Post Surgery Week 9: This is Just To Say

Monday, July 22

This is just to say that sometimes, it’s not so bad.

The new anti-inflammatory drug seems to be working.  The new TENS/IFC unit seems to be working.  Who actually knows which one is working?  Or are both working?  I really don’t care.  I can almost sleep through the night.  I can almost imagine going to sleep and not having pain wake me up.

Did I mention that yesterday was National Ice Cream Day?  We had our 5th Annual Ice Cream Social out on Mayberry, our front porch.  Ed and I started this tradition the first summer that we had this house, and what a grand event.  We started out with an intention that the Social would be an event just for our block, but in the intervening years, we’ve adopted the big tent approach.  So now we formally invite all of the folks on our block, as well as other friends and neighbors.  Yesterday we had roughly 40 people.  And what an easy and delightful event to put on - we get a few gallons of ice cream, set out a bunch of toppings, and let people make their own sundaes.  Sam, our 8-year old honorary grandson, has a tradition of being first in line (when he lived across the street, he started stalking us from his front yard as we started our setup, slinking into our yard, trying to hurry up the clock), and even though he now lives a mile or so away, he was here to lead off the festivities.  The day turned out to be perfect:  sunny and warm, but not too hot.  We ended up with some ice cream soup by the time we put everything away, but who’s to say there’s anything wrong with that?

Did I mention that the anti-inflammatory seems to be working?  And that the TENS thingy is also doing good stuff?

This is just to say:  sometimes it’s not all bad.

I rode the stationary bike this afternoon for 15 minutes.  15 minutes!  That’s a new world record!

Ed and I went out for a walk later, and we circled DeBoer Park at the end of the street, adding little by little to the distance I can cover before my knee gets cranky.   As we were heading back home, we met our neighbors on their way to the playground.  Josie is around five years old, and the last time we talked to her, she thought my knee looked pretty gross.  Today, she didn’t even look at my knee.  She looked at me and said, “I like your shoes!”  Now, coming from a five year old girl, that’s a pretty sweet compliment.  Does it get any better than that?

Well, yes, yes it does.  Ed and I made a quick trip to Whole Foods, and when we got home he disappeared into his office to finish up a bit of work.  That left me the task of putting stuff away, and doing some of the very minimal kitchen work that I do.  My watch started to buzz, and I looked at it, thinking it was probably just alerting me that I had yet another junk call.  But no, it was my Garmin telling me that I had hit my daily steps goal.  Now, I have no idea how low that goal is just now - it calibrates the goal based on how many steps I actually take - but that doesn’t matter.  Not one bit.  The important thing is this:  I’m pretty damned sure that it’s the first time since surgery that I’ve even come close to hitting my steps goal.

And that, my friends, is just to say:  sometimes it’s not all bad.