kmkat and her kneedles

Random Wednesday.

Last night (Tuesday) I saw an acquaintance at a meeting. He had had a hip replacement the previous Wednesday and was out and about, no walker, just walking with 2 canes. Sheesh! I did not even venture out of the house for at least a couple weeks. After the meeting I offered to help him with his briefcase and iPad and he declined, saying he was fine. And he was. The guy is over 60 and a Vietnam vet who was subjected to Agent Orange, has had 24 (24!) surgeries so far. And had one knee replaced four times.

On the plus side, he said that I was his inspiration to have his hip done because he saw how happy I was afterward*. So there is that.

* * * * *

photo credit: Louis Abate via photopin cc

Today, the day after I finished and mailed our tax returns, I am cleaning up my desk and organizing the flurry of papers that I was tossing around yesterday. The file drawer with our tax returns was getting too full, so I went through and pulled out stuff that didn't need to be saved, like all the medical receipts. We always save them and I add them up at tax time, but the total is never enough to deduct. 

In the interest of privacy, I shredded everything with our name on it... and overheated the shredder multiple times. I am a shredding fool!

* * * * *

Misha The Rescue Dog had forgotten the rules about relieving herself in the house, so she has been back on the leash 24/7 for a couple weeks. It is working, although she didn't pee for four days at the beginning and didn't poop for another couple of days. The way I finally got her to understand that she is supposed to *go* in the new dog run was by putting a small rug out there. It was the one she had favored as her toilet in the house, and even though Smokey had put it through the washer twice, it still smelled. If I could smell it, so could she. It worked. I am so proud to be (somewhat) smarter than the dog.

To get her pooper working, I consulted the internetz to see if we could give her a laxative. Consensus was no, but alternatives were offered: milk gives dogs diarrhea and exercise is always stimulating. Misha got a small dish of milk twice a day and I took her for a walk shortly afterward. Eventually that worked, too.

Dog ownership is sooo glamorous, isn't it?

* He is the second person to comment that I seem much happier and smilier since the hip replacement. I didn't realize how much it showed. 

The hands, they peel.

I have a new hobby: peeling the dead skin off my hands.

Right hand:

Left hand:

Wait. Could that be...? Yes! It's a map of Europe (after global warming and a few random massive earthquakes)!

In case you are wondering, I checked and yes, my feet -- at least the big toe on my left foot -- are peeling, too.

A further update on the hip replacement recovery:

• No pain meds at all for over a week.
• Except for Vistaril, which is, in addition to being a pain-med-booster, an antihistamine that works for hives. Without it I cannot sleep for the itching.
• Walking pretty much normally, albeit at a slower pace than I would if I didn't have...
• A little pain in the hip when walking.
• Able to sleep on either side :-)
• Finished the Coumadin/warfarin/rat poison/anti-clotting drug regimen a week ago.
• This is significant because it means I can now have a glass of wine or a beer :-)
• Energy level improving; no longer need a nap nor to lie down after the smallest task. 
• Sometimes have to sit down for a bit after activity, though.
• Reminding myself that I need to start walking outside for exercise and to build stamina. Have only done it twice in the last week. Maybe I need some gold stars to paste on my calendar every day I walk...

 

Hi, remember me? I used to blog here.*

* Lost post provided via Google cache, but mostly thanks to my friend Elizabeth from Friday night knitting @ Starbucks in St Paul, who is wise in the ways of the web. Thanks, Elizabeth!

Random stuff about the hip surgery and whatever else flits through my brain:

• As previously reported, the surgery went swimmingly.
• I was in the hospital for three nights. Could have gone home one night sooner, but I saw no reason to abandon the place where the bathroom was 3" from the bed.
• Recovery at home went fine, too. Smokey is a [good] nurse.
• I have been walking unassisted by cane or walker since late last week. Yay!
• Saturday morning I was completely pain-free for the first time. Yay!
• Of course, I took that as a sign I could walk around more.
• No pain-free days since.
• On the other hand, such pain as I have now is minor. 
• Yesterday Tuesday I skipped pain meds all day until bedtime. Yay!
• Now for the downside issues. Those are more interesting, anyway.
• I had an allergic reaction to Celebrex, an NSAID given to me to reduce inflammation.
• What it did do was give me the super-itchies all over. My eyes swelled, my back and legs were purple with hives, I itched EVERYWHERE.
• The visible signs of that are largely gone now, although I still itch, especially on my upper arms and torso.
• The aftermath of the reaction was been rather like getting a minor sunburn -- I peeled everywhere that had itched.
    
  Sorry for the blurry photos -- it is tough to take pictures of one's own fingertips.
   
• Something, either the reaction or the salves and lotions that were prescribed to counteract it, have given the affected skin the crepey character of an 80-yo, even though it is immeasurably enhanced by my summer nails.
  
   
• This seems to be slowly going away. Yay!
• Other main problem is lack of stamina. Getting up and dressed and making and eating breakfast is enough to send me back to bed for a nap.
• All these drugs -- oxycontin, coumadin, vistiril, lopressor -- have some minor side effects. 
• My body cannot decide if it is warm or cold and has decided instead to go back and forth between the two in an unpredictable manner.
• I thought I had finished with hot flashes years ago.
• Nope.
• Oddly enough, the surgery and/or anesthetic affected my bladder control.
• Depends are useful things.
• Happily, I no longer need them. 
• I have to be extra vigilant about every single urge.
• Also have to avoid coffee, tea, orange juice, and Coke Zero. 
• Bah, humbug.
• I have discovered that neither Fresca nor root beer seem to have whatever it is that irritates/stimulates my bladder.
• Still not as good as coffee or Coke Zero.
• No alcohol at all until I am done with the Coumadin/warfarin/blood thinner/rat poison.
• Hmmph.
• On Saturday my friend Colleen and her husband came over. She watered and fertilized and deadheaded my hanging pots and planted the herbs that I hadn't managed to get into pots before the surgery.
• She also bought me a rose bush. 
• And planted it.
• Now, that's a friend.
• Another friend is coming over on Friday afternoon to sit and knit on the deck with me.
• Friends are a good thing to have.

Grrr, Typepad.

I put up a post a couple days ago (I thought), but apparently it was eaten by Typepad. 

Grrr. It was, of course, the best prose ever to flow from my fingertips and impossible to recreate.

In short, it said:

• Walking nearly painfree :-)
• Walking unassisted by cane or walker for 1.5 weeks.
• No pain meds except at night.
• Still itchy. Peeling, too.
• My skin now has the crepey look of an 80-yo :-(
• No stamina, although that has improved since I wrote the phantom post.

All in all, life flows on. More later.

Home again.

After surgery there are certain things that are the recuperating patient's friend.

• A kind and generous caregiver, one who can keep the meds straight and the water bottle full and the phone answered.
   
• Satin sheets and pjs. Oh, how I wish we had known of this last summer when Smokey had his back surgery. It is SO hard to move in the bed when major muscle groups are out of commission. Slippery bedding helps a lot. One of our neighbors clued me in earlier this year; her mother had a hip replacement a few years back. (Remember this for when you/your significant other/your aging parent has major surgery. You can thank me then.)
   
• An internet appliance to put off boredom.
  
  
• Audio, either books or music. I wasn't quite with-it enough to read or listen to audiobooks, but music was perfect. I listened to a lot of newer classical music since I got home, music I don't always have the patience for. Zoe Keating, John Cage, Philip Glass. That has been fun. As soon as I finish this post I'm going to be sure my Steve Reich CD gets onto my iPod.
   
• These: 
  
  I couldn't pee fast enough to dump all the fluids I was getting from the IV. Even after I came home I was swollen all over from fluids. I could make it almost all the distance from my bed to the toilet seat before my bladder would let go.  Sheesh. Fun times.

The surgery was Tuesday, June 4 and I came home Friday. Everything went well... until they gave me Cerebrex as an anti-inflamatory.

I discovered that I am allergic.

The post-op surgical and joint pain was nothing compared to the itching. Right now large areas of my body are covered in hives; the swelling in my eyes is nearly gone, and I can sit still for minutes at a time without scratching myself. Oral antihistimines were administered in the hospital to much relief, but they forgot to write an order for them when I was discharged. I suffered over the weekend with Benadryl -- better than nothing, but not much -- until Monday when I got a stronger one.

In other words, all is well again. As proof I offer this: earlier today I was halfway to the bathroom before I realized I had forgotten the walker.

 

When I come home.

Dateline: Monday, June 3. Yay for pre-scheduled posts!

You may remember I have whined about the mess that is my home office. Knowing that I would be using a walker after the surgery prompted me to take care of part of the mess. (I had pretty much cleared my desk about a month ago, so this is an ongoing project.)

Here is the office, before:

Here is the walker.

The basket is our solution to the problem inherent in using a walker: no free hand(s) to carry anything.)

 

You can see the problem -- no clear passage wide enough for the walker to pass.

 

Ta da!

In the process I have filled 1-1/2 bags of office paper to be recycled and filled (actually jammed!) the shredder bin. You can perhaps see that the desk is full of stuff again, but it is mostly stuff that I can easily put away (the plan for later today) rather than stacks of paper that have to be dealt with. Hurrah!

It's Sunday. Where is summer?

1. Progress :: Energy.*
2. Wife :: partner.
3. Denim :: jeans.
4. Wow :: -zers.
5. Jacket :: potato.**
6. Studio :: draft.
7. Boyfriend :: teenager.
8. Tablet :: broken.***
9. Hidden :: secret.
10. Closer :: baseball.

   * A stock my inlaws used to own. I still get statements from the company for some reason.
 ** Apparently I am British.
*** Just got off the phone with Younger Son, who dropped his tablet and cracked the screen. 

* * * * *

I am counting down the days/hours until surgery on Tuesday. Had a update on pre-op physical, all systems are go.

photo credit: Kriatyrr via photopin cc (NOT my hand)

Then I found what appears to be a tick bite on my stomach. We are at ground zero for Lyme disease so I am holding my breath. The blood test for Lyme is not given until 6-8 weeks after the bite; the bull's-eye rash typically does not appear for 7-10 days according to the CDC website. 

Let's all keep our fingers crossed, m'kay?

Do y'all believe me when I tell you about my many surgery delays? I am starting to feel like a girl I knew in college who had an imaginary boyfriend who attended college in a different city. *Jim* always called when she was alone in her room, never when there was anyone else around. She would come running downstairs to where others were gathered and report happily on everything that *Jim* was doing. She talked about him a lot. 

Eventually someone figured out that *Jim* did not exist. I no longer lived in that house so I don't know the details; I do seem to remember she had some kind of mental breakdown and dropped out of school.

Anyway, let me just say that my ailments are real -- unlike *Jim*.

* * * * *

I see that the weather on the Right Coast is extremely hot. Here it is the opposite, either cool and rainy or cooler and sunny. I have not knit on the deck for days weeks.

Summer, the imaginary season.

 

 

Today.

June 4 is The Day.

photo credit: Michael D. Dunn via photopin cc

Got a call yesterday morning from the surgeon's office. Hip replacement is tentatively on for Tuesday, June 4. Nurse still had to clear it with the actual surgeon. I had called last Friday and left a voicemail. Hello, remember me? The hip replacement that hasn't happened yet?

Can a get a whoo? and a hoo? 

photo credit: α is for äpΩL † via photopin cc

Waiting for Godot.

That phantom hip replacement? Postponed again. This is the fifth postponement. Let me just say... ARGHHHH!

Had the pre-op physical last Monday. Doc found a heart murmur, ordered an echocardiogram to check it out. I had been told about 40 years ago that I had a heart murmur but had none of the accompanying signs and symptoms that would indicate a problem. Apparently that is true when one is young, but this doc told me that as we age our heart valves become less flexible, and what was not a problem at 23 may become a problem at 63. Hence, the echo.

Results of echocardiogram: I have a noisy valve, not a defective one. No worries.

So why is the hip surgery postponed? I have a previously unsuspected urinary tract infection. No big deal, except that surgeon will not operate until my urine is clear. And two days of antibiotics was not enough to achieve that. He wants a clear urine culture, not just a clear urinalysis, and the former takes 48 hours and... there just weren't enough days between then and Monday to get there.

Wish I had remembered earlier that I needed the pre-op physical.

* * * * *

On the other hand, the spring weather has been... crappy. This was Friday when I went for the second urinalysis.

The lake is largely clear of ice but not nearly completely. This is the latest ice-out since we have been here, 22 years. The fishing opener is today on a lake farther north. The joke is that the folks there had their ice augers out to make sure their lake was clear.

Okay, now for something cheerful: the top-down sweater with the set-in sleeves is coming along nicely. Here is is drying after its preliminary blocking.

I thought it would be easier to pick up the neckband and button bands if I blocked it first. It may go to Afghans for Afghans or it may go to the Pine Ridge reservation or it may go into a cedar chest to await a possible grandchild. Hard to say...

Drive-by bullet post.

• April 15 was over a week ago.
• Whew.
• I skipped the annual 4/15 party and drove straight back to my bed in WI.
• Pretty much did not get out of said bed until Sunday.
• Late Sunday.
• Saturday was the first day I managed to stay awake all day, hence, the getting up on Sunday.
• Feeling good now.
• Except for the piles of snow that surround the house.
• I think spring may have taken a pass on us this year.
• Smokey reminds me that there was a blizzard on April 22, 1974. He remembers it because he was snowed in at a friend's apartment, and I gave him hell the next morning for not coming home the night before.
• Apparently I give him hell so seldom that when I do, he remembers it for 39 years.
• Such is the secret of a happy marriage.
• Hoping that we have seen the last and final blizzard of winter, 2012-13.
• That would have been Monday night, when I was driving home from a meeting 20+ miles away from home.
• 40mph all the way home, except when I slowed down because 40mph felt way too fast.
• Very little knitting took place during tax season.
• What did occur happened at Knit Night Orphans, who meet every Friday night at a Starbucks in St Paul. 
• That little gathering is the high point of my week during tax season.
• This coming weekend is Yarnover!
• There is a dinner Friday night with all the instructors; keynote speaker is... the Yarn Harlot.
• I shall be there with my handknit socks and shawl, happily hobnobbing with other knitters and knitgroupies.
• I don't remember which two classes I signed up for on Saturday. 
• Must look that up.
• Somewhere.
• Remember that hip surgery I was gonna have in December January April?
• Surgeon rescheduled it for May 6.
• The good thing is that that means I won't be limping around Yarnover completely ibuprofen-less.
• Have to lay off the ibuprofen for 7-10 days before surgery.
• Bad thing is another week of limping and pain.
• Could be worse. 
• No need to remind y'all how; you have watched the news in the past week, too.
• Time to get back to work.

What's happening at my house.

Smokey got a new bucket and tool holder insert for it. This will be his carry-it-to-the-site toolbox.

The second time he tried to show it to me and explain all its finer points, I told him that, nice as it was, it had already received all the attention it deserved.

However, I do need to show you one more thing about the bucket.

* * * * *

Look what I discovered! These are going to be my new go-to lunches at work. <$4 each, often good for two meals.

Even better, look at the ingredients lists:

I could hardly believe it -- everything in that list is REAL FOOD! No multi-syllabiccally named chemicals nor preservatives nor *flavor enhancers*. 

Of course, the real test is in the eating and the tasting, and these prepackaged meals passed those tests with flying colors. I cook up a pot of brown rice periodically and serve half of one of these over a small bowl of it. Yum. (Except for the ones with spinach. I like spinach, but not, apparently, in these. But there are plenty of different choices, so no problem, mon!)

* * * * *

A couple days ago I got a cortisone shot in the hip, so I am walking (largely) pain-free again. 

Life is good.

 

One for my very own.

Look what I got! 

Wanna closer look?

Smokey has had a handicapped parking permit for several years, ever since he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I used his, illegally, when I had a broken ankle and for the past year or so since my hip got really bad.

But now I have my own. It's only a temporary one, good for six months, but ::fingers crossed:: that should be as long as I will need it.

In other news, I got my very own flu shot today. Don't know exactly why I didn't manage to get it earlier, but at least I will have full immunity by the time I go back to work in the germ-ridden city.

42. It's another name for random.

Look at this message I found in my Ravelry inbox yesterday morning:

Is that awesome or is that awesome! I immediately sent her a reply that blathered on about how much I like that book.

* * * * *

Took the Jeopardy qualifying online test last night. 42 was not the answer.

* * * * *

I just looked out the window and DA YEEP IS WORKING! Smokey is currently plowing the driveway, which had not been plowed* since before Thanksgiving. Every time he went out to attempt to plow there was something else wrong with Da Yeep. (This is what happens when a 20-yo vehicle sits for six months. He was never able to get it really ready for winter because of his back surgery/recovery and all the other tasks that got postponed because of it.) But now the battery and the electrical cables and the accelerator cable and who remembers what else are apparently all functional.

As much as I love where I live, I (and we) curse certain parts of it every winter, mainly the hill that is the driveway.

* * * * *

Hip surgery has officially been postponed and is tentatively scheduled for Monday, April 22. Thanks for all your good wishes and kind thoughts and thoughtful opinions. The majority seemed to favor waiting until all the snow and ice are gone, which will make recovery and the required rehab exercise easier. (A good friend likened the surgery to having a baby. She said, "I had one baby in January and one in May, and the May one was waaayyy easier because we could get outside." Having had a December and a May baby myself, I found that thought to be absolutely true.) Those who are even slightly familiar with taxes also thought that skipping a tax season was not the best option.

If I could do whatever I wanted with no thought to consequences, I'd have the surgery ASAP. But I am being an adult about this. 

In the meantime, my PA put in an order for two cortisone injections to keep me relatively pain-free and mobile for the next three months. First one is next Tuesday.

* * * * *

Have I bored you yet? I am always a little surprised when bloggers talk about the details of their life being boring. I find such minutiae of others to be a way of connecting with their lives. We all experience some of the same things, but some stuff is unique to each of us. 

But if minutiae bores you, you probably stopped reading this blog a long time ago.

 

* The ever-helpful folks at Typepad suggest other Typepad blog posts that may be related to what one types in their post. Apparently my reference to plowing caught their attention. This is what they thought you might find interesting:

Related articles

The Art of Plowing

If I'm feeling better, it must be Tuesday.

Let's start out with a bit of slothfulness. Sloths are slothful.

Trivia question of the day: for what delightful cartoon show on Nickelodeon did Mark Mothersbaugh compose music? (Answer buried in the linked Wikipedia article.) (I loved that show.)

* * * * *

I am feeling better today, having spent most of the last two days in bed and/or sleeping. Having an iPad makes lying in bed much less boring; just another wonder of the connected age.

On the hip situation, I am now confronted with this decision:

• Have the surgery in 2-3 weeks and probably not be able to work this tax season. Although I would be recovered enough to return to work by early March, it is really, really difficult to jump into the middle of tax season. The annual learning curve is just too steep.
  
  
• Work this tax season and have the surgery ASAP after April 15. A cortisone shot this week and another in early March would ensure relatively pain-free mobility, and working would give a pleasant boost to the checking account.

What would you do and why? Discuss.

* * * * *

The nurse that I talked to on the nurse line on Sunday ordered me to get a functioning fever thermometer. She wanted to know my temperature and I had to tell her our thermometer was not working properly. I bought that thermometer, an electronic one, last summer so that Elder Son and I could tell if Smokey had a serious infection or just a superficial one. Darned thing insists that everyone's temperature is in the range of 92.4˚F -- 94.2˚F. What with all the kerffluffle during Smokey's recovery, I no longer have the receipt. Damned Wal-Mart. Clearly, it's all their fault.

Yesterday Smokey went on a major errand-running and shopping trip to the Twin Cities. One of his tasks was to purchase a new thermometer. He reports that the traditional glass ones, which I had ordered him to procure, are apparently no longer available. WTF?

* * * * *

And now for a bit of fun knitting.

Yarn: Colorado Yarns Durango, 50/47/3 wool/acrylic/viscose, worsted weight (perhaps discontinued?), ecru and brown.
Pattern: I used Ann Budd's basic mitten pattern from A Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns* for the thumb gusset and did the mittens in 3x1 rib. Recipient's hand is same length as mine but slightly more substantial. Ribbing makes the fit more forgiving.
Needles: Addi Turbo US#7; #6 for contrasting end row and bindoff.

These are for an acquaintance who has a coffee kiosk on the highway in my teeny tiny town. Although she claims it is warm inside her 6'x8' building, she has to keep opening the window to take orders and hand out coffee and make change. I suspect that her hands might welcome these during January. I don't know her well, but I do know her well enough to know she deserves these. (She has the best coffee EVAH!)

A side benefit of making these is that I finally figured out what stash yarn -- the ecru Durango -- to use for a pair of long fingerless gloves for myself. I want them for when I am reading in bed; my hands and forearms get cold, and it is annoying to have to keep pulling my pajama sleeves down when I'm wearing regular fingerless gloves. Yeah, it's a real bitch, I tell ya...

* Do you have this book? If not, why not? It is a great resource when you want to make a basic [thing] and just need a little help on the shaping or the cast-on or something. Or, you can follow it blindly; no shame in that.

* * * * *

Last night I was on the Twitterer. I found it humorously ironic that the most plentiful tweets in my feed were, 1, Chuck Todd (NBC news) live-tweeting the Notre Dame-Alabama game, and b, Amanda Palmer and her followers tweeting about kindness and selflove and how to stop the bullying.

Maybe we should introduce Chuck and Amanda and let them educate each other. Or, really, let Amanda educate Chuck. (Nothing against Chuck Todd. He is one smart dude. But, srsly, which is a more important topic?)

* * * * *

Speaking of the Twitters, did you watch the season premier of Downton Abbey? Of course you did; we all did. Want to relive it through the eyes of a highly jaded but clever sheep? This guy preserved Dolores Van Hoofen's live-tweet of the premier. What a hoot baaaaah!

* * * * *

Today is the twelfth fourteenth day of Christmas so I unplugged the lights on the tree. I'd really like to make a tree cover out of a sheet and just store the whole thing somewhere out of sight until next December. But I will probably just let it sit in the *conservatory* until Christmas. Like I have done for X years.

Once the kids leave home all tradition and semblance of civilization go right out the window.

Update.

Hip surgery is postponed for 2-3 weeks on surgeon's advice. In the meantime I can go back to taking ibuprofen (yay!) and get over this crud (yay!). With the surgery in late January I may not be able to go back to work this tax season (yay?).

I finished a pair of fingerless mitts for a friend last night while we watched Downton Abbey. I'll show them to you soon.

* * * * * 

Also in the meantime, a little something I saw t'ther day.

 

Crud and those who have it much worse and some other stuff.

Smokey backed my car into a hole next to the driveway a couple days ago (coulda happened to anyone). We spent a bit of time this afternoon getting it out. Da Yeep is broken, his 4WD Subaru tried but couldn't do it. A neighbor with a 4WD pickup happened by (what a delightful coincidence!) and pulled it out. As I was watching them I wished I had a camera -- blog fodder! Then I remembered I had my iPod in my pocket.

Here is what I tweeted.

It took a number of tries and an additional, longer tow rope to allow the pickup to be farther up the driverway on the flat part instead of on the hill. But my car is now free.

* * * * *

I have a cold. Later I will call the hospital and try to find out if this URI crud so bad that they will have to postpone the surgery. I do not have much hope that I will be able to get a definitive answer on a Sunday. So we will have to get up @ 4:30 am on Monday to get to the hospital by 6 am, the time I was told to be there. And perhaps end up driving back home.

Crap.

* * * * *

Read this blog post and the comments.

It is hard for me to believe there is so much hatred in the world, in this country, in high schools, on the internet, everywhere. My life is filled with love and it seems that the blogs I read reflect a similar condition in others' lives. How terrible not to have that love, only hatred.

Pondering.

* * * * *

Seen on Twitter (wait for it).  

Not that anyone is counting.

Four days until the hip replacement. 

Per doctor's orders, I had to stop taking ibuprofen last weekend and instead take Tylenol until the surgery. The latter does not work nearly as well as the former for joint pain. Just in case you were wondering.

On the knitting front, I finished Scotty's mittens (New Year's Day) and Younger Son's hat (New Year's Eve) as promised. Cast on for a pair of fingerless gloves for a friend; she runs a drive-through coffee kiosk in town so has to open and shut her window all morning long. Although she claims it is warm inside the kiosk, I bet her hands get cold. Thus, the fingerless gloves.

As an added benefit, I realized that the yarn I am using -- Colorado Yarns Durango -- would be perfect for the extra-long fingerless gloves I want for myself, to wear when I am reading in bed. I have 4 or 5 skeins of the ecru -- plenty! I shall cast on for them next.

Smokey wants a tuque for himself like the ones I made for Harley and Peter. I don't have any more of that yarn, Phildar Pure Laine 3-1/2 DK, and it is discontinued. I have been searching for a suitable substitute. He desires the hat to be wooly and (probably) blue. As I am determined to knit exclusively from stash for the foreseeable future, this has necessitated some serious stash diving. But I may have found the solution: the Rowan Pure Wool 4-ply fingering weight I got when I subscribed to the Rowan magazine. If I double-strand it, it should be roughly DK weight. The tuque requires about 350 yards of DK weight, so that would be 700 yards of the fingering weight; if Ravelry is to be believed, I have a little over 1,000 yards. Score!

It has been snowing nonstop for two days, with a total accumulation <1/4". Such is January on The Great Frozen Tundra.

Ramblings.

My hip replacement surgery is scheduled for Monday, January 7. There may be a slight tremor in The Force that day, but fear not, my friends. Tis only the mightiness of my new hip.

I may have neglected to mention that this was on the horizon. Back in May when I saw the ortho PA and she recommended, among other things, going gluten-free, the x-ray showed my hip was bone on bone. No wonder it hurt. My surgery had to wait until Smokey was recovered from his back surgery, then until after the October 15 tax season, then for a new x-ray and a CAT scan, then for surgeon to get it scheduled.

I am looking forward to this big-time. Surgery does not scare me at all, even though it probably should; this will be my ninth (2 C-sections, 2 polinidal cysts, twice for the broken ankle, a few other things) so I know much of what to expect. The aftermath may be painful but the eventual ability to walk easily should be worth it.

* * * * *

That massive blizzard that hit the Midwest yesterday mostly missed us. We got less than 1/4" of snow but lots of wind and cold. Temp this morning was 6˚F; 18˚ now.

We are not plowed out yet from the last snow dump that occurred almost two weeks ago. Smokey managed to make one plowing pass from the house to the road before Da Yeep broke. And broke again. And possibly again. We can drive from the road to the garage and pole barn that are 75 feet uphill from the house but must walk the rest of the way. Yep, these northern winters do make one hardy. 

Elder Son is supposed to be driving home from Ann Arbor yesterday and today. We have not heard anything from him. I hope he checked the weather before he left and waited a day. (He may be brillliant, but sometimes his common sense falters. Also, his phone appears to be off.) When he does get here I hope he does not attempt to drive down to the house. The two cars blocking the driveway may be enough of a hint.

* * * * *

I was reading blogs in my Google Reader this morning and saw this over at sneezingcow.com, Michael Perry's website:

Al is married to my good friend Colleen. That quote sounds just like him. Al, a retired English teacher, is also notable for having taught Neil Gaiman's son, Mike, at Menominie HS.

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Our geothermal heat system has been giving us fits for several years. The major problem was that the installer's crew(s) knew not what they were doing back in the early aughts, not to mention that the unit we got seems to have been a lemon. After spending thousands (and thou$and$) of dollars having it fixed and replaced and fixed and fixed yet again, we hired a different contractor to replace it. He seems to have somehow missed that fact during the preliminary talks and bid that, while his unit needs 14 gallons/minute to work most efficiently and effectively, our well only produces 6 gallons/minute. So we will perhaps be relying on (expensive!) electric heat to supplement the geothermal. Rats.

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On the (very slightly) bright side, the Christmas mittens for our teenage helper are turning out quite nicely. So nicely, in fact, that I am tempted to make a pair for myself in different colors. 

I'd really like to to show how they look, but a few days ago my computer/iPhoto announced that it could not find my iPhoto library of several thousand photographs. I have searched the hard drive myself to no avail. My Mac Mini had been acting unreliably this fall, so about six weeks ago I hooked up a backup drive and turned on Time Machine to back up my hard drive. Great, I thought, I'll just do a restore. So far repeated Restores have not helped, nor have they actually restored anything. Neither the Apple site nor Google have been particularly helpful so far, either; their tips on fixing iPhoto don't work for my problem.

So you won't be seeing any photos here for awhile...

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Have I bummed you out sufficiently with all my (admittedly minor) complaints? Good, my work here is done.

This is a rebuilding year.

You know how sports teams, when they have lost all their star players and consequently are not winning many games, they call it a "rebuilding year"?

That's what Smokey and I are having in 2012... literally.

But not in the traditional sense. More in the personal sense.

Thirty years ago Smokey fell off a ladder and hurt his back. While it has bothered him for almost the entire time since, the pain has become debilitating in the past couple years. A doctor finally x-rayed it and found that his spine looks like this:

X
X
X
X
  X
  X
  X
  X

No wonder it hurts! It seems to be pinching a nerve so is giving him all kinds of leg pain, too.

Although surgery is not necessarily the best alternative for lower back pain -- rest, pain meds, and proper exercise are -- his problem is clearly a mechanical one that can be solved by surgery. We have hopes that he will be able to resume more-or-less normal activity once he recovers from the surgery, which is scheduled for June 25, the day after his birthday.

I shall be busy this summer waiting on him hand and foot the same way he took care of me when I broke my ankle in 2008. 

Then there is me. I have been suffering from hip pain for about a year and a half. Have had several cortisone injections, which helped. Until the last one, in December, that I didn't think helped... until it wore off in March and I had significant pain. Pretty much constantly. Finally went to the ortho doc last week, they x-rayed, and said things to the effect of "oooh, I bet that smarts!" Turns out that hip is bone on bone, all natural cushioning is gone.

So once Smokey is up on his feet again, probably near the end of summer, I will be having a hip replacement. 

::sigh:: and ::hurrah!::

In the meantime the PA told me to 1, eat 50g of protein a day to ensure my muscles and other tissues are as healthy as possibly and able to heal quickly; B, try to avoid gluten and sugar, as they can promote inflammation (inflammation = pain); and iii, eat lots of dark green leafy vegies like kale, mustard greens, asparagus, and broccoli because they have the trace minerals needed to grow bone; and d, have physical therapy to see if any exercises can reduce my pain in the interval until surgery.

Now, my first thought at eating 50g of protein every day was Whoopee! This will be fun! But it turns out to be not as easy as I thought. 25g of protein is a serving of meat about the size of my fist. Imagine eating that much chicken or fish or steak or seafood twice a day. That is a lot!

The gluten and sugar avoidance will be harder, although I am doing well so far. Chris gave me some brands to look for in the store and also some to avoid. The Glutino crackers have replaced saltines in my crackers & cheese snacks. Rice, quinoa, and oats: fine. Wheat, rye, and barley: no. I bought some rice-based spaghetti that we will try and some non-gluten flour (Bob's Red Mill) that I will try substituting in baked goods. Thanks to Cookie I had already planned to buy some frozen fruit bars -- found some that were no sugar added. 

All this diet stuff will be good for both of us. Smokey is diabetic so should avoid carbs. I have a hunch that if we stick to the high protein, lots of green (and other) vegies, we will lose a few pounds, which will also be good for the surgery and long-term recovery.