Christmas is done for another year...

So, this is the quiet time after the celebration. I am actually pretty pleased to be sitting by the fire, typing on my new shiny macbook pro! Now Doug will use my macbook and there should be no more antsy times over who gets the laptop. :) Besides, I expect him to spend a lot of time in his workshop with HIS new toys. He already has materials for a train table for Jackson.

Christmas was wonderful...family time, celebrations at church and even a white Christmas here in GA!! As a result of that last feature, we had the "day off" from church today, since the roads were icy. So Sarah stayed over an extra night and that in itself is an unbelievable treat! She's home now and, I imagine, happily putting away her new mixer and stuff, and spending time with Sawyer and Kendra and Steve. I love knowing she is happy! Daniel and Mackenzie left last night for Naples so they could beat the worst of the snow, so they are safely there and spending good time with her family. Ben and Jenn and Jackson have enjoyed the snow and are spending time with Jenn's family, including her grandparents who are in town. Doug and I did see them briefly when we went over there so he could install their new garbage disposal. Maybe the least welcomed gift of all time, but I hope they get good use out of it, at any rate. My bad call, that one, I guess...

Well, I have about one month to wait and get ready for my surgery. I have the most clear and vivid object lesson in how NOT to feel sorry for myself, though: Eddie has to have surgery on Tuesday for a torn retina. He apparently will not be in a lot of pain, which is great, and I guess there is significant pain involved in my procedure. However, his recovery involves having to sit or lie with his head DOWN for 45 minutes out of every hour, round the clock, for 3-4 WEEKS. I would much rather be in pain. I cannot even conceive of having to do this, and Eddie is possibly more ansty even than I can be. It's going to be so hard for him! As he said, the Lord is telling him to SLOW DOWN, and really giving him no choice at this point. Guess that is what is going to happen to me, to some extent. But I will still be able to do stuff... Hopefully, I can help out Eddie and Rene' and the kids over January...

So now, after the new year, I need to get the MRI scheduled on my knee so we know what will happen. Need to pick kids' music next week. Need to get Christmas decorations down, clean up the house really well, and clean out the freezer. I hope I can have the Praise Team over for calzones in January and also have Sarah, Steve, Karyn and Misha and also Kendra and Andrew over, again, for calzones. Maybe we can figure out a way for Ben and Jenn to come and we can have a big rock band party!  That will be hard, though, because they will all be really busy. I just really love spending time with those people!

Here's hoping the after-holiday blahs are done quickly. I am so blessed and it's been wonderful....

Onward!

So, good news, mostly!

Went to the doc today to get info and make some decisions about surgery in a few weeks (after the holidays).

I did let him know that I have begun feeling pain in my R knee that pretty much coincides with the ankle pain. Meaning when I have been doing a lot of walking/standing/etc. X-rays did not indicate any arthritic changes in the joints of both knees (good news). He suggested a shot in the knee to see if it will calm down, which he gave me today.  If it still is painful by the first of the year, I will get an MRI and, if indicated, he can scope the joint at the same time he does that ankle. Kind of a two-fer, at least as far as anesthesia goes! Also, staying off it afterwards.  So, I consider that all good.

The other awesome news is that he does NOT think, at this point, that I need the osteotomy part of the surgery. Meaning he will not be cutting into my bones and putting pins in to bring them back into alignment. Makes the recovery MUCH easier. Brings the "success" percentage down a bit (from around 90% to 80%), but I will take those odds!

So, on Feb 3rd, assuming my knee is good, he will scope out the ankle joint to see if there are any rough places that need to be smoothed out, then he will do a Brostrom procedure, meaning he will cut and then re-attach the ligaments in the ankle so that scar tissue will form and make it all nice and tight again. He moved my foot around again and said it was one of the looser ones he had ever seen. So, I win a prize or something. Adding a possible arthroscopic knee procedure to the above won't make that big of a difference, I don't think. Except in his bill :)

The process after that is around 10 days in the post-surgery "splint" (non weight-bearing and mostly elevated to reduce swelling); then 4 weeks in a cast (about one week non-weight bearing, then slowly can put weight on it!!! This is better than what i thought it would be!!!); then 3-4 weeks in a "walking boot" which I will be able to remove to take showers/baths!!! THEN back to the brace I am currently wearing and begin to do PT to loosen and strengthen the joint back to "normal".

It seems I will only have to miss a couple of Sundays/Wednesdays as long as I can put my foot up and sit when possible. So that is good.

Bad news is that all this time in splint/cast/boot  means I will not be able to drive for about 2 1/2 MONTHS. Blerg. I cannot imagine trying to drive with my left foot only. Seems very, very much a bad idea. So I will be depending upon friends and family for a while for that. It will be humbling, to say the least.

All in all, good news, though. We will see how my knee does with this shot and go from there. I am not too worried about that, though. It would have been bad to ignore the pain and then go through all of this with my ankle and then have to go back and do that same knee.

So, bring on the rest of Christmas and now I can know more of what to expect!! Yay!