I "KNEED" A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP

Holy cow!  The QUEEN OF SLEEP has not slept through the night in over 2 weeks and it is starting to get me down.  How am I supposed to recover if I can't sleep ?  Wait, I need to clarify that,  I should say, If I can't sleep AT NIGHT ?

I have no trouble at all with dozing off in the middle of the day and taking 42 cat naps here and there.  Put me in the recliner for more than 3 minutes and I am asleep. Put me in my bed and I become the walking dead, wandering the house from midnight till dawn.  During those dark hours of the night not even the recliner will give me the comfort and relaxation I seek. 

Speaking of the recliner,  I rented one of those LIFT recliners that electronically dumps you out of the chair or reclines into almost a bed.  It's great and has been a God send these past 2 weeks. We had gotten one for Ger when he was battling his cancer and found it to be a huge help.  The poor guy was so weak he couldn't get from a sitting to standing position without help.  Having had that experience with these type chairs I found that once I got home from the hospital I was in need of A LOT of help so 3 days later there was a rented lift recliner in my living room making my life SO much easier.  Not to mention the fun it is catapulting myself half way across the room. Nothing like a little extra help to get my butt moving.  This chair has been a savior during this recuperation period.  My wonderful "sleep number" bed has given me a lot of TLC also and the fact that I can raise and lower the foot end of the bed to elevate my leg to help reduce swelling is a huge plus!  But put me in that bed and I can not sleep more than 2 hours.  I can't figure out what the heck is going on.  I'm off all the pain meds because I really don't have any pain any more. THANK YOU GOD !!  But my knee is so stiff that it is causing me to walk with an awkward gait which is throwing my back into spasms so that when I do lie down my back is aching and my knee is throbbing and I am really getting pissed.  

Yesterday I FINALLY figured out that maybe I should be taking some good old TYLENOL PM when I go to bed, since I am taking Tylenol as my go to "pain" medication.  Who knew that Tylenol actually is a pain reliever and it WORKS?  I always thought Tylenol was just a joke when it came to relieving pain and would reach for the Advil or Aleve bottle before I would use Tylenol  I am totally changing my thinking on that! This stuff actually does relieve pain and last night it allowed me to sleep for a good 5 hours before waking at 5:00AM to wander the house in search of something to do until the sun came up.  Naturally I did fall asleep in the recliner at about 7:45 only to have to get up at 8:15 to get ready for the PT guy.  But hey, I did get some seriously needed sleep !

This knee replacement is not a walk in the park or even a walk in the dump. I really thought I would breeze through it and be running by now.  Silly me ! Actually I am doing fantastic,  no infection, staples are out and wound is looking beautiful.  Now maybe with a little sleep I will be ready to be put on the rack and stretch this knee out straight some time in the near future.  Like they always tell the sports players, WALK IT OUT ! 

HEAD, SHOULDER, KNEE AND TOES

I have joined the ranks of thousands, perhaps even millions, who have decided to go bionic. My old body parts are slowly wearing out and unlike being able to replace my brain I am able to replace my knees.  Knee #1 was removed 2 weeks ago today and I have been suffering through the last 2 weeks trying to convince myself this was worth it. As with most people I have spoken to who have gone this bionic route, I probably waited too long to do this. I was told 10 years ago that my knees were,
"Bone on Bone", meaning there was no,longer anything in there acting as a cushion. But I decided to try shots and PT and weight loss in order to avoide the inevitable. Actually I was waiting for modern science to perfect a painless knee replacement but since that wasn't happening I finally bit the bullet and went for the surgery. I have been poling people I would meet as to their experiences with knee replacement and everyone of them said, and I quote, " Oh, it's not bad at all !".  LIARS !!!!!!!!

Maybe it is just that I am twenty years older than when I was last in a hospital for surgery but this is NOT a walk in the park. In fact, it's not a walk anywhere. I am totally done with this hobbling around on a walker throwing my back into all sorts of spasms and feeling nauseous all the time thanks to the pain killers. And all I can think of is that I am going to do this again with my left knee?  Not if I can help It!

I must confess I did have an awesome hospital stay and my doctor is amazing and the first day after surgery I had NO PAIN what so ever.  Do you know they can give you a shot directly into a nerve to deaden the nerve for 24 hours? I swear to you I woke up in recovery with NO pain for the first day and night.  Of course once the 24 hours were passed my nerves all got together and had a pain fest like I couldn't believe.  They were all screaming I unison, " Hey there Cath! Remember us!"  Thank God for a fabulous team of nurses in St. Mary's hospital in West Palm Beach who were right on top of my pain meds and anti nausea meds and all the 27 other meds I was taking to get me through my 3 day stay.  Not that things were much better after arriving home but here too I have had a fantastic team of people literally "walking" me through these past 2 weeks.  Every day does get a little better, except when I am stupid, (stupid being my middle name) and over do the activity or miss a scheduled pain med. Tomorrow I get the three zillion staples taken out of the incision and I am hoping that will give me a little more range of motion, not having these metal spikes stuck in my leg.

It's been an adventure for sure.  I'd write more but I have to start taking the 27 morning pills that I ingest every day.  NO Joke. 27 Pills !!  Three are my normal morning meds, three are prescriptions from the surgeon and the rest are ALL vitamins of different sorts.  By the time I take all the pills I am too full to eat anything but most of the pills say, "TAKE WITH FOOD".  So I shove something into my face just to sop up all the pills in my stomach and then need a nap!

 It's been an interesting 2 weeks so far and I am wondering if I will ever be walking pain free, limp free, achey free again.  But then when I think about it I haven't been any of those for about 10 years so I guess I really am making progress.

I OWE YOU AN EXPLAINATION

Has it really been three months since I have shared my insanity with you ???
The only things I can figure is this:

A.  I live such a boring life I had absolutely nothing to write about.   
B.  I live such an exciting life that I have just not had a single moment to write to anyone.
C.  I am a huge lazy lump that just couldn't get myself to the computer to write.
D.  My computer died and I never got around to replacing it.
E.  I really don 't care about sharing anything in my life.
F.  I am too distracted by the fact that Dwayne is here for the winter.
G.  I died and this is my ghost writing this blog.

If you picked "F" on the list of reasons then you get an A, if you chose C and F then you get an A+.
I think you probably have all figured out that when I am "involved" in living a wonderful life with a lovely person I just don't take the time to blog.  Part of it is that I am really enjoying my time with this man and part of it is that I allow myself to be distracted from my personal time to do the things I enjoy by my self.  It was the same way when Husband was alive.  When we were active and having fun doing "stuff" I never took the time to blog or never had the need to blog. 

And blogging is a need that I have found I really enjoy.  I NEED to connect with all of you out there who enjoy my ramblings.  I NEED to share my thoughts and feeling with others,  especially when I am not getting advice, recommendations and instructions from those I am sharing with.  I like this one sided conversation !  How very narcissistic of me.  I have thoughts that you should all have to be bored with and you can't answer me!   I'm just writing for the release, letting off steam as it may be and I honestly am not opening this for discussion.  If I wanted to discuss any of this I would call you on the phone and have a perfectly lovely conversation.  I would listen and you would talk.  But blogging offers me the opportunity to tell you what I think without asking what your opinion is.  Is that rude of me ?  I think not since I'm just sitting here pouring out my brain and you are hopefully getting some enjoyment out of what you are writing.  I think it may be a win win !

ANYWAY . . .   Sorry I haven't been around these past few months.  I have been totally entertained by Dwayne and our adventures. We have done little travels here and there in Florida.  The trip to Datona Beach is worth an entire blog on its own.  Hopefully I will get to writing about that.  Most of our post cruise time has been spent running back and forth to doctors.  Dwayne has had a ICD implanted in his chest.  That means he now has a defibrillator / pace maker implanted under the skin of his chest and there are  wires going from this little device straight into his heart to help his heart beat more efficiently and should something go wrong this little thing will shock him back to life. AMAZING what modern medicine has to offer these days.  That too is the material for an entire blog. 
I have just had  my right knee replaced 2 weeks ago tomorrow and am now doing great. The irst 2 weeks were rough but I am finally starting to feel human again. Maybe I will get to write a blog about that adventure.

The bottom line is I am sorry to have left you all out there to weather the winter without me.  I did and DO miss all of you and hopefully will get myself into a routine of taking the time to say hello a lot more often than I have been.  Sorry I have been so selfish.  I'll work on doing better.