, La

 VOTE like your vote never mattered before!

 You know that saying, "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all."  Well, that's how my entire year has felt.  There has been one crisis after another, and I'm horrified to think it could get worse.  My niece, who cleans my brother's condo each week, fell and broke her right leg in two places requiring a rod to be placed in her leg.  She also broke her left ankle, so she is in a wheelchair for an unspecified amount of time.  She lives in an upstairs apartment so that is requiring a move to a new apartment.  Thank goodness, her daughters have really stepped up to the plate and are taking excellent care of their mom.

We are still dealing with Ron's bad knees waiting as patiently as possible for his knee replacement in September.  He is using a walker full time, and his legs are just so weak he is barely getting around at all.  He is unable to drive so I'm doing all the driving now.

All of these issues are impacting my brother, and he has had a couple of episodes that really worried me.  He called telling us he was going to Heaven, and he was on his way.  We didn't know if he was talking about self-harm or not.  He was incoherent and completely spaced out.  Fortunately, we got past both episodes with no harm, but I immediately took him back to see his psychiatrist.  Increased his Resperidol and added another drug as needed for anxiety.  He is doing better.

My daughter and her two dogs are in the process of moving in with us.  She moved into a house that unfortunately she didn't get the chance to really see before she moved.  When she saw it the first time there was a lot of furniture even in front of the windows.  On the move in day the woman living there didn't even have her stuff out.  She had left animals and trash everywhere.  The windows were now exposed, and they were all broken.  The windowpanes had holes all the way to the outside.  It was honestly not habitable.  So long story short, my daughter is moving her stuff into storage next Friday and staying with us until she finds a new house.  Since school will be starting soon, I expect she will be with us the entire school year.  It will be a tight squeeze in our little house, but we'll make it. 

I'm also looking for someone to clean my brother's condo.  I've been doing it for the past two months but it's just too much with doing his meals, helping my daughter move, and trying to keep up with my own house. I'm meeting myself coming and going!

Hopefully, things will settle down soon.

 

The Bees Knees

 My sweet husband had arthroscopic surgery on his knee the first of November.  The surgery failed to relieve his pain.  So after weeks of therapy and another MRI it was determined he needs a knee replacement.  We decided to get a second opinion from my orthopedist, and he agreed that is what is needed.  He also said they would never have done the arthroscopic surgery in the first place because on patients over 50 with arthritis it fails 90% of the time.  Wish Ron's doctor had told him that bit of information.  But it is what it is.  Ron has decided to have my doctor do the surgery but unfortunately, he is booked up through September, so he has a wait ahead of him.  It will be a year since he injured his knee in June.

I have to have surgery for a hernia but I'm trying to get my lungs clear before I do it.  I saw a new pulmonologist yesterday and had a pulmonary function test done.  Surprisingly the results were normal.  This doctor said I don't have COPD!  I left totally confused!  Of course, when he listened to my lungs, they were clear as a bell.  Go figure!  He has ordered a CT scan and some allergy testing so maybe I can get some clarification from those results. 

I guess we are like many seniors, spending our time going to doctor appointments leave little time for anything else.

Happy Easter to All!

Slicing and Dicing

 Between Ron and I we have spent the past three months recovering from knee surgery.  I'm doing great with my recovery, but Ron still has a way to go.  He got a cortisone injection that seems to have helped the reduce the inflammation and swelling.  He sees his orthopedist next week and will probably resume outpatient therapy.

My daughter had surgery last Friday to remove her gallbladder and to get a liver biopsy.  Still waiting on the results.  She has been in and out of the hospital over the past two years and no one has been able to figure out the cause of her sudden episodes of vomiting and diarrhea.  It comes on so suddenly and gets so severe she becomes dehydrated.  Twice she had to be transported by ambulance and one time it was so bad she ended up in ICU for two days.  Removing her gallbladder was kind of a hail Mary attempt to see it if helps.  She was in the hospital this time for 5 days.  She's home now recovering.

I have been having episodes of tachycardia and have been referred to a cardiologist.  In addition, the weight loss has resulted in discovery of a hernia.  Will be seeing a surgeon about repairing it.   Oh, the joys of aging!

I have big plans for this summer.  We have to get ourselves healthy so we can do a family trip when school is out.  We are hoping to take a trip with my daughters to Tennessee or N. Carolina to meet Ron's daughter and her family.  It will be the first time for our daughters to meet.  I said I wanted them to meet while we are alive and not at one of our funerals.

My brother is doing very well.  His psychiatrist has reduced a lot of his medication, and it has improved his cognitive function.  Couldn't have come at a better time.  He is just generally doing a lot better.   He still requires a lot of support, but the "emergency" calls have lessened.  

So, all things considered we are in pretty good shape I'd say.  Just a little fine tuning needed.

Update

Well, I had my right knee replaced Oct. 26th so I am in my second week of recovery.  It's going pretty well but a lot more pain than with the first surgery.  I don't know why but no two surgeries are the same.  I'm doing in home therapy for two more weeks then go to outpatient therapy.  Ron is having surgery on the 16th of November, so we are planning on going to therapy together.

Because my life has revolved around either preparing for surgery or having it I don't have much to write about.  One weird thing is that the day of surgery I weighed 124 pounds but two days later I was 138.  Talk about swelling.  First week I lost 6 pounds of water weight, but it looks like it will take a while to get back to pre-surgery weight.

My son-in-law found a job and will be moving out in December.  He has to find an apartment in the meantime and probably get on a waiting list.  I'll be happy to reclaim my house.  My daughter took her two dogs so I wouldn't be in danger of being tripped by all the dogs.  Ellie misses her playmates, but she will go over for some play dates when Ron and I are back on our feet.

Well, it's time to do more exercises.  Motion is lotion!

Use it or Just Lose It

 I've been on a weight loss journey for the greater part of my life.  After having my twin daughters in 1970 I've pretty much been battling obesity.  At the age of 32 I weighed 222 pounds and had a gastric bypass.  It worked great and I lost 90 pounds in less than a year.  Then I had an emergency hysterectomy and my weight started increasing almost immediately.  Within two years I had regained all the weight.

I reached my highest weight in 2014 at 242 pounds.  That same year I had a hip replacement and lost about 20 pounds.  It wasn't until 2016 that Ron and I both got serious about losing weight and together we did weight watchers and Lose It.  I got down to 156 pounds and that's when Weight Watchers changed their plan.  Now they had what they called 0 points foods.  Well, I took that literally and about overdosed on strawberries.  Then the pandemic hit and we both gained weight.  I made it back to 205 pounds and Ron regained all his weight.

Well, 2 years ago I said enough is enough.  I put the Lose It app back on my phone and set a goal of 1 pound a week.  I have stayed on the 1200 calorie allowance and today I officially hit my goal of 130 by weighing in at 129.4 pounds.  I haven't been this small since high school.  I would like to get to 125 but I won't be upset if I don't.  I'm considered a "normal weight".  Still hard to believe.  I know my knee surgery will be easier at this weight.  Much easier to rehab.  So, I'm happy.

I'd recommend the Lose It app to anyone wanting to lose weight.  It's free and easy to use.  It helps you be accountable and track your progress.

Life is a Cabaret old chum...........

Well, Ron will be having surgery in the next couple of weeks.  It will be scoping the knee and trimming the torn Cartlidge and cleaning up the knee joint.   It's an outpatient surgery and the recovery is pretty fast according to the doctor.  We should have him going in time for my knee replacement.

Tonight, I saw a live stream cabaret production that a childhood friend was performing in, and it was so much fun to watch.  Tina did a great job.  I haven't seen her since 1969 when she was one of my bridesmaids.  She lives in Connecticut now.

We are expecting a cold front to move through tonight taking our temperature from 105 to 82 tomorrow.  Now that's a drop.  I am definitely going to take advantage of the break in the heat and get out.  We are going to go shopping for new recliners.  We need the chairs, but I hate shopping for them.  Salesmen stalk you all over the store and that just drives me crazy.  What do they call them?  Shopper stalkers?  I had a friend who would dress in a smart suit and carry a clipboard around at the store and everyone thought she worked there so they left her alone.  She said it worked every time.  She'd act like her husband was her customer.

Over the past 6 months I have been purposely reaching out to old friends trying to get out more.  Next week I'm having lunch with some friends from high school.  It should be fun. Of course, this is the season for flu and covid spikes so have to be careful.  I will probably stick close to home in October.