Christmas and Carrie

SEC Champs

I would hardly classify myself as a gung ho football fan. I'll sit still for an LSU game and most of the Saints games. My husband gorges all weekend on all the games played and so do a few female friends of mine. The husband is in Arkansas on a job and I'm home alone.

This afternoon around 1430 I crept upon the sofa and settled in to watch LSU play Georgia for the SEC Championship game. It was touted as an easy win for LSU and the husband assured me there was nothing to worry about on this one. The first half of the game the Tigers made NOT ONE down. I had to listen to the announcers repeat this over and over and watch as the Bulldogs put 10 points on the board.

I looked around for my car keys. It was time to go shopping. 

The second half of the game started and from there it was all game for the Tigers. The Bulldogs didn't make another point while the Tigers fired up the scoreboard for a total that ended the game in the high 40's while the Bulldogs had their 10 points from the first half of the game. LSU collected their trophy along with the title and the party was on. The best part of this was that I spent the last half of the game with the neighbors and their usual group of friends where the wine, beer and snacks were plentiful.

The pot of Gumbo I had left simmering on the stove was ready for the chicken and sausage to be added. Right now I'm waiting for it to reach the finish line so I can store it in the freezer for the daughter and then go to bed.  While I'm waiting, I may as well watch the Big 12 play their championship game. The Oregon Ducks and UCLA are playing and the fourth quarter has the Ducks at 49 and UCLA at 24. It's obvious who will be picking up that trophy.

I'm full now..of football. I've had enough. I only allow a few hours for it and that time has been spent.

I'm trolling the channels for some mindless entertainment before I call it a day and head for the bedroom. I'm done.

High Tech Nightmares

"Are you there?"  A pause, and a deep breath and "Can you hear me now?" and the conversation signaled it was dead when I heard that digital beep and the screen on the iPhone switched  back to the menu.

The top drawer of the dresser in the master bedroom houses an impressive collection of "old cell phones" that have went to the bone yard for various reasons. They are now kept as spares to be used in the event that the ones we are carrying now get lost or are stolen. Both these events happen often with cells.

The husband is in Eldorado, Arkansas. My cell phone blasts a disaster siren, the ring tone assigned to him, and I slide the screen selector to the "on" position only to hear a sputtering of sliced and diced words. I speak into the phone telling him I can't understand a word he is saying and then touch the "end call" on the screen and pocket the phone. This is not the first call attempted from his location there so there was no point in waiting around on the phone for it to clear up. We are back to communicating via email. Technology...don't ya love it?

Yesterday while shopping, I was approached by a salesman for Direct TV. Do I really want to go "satellite" on my television reception? Do I need 214 channels? After listening to his spiel for about 30 minutes, I told him I would get back to him.

I came home and made some phone calls to family and friends about Direct TV. One person is still waiting on customer service to come to her home to find the problem with her reception. It's been weeks since she had TV reception. Another says "I can call cable TV and they are quick to address the problem; I wouldn't have Direct TV even if it was free!"

 I looked at flat screen TVs and admired the 46 inch Vizio that was reduced to less then 500.00 and was tempted. Maybe they have improved the life span on these flat screens? I came home and typed into Google "complaints on Vizio TVs" and the horror stories flung themselves against my screen.  Just for fun, I typed in "complaints on Sony LED"s" and "complaints on Samsung LEDs" and on and on with different manufacturers. Try it sometime and especially right before you go to buy an "upgrade" to that old trustworthy CRT  set you have been watching for the past 15 years.

I still carry a cell phone wherever I go and hope I don't enter a dead zone when it's crucial that I need to use it. I'm staying away from Direct TV and flat screens for now. Gone is the hope that those flat screens have improved since the 1500.00 one I purchased that lasted 3  years before it was kicked to the curb. I'm not ready to try another one until someone can assure me that they have improved.

I'm off to go Christmas shopping for non tech items. I'm back to stuffing stockings with toothpaste, brushes and gift cards for gasoline.

Merry XMass? and I'm done.

2 yrs, 9 months TKR Update

It's been a while since I've posted any information regarding my knee, the bionic one. March 2009 I was admitted into the hospital for a total knee replacement. http://ftell001.blogspot.com/2009/03/430-am.html#links

The weeks and months following that replacement sent me spiraling through a list of emotions ranging from anxiety pre surgery to relief at having it done post surgery then impatient to get moving again to falling into depression and anger and finally back to being grateful that I had it done but that didn't come about until almost a year post op.

Today I talked to a woman that was 9 days post op. She was anxious about where she should be in her recovery. I knew exactly how she feels. "Slow down, you're doing fine."

I think she felt there was some goal point she should be at by now. I hope our little talk today will carry her through the next three months; at that time she may need another reality check. The best weapon you can have when you enter into this surgery is patience. The hardest thing to acquire is that patience. As the days drag on and you're living with this leg that is weak, scarred and sore, you want the healing to hit a pace that you can recognize as progress. Unfortunately progress is so minute it's barely noticeable until one day you walk without pain, the swelling in the knee has decreased so much that the knee no longer looks like a part that belongs to someone else and you can stride along for long periods of time and the leg doesn't feel fatigued. This won't happen for months and months. Did I mention patience? Initially I would project myself ahead one month and how I would be pain free and moving about freely. My mistake was the time frame being so short. I should have started with a projection of three months minimum. Lessons learned.

There will be days when you worry that others are ahead in their healing and you are lagging. It's different for all of us. Their aches and pains may be different from yours. Your flexion and extension will define your knee. I had trouble with extension. I couldn't get the leg to fully extend so I went from hanging telephone books across it while sitting with the foot propped on the coffee table to sitting on the floor with a pillow across the knee and a 10 lb metal weight resting atop that pillow. I learned very quickly early on to take the medicines prescribed for pain and especially right before I plopped that 10 lb weight on my knee. I would make it through my rehab and then go to bed for a long nap. I slept a lot. I attribute this to the magical meds I swallowed every four hours.

Today I have about 120 to 130 degree flexion on my knee with full extension. Gone is the slight limp. My surgeon was correct when he told me to ease up on all the worrying I was doing. He said "in time  and with walking, your leg will eventually get full extension".

I'm not sure exactly when this happened but it did and it was a gradual progression. My surgeon says "your knee is 'functional' meaning I don't have full flexion but I can climb steps, ladders and do most things I could do pre surgery. It is not recommended that I run, or ski and impact sports and activities should be avoided. I'm ok with that.

I ride a bike to keep the knee limber and the leg muscles strong. I've been lax in doing that lately; I plan on getting back to it and get a schedule for riding with the next wave of warmer weather here.

That's my "almost three years" update. I'm still smoke free which happened on the day of my total knee replacement. Almost three years now and I don't crave a cigarette. I'm totally amazed that something I did for so long and was so addicted to is now just a memory. I like to tell people the reason I quit my RN career was my sense of smell is so sensitive now, the odors of a hospital were intolerable.

If you are planning on a TKR or are in the process of recovery, you have my empathy. You will recover. It won't be in a matter of days or a couple of months. Set aside a year to be done with the weird muscle cramps, the nights when there seems to be no position to put it in to sleep and the feelings that you are a prisoner to this surgery. There will be many days when you question your decision to have this done. It's "all normal". Just knowing that other TKRs had the same fears, doubts and emotions was the most helpful thing to getting me through it.

Here's to your decision to have it done and to many years of pain free walking that are in your future.