Makeover

Driving from Ohio to Vermont.  We don't go anywhere without the Christmas Cactus Vin's Mom gave us 20 years ago.

Funny story.

I'd be lying if I said said that the screw in my femur (the one that sticks out of the bone and into the muscle because it's too long) didn't hurt quite a bit most of the time.  So.  I got an appointment with my surgeon in Vermont for December 6 to talk about surgery to either 1) take out the hardware and let the bone fill in on it's own  2) take out the hardware and squirt in some cement-like stuff or 3) take out the hardware and put in smaller hardware.  Anyway.  Vin and I have been scheduling the whole Ohio semester around this December 6, 11:15 am appointment.  Our last class ended around 8 pm, December 4th.  We rode home and packed the trailer until around 2 am and left around 8 am on December 5th, drove for 13 hours, slept 4 1/2 hours then got up to drive 4 hours to the appointment.  Now, here's the funny part...my phone rings at 8 am in the car.  It's the clinic.  THEY HAVE A SCHEDULING CONFLICT AND NEED TO RESCHEDULE MY APPOINTMENT FOR TUESDAY DECEMBER 10.  I'm not sure what kind of a reaction they thought they'd get but when they heard sleep deprived, aching-backed Vince yelling in the background, they sincerely apologized so many times I started to feel guilty.

Anyway, they guilted me into changing my appointment to Tuesday, December 10...slightly inconvenient because right after that we had to drive down to Western Mass to show some of our short films at the Plainfield, MA library.  We were careful to warn folks to come with low expectations so I'm pretty sure no one was all that disappointed.  Then I got a haircut at 8 am the next day from my friend Chris (I have a funny story about Chris too but I'll save it for another time) at 'Glamourama' in Northampton followed by a 3 1/2 hour dental appointment (I know, long way to go for a dental appointment...)  Had to hustle back up to Vermont because I had to be at the hospital by 7:15 the next morning for surgery.  Kind of like a spa vacation.  I had a manipulation done on my right knee.  A manipulation is when the surgeon puts you under and does a quick bend/flex of the frozen knee to break up the scar tissue limiting it's range of motion.  Going in I was anxious because I knew that one of the downsides to the procedure was that the bone could break so first he went in and cut out a whole bunch of the scar tissue.  Seems a bit better now, but 'ya never know' (like we'd say in Minnesota). 

Something I learned today:
You can make a pizza crust without yeast, it's just not very good.

P.S. Being a glutton for punishment, I'm leaving the hardware in until Spring. 

In Athens.  Hughes Moquin Funeral Home entrance the day before Thanksgiving.

In Athens.  Hughes Moquin Funeral Home entrance the day after Thanksgiving.

Max Is Bummed

Are you sick of hearing my Max stories?

Max gets at least two good walks a day.  We'll even skip a bike ride to make sure he gets his walks.

We open the gate, clip on his leash and let him go wherever he wants.  He decides.  We're pretty sure he lays in the yard thinking about where he where he wants to go when we get home.  He's narrowed his routes down to about four favorites.  Like yesterday.  We're sure he was thinking "I'm hungry, I think I want a couple hamburgers," and then he takes a right at the end of the driveway.  He heads diagonally, through yards and alleys I didn't even know existed, to SONIC.   When we get there, I go inside for two hamburgers...just the meat...while he and Vince wait outside.  Vince sits on the planter and Max sits on the sidewalk next to the door.  Every time.  In exactly the same spot.

Today, he took a left out of the driveway.  "I haven't been to the dog park lately," and off we went.  He likes the dog park.  It's a ten minute walk from our house and even though we make him stay outside the fence, it's almost like he has dog friends. 

 Poor Max.

Mostly Pictures (of me)

We woke up because Max was panting.  It was the middle of the night but it didn't matter.  We loaded him in the car and drove to the Emergency Vet in Parkersburg, West Virginia.  You know what was wrong with him?  He was hot.  There is a name for people like us...alarmists.

Cinematography.  The class I somehow registered for by mistake?  We had to do a sequence re-creation of a film called 'Zodiac'.  Vince was the Director of Photography.  I was one of the actors. (there were two of us) I love acting...pretending to be someone I'm not.  I haven't seen 'Zodiac' and quite sure I don't want to.  I don't know what happened to my character but I have a pretty good idea. :(

Lights.  This is a lighting set up for ONE! shot.

Me acting.  Wondering why a car is pulling up behind me.

Matt acting.  Pretending to fix my tire.  He's the bad guy but I don't know it.

Me acting.  I'm suspicious.

Notice the lighting of these shots.  It's not accidental.  Vince had to figure it out.

This is a picture from a ride we did the other day.  The part of the ride when it was still light. 

Action.

Yesterday, eight weeks and a quarter tank of gas* into Fall semester, we got our Ohio residency.  Never in a million years would I have imagined I would someday be driving around with an Ohio drivers license.  It's not like Massachusetts where they let you look in a mirror then snap photos until you get one you like.  No, they shoot when you least expect it and that's it.  Vince looks great of course, but me?  I look like a hooker.

I'm working on several screenplays.  The one I decided to let rest for a while (maybe forever) is a comedy about a bridesmaid hitchhiking to a wedding then gets a ride with a serial (screw gun) killer.  What would Garrison Keilor say? 

The other day we watched 11 chase scenes in Film Analysis class.  Then later in Cinematography (a class I seemed to have taken by mistake) we shot the OU marching band practice on 16mm film and a really heavy camera.  Those marching band people are serious.  I was comfortably shooting them from behind, closely, when all of a sudden, the whole group pivoted, and started coming at me. (you had to be there) Next time I'll follow the tuba section and not the trombone section.

Me and the band

Vince is smarter.  He's on a container above the band.

*seriously...we've only used a quarter tank of gas since we've been here.

 Until next time.

Reams of Paper and More Movie Talk

In the spirit of posting more often...

Imagine my surprise today in 'Staples' when I pulled a ream of paper* off a shelf and a ream from the shelf above fell and hit me in the head. 

*500 sheets, 8 1/2" x 11" x 2" about 5 pounds


More about my film shoot.

The Washington Hotel in Metaline Falls was the location of the 'hallway' scene.

I housed my actors at the cute eco-friendly Washington Hotel...eco-friendly because the soap in the showers was used.

More Films

My October first new year's resolution is to start updating my blog more often.  I do so well posting when I'm at home nursing a traumatic injury and am fairly healthy at the moment so we'll have to see how it goes.

So.  We're back at Ohio University being referred to as filmmakers and have a 'big' event coming up on Saturday.  Vince will be screening his film 'Milk Run' (which I think I've already told you about) and I'll be screening my new film 'Wake Up Call'.  I'm nervous that no one will laugh even though I think it's hilarious.

The 'Wake Up Call' crew.

Nancy Gasper stars :) as Jacquelyn who needs to get some sleep.

More later.

If it's Max, it's OK

Seems silly we make people take off their shoes before they come in the house.

Quality Time.

Our niece Olivia spent some quality time on her Syracuse University graduation day with her brother Paul (our nephew) and her Dad (Vin's brother) Chris.

Springtime In Ohio

We're back in Vermont where I haven't been letting myself read or write anything other than school stuff which mostly means editing the footage I got at the Arizona RV retirement community in March.  And editing in this case means staring at clips on my computer screen that initially seemed really interesting.

Ohio in March and April.
Feeling like observers rather than participants we rolled into Ohio and school with 5 weeks left in the semester.  Like good collaborative filmmakers we volunteered around a hundred hours for our classmate's as they shot their second semester films.  Then, in return, they would help us.  Except they mostly didn't.  One guy had 'Tech Heads' the night we needed him and another had to sleep.  A few said they'd love to help and then blew us off.  The two guys we knew we could count on, showed up.  But.  In the end it was mostly Me and Vin....just like old times.

We shot Vin's film at the Busy Day Market after they closed at 10 PM which means the shoots lasted to between 4 and 6 AM.  He rounded up a '68 442 as the getaway car, a Colt Python 357 full load blank firing replica, a skateboard and really good actors.  The kind of film any 20 year old would dream of making.  And the kind of film 3 patrol cars would show up at 2 nights in a row responding to reports of armed robberies.

Who done it?

Until TOMORROW.

Day 85.

Max likes Athens because he can watch people walk by.

He also likes our bed.

My new knees turned 'one' yesterday and other than the right one not really bending, they're good. 

Good thing.
After a month of aggressive knee flexion PT, it feels like the scar tissue is starting to give up.  When I started, my flexion was at about 100 degrees and where I was sure it would be forever (things are rarely worse than I imagine).  A few weeks later, I was high-fiving Vinny the therapist at 114.  Yesterday it was 125-ish (with Vinny yanking on it until I yelped) when I limped out of the rehab clinic.  Enough to pedal my bike indoors pretty well but not quite enough to walk down stairs without turning sideways.

Femur.
If I really concentrate, my limp is better but not good.  Still hurts a bunch but they tell me that's normal.  Can get around without crutches it just looks funny.

School.
Monday we're heading back down to Ohio and school.  With six weeks left in the semester, going back will be weird.  I feel really disconnected but it was 60 degrees today in Athens and a trip will be fun.

The skyping novelty wore off about a month ago.  We got tired of not really being able to see and not really being able to hear or participate.  Last week in 'Production' class we had Skype sound but no picture. Vince sneaked off to ski and everyone thought he was still sitting there 'in class'.

Skiing.
More like a timid shuffle, but just being able to get outside makes me a whole lot happier.  The other day in the entryway I ran across a plastic bag of ski clothes and realized it was from the hospital.   The stuff I was wearing when I had my accident.  It was all there except one glove and my panties which made me worry about which panties I'd had on when I crashed.  All the times I'd laughed about those 'wearing clean underwear in case you're in a car accident' warnings...

I want to talk about our trip to Arizona.  Just  not tonight.

Day 65. Milestone.

I skied.

Normally skiing back and forth for an hour fifteen over the same 200 yards of trail would have been intolerable but this time it was OK.

Thirty-four degrees.  Quiet with no wind, and light fluttering snow.  Very happy to be out.

Looking at the house from the trail beats looking at the trail from the house.

Day 59.

Got the hospital bill.
For $32,978.88 you can either fix a broken femur or buy a nice house in Fargo, North Dakota.  Seems like a lot for either one.

Friday, 11 months after my bilateral total knee replacement surgery,  I had my one-year follow-up. Snooping around the examination room while waiting for the x-ray tech I noticed 'Katherine Swanson' at the top of the computer screen.  I couldn't believe it.  It was my 'chart'.   You know, the chart you never get to read?  "Should I be reading this?" I asked myself while putting on my glasses.  Line item 1 made me feel good...'Pleasant female'.  I smiled.  Then the x-ray tech entered and I didn't get to read anymore.

It was no surprise that my stiff stiff right knee got the surgeon's attention while my poster-child left knee pretty much got ignored.   We came up with a plan.
1. Aggressive PT for a month and if we can get the flexion to 120, we'll call it a day.  He says "it's only 1/2 of a degree a day".  Easy for him to say.  OR
2. If we can't get it to 120, get a cortisone shot and repeat #1.  OR
3. The manipulation.  Where he puts me to sleep and cranks on the knee to break up the scar tissue that's making it stiff.  Not a bad option except there is a chance the bone around the knee could break and you can imagine how the thought of that makes me feel.

Today was the first aggressive therapy session.  The therapist did all the work.  All I had to do was lie there and endure the pain which totally wore me out.  I got home and passed out for 3 hours.

Vinny the therapist's question-of-the-day..."now should I be working on the hip or the knee?"







 

Day 52.

Cricket Update.
When we finally got around to our sound class assignment...the one where we had to record a cricket...we realized neither one of us hadn't heard her for a few days.  Bummed because now 1) we'd get an incomplete and 2) our pet cricket had died, we went ahead and recorded the rest of the assignment (a breaking plate, a spark and an elevator door).  Good enough.  Then.  Just as we were sweeping up the last plate shard, guess what?  We heard a chirp. 

The Hip etc.
The other day I was riding the exercise bike at PT with a pair of running shoes that have never been used for running.  With each left pedal stroke was a mechanical sounding click.  Happily pedaling away, I didn't hear it even though everyone in the place was inconspicuously looking over their shoulder thinking "Can't she hear that?"   I looked up and saw Vinny, my therapist, jogging toward me "Is that you hip or your knee?" he asked.  Luckily it was my shoes and their 'one-pull QuickLace™' system (woohoo) flopping around.

Sunday, Vin and I shot a short film.  Five hours of walking mostly without my crutches.  Even though it was uncomfortable, it'll make the hip stronger.  I limped, yes, but if Festus in 'Gunsmoke' could do it...  

Ohio.
Wondering if it makes sense to go back after missing so much of the semester.  If it was free it wouldn't be such a huge, hard decision.  

Remember Alfalfa in 'The Little Rascals'?

Vin and I were trying to figure out how many days Vince has been walking around with his hair like this because neither one of us ever really pays much attention to grooming.  You probably think he just took off his hat or he just got up and hasn't fixed it yet...nope, it's just the middle of another day.   BTW. This is taken from the good/neat side.

Day 46.

Quick progress report.

Vinny, the out-patient therapist from my knee replacements, was surprised when I showed up last week with a broken hip.  It's good to have someone familiar with my skeletal idiosyncrasies.

As soon as he realized I wasn't kidding about the hip, for old times sake, he measured the flexion in my knees.  My left knee was 137 degrees.  Drum roll please.  For him, a new record.  A surgeon friend says that anything over 130 is showing off so I was psyched until the therapist in the office next door said she'd had a patient with a 138.  An office record...but not for long.

Unfortunately, the right leg is still around 100.  You know what 90 degrees looks like.  100 is just a little more and not really enough to go upstairs or ride a bike correctly. :(

Other Things.
•Discharged from home health.
•Rode the my bike indoors for 54 minutes (or long enough to think I wouldn't be able to get off) while watching 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'.
•Walked over to and on the ski trail.
•Drove to the post office.

Max finally loves his new dog ramp. (thank you Tashauna, Brenda and Dale, xoMax)

  

Day 38.

Paperwhites.  Incredibly fragrant.  Another treat from someone who feels sorry for me.

Hip.
Nothing too profound to report.  I rowed for an hour today so I guess that pretty big.  And I needed some fresh air (I've been out 4 times (to and from the car) in the last month) so we drove to the pavement and I crutched for 15 minutes.  It was really cold and almost dark but still fun.  Plus, my left leg got a little exercise...poor thing...has to suffer for something the right leg did.

The other day a woman came up and introduced herself to me.  Said she was one of the first responders to my accident on the ski trail.  Told me she couldn't believe how brave and stoic I was through the whole thing.  Nice but that's not how I remember it.

I saw at least a hundred people ski by my window this weekend.  Makes me sad.  It's wimpy but I can't help it.  I know I should focus on what I can do instead of what I can't but geez that gets tiring.

More of my food craziness*.
Almond milk has been tempting me for a long time and even though I buy it once in a while...I haven't dared drink it.  Just almonds, water and natural flavors.  But what are natural flavors?  The almond milk companies won't tell me.  I did some research and found out natural flavors can be almost anything. They don't even have to be listed with the ingredients or in the nutritional info as long as they're used for flavor and not for nutrition.  Seems almost illegal.

fresh homemade almond milk in my favorite pot

fresh homemade almond milk in my favorite mug

I thought about it for a while then decided that I could probably make my own.  dah.  Almonds, water and, to make it special, some expensive organic vanilla powder**.  I soaked. I blended. I strained and haven't been able to stop drinking it.

Other.
We have one cricket in our house.  Vin has been putting water out for it in a peanut butter jar lid.  Then today we got an assignment for sound class.  We have to go around and record some sounds.  An elevator, a truck idling...and guess what else?...a cricket.

*FYI. When I get sick from something I shouldn't have eaten I have hangover symptoms for at least 24 hours.
**something else I never dared try