Yesterday I went to the Albany Bone and Joint Center, where I talked to my doctor about my knee pain. He listened and then decided to take x-rays of both my knees, pelvis and spine. The results were as I expected. He came back after a brief time and said, “Your pelvis is fine, but you have some arthritis at L5 and S1, thus the sciatica pain down my left leg. If I thought that was all...I would set you up with one of our spinal doctors, but it’s not. Your knees are a real mess...bone on bone....severely worn. It’s time to schedule knee replacement...NOW.”
Sooooooo, I’m scheduled for a total left knee replacement on November 13th...rain or shine. I need to drop a bunch of weight between now and then. I figure I will be able to drop fifty needed pounds by November which will make recovery so much easier by not lugging that excess baggage around while learning to use a new knee. The other good news is that the two cortisone shots they gave me did the trick. I can walk again. I am smart enough to continue taking steps one at a time as I did before and will stay off ladders and avoid a bunch of stooping as I get back to my normal work and building habits in the next week or two to allow the swelling and damage to recover a little.
I will do today’s feeding and cleaning chores, which Vick has had to do for the last week or so. Today she is going to enjoy the visitation of Isabelle and Amy as she does some fiber dying on the back porch. It looks like rain, so I doubt I will drag a bunch of tools out to begin the turkey house expansion....but you never know. I’d just as soon not do a lot of bending and stooping as I already mentioned, but I would like to get the young turkeys moved out of the brooding house and into the old turkey house after moving the adults to the new expansion.
For now, I have a bunch of eggs to place in the incubator (for the fourth time) because the last batch didn’t hatch. We now have far less roosters and our expertise at hatching eggs is in question all the time anyway, so it takes us a good while to achieve a good result. Let’s hope for success this time, because we are running out of summer soon. I also have a large bowl of eggs to wash and process into the egg stand before the weekenders start stopping in for eggs that aren’t ready and in there for their purchasing pleasure.
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Good luck on the new knee replacement.
ReplyDeleteThanks Helen, I'm looking forward to it. Once the pain of the operation is over, I expect a return to normal for a few years. The right knee isn't really much of a bother like the left one is, so I'll postpone the second knee replacement until it bothers me more. Skip
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