Knee Replacement: 3-Week Milestone

From the get-go, this is a post "for the record," which I'll get to in a minute.

Today is the 4-week milestone after my January 8th surgery.  It seems like forever ago, and yet, as my physical therapist, Eline, keeps saying, "Ginnie, it's only been X weeks!"  In other words, patience, M'lady.

This week Astrid and I started dancing again...as an exercise Eline is really encouraging, once she found out our dancing history.  We first tried to do an English Waltz.  The look on my face was probably priceless.  I couldn't even begin to do it, which totally shocked me.  Just back and forth, back and forth...increasing the stabilization in my left leg.  I'm getting my education.

But, back to the 3-week milestone from last week.  And "for the record."  That was the day my 20 staples (count them) were removed.  If you are weak of stomach, I totally excuse you from this point on....

First of all, I woke up to this note from Astrid in the bathroom.

Because my staples were being removed that day, I could finally take a shower again.

ik hou van jou = I love you.

It was a very happy shower, indeed.

Before my PT that day, I had an appointment with the doctor's assistant to get my staples removed.

The top-right image is 6 days after my surgery when the bandage was removed.

The scar is 17cm (6-3/4 in) long...20 staples.

The nifty tool releases the staples almost magically, with almost no pain.

Okay, there were several times I said "OUCH," but the assistant was totally sympathetic,

and Astrid held my hand!

When she wasn't holding my hand, Astrid took this video.
The whole thing was so educational for us both.

Leave it to me, I wanted to keep the staples!
They're now in my Conquest Box, along with the cracked molar that was pulled a couple years back.
(That's another story altogether...about stress from my past life.)

So, there you have it.  For the record.
Someone has to do it!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Oh, and while we're at it, today is our 5-year wedding anniversary!

Hanging On

The good news is that Donica's rotator-cuff surgery was the best possible scenario of all the possibilities. It was the minimum of what the doctor expected: a scraping/burning off of the bone spur and the bursa. Nothing more. No torn ligaments or muscles. We are very happy campers.

The bad news is that we're now dealing with her mom's stomach and liver cancer which we just found out about on February 1, the day we landed in Atlanta from Amsterdam. She found out the diagnosis the day before, following Sam's funeral.

The cancer is so aggressive that no treatment can be done without doing more harm than good. So all we can do right now is keep Mom comfortable...and be with her as much as possible. She lives 65 miles south of us here in Atlanta.

This is the first time in 4 years that Donica has been home for this long of a stretch. She now has two weeks off to heal from her surgery...time to be with her mom and time to work on "the last details." It's like the Universe "programmed" the surgery to keep her home for Mom!

We have strength for each day as it comes. And we have YOU. God is bedrock. YOU are part of our support system.

THANK YOU!