Life Goes On

 

Before.  The Vermont house when we bought it.  This is the entryway looking into the living room where I sit on the couch and ice my knee these days.

After.  The Vermont house now.  This is the entryway looking into the living room where I sit on the couch and ice my knee these days.

When I decided I was going to get a new knee I told the PA I wanted to talk to some patients that had had a similar operation.  She thought that was a great idea(to my face).  A few days later I got a call from the person in the office that gets handed the tasks the 'higher ups' would rather blow off.  She told me that it's pretty unlikely that someone would want to talk to me and that I should just go online and google petellafemoral replacement because I would be able to get all the info I needed that way.  I didn't like that answer...would you?...so I called the office again saying I need the referrals they were going to get for me.  In one form or another this went on for a half dozen phone calls over 6 weeks.   I kept leaving very specific messages with the phone person because they won't ever transfer you to the person you should be talking to.  Because I was never called back I assumed my messages weren't getting translated correctly...  so you know what I did?  I wrote and old fashioned letter, put it in an envelop with a stamp and mailed it.  The next day I had more referrals than I wanted.  I pretty much had their data base.

So then today...I won't get into the ambulance and the emergency room story....but I ended up getting my knee drained again by the person I told you about that promised me the referrals then handed the task to the person that thinks google is magic.   The draining usually goes better than it did today and when I got home I called the office to ask why there was a bruised egg-sized lump that was bleeding on the outside of my knee that had never been there before and should I be concerned.  Lisa, the phone person, said Leah (the knee drainer) was with a patient but she would have her call me.  A half hour later Lisa (note, not Leah) called back basically telling me to 'take two aspirin and call me in the morning' (except she meant 'don't call me in the morning').  I asked Lisa several questions, none of which she was able to answer except when I asked her what her position was there at the office and she told me she was a scheduler.
 
Yesterday I rode the bike trainer with one leg for 70 minutes which I'm sure that is going to have it's own set of problems before long.  I watch old  'curb your enthusiasm-s' for a distraction and once as I momentarily drifted back into reality, I realized I wasn't even peddling so the 70 minutes was probably more like 20.

Today is another couch day.  A divot has settled into the couch that is only going to get bigger and more embarrassing.  I think I'll be able to finish our Christmas card ( a month late...not eleven months early) which is something I wouldn't have been able to do without my forced rest. 

Picture this.  Me on the couch and Vince two feet behind me swearing at inanimate objects and plastering the chimney.  Then two days later and two feet behind and to my right, he rips out a door, studs out the wall, sheet-rocks, paints. 

"Excuse me.  I'm trying to relax here...."

I'm babbling.