Good news about the knee! I went to see the Orthopaedic Surgeon yesterday, and since my knee seems to be doing well with my current regimen, physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory cream, that will be my last scheduled appointment. I do have arthritis in my knee, but he assesses it as at the initial stages, so that surgery is not needed, particularly since I am able to keep the pain under control. He was funny, though he didn’t mean to be. He thought I would be disappointed that surgery wasn’t needed at this time. I guess a lot of the patients that he sees want a quick fix, so he assumes that is how I felt as well. I explained to him that I felt it was good news, that I could keep going without needing surgery. Temporarily, the knee issue is done and dusted.
I will need surgery down the road. He told me that the condition will flare up from time to time, and each time it does it will recover to a lower state than the last flare up, until finally I will need surgery. I am hoping that is many, many years down the road!
When I consider how very painful it was back in January and February, and that my case is not very advanced, my heart goes out to those who suffer pain from an advanced case of arthritis, or any other painful chronic condition.
While I was waiting in the very large waiting room, I noticed a couple leaving. From out of nowhere, I suffered a short sharp pang, missing Attila. It took me by surprise, as I don’t like to spend time thinking about how much I miss him. Luckily my name was called shortly after that, and day flowed easily around the incident.
It was amusing to watch myself prepare for that appointment yesterday. What bothered me about it? The parking! The parking garage, the one that Tank would not fit into, was something I was not looking forward to using. I don’t like parking garages, they are stark and lonely places. The biggest obstacle though, was the payment system. I can NEVER reach those darn machines, just out of reach outside the driver side window. I almost always have to unbuckle, open the door, and lean out of the vehicle to reach those horrid machines, then quickly bring myself back into a driving position and slam the door of the vehicle shut, as the barrier briefly rises to let me through. Two vehicles, that were ahead of me in the long line to exit the parking garage, had serious issues with the machine, requiring an attendant to come out and sort through the problems. Luckily I made it through without needing assistance. That parking garage exit exercise was the worst part of the visit to the clinic.
My visit to the parking garage confirmed that indeed, Tank would not have fit into the space between the floor and the roof on any level of the garage. It would have been madness to try it!
I am now left with no obligations to keep me at the little house in the city. Attila is working on projects this weekend and in the evenings for another week, so that my return to the country house during that time period would interfere with his progress. He also emphasized to me that the snow has not fully retreated; winter is lingering there. I am loath to return to an empty house, to sit in the bush by myself, staring at the snow. I will not be heading north for at least another week!
Diesel has spring fever! I am finding him in odd places. This morning he was sitting on top of the refrigerator. Yesterday he was attempting to chase birds despite the window glass between him and the birds outside. Yet, when I open a window for him, that offers a perch, he avoids it. He is the quintessential “‘fraidy cat”! During the night last night, he frequently touched noses with me, slept nose to nose with me most of the night, and even wanted to lick my face. His whiskers tickle. I wasn’t receptive to the licking! I was glad he was there.
Our personal finance books are almost balanced! This is quite a feat for us, considering the new used vehicle last fall, and the very expensive dental work for Attila early this year. In a few weeks we will break even, universe willing, and begin to put ourselves back together again.
We have a sunny day here today, coolish, but not nippy. Neighbours are out all up and down our street, washing their cars, raking their lawns, tearing up gardens and shrubs. The neighbours pets are out all up and down the street, cats prowling, dogs barking, birds singing in the trees. After being shut in all winter, all of these sights and sounds are welcome!
Worldly Distractions
Weather
Little House in the City
-1°C
Date: 5:00 AM EDT Thursday 16 April 2015
Condition: Not observed
Pressure: 103.0 kPa
Tendency: falling
Temperature: -1.0°C
Dewpoint: -1.7°C
Humidity: 95%
Wind: NE 6 km/h
Wind Chill: -3
Country House
3°C
Muskoka Airport
Date: 5:00 AM EDT Thursday 16 April 2015
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 102.9 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 2.9°C
Dewpoint: -7.8°C
Humidity: 45%
Wind: ESE 9 km/h
Quote
“Assumptions are the termites of relationships.”
Henry Winkler
1945
Great news about the knee!
Thanks Wendy! It is a great relief, now all I have to do is keep on walking daily, and doing my knee exercises! I am hoping to get a lot of mileage out of that.
Glad to hear the knee doesn’t need surgery. May it not need it for a long time!
Thanks Joan! I’ll be on a “conserve the knee” campaign from here on in!
By the time I went to the doc for my knee, and had an MRI on it, the diagnosis was “end stage osteoarthritis” and he suggested surgery then. I declined. And that knee is not my main problem any more but rather my spine, hips and sciatica. I could deal with the knee problem but the rest are harder to take. Good luck with your plan!
Bex, I can see why the “spine, hips and sciatica” are a much larger issue than the knee!! How very painful! I have end stage arthritis in my coccyx, sitting is something I don’t do gracefully. But if I keep moving it is OK. Lucky me that the coccyx is not vital to mobility!
Wow, you are a trooper if you could hold off until end stage arthritis in your knee before seeing a doctor!!! My hat is off to you!
I guess you know all the tricks of the trade when it comes to dealing with arthritis!
Glad to hear your good news about your knee! It does seem to parallel what I’ve been going through, though I never went to the doctor for it. Having had knee sprains before, I just figured it was a worse version of the sprain and so treated it with prolonged carefulness and slowly increasing walking – which is basically what you’ve been doing.
While I don’t have a particular problem with parking garages, I can most definitely commiserate with you over the problems with those stupid machines for paying the garages! After many years, I finally learned to swing my car in until it almost looks like I’m going to take my mirror off, and only then can I reach the machine. But I still don’t get close enough about a quarter of the time. *roll eyes*
Thank goodness it’s coming down to the time when you’ll be back with Attila again. I hope things are looking good for selling the country house and you’ll be able to move forward with new plans soon.
Sweet Diesel! Except for Attila being a better match for you ;), I think he’d really need to stay with you. Too bad that he doesn’t travel well.
Yay! for finances almost straightened out! It can take so much time and sacrifice to make that happen. Good for you for getting things balanced again so quickly! It’s not an easy thing, to make up for adding in a car.
Hi Maggie,
Good news on the knee and the ‘not needed right now’ surgery.
I do not like parking garages either. Especially the leveled ones. They give me the creeps-especially in CA.
Winter is hanging on in the country. Maybe it will have disappeared by the time you arrive.
Diesel has spring fever…that is cute. I remember those days!
That must be a good feeling to have the personal finances almost balanced out. Cheers.
Your neighborhood sounds like a welcomed, busy painting.
x0x0x0x0x
Teri, it seems a lot of people have knee issues.
I was just talking to a neighbour this morning who has trouble with both knees, though you wouldn’t know it to watch him working on his yard.
I am glad I went to the Orthopaedic Clinic, it gives me a baseline for future trouble. For now, like you, I will just get through the rough spots and baby myself back into mobility with temporary pain medication, until that stops working.
I am going to miss Diesel! However, I think I miss Attila a lot more. I talked to Terra, and she has agreed to let Diesel stay with me again when I come down to stay at the little house in the city during the six to eight weeks of black fly and mosquito season. I may have to go back briefly if there is action on the house sale, fingers crossed, but Diesel will be good for a few days without me, and Terra could visit him if I am away for a few days. He is such a sweet tempered individual!
Thanks re the finances, I know you know how challenging it is to reestablish financial balance after major life changes.
Nora, I am feeling very lucky about the knee!
I don’t like any parking garages, and I particularly dislike them in large cities. The one I had to visit this past week was in a small city, not quite as scary. I haven’t been to CA, but I can imagine that a parking garage there would be an intense experience!
One year Attila and I stayed at a residence in downtown Toronto and had to park in the parking garage. I was very glad I didn’t have to handle that on my own! The homeless people living in the garage were very discrete, so I don’t think they would have been a danger. After all, one incident might get them all sent out on the street to look for other shelter. The scary part was that anyone could enter that parking garage, and if there was no one else around, might get aggressive. At least with two of us we stood a chance to ward off an aggressor.
Our neighbourhood is very nice indeed! Our new young neighbours though, will not say hello, or even look at me when I am outside. If I say hello to them, or smile at them, they either don’t answer, or look down and mumble. I am not sure what is going on with them, maybe they are deaf or something like that. Who knows! Everyone else smiles and says hello, which is very pleasant!
Before my second hip replacement, I had unbearable pain in my knee. UNBEARABLE. I announced to the doctor that I needed a knee replacement. He smiled and said, “We work from the top down.” He replaced my hip and my knee never gave me a whit of trouble again. It takes me the song *the hip bone’s connected to the knee bone, the knee bone’s connected to the ankle bone…” *smiles* Sciatica is dreadful but all joint issues have vanished – Medicare in the US has been remarkable for me and excellent medical care I’ve sought and received and been fully covered.
Given all that – I’m so glad you can avoid the scalpel. Surgery is dreadful. I didn’t like it one tiny bit.
Health issues! Bah!
Reenie, your doctor sounds like a well balanced individual. The orthopaedic surgeon only does one thing, surgery. He isn’t really interested in what happens to the parts he is going to fix, before they are bad enough to get fixed. He didn’t even ask me about other issues related to mobility. Specialists don’t usually think outside their little box, which is where most of us fall.
Well Reenie, now you have me wondering! I have an old back injury that has been getting worse over the last few years, I wonder if that is contributing to my knee acting up. I guess I’d better get busy and do those exercises provided to me when my back was injured. I didn’t keep up with them after I got my mobility back. It may not help, but it certainly won’t hurt to work on my back issues!
“Health issues! Bah!” Amen!!! 🙂
Maggie:
As soon as my hips were replaced, all my other skeletal issues vanished – and I’ve had some doozies. DOOZIES! To include herniated disks – horrible pain.
For years my habit has been to take two Advil every morning as a preemptive strike to arthritic pain. For some reason I stopped last fall and experienced no pain or stiffness at all this cold, cold winter. I was pleasantly surprised. I’m thinking that maybe the Pirfenidone (IPF med) might be responsible? I don’t check into these things anymore because I’ll never see a doctor again. I just consider it an unexpected bonus.
How unfortunate that my limbs loosened just as my lungs started to harden. 🙁 Health issues, Gah!
Do those exercises! xo
Reenie, isn’t it interesting how one unaddressed issue can have a domino effect on everything!
Very glad to hear your pain and stiffness are ceasing and desisting, that is a considerable bonus! It is wonderful that you can tolerate Advil (ibuprofen), just in case you need it. I used to be able to tolerate it, but no more.
I like my daily walk! The media is constantly pushing for more, walk further, lose more weight, do more exercise, fast, fast, fast, fast. I used to fall for that line, but the result was always that I lost my initiative to do anything at all. These days I figure some is better than none, so I do what I enjoy, and am happy with that. The thing is, because I do the short daily walk, there are times when I want to push, like a day of shopping, and because my basic fitness is there, I can do it!
I assume spring has arrived in full regalia where you live, I hope you are enjoying there on your mountain! Hugs