The Sandcastle

Several years ago I had both my knees replaced with mechanical ones. The left one is fine; the right one is still painful under some conditions.

At my first post-surgical appointment with my surgeon, I reported that pain. She said I was still healing. At the next appointment with her I again reported the pain but she still advised giving it time.

A year later she was gone so I was referred to a different orthopedic surgeon. I reported the pain to him and said I thought it was related to the malfunctioning CPM machine which pulled on my leg during rehab after the surgery causing excruciating pain. I thought that had torn some tendons. He said the x-rays showed nothing wrong with the replacement itself so it sounded like a soft tissue problem–which, of course, was what I said. Then he told me the way they look at soft tissue injuries is with an MRI but they can’t do an MRI on a metal knee because they only see static. The only way to look at that tissue is by opening the knee! NOT! Too soon!

So for about five years I continued living with this pain and letting let it restrict my activities to an unhealthy level.

I finally got tired of that and made an appointment to see the second orthopedic surgeon again. He read his notes from that previous visit which said my ligaments are fine–he never told me that. He said those notes indicate he suspected Regional Pain Syndrome–he never told me that. He does not operate for Regional Pain Syndrome–he never told me that.

So now he wants to refer me to a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation specialist for consultation.  It’s hard to get those appointments but, in time, I should be able to get one. Why didn’t he tell me that when we still lived here?!!!

He said there are several different things the specialist could try–therapy, meds, and what is in effect rebooting my system by disconnecting a nerve and letting it heal again. It seems nerves can remember pain and express it inappropriately. This is what sometimes happen to amputees who can have an itch in a nonexistent foot. In that case it is a failure to stop communicating.

So, I can either try to get in to see someone someplace where we’ll be stopped long enough to do this or I can call about two months before we come back next summer to schedule an appointment then.

Oh, joy!

TTYL,

Linda

I had the last of our scheduled medical appointments this afternoon. Not all the report cards are in yet, but no one has yet called in a panic and said we need you back soon.  So we have a model railroad operating session tonight and another one next Friday night then, on August 22nd, we’ll be singing every RVer’s theme song: Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.”

It been a challenge being in a park where we have no yard to speak of and no guest parking. How do we invite over all those people we want to see? We finally had a family gathering at Dave’s sister’s mother-in-law’s house but we still haven’t seen Dave’s former co-workers yet. Come on, guys, someone pick a time and place and let’s do it! The best we can offer is a gathering at the local Perkin’s Restaurant then carpooling down the hill for those who want to see our new house. Do you want to do that?

We also have friends in Scandia we’d like to spend more time with but Scandia is a 70 mile drive one way from our campground and that’s a long way to go for short visit. We do see them at some of the operating sessions so that may have to do it for this year. Next year we’ll try to park closer to them.

We will be back.

TTYL,

Linda

Isn’t it amazing how one medical appointment can lead to another?

We weren’t surprised that Dave’s dentist appointment led to another because his teeth are falling apart just like his mother’s teeth did. But, we didn’t know I would walk out with an appointment with an oral surgeon to see if there’s anything that can be done about my upper lip injury from last year’s Segway “incident”.

Then, yesterday I went to see my primary physician and I walked out of there with orders for:

Lab work, of course.

An order for an x-ray of my right knee, the one still giving me problems.

An order for a mammogram.

An appointment for a colonoscopy.

An appointment for a bone density scan.

An appointment for a blood pressure follow-up check.

And an appointment for an orthopedic consultation to decide if we should open up my knee again to fix what broke all those years ago in rehab from my knee replacements.

Dave is seeing his primary physician right now. I wonder what appointments he will bring home?

TTYL,

Linda

As I age my fingers appear to be getting more stupid. This becomes evident as I read my own writings. This leads me to the urge to write this preface to my future blogs:

“There are no errors in this writing. If you find what appears to you to be a mistake in spelling, punctuation, or grammar be assured it was intentionally put there so there is no need to notify the author of your find.”

Of course, if I do that my fingers’ stupidity will stay out there for all the world to continue reading. Is that what they really want? I’d ask them but I don’t trust their answer to make sense.

TTYL,

Linda

We used to be soccer fans. We even had season tickets to the Minnesota Kicks professional soccer team. In soccer one of the most exciting things is a free kick. One guy gets to kick the ball towards the net while the opposing team’s goalie tries to guess which way to jump to block the ball. From the sidelines, it is sometimes hard to see if the ball went into the net or not. So we wait for the call: goal or no goal?

In life we were taught to set goals and to make specific plans for reaching those goals. I was never very good at this. I always wanted to do whatever I felt like doing not what I “should” be doing.

Now we are retired and traveling across the USA. Our friends say we write our goals in chalk so they can easily be changed. Others write theirs in Jell-O since the plans wriggle around so much, sometimes melting altogether.

I’m still making lots of plans that I’m not very good at following.

Today, I read a blog that said in effect, “Good for me.”

Check it out: http://zenhabits.net/no-goal/#more-6667

TTYL,

Linda