Postpourri

I was not as wiped out last night when I got home. I actually felt pretty good.

Our bathroom scale is not the greatest in the world, but I think it is accurate enough to be useful in gauging my day to day weight. I have been steadily losing weight for a couple of weeks...without trying. After four attempts to get a good measurement this morning, I settled on 202 pounds. 

That's very very good for me! Perhaps it's because I've reduced my intake of beer to nothing. Perhaps it's because I'm eating less. Or maybe I have a debilitating disease which is slowly ravaging me. I think it's the last one and the disease is called Aging.

I have noticed that I do not require the large portions of food I am used to. I've started ordering and dishing out smaller portions of whatever I happen to be eating. I used to love an "Arby's Roast Beef Max and medium (3) Potato Cakes. Now I am perfectly happy to eat a regular Arby's and be done with it.

The Gout knee is still giving me trouble. I thought it was getting better yesterday but it is pretty inflamed today. Very sore. It does not seem as though the gout medication is working on it.

The good news is that I have an appointment with the knee doctor tomorrow. Perhaps I'll get some insight into the gout knee.

Sicky McSnuffles

Yesterday wiped me out. After my piano lesson, I got home and got onto the couch just as fast as I could.

I think I have a little bit of a cold going, which didn't add to my over-all condition of wellness. I'm certainly sniffly and congested.

I didn't have a great night of sleep either. It was pretty fitful. Plus I got up twice to go to the bathroom. I never do that.

I used the Nettie Pot this morning while in the shower. That always makes me feel better and really clears out the sinuses. The problem is that it only works for about five minutes. Then it's right back to Mr. Sniffles.

Back to Work

It is Monday morning and I have made it to work. I feel kind blah.

I took two of my pain pills for the first time last night since the surgery. It wasn't for my surgery knee. It was for my gout knee. I wanted to get a good nights sleep.

Last night was the first night I slept without propping my knee up on pillows or icing it.

I did not sleep that great. I was up a good portion of the night coughing. I kind of remember looking at the clock and not being able to remember when I needed to get up...or even how a clock worked.

I'm still not sure what is going on with my right knee, the gout/arthritis knee. It's not too painful and I can walk on it fine. But there is pain and stiffness. As I said earlier, I'm treating it like gout, mainly because I don't think arthritis comes and goes like this.

I'll probably be off beer for a while.

So I am existing in a slight haze today and taking things slow. We shall see how it goes.

Recovery and the Goat

There are the chunks.

It's not a great picture but it's all I have.

There are three pieces that came out of my knee, probably off my knee cap. You will note that the one large piece is almost an inch across.

Recovery is progressing fine but I am noticing a slight twinge of soreness in my right knee. That's the one that occasionally comes down with arthritis or gout. I'm not sure which.

This time, I am treating it as gout, which means I go off my regular gout medication and switch to a pill called Cholcrys. It's supposed to knock out inflammations and it usually works pretty quick...except when it's in my right knee.

Knee Surgery Plus1

It is the day after my knee surgery and all is well. I am obviously still alive and I am actually walking around. The pain is so minimal that I have not taken a pain pill.

Here is what we look like today.

Nothing major out of place. The red part is blood held back by a clear plastic dressing that I am supposed to leave on for a week. That's when my follow up appointment is.

Cut the Knee

It's knee surgery morning. I have to be down at the Doctor place at 10. That gives me an hour to cook a nice breakfast. Except, no food prior to surgery. Well perhaps I can make a nice rich cup of coffee to take with me and enjoy. Except, no drink prior to surgery.

I have the morning off and a lovely rainy day and I can't even start it off with a beer. (You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning)

So, while I wait for the trip to the Arthroscopic knife, I'm just puttering around on the computer.

Here is a last look at my unsurgically altered knee.

The rain has been coming down for the last few days so most of the snow we had on the ground is becoming a memory.

This is how it looks this morning.

Here's how it looked a couple of weeks ago.

We have managed to work out the financial end of the surgery. I called their billing office yesterday and after questioning why I was given two days to come up with 26 hundred dollars, they seemed a bit contrite and allowed me to work out a payment plan. 

We are going to pay $1,629 today and pay off the thousand dollar balance over the next ten months. We will actually pay it off much faster because my employer is paying two thousand toward my deductible. I won't get that check until after my insurance has done its thing and sent me the break down of what they covered.

I'm happy with the outcome and will be very pleased to have this locking knee crap in the rear view mirror.

Arthroscopic Reality

It is two days before my surgery and I had an interesting call from the Orthropaedic office. Debbie from the office called and told me that I needed to bring $2,629.00 with me to the surgery. That's the portion that insurance won't pay.

I guess I'm not surprised that it is going to cost me that much. But I am surprised to discover they do not take payments and they notify you two days before they are supposed to cut you open.

I was told by a friend who had some work done through these guys to expect this, and I asked my insurance office to let me know what the breakdown was going to be. They have not contacted me.

I'll call tomorrow to find out more details.

208

I had not weighed myself in a while so I was surprised to hop on the scale this morning and have it report I weighed 201 pounds. Since it is a notoriously inaccurate scale, I had to try again. This time I weighed 208, which is still pretty good. It remained at 208 on the third try.

Recent weigh ins have indicated as much as 217 pounds. So it was nice to see I'm getting close to an even Two Hun. I've been drinking less of late just cuz beer or wine hasn't appealed to me much. I don't know if it has to do with my respiratory issues or something else.

I'm actually considering giving up alcohol for Lent this year. It's always a tough one to ponder because beer has been such an important part of my happiness. I loves me a good cold pilsner. 

I'll keep thinking! Perhaps a prayer or two would be appropriate as well.

Bone Chip News for 2016

It has been over three weeks since the knee locked up. I still have a couple of weeks to go before the surgery to remove the bone chip.

In the meantime, I feel like I could be walking normally by the time the 21st comes along. 

The bone chip is still in place and I still walk with a little limp. But my leg is very close to being completely straight. I think I am wearing the bone chip down. 

One of the things I've noticed in the last couple of days is that I can descend a set of stairs almost normally. I could not do that a month ago, when I climbed down stairs one step at a time while clutching the hand rail.

More details as they become known to me.

Narcoleptic Dentist 2016

I had a dentist appointment this morning and all went well. My gums are maintaining and looking good. 

It was a bit of a struggle to sit comfortably in the chair while they worked on me. My left leg could not get comfy. I finally asked for a pillow to prop under my leg and that worked nicely.

I also want to note that I have the possibility of developing narcolepsy. I have noticed over the last couple of days that about half way out on my drive to work, I become very sleepy...to the point that I could easily close my eyes to rest.

I'll be watching for this in the future.

Ice Ice Baby

A short rain storm blew through the area this morning and turned everything to ice. I guess it was much worse on the South Hill. They closed a bunch of roads up there, as well as the airport.

It was plenty slick when I went out to the car this morning. Both cars were encased in ice. It took some doing to clear the windshields.

The most dangerous part is the walk out to the car. Our steps get covered in ice from the dripping eves. I really need to figure out a way to fix that problem. 

The steps were icy and the walk was icy. It was a real fun journey to the car this morning.

There was a comment on the Corbin Park Neighborhood Web Site this morning. A guy was complaining that he was awoken by an early morning snow blower at 4:47 AM. 

I ended up responding, saying I was guilty of early morning snow blowing, but never before six.

Most of the other replies were in support of the snow blower, but I think 5AM is a little early.

Happy Birthday

Today is my Dad's birthday. He would have been close to 90. Good thing he didn't live that long. That would not have been pretty.

I got up early today to snow blow about two inches of fresh fallen snow off the driveway and sidewalks. It was really tough work as I was breathing hard the whole time.

It sure is great to be in shape. Round is a shape, right?

Snow Blower and Breathing

I have retrieved the Snow Blower from the repair shop. It's good to have it back as I fear there are more snow storms coming. Well, now I'm prepared so I fear no mo.

But I am worried about my stamina. Lifting the snow blower into the car was bad enough. The guy at the repair shop helped but I was still left breathless after it was in.

I used a long plank to slide it out of the car once I got it home. That way I could move it at my own pace. It still left me winded.

If this is going to be the new me, I don't care much for it. I have an appointment with my lung guy in a week.

Post Number A

I am approaching nine years of blogging on this here site. That is a lot of goal setting only to be ignored or forgotten.

2015 was my third best year for blogging as far as post proclivity goes. I did 63 posts which is really not all that much. 2014 was my best year with 138 posts. Well, the New Year is under way with one post. I think I'm doing really well this year.

We do not have a whole lot planned for today. It is sunny and cold out. That is not a recipe that goes well with my current respiratory conditions. I think I'll stay in and remain sedentary. Also not a great recipe for future good health.