Got up and about today, it was nice to get out of the bedroom and actually outside. Hit Super China for lunch and managed some veggie chow fan and a bit of General Tso's chicken with some jello for dessert. Almost pushed it too far, so it was straight home and back into bed for a 4 hour nap. Finished the one Kay Scarpetta book I have thru ILL and now am out on the couch watching one of the races I've had on the DVR for a while.

Been sleeping a lot and not getting as much done on my designs for my shop as I'd planned, but I've also been a bit loopy from my pain meds. I'm only taking one at a time during the day and then I pop two before bed and that is really helping me to sleep thru the night without much pain.

I've got the ace wraps off and bandaids over the stitches. The wraps bunched up and got painful. I'll have hubby re-do them when he gets back from his errands later.

Been doing the exercises, the legs lifts are the ones that hurt the most. The heel slides are good and I am getting more flex in my knee each time I do them. But it really nice to not have that really sharp stabbing pain in my knee anymore. Right now it is a dull ache and that is heaven compared to before LOL.

I do need to get the 'scope pics scanned in, it is really fascinating to see what the inside of my knee looked like and what the tear looked like. I esp like the after picture where all the tissue is nice and smooth.

Knee before:



After:



Before surgery:



After:



Finally mobile:

Surgery went fine, was on the table just after 7:30 am yesterday and getting the good drugs. I opted for the spinal block and the seriously good drugs since general would have required a breathing tube. I don't
remember much of the procedure, so the drugs were REALLY good.

I was supposed to be home yesterday by noon, but Dr J decided to be extra cautious and had me stay over night. The hubby was right, our hospital IS the best 5 star hotel I've ever been in LOL. Managed to survive the night.

It took a while for the spinal block to wear off, had to use a walker to get the to the bathroom and tho I could feel my feet, my bum was still totally numb and that did make things interesting :P

A gal from physical surgery came by and checked me out on a walker, and the later in the afternoon, she brought crutches and I made a couple turns around the floor. Did really well and the Doc says I can put weight on the leg, as much as I can comfortable do so, so the gal brought a new pair to bring home. A walker would not be maneuverable in our house.

Managed to get a bit of sleep last night, but was awake abut 4am. Call buttons were going off from several other rooms.

Hubby had brought me my laptop yesterday afternoon, but forgot the power cord, so I had to be content with my palm and some of the games that he'd he put on. Watching the TV there really made me appreciate our sat dish an the DVR as I couldn't zip commercials and I could only
run the changer in one direction.

So I am now home, had a nap and am now finishing this post. Kitty cats are really happy I am home, now I just need to keep them off my knee while it is propped up.

20 after 5am and we'll be heading over to Gritman in a few minutes. Have to be there at 6 for check in and I should be home and in my own bed by noon.

Managed a couple hours of sleep, finally. The house isn't as in shape as I'd planned, but it is more then 50% better then it was. The kitchen is ready for hubby and the laundry is all caught up, so I am not going to worry about it.

So, I'll talk at everyone later, not sure how soon I'll get back on the 'puter today, will probably spend most of the day sleeping once I get home.

Just finished the 3rd episode of Dr Horrible.

You are a dead man!!!!

Love,
Jean C

Saw the surgeon today and filled out paperwork and went over stuff. Looks like my total down time will probably be just a week and then I can go back the week after, depending on how I feel. I'll probably take the 2nd week day by day.

Looks like he'll just be trimming out the torn tissue and leaving the rest, as long as things aren't worse then they appear in the MRI. He says the last time the radiologist called the problem when looking at the scans, they were dead on with the interpretation, so I am feeling good about this.

I've decided I will go with general anesthesia as while it might be cool to watch, I can get rather anxious when it is something happening on me. Not to mention, I don't want to be awake if someone goes "OOPS!" while they are working on my knee. I probably would lose it at that point LOL.

They will be giving me copies of the digital pics, so that will be cool.

I've got a sheet for exercises for after surgery and instructions on how to keep my knee elevated and iced. So it looks like I will be using my laptop since the position I need to be in is more prone and using my Linux box might not work. So we'll see how it goes. I'll have hubby load my font disc on the laptop so I will have those for working on my designs for my shop.

So now I just need to go to my pre-op appointment at the hospital on Friday and finish getting the house in order and the groceries sorted out. It appears I am the first surgery scheduled on Monday, so they will want me in very early (6am, UGH!!!), but then that means I can be in and out and home quickly.

Tried posting this yesterday, but Bravenet refused to load

Tho the Lout didn't come over, he did come down. Hubby hadn't been feeling well and told the Lout so and we expected him to do something else. So after a puttering about Friday and a fairly decent sleep in on Saturday, we hear the answering machine and the Lout leaving a message. I caught sorry I missed you, University Best Western and something about front desk. So we bailed out of bed and stumbled to the machine.

Hubby plays it back and seems the Lout had come down sometime on Friday, checked into the hotel and then called us Saturday morning. Hubby calls the hotel and sure enough, the Lout is still registered, so hubby has them put him thru to the room and ends up leaving a message. So we wait.

Finally have to putter out since we need stencils for the boat numbers (oh yeah, on Friday we got the tags for the boat and the trailer so it is now legal) and run by the hotel. The Lout had checked out and left, not sure if he got the phone message. The front desk part of the message was the Lout had left hubby a couple boxes of Shreddies he'd brought down with him.

Apparently the Lout does stuff like this, just show up to say hi and then leaves again. Just a "I've got to get out of the house" thing, tho hubby says this is the longest trip he's done it on.

So no Lout, oh well, someday he will actually make it out to our house. He'd been down several years ago with the Mythical Chung, but never made it out to our place. Another story. We did enjoy a couple bowls of Shreddies, one box was vanilla and the other was honey flavored. Very yummy, wish we could get them here.

So Saturday we worked on painting the numbers on the boat and working on the utility trailer. We recycled the plywood off the porch. Not the sturdiest in the world, but will do for now. Still need new bolts to attach everything and I need to cut one more piece for the tailgate and then it will be ready for use.

Sunday we had a nice sleep in and I made eggs benedict with pancetta and potato patties:



Very yummy and VERY filling.

We finish a bit of puttering, popped into TriState to pick up a couple items and then finally took the boat out to Spring Valley for our first shakedown cruise.

Hubby had no problems backing it on to the boat launch:



And we were soon under way:



Checked out the west end of the reservoir:



And hubby caught a fish, tho we didn't really want to keep it. What is with these greedy fish they have to insist on swallowing the hooks:



The views were wonderful:





We headed back to the deep spot and anchored and I tossed in a line with a bobber:



It was nice to sit and veg and stare at the bobber when I wasn't snapping pics, I've a whole slew of moon and sun and cloud pics I still need to finish processing.

Finally got too chilled to stay out and we loaded up the boat on the trailer. That is going to take a LOT more practice. It was well after 9pm when we headed home, so as soon as we got home I ran in and ordered pizza from Pizza P and hubby got the boat unhitched. Backing it in the the drive is going to take a lot more practice, luckily the boat and trailer are light enough hubby could back it in by hand.

Had a quick shower and then curled up in the bedroom with pizza and TV and finished relaxing, tho I didn't sleep terribly well. It was too late to take a sleep aid, so I just tossed and turned all night. This morning came way too early.

in da Bowt!!!

more later

Nice and sunny, not too hot, tho it is supposed to get pretty windy today. Hope it stays this way for a while (not the wind part, the nice and sunny and not too hot part).

Got my letter from the surgeon's office with official notice of my pre-op appointments and surgery date, along with some instructions. No blood thinners for 3 day previous (not a problem, I don't take any) and no anti-inflammatories for 7 days (again, not a problem since I haven't been taking any either). Have to see if I can get the doc to prescribe some pain meds before hand as the ones I've been taking have stopped working and I would like to get a decent nights sleep without waking up wanting to scream in the middle of the night.

Still dreading all the down time I will have to take afterwards, it is going to drive me crazy. I will be the first to admit to being the world's laziest person, since I prefer to curl up and read a good book or go play then have to work or clean house. But the thing is I can decide part way thru to get up and do things. Being forced to bed rest means I don't have a choice and can't decide to get up and that is what is going to drive me nuts (okay, yes, it will be a short drive LOL). At least I can work on my shop and I will take home some books and I have plenty at home. I'm planning on serious FLYing between now and the surgery date so things will be ready for hubby to take over the household chores and cooking.

Our house guests headed home on Tuesday, so the house seems very empty. We may have another this weekend if hubby's best friend from Canada, The Lout, comes down tomorrow. He may stay in a hotel however. We'll find out later today if he is coming down or not. Haven't seen The Lout in a while so a visit will be nice.

Getting very ancy to get the boat out, but still have to get the tags and fix the switch on the trolling motor. I will be so nice to be able to tool around Spring Valley fishing and taking more pictures.

Need to organize the freezers and figure out what all I have left in there. Fixed chicken with boxed Alfredo noodle stuff last night. I thawed the boneless skinless thighs and cut them in half and tossed them in the frying pan with a bit of olive oil, minced garlic and some Italian seasoning I mixed up. Let it cook for a while and then added some Trader Joe's white balsamic vinegar and let everything simmer. Very yummy. Had plenty for leftovers so I am going to have a very good lunch today.

Still need to figure out how to cut up that huge chunk of catfish fillets so I can do something with them. I may have to thaw the whole thing and then see about making a bunch of dishes I can then freeze again. Have to see what I can come up with.

I have my knee surgery on July 21st. So the rest of July is pretty much a bust and not sure how much of August will be also.

But at least I am finally getting it done, esp since the pain meds I've been taking don't seem to work anymore...WAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

So I get my pre-op appointments next week, plus I also have my quarterly blood draw and check in with my regular doctor, so next week is doctor week.

So next week will also be get the house and everything ship shape so I don't have to worry about it while I am laid up after the surgery. Need to plan meals so hubby can pull them out and pop them in the oven or at least have stuff on hand so he can whip something together.