of the time. And I had an endless supply of Oxicontin (Thanks to the *VA Hosp where I had the surgery)...and they kept me there for 8 days after the operation for therapy, I could walk up and down stairs before they released me.

Really strange, one day it just quit hurting.. and I stopped the Oxicontin a few days later.  And I have had no problems since then.

Whatever you do, make certain you do your exercises.  We were in Tarpon Springs Florida this past winter and I met a guy who had a cane and a scar on his knee.. I talked to him, he said he still had to use the cane because a week after he had surgery they started a driving trip for six weeks across the states... and he didn't do his exercise... and the knee still was not working right... and he had to use the cane or a walker. And I believe he told me that he had the surgery about 18 months prior.

I'd guess he was in his early 60's..

It may seem like it would be okay not to do the exercises right after the operation...but vitally necessary.   Do I do them now almost 2 years later... Not with any regular schedule...just when I find time.

Goo luck to you.

*My local VA Hospital is great and will not release anyone until they are ready.

Kensan thanks for the info and I found it interesting.  It will be 5 weeks post surgery next Tuesday and I am told I am doing well, but I am not too good at being inactive as I have always been a busy bee doing gardening and keeping a pretty large house in order.  I have to be patient and I know how important it is to do the exercises even though it hurts.  I stopped taking the hydrocodone regularly and supplemented with ibuprofen but now and again I have to pop the narcotic if the pain erupts, especially after my pain and torture sessions, known as PT.  Night time in bed is the worst and after about an hours sleep I wake up with the ache and stiffness and the knee feels really hot.  I ditched the walker the second week and the cane the third as I can walk around easily and I really have to remember, now I can go up and down the stairs, to put the good one up and the bad one down.  I went down the patio steps this morning and forgot to put my bad leg down first and went down with my good leg and landed with a bump on my bad leg which strained the muscles at the back of my knee, making the exercises so painful, like the heel slides.  I am sure it will go away but it taught me a lesson.

I am looking forward to being able to walk the dog again and go for hikes as we like to use our RV and go to the coast.  I am hoping that by 8-10 weeks from surgery I will be almost back to normal but that's kind of optimistic from what I hear.

I'm glad to hear that your knee replacement is a success. 

First of all, Good luck!  I would suggest that for awhile that you go down the steps backwards... It will put less pressure on the knee. just hang onto the railing and back down.  I believe you'll find it easier to get down the steps. Don't back UP.. it would be just the opposite.

I know exactly what you mean about torture of the therapy... The VA would encourage us to take our pills about an hour or less before we went down for our torture session...aka...therapy.  And we had to do that twice per day. It would have been a relief to ignore my schedule for the therapy..I am happy now that I did stick to the schedule.

I've never been a fan of anything for pain other than the Alieve or Hydrocodine/Oxy contain.   I can't take the Alieve (Naproxen) because of a heart problem...it screws up the blood counts of being too thick or too thin...at times it is definitely a bitch to get old.. But when we consider the alternative...I guess it is acceptable. 

Anything else other than Naproxen or even Tramadol doesn't seem to help me a whole lot.  Forget ibuprofen unless I take about six of them...there is no difference in the pain level... So I would trade the knee pain for a stomach ache.

Stay active and try to be busy... it helps to ignore the knee and go on about your life. One day believe it or not, you'll forget the knee and all will be well...Oh, don't be alarmed if the knee makes a bit of noise like bones cracking...it is normal.

Good luck!  Ken

hey Ken... thanks for input...

my knees crack all the time now... both of them... I do stretches before I get up every time I do sleep...

and growing old takes it toll on all of us...

I just took my daily dose of ibuprofen and it's a pill these days...

Thanks so much Ken that was so encouraging.  It's still early days for me yet and I felt yesterday that I had a big setback and I really felt the discomfort last night.  It's a new day and I'm going to take the hydrocodone and forget about trying to do without it.  It will help me through the PT sessions.  This too shall pass!

Yes, keep saying that...this too shall pass.
 
If you give in to the pain and give up, your new knee will not set correctly and will cause more problems in the future.  It's a process, no matter how eager we are to get our lives back to "normal"...you have to learn there is a new normal.
 
As Thing 2 always tells me...
 
YOU GOT THIS !!!
 
(http://www.aesopsretreat.com/forum/Smileys/classic/grin.gif)

Tell yourself pain is in your head and your knee is fine. :-) Works for me when my shoulder was so bad...now I can do anything I want again.