Update On The Bionic Woman
Today marks three months since my knee replacement operation. It has been a long and interesting road.
Starting with being on the operating table, and after having been given a spinal and a good feeling Twilight drug, seeing men and women in space suits hovering around the table talking about, things I did not understand. Later hearing sawing and saying to anyone that would listen, “Are they sawing my bone or the prosthetic” then nothing, I guess they gave me more of the” Twilight” stuff. Then I noticed that all was quiet and waved my left hand behind me and said “Is anyone there” Someone said “They are finishing up now” I then said “Are they sewing me or using stables", then nothing again. I guess they did not want a chatter box asking questions, when there was serious work to attend to.
Next thing I knew was in the recovery room very cold and shaking. The nurse was saying “Don’t worry everything is OK, we will wrap you in a blanket to warm you up” then she said “The doctor ordered more pain killer” I did not know I was in pain, apparently I had been complaining earlier.
Then I was in my room very comfortable in a slight codeine fog, with my family smiling and telling me that I was very brave. The three days in the hospital is a distant memory.......to bad really, as I was in a very nice private room with a view. I do however remember that I was up on my feet the day after the operation for just a moment and the two physical therapists saying “She is going to faint, her lips are white”. Then the blood transfusion.
I have told all about the Physical Rehabilitation Center and Nurse Crachet in another post, so I shall not go into that here, if you care to refresh your memory click here.
Now the fun starts I am back home and got sick, you read more about that, if you are curious, by clicking here.
Once I started at Star Physical Therapy, progress came in leaps and bounds. Good days and bad days but thankfully mostly good ones. I can walk without a cane inside and outside, except for the times I go into a store or, where there are a lot of people apt to walk into me and knock me down....I am very afraid of falling......I have been told by those, who are in the know, that this is normal. There are fewer times when I walk like someone out of the movie “The Night of the Living Dead”. I try to walk as a normal person would, bend my knees as I walk and have my arms comfortably swing at my side. That is quite a challenge, I can tell you.
This is my last week of physical therapy, next a personal trainer.....my upper-body has been woefully neglected, I intend to remedy that.
One of my neighbors walks with me everyday during the week, she is very patient with me and leaves it up to me how far we walk and our walks are getting longer each day.
I go to lunch with friends, attend our neighborhood book club meetings....that are really eating and drinking parties, and just today I went to my knitting club meeting......and yes, we do knit, along with eating good and fattening treats.
My only challenge at this time is getting into and out of chairs that either have no arms or are low. I have the getting down just about licked however, the getting up still entails much thinking and or help.
I have been without pain pills for three weeks now.....that does not mean the pain is completely gone just that it is bearable and intermittent.
If you ask me whether I would do this all again, the answer is a resounding yes, as there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I will be Dancing in Denmark in July :) and wearing sandals with kitten heals as soon as I find them.
Starting with being on the operating table, and after having been given a spinal and a good feeling Twilight drug, seeing men and women in space suits hovering around the table talking about, things I did not understand. Later hearing sawing and saying to anyone that would listen, “Are they sawing my bone or the prosthetic” then nothing, I guess they gave me more of the” Twilight” stuff. Then I noticed that all was quiet and waved my left hand behind me and said “Is anyone there” Someone said “They are finishing up now” I then said “Are they sewing me or using stables", then nothing again. I guess they did not want a chatter box asking questions, when there was serious work to attend to.
Next thing I knew was in the recovery room very cold and shaking. The nurse was saying “Don’t worry everything is OK, we will wrap you in a blanket to warm you up” then she said “The doctor ordered more pain killer” I did not know I was in pain, apparently I had been complaining earlier.
Then I was in my room very comfortable in a slight codeine fog, with my family smiling and telling me that I was very brave. The three days in the hospital is a distant memory.......to bad really, as I was in a very nice private room with a view. I do however remember that I was up on my feet the day after the operation for just a moment and the two physical therapists saying “She is going to faint, her lips are white”. Then the blood transfusion.
I have told all about the Physical Rehabilitation Center and Nurse Crachet in another post, so I shall not go into that here, if you care to refresh your memory click here.
Now the fun starts I am back home and got sick, you read more about that, if you are curious, by clicking here.
Once I started at Star Physical Therapy, progress came in leaps and bounds. Good days and bad days but thankfully mostly good ones. I can walk without a cane inside and outside, except for the times I go into a store or, where there are a lot of people apt to walk into me and knock me down....I am very afraid of falling......I have been told by those, who are in the know, that this is normal. There are fewer times when I walk like someone out of the movie “The Night of the Living Dead”. I try to walk as a normal person would, bend my knees as I walk and have my arms comfortably swing at my side. That is quite a challenge, I can tell you.
This is my last week of physical therapy, next a personal trainer.....my upper-body has been woefully neglected, I intend to remedy that.
One of my neighbors walks with me everyday during the week, she is very patient with me and leaves it up to me how far we walk and our walks are getting longer each day.
I go to lunch with friends, attend our neighborhood book club meetings....that are really eating and drinking parties, and just today I went to my knitting club meeting......and yes, we do knit, along with eating good and fattening treats.
My only challenge at this time is getting into and out of chairs that either have no arms or are low. I have the getting down just about licked however, the getting up still entails much thinking and or help.
I have been without pain pills for three weeks now.....that does not mean the pain is completely gone just that it is bearable and intermittent.
If you ask me whether I would do this all again, the answer is a resounding yes, as there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I will be Dancing in Denmark in July :) and wearing sandals with kitten heals as soon as I find them.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
How Do Others See Us?
In MizBohemia’s latest post, she honored five of her blog friends, by showing paintings by her favorite artist Farschian and how the chosen painting describes each of the blog friends, that she honored in her post.
This got me thinking about, whether we ever see ourselves the way others see us. About me she said complex, colorful, complete, lovely, am I all that? I wonder and wish at the same time, that it is so. Complex.......my life has been complex, but am I? Colorful......there are times when I find myself exceedingly dull and gray......what does she see, that I don’t? Am I complete?.....sometimes I feel as incomplete, as I was when I was at eight years old. Lovely?...... I hope that I am and that I will always be. Being lovely, is to me, being kind in words and deed.
Do we as bloggers reveal this much about ourselves in our writing? Do people we meet on an everyday basis see us the same way? Would we be described the same way by the people that are important to us, a Lover, Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, our Children and our Friends?
Thank you my dear MizBohemia for including me in your post.
This got me thinking about, whether we ever see ourselves the way others see us. About me she said complex, colorful, complete, lovely, am I all that? I wonder and wish at the same time, that it is so. Complex.......my life has been complex, but am I? Colorful......there are times when I find myself exceedingly dull and gray......what does she see, that I don’t? Am I complete?.....sometimes I feel as incomplete, as I was when I was at eight years old. Lovely?...... I hope that I am and that I will always be. Being lovely, is to me, being kind in words and deed.
Do we as bloggers reveal this much about ourselves in our writing? Do people we meet on an everyday basis see us the same way? Would we be described the same way by the people that are important to us, a Lover, Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, our Children and our Friends?
Thank you my dear MizBohemia for including me in your post.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Bunnies and Basket
Happy Easter and Happy Passover to my friends who celebrate these holidays.
I needle felted this Rabbit, just in time for Easter
This fellow was made for a friend as a Thank You Gift
This was my Easter display last year. I made the bunnies for a class that I took through joggles
the teacher was Amy Rawson and the bunnies are her design
I needle felted this Rabbit, just in time for Easter
This fellow was made for a friend as a Thank You Gift
This was my Easter display last year. I made the bunnies for a class that I took through jogglesthe teacher was Amy Rawson and the bunnies are her design
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Every Sunday
Every Sunday, my 92 year old Father, my 83 year old Mother, my husband and I dress up and have Sunday Dinner together.
As I sit here writing this I am wearing a good dress....what some would call a party dress, the good jewelry.....by that I mean not the silver jewelry I buy at TJ Max and wear most other days. I have on my going to a party makeup, eye makeup and bright lipstick and not the every day Bobby Brown lipstick.
Every other Sunday my parents entertain and the other Sunday Ken and I entertain. There are times we go to a restaurant, where the only dressed up women are teenage girls, 20 somethings and my Mother and I. Why is that? You may wonder. I have mulled this over myself and here is the theory I have come up with.
My Mother is European and at her age, dressing up, is natural to her. She works in the house or in her garden in the earlier part of the day and then has a bath and dresses up for the evening.
My Father grew up in an age when men were expected to wear a collar and a tie everyday and at every event. He still wears a white shirt and a tie every day. He has felt uncomfortable the few times he has tried to dress with the times.
I am their Daughter and I grew up being expected to be dressed for Dinner and every Sunday.
Ken dresses up because he has become used to my family after 35 years of marriage. He did not grow up this way, he grew up the way most Americans I know do, wearing casual clothes on the weekend except if and when they go to Church.
I have often been in a Mall and wondered to myself “Where do people wear these lovely clothes that they are buying?” I know that many people wear them at their jobs. Where else do they wear them, besides the occasional wedding or a girls night out?
Teenage girls and 20 somethings tend to follow the current versrion of the runway and movie star fashion.
It may have come to your attention that I am, the new 43 :) I grew up in the 50's and 60's when everyone found a time to dress up and were expected to be dressed up for certain activities. I grew up when wearing gloves and a hat when going to the City and to Church was expected. When, if you did not follow that rule you were looked at as someone who did not know what was the right thing to do. Sometimes in some places with some people, I feel like a relic of the past and I think to myself “Why did I bother?” Then I think “I like to dress up and feel very much the girly girl when I do.”
As I sit here writing this I am wearing a good dress....what some would call a party dress, the good jewelry.....by that I mean not the silver jewelry I buy at TJ Max and wear most other days. I have on my going to a party makeup, eye makeup and bright lipstick and not the every day Bobby Brown lipstick.
Every other Sunday my parents entertain and the other Sunday Ken and I entertain. There are times we go to a restaurant, where the only dressed up women are teenage girls, 20 somethings and my Mother and I. Why is that? You may wonder. I have mulled this over myself and here is the theory I have come up with.
My Mother is European and at her age, dressing up, is natural to her. She works in the house or in her garden in the earlier part of the day and then has a bath and dresses up for the evening.
My Father grew up in an age when men were expected to wear a collar and a tie everyday and at every event. He still wears a white shirt and a tie every day. He has felt uncomfortable the few times he has tried to dress with the times.
I am their Daughter and I grew up being expected to be dressed for Dinner and every Sunday.
Ken dresses up because he has become used to my family after 35 years of marriage. He did not grow up this way, he grew up the way most Americans I know do, wearing casual clothes on the weekend except if and when they go to Church.
I have often been in a Mall and wondered to myself “Where do people wear these lovely clothes that they are buying?” I know that many people wear them at their jobs. Where else do they wear them, besides the occasional wedding or a girls night out?
Teenage girls and 20 somethings tend to follow the current versrion of the runway and movie star fashion.
It may have come to your attention that I am, the new 43 :) I grew up in the 50's and 60's when everyone found a time to dress up and were expected to be dressed up for certain activities. I grew up when wearing gloves and a hat when going to the City and to Church was expected. When, if you did not follow that rule you were looked at as someone who did not know what was the right thing to do. Sometimes in some places with some people, I feel like a relic of the past and I think to myself “Why did I bother?” Then I think “I like to dress up and feel very much the girly girl when I do.”
