Things Are Looking Up

 Too much terrible news out of our nation's capitol. Too many days of dull sameness trying to rehab. Too many uncomfortable digestive system issues. Too many nights of poor sleep. I was feeling down, down, down.

Today I had a 1:00 therapy session with one of my two PT therapists. I was not looking forward to dragging myself there again.

Cathy was the first PT therapist I saw almost 15 years ago when I started dealing with physical problems, then with my back. She looked at my knee and said I needed to get that fixed. But it wasn't hurting me and there were other parts that needed attention first. 

We didn't get along well, I think becasue she was frustrated that I wasn't easy to fix, and I switched to Erica later. Both of them have seem me through two spinal fusions and two hip replacements. Cathy came to realize my complexities. I'm no easy fix.

Today I saw Cathy. She studied my charts and reports. She praised me for my progress and acknowledged my hard work and determination.  She introduced me to two new exercises that she decided I was ready for, guided me through them and praised me when I got them right. She shared that most of her patients my age would have given up by now. I told her my mother didn't raise any quitters. We talked about graduating from the walker to treking poles, and agreed that I should practice in the house before trying them outside in a week or two. My stability is still not great, but I have a goal. 

Then on the way home we stopped at the neighborhood park where there are paved walkways. The sun was shining, and the deep chill was gone. It was my first walk outside and it made me feel so much better. I only did a quarter of a mile but it felt great. 

For now at least, I am restored. 

Some Days Are Diamonds

 Yesterday was a beautiful day, and a good day. 

I got enough sleep, made it through my shower without feeling faint, did some of my PT to loosen up, and made it on time to my twice a week physical therapy session at KP in Burien. My substitute PT therapist was pleased with my progress, my effort, and my attitude. 

When we pulled out of the parking lot, I said it was too nice to just go home. We turned right instead of left and drove over to Seahurst Park to just sit and enjoy the view. It was too cold and lacking the even paths I could walk on, but it sure was hard not to just get out of the car and go.

This is an arm of Puget Sound with the snow capped Olympic Mountains in the background. Directly behind that big driftwood log is the mountain called The Brothers. It is somewhat special to me because a couple of summers ago Jill climbed it with her brother Jake. 

It was good to get out and away for just a little bit.

Somedays are stone.

These are lyrics from a Joh Denver song, in case you are wondering. "Some days are diamond, some days are stone, sometimes the hard times won't leave me alone".

Today has been a bit rocky so far. But Jake is stopping by soon. I'm going to get out to get a haircut this afternoon, and tomorrow, Friday morning, I am hoping to make it out to breakfast.

The weather is changing. Clouds have covered the blue sky. There might be a bit of snow before we have a gradual warm up, which will bring rain. The weather forecast calls for showers and a few sun breaks. Normal February weather. Maybe by the time I am ready, there will be a chance to walk outside. A diamond day.

Happy Valentine's Day. Be loved. Spread love.

Love

 It's February, Heart Month. 

As we turn our attention, in however limited amounts, to the heartless actions coming from the Trump administration, we hurt for those who are being damaged and threatened by those actions. It's going to be a rough road for a long while to come, and whether we still have a democracy, a government of the people, a government that cares for people, here and around the world, is in doubt. 

What can we do? It's easy to feel helpless. We can pay attention, donate to causes, demonstrate, call or write to our representatives in Washington DC, and we can show love to one another. 

It's easy to hate right now, easy to blame, easy to be discouraged and grumpy. But if we work to show kindness, cheerfulness, love, we feel better too. 

Find a reason to laugh, to make someone else smile and laugh, be kind to yourself and others. As I recover from surgery I have to remind myself of this.

Recovery is coming along well enough. As I deal with little discomforts I have to remind myself of how far I have come in 18 days, a long ways. 

Tom bought me grocery store flowers and I arranged them for the kitchen table. He pulled out the February table topper and place mats. Beauty helps.

Anyway we can, we will find beauty and spread love.

Renewal and Recovery

 Here on the west side of the mountains, coastal Washington state, renewal doesn't have to wait for spring. I can see things blooming from my recovery recliner, and now that the latest snow has mostly melted, I sent Tom out to get a few photos. As you know, I've gotta' have photos for my posts.

Witch Hazel

Hellebores and snowdrops.

The weather forecast calls for a week of cold nights and sunny days. Sunshine in my windows. I'll take it!

My recovery is progressing. I still have frequent trips to Physical Therapy, where I get new exercises to make me hurt, but progress in my knee flexibility is good. I have to deal with nerve pain in my calf from back issues that can be more painful than my knee, and long term issues with my hip flexor on my surgical leg cause restrictions and pain also, so it's a battle, but I am a warrior. I saw my surgical PA on Friday, had x-rays and an evaluation, and everything looks good. 

None of this is much fun, but I work to keep my spirits up. I'll watch the Super Bowl tomorrow for something to do. The commercials might be entertaining. I've decided to root for the Eagles. We birds of prey need to stick together. 

Chickadees

 My friend Jan, of the breakfast group, sent me this most exquisite card featuring a chickadee done in the art form of Quilling.

Quilling is an ancient art form using tightly coiled narrow strips of paper glued and arranged into designs and images. This card was made by an artisan in Viet Nam.

Chickadees are a special favorite of mine. They flit and flutter to the bird feeder outside my window. Not gluttonous, they land on the feeder, take one sunflower chip, and fly back to the maple tree to eat it, and then return for another. I try to tell them that they should just hang out on the feeder like the finches, bush tits, sparrows, and pine siskins do, but they have their own way. I don't hear their "chickadee-dee-dee" call much in the winter but they are vociferous in spring and summer.

Of course I have a chickadee collection, a small one, on a wall in my kitchen.

There are few more around, as people know I like them and give them to me as gifts. Eventually we'll find a frame for this card and hang it up too. 

Half Way Through?

 It's Ground Hogs Day, the mid point of winter. Whatever critter sees or doesn't see his shadow, we still have six weeks to go, but that means we've already made it half way. 

It has been snowing here all morning, but since it has remained just above freezing, there isn't much accumulation. It it freezes tonight we will have ice. My teacher daughter is really hoping for a late start in the morning, but not a missed day. She doesn't want any more days added to the school year. :-)

My recovery is progressing slowly. Lots of time propped up in my recliner, elevating and icing, is bringing the excess swelling down. The pain is moderating, except when I have to do my PT three times a day. Tom is a wonderful care taker.

When Tom went out to the street to get the newspaper this morning I sent my phone with him to take some photos. 

Snow on the driveway.

Snow on Hellebore

on snow drops

on cotoneaster berries. 

Snow on the roof and the fir trees

Snow on Winter Jasmine

Not much snow on the streets

Snow on maple

on the garden deck

Hardy cyclamen really are hardy

Tulips pushing up. Now that it is colder again they will get slowed down. Six weeks to wait, at least. 

Primroses seem undaunted.

And so it is we will also persist, and be patient, and continue to grow, if only in spirit. 

Grounded

 Forget the rosy recovery picture I painted on my last post.

On Monday night I wrenched my knee trying to get out of my recliner during the night. Then on Tuesday we removed the catheter in my thigh that I wanted to get rid of that was delivering local anesthesia and was done. Well, the pain level was now greatly increased again. Be careful what you wish for. My leg started to swell up more again.

On Wednesday, today as I type, I got my first shower - Yay! - and then we had my first post surgery appointment with my PT therapist. "I have never seen such a swollen leg," she said.

Yep. I knew that was coming. So now I am restricted to my recliner with my feet way up in the air, being free only five minutes an hour. Here I sit and ice, ice, ice, and eat and read and sleep and TRY to type on my lap top. So many typos to correct! I have until this Friday afternoon to get the swelling down, when I return to PT.

I have way too much time to read the newspaper and there is plenty to read about Trump's latest atrocities and his crazy band of cabinet brothers.

I got pretty cranky and impatient with the setback, poor Tom, so I am trying harder to be patient and accepting. This to will pass.

Sunshine in My Windows Makes me Happy

Sorry, John Denver, but I borrowed a bit from you, with a slight change. I'm not walking around outside yet to have the sunshine on my shoulders, but I'm getting there.

We have had many days of sunny weather, so much so that we are beginning to say we need rain, and snow in our mountains. It is with the mountain snow pack that we get hydro power, drinking water, and agricultural irrigation.  And the skiers want fresh snow.

Looks like we might get rain and snow by the end of the week, just about when I would be ready for  a walk outside. My recovery is going well. The pain is much less. Later today we will remove the nerve block catheter that is in my thigh, then remove the soft dressing that is over my knee and most of my leg, and then with only the waterproof dressing, I can take a shower!

Tom is wearing down a bit, so I will try to be less helpless and do more. I need to anyway. I have never been that good at sitting around.

Moving on, and grateful for Tom and a fairly easy recovery so far. 

Recovering and Re-habing Are Hard

Hi. I had knee replacement surgery yesterday - Friday. The surgery was at 7:30 in the morning at Swedish Orthopedic Center in Seattle. I was moved from recovery at 11:00. I was home by 2:00.

Now I am trying to establish a routine of icing and elevating, walking and PT exercise, and resting. Because I have problems with anesthesia I had a spinal block and because I have similar trouble with opioids, I am trying not to use  oxycodone. I have a nerve block catheter in my leg and have to wear a little "purse" with a tube that delivers the solution to the catheter in my thigh. That will last for four or five days. All of this is supposed to be in conjunction with a pain regimen that relies on oxy though, and since so far I have only taken one oxy pill, I have pain when I move around. I think I can tough it out. At least my gut isn't cramping.

Probably more that you need to know.

This is only the second day so we have more hurdles to overcome, but Tom and I are a team and we'll get through it.

 

 

A New Venue and an New Government

 

On Sunday I chose a different venue for our walk. It's just a few miles for our house but we haven't been there for quite a while. I needed a change.

The sky was so blue and the air was crisp. The river was full and flowing. The walk was smooth and easy for our out and back 1.20 miles. 

Colors are subtle in the wintertime, but they are there in the leafless riverbank bushes. 

It was a contrast to my Monday morning. Monday is one of my "long program" physical therapy days. Then it's housekeeping and laundry time. I listened to the radio while I exercised. I recorded the inauguration events on NBC TV. Tom had MSNBC on live in the kitchen. Between the various media I got the coverage. I worked and exercised and struggled and seethed. Everything was making me angry. I think Tom was ducking for cover.

We sat and watched Donald Trump's speech. I took notes. 

Now all media is off. It's quiet. I am calming down. 

I have a lot to say. I probably won't say any of it. But how in hell did we do this again? 

Old Friends and Companions

We attended a memorial service today for an old friend that I first met about 42 years ago when I first went back to work part time when my kids were then in school full time, in about the 4th and 2nd grades.  Sue Horton was a third grade teacher and I was assigned to her classroom as an aide for a charming little boy with a learning disability. 

Sue and I bonded, and as I went on to other  positions in my continuing career as an educator, we reconnected various times in various places, and renewed our friendship in retirement years. 

Our connection was through school, but today I learned more about other aspects of her full life of almost 90 years, and I met her lovely and loving family of grandchildren and great grandchildren and nieces and nephews of several generations. It was a sweet farewell to a loving and well loved friend.

Of course there were others there that I had worked with over the years and over a generous luncheon  we had a good visit relating stories from the past.

Although these were my people Tom went with me. Over the years many of my people have become his people too, and vice versa. After we got home we changed into our walking clothes and went over to the neighborhood park for a walk.

The sky was hazy but clear. After our first light frost over night the air was crisp and calm.

Dogs and their people were visiting in the dog park. 

We greeted other walkers who were out enjoying the increasing daylight of a mid-January Saturday afternoon. 

I was enjoying the company of my companion, my dear husband of almost 56 years, who I have come to cherish even more as I am facing yet another surgery, knowing that as my caretaker he will once again be there to help me through another recovery.

As a few lawn daisies begin to emerge and brave the cold, so we will brave this next challenge, together. 

Popping Up

Sitting here in my recliner for what is supposed to be my down time, things keep popping up in my email. It's documents that I need to auto sign, and since we figured how to do that on some we got this morning, we can now breeze right through the process.

Yesterday we met with our financial advisors to catch up and agree to a few changes in our portfolio, hence the documents that needed signing. We are now assured that we can afford to get old. :-)

This morning we had our regular Zoom meet up, and then I spent the rest of the morning reminiscing through old blog posts in my archives. One of our garden members is compiling a list of places the club visited over the years, and I had posts from 2014 and 2015, but of course I got lost in memories of gardens and travels and beautiful photos. Oh my!

Things continue to pop up in our garden also, like the earliest Hellebore and snowdrops!

We got in our walk this afternoon, 1.22 miles today, not bad for an old woman wearing a knee brace and using a cane/walking stick, and scheduled for knee surgery next week. 

Gotta' keep moving.

And now it's time for me to pop up and start dinner. 

Mild January

 My new header picture was taken several years ago when we were having ice and snow in January. So far we have not even had a real frost in our garden. There's plenty of time for that though.

Saturday we were hosted for brunch by my cousin Kris and her partner Charlie in their home in Ballard. Charlie cooked, we all ate yummy French toast, and we all talked and talked.

Then we walked. We visited the nearby Ship Canal Locks and Garden. I may have mentioned that there is almost always something blooming here in our moderate climate, even in mid January.

Cousin Kris, Tom and I

The air was heady witht the scent of Sarcococca blooming near the entry gate.

Early Camellias

Edgeworthia just coming into bloom. It has a wonderful fragrance too, and blooms on bare branches. 

Roses and hardy fuchsias are persistant, at least until a hard freeze.

Hellebores are coming into bloom. 

The buds on Pieris japonica are ready.

This early Viburnum is also fragrant.

Silk tassel tree is not showy, but interesting. 

Now it's Sunday and I have been waiting for the sun to break through the clouds. Now it's noon, and still gray, but it's dry and time to get out for a wallk.

See you later.