I will attempt to teach a class tonight. I bet I hurt tomorrow but it is a PT day so I’ll hurt one way or another. I’m into stepping up and down curbs. Maybe next week it will be stair steps.

Tomorrow, I will teach a small earring class.  I have a Newton Community Class on Wed.  If those don’t tax me too much, I will resume my more normal schedule next week.  Another two hours to go on “lambo” tonight.   ARGH!!!

Each week I can bend my knee more but it is still a slow go. I will be hobbling up and down stairs for many months. Two feet per step. Slow but doable. The Physical Therapy is painful and at times I wonder if it is more harmful than helpful but one must do it. I will have the perpetual motion machine (“Lambo”) for one more week. I am now able to set the high bend at around 84 degrees. I am still on the thing 6 hours a day. I will wear my ice packs out before this is all done. I am still taking pain meds at night; not so much for actual pain as for stiffness. The leg stiffens up at night and in the rain and it is more painful to move and hard to bend. I will wear the lovely knee-high anti-embolism socks for many more weeks. I can spend multiple hours upright in a chair w/footstool. I can now walk the two blocks to Mass Ave. I survived going to Costco yesterday using the cart as a walker. It was terrifying! Too many vicious competitive shoppers in the veggie/fruit area during the lunch-time sampling stampeeds. I have procured the cutest little folding plastic footstool to use when I’m out and about. Elevating the leg keeps the pain from a forced bend.

I drove the car this morning and there was no issue. I’m thankful it was a left knee replacement. I am going to my polymer clay guild meeting tomorrow afternoon and will teach a couple of small classes this coming week. I have a lot less pain than before the surgery. I just don’t have great mobility yet. When I’m using “Lambo” on the bed, I now have a single cat patrole instead of the minimum of 2 last week. There have been cat games in the last two evenings. They are comfortable enough to allow “chase”. They are no longer sniffing my knee each time the jump up on the bed. The girls still are trying to nap in lambo – I’ll never understand the appeal of faux-fleece.

Meanwhile, Rj has decided that he will finally let me do as much as I want….well up to a point. He trusts me on the stairs and to get in and out of the car, some light food chopping and maybe emptying the dishwasher. And he will go out for a bike ride or walk and leave me here alone for a couple of hours. I’m still pretty useless. I also have no appetite. I eat 3 tablespoons of anything and I am full. This is both good and bad. I am about 20 pounds lighter than pre-surgery. I would really like another 20 pounds off but I won’t be greedy yet. I assume I’ll be hungrier as I move around more. In the meanwhile, as long as I feel like I have enough energy to do what I need to do, I am not going to knock it. I keep wondering if it becomes easier to shed the pounds if the pain is gone. I keep wondering if there is a chemical connection of some kind. Meanwhile, since I can’t eat alot, I’ve been trying to maximize what I do eat by eating the good stuff. Meat, fruit, veggies, nuts, berries. Given all the warnings about blood clots, etc. I’ve been loathe to have much of the stuff I really crave: whipped cream, brie, cheesecake. All for the greater good.

Tangential things – Mrs. Robin has been quiet for two days. I see her but there has been little noise. I still do not have my regular phone number restored to the new t-mobile service. Rj is still thrilled with the coming together of the cell and wifi calls. I still have not loaded my number directory, etc. We do know that t-mobile hired a project manager to deal with the sunrocket transfers. Apparently there are about 500 of us. It could take another 15 days. There have been some offers from other VoIPs in my email and I’ve had a couple of solicitations from verizon, etc. so someone has the phone lists. We still had sunrocket service until this morning. This evening I get no dial tone. Ongoing saga.

Knee Update. Surgery was 3 weeks ago today.  I have been trying to be a good patient for the last few days.  What does that mean?  Well from 6-8am I am on the perpetual motion machine (alias “Lambo”).  From 8am-8:30 I’m on ice.  After 8:30 I exercise.  Hello Virginia I can now raise the left leg straight up off the bed 5 times in a row!  From 9am-11am I keep a low profile.  If we are going for an outing this is the best time.  I come back and repeat the above starting at about 1pm and then again around 6PM.  I am to the point where I can sleep or read on Lambo.  I am spending some time each day doing small walks (up to 500 steps).  Mostly I am trying not to be a royal witch or an imperial twitch.  I am always awake from 3-3:30am until I get on Lambo at 6am.  I stretch and do isometrics and try to zone out.  I think there is major progress.

It is clear that there is a club of us old ladies with the scar. (Should I say cute, adorable, gorgeous old ladies?….oh well….) All I’ve met so far have been left kneed.  They all rush up to me for a chat.  My outing today was to Tag’s hardware store to buy a fold-able plastic stool to take with me when I must sit in a straight chair or something w/o a leg rest.  Today’s club member works at the store and says she is on her feet 9 hours a day (1 year later).  She had her first surgery at Mt. Auburn where they put the wrong size knee in and it had to be redone at Baptist.  In spite of the setback, she had to give me the club knee-shake.  One lifts the knee off the floor and swings it backward and forward twice very quickly.  Then the protocol is to coo over the scar.  Badge of courage for sure.  What a club.

Almost time for another date with Lambo and I believe sling-box will give me a baseball game tonight.  I hate being such a twitch!

Momma Robin is quiet this morning.  Probably sleeping in.  There were at least 3 major scrambles in the tree last night. Squawking, chirping, wings aflap.  I can’t imagine who was bothering her.  I don’t think we have any snakes out back.  After coffee, a small walk, 2+ hours in the “lambo”, I’m ready to sleep in too.

Still haven’t figure out if there is more than one baby bird in the nest.   Slow day in the neighborhood.  Gotta just keep keeping on.  Small progress on the bends but progress none the less.  Scar healing well above and below the bend.  At the bend it is sensitive, sore and way from healed.

Meanwhile, since I was on the perpetual motion machine about half the day, I did happen to see Momma Robin and at least one little mouth.  Will have to stay tuned to see if there is more than one.  Our tiny backyard is a good place for a robin to hunt.  Nice juicy worms are readily available.  I have worked every year to preserve and grow my worm population.  The flower beds now have perfect loose, black soil and can spare a worm or two.

So to celebrate my birthday….. I decided to start my year out CLEAN. Sometimes a shower is pure heaven. I wanted to go up to Barnes and Nobel’s in Burlington for some magazines and minor reading material. I know I have been house bound way too long. The store looked beautiful to me. Color everywhere. In a Homer Simpson way – everything was “shine-y”! I was angling for a trip up the escalator but RJ guided me into the elevator. Coming out, I spied what I’d been waiting for. A ten year old boy! He saw the crutches, for maybe a tenth of a second he glanced at the scar, then was totally distracted by a Harry Potter display. Disappointment. When will this scar get its due? I managed to navigate to the far corners of both levels, checked out and headed home. We needed veggies and fruit so back into the car for a trip to Costco and my favorite quickie lunch: Pizza. I sat in the car while RJ shopped. When we got home, the knee looked positively angry. I think it was still feeling slighted by that 10 year old. More Ice and a nap.

The finale of my birthday will be a root beer float. A tradition I much prefer over cake. Given my appetite or lack thereof, I’ll be lucky to scarf down a quarter cup of the concoction. But that will not diminish my pleasure. All in all, a lovely birthday.

No outings today.  Maybe tomorrow.  Mrs. Robin is quiet.  No squirrels in sight.  No girl cats on back patios.

Last night in the middle of the night, I was thrilled to finally be able to lift my bionic leg about 4 inches off the bed. For me, that is the absolute hardest move. The PTs give you a big bunch of exercises. Many of them are standard isotonics. Everyone would be thrilled if I could twitch my knee about 1,000 times per day. So there are isotonics, there are stretches, there are wiggles, there are bounces, and on and on. The only thing that is really hard to do is bending the knee further each day and lifting. After surgery, the lower leg feels like dead weight. Gradually the neural pathways start to operate and it becomes easier to move around. I’m thrilled with the progress. Some of the PT Natzi’s would say it just isn’t enough. I worry. My nice, lovely therapist is on vacation this week. I’m wondering and worrying about her replacement.

Tomorrow’s big activity will be the removal of the staples. I have the tool kit to do it. A home health nurse will take them out and cover the scar with steri-strips. There are 27 regular and 2 registry staples. They are very even about 3/8 inch apart. She is going to have a fight on her hands if she thinks she’s leaving with those cute little tools! I’m sure they will be of some use in one of my little activities.