Hot - And The Living Aint So Easy

I dont know where this blog entry is going, but I just felt a need to write.

WEATHER - The weather here in MN is beastly hot and not rain. The grass that isnt being watered is brown and prickly and we are told not to water more then for 15 min every 3rd or 4th day. I hardly think that will keep our lawns alive. But our lawns are not the problem. If they go dormant,, so be it, but my heart goes out to the farmers who make a living on getting timely rains. It seems that in the upper midwest this summer, it is drought or a dilouge of rain. Wonder if it is a sign of the times. With all the fighting that is going on in the mideast and the starnge weather, the book of Revelations seems to be coming to life!!!

RECOVERY - My recovery from knee replacement surgery is coming along good. Next Monday I go back to my doc for the follow up check up. I hope he is pleased. The physcial therapist is happy with my progress (I of course wish it were more, impatient me). Yesterday when I was there, I got my knee bent to 115 degrees. That is the desired bend the doctors want you to eventually get back to,, and I made it!!!! That called for pizza last night. We have eaten out very little since the surgery, in my last blog I told of the bad reaction I got from the last time, but last night it was good.

MONEY - - - The love of it really is the root of all evil. The lack of it casues hardships. The want of it causes us to be envious and overspend. Abundance of it can make people gluttons in all areas of thier life. No wonder the Bible talks about money alot!!! The one thing I do know is that with God's help we need to be in control of it. We need to bow our wants and desires to God, and not indulge ourselves in things that we neither need or can afford. Be it a $1 item or a $10,000 item. Seems to be a hard lesson to learn!!

WORK - I really feel like I am a most blessed person in my job. In fact, I KNOW that my job is a direct gift from God. I have fantastic bosses and I enjoy my work very much. This past week was a challenge for me however. One of our banks somehow lost the first 10 days of our rental receipts. This of course is when the majority of our rental income comes in. They have looked all over for them, including Oregon where one employee told them they were sent (why?? beats me) and finally told us that we needed to contact all the writers of those checks and have them stop payment and reissue. One good thing is that they are going to reimburse any stop payment fees that will be charged. Also today, the bank sent me flowers. Wishing me a speedy recovery and an appology for all the work. That was very nice of them. The deposit drama made my return to work after the knee surgery,,,,,, well, very interesting to say the least!!

Well I guess that is about all that I am going to ramble on about for now. I pray that today God will bless you and make you aware of His prescense in your lives.

Hugs
Sandi

Recovering

Well it has been one month and one day since my knee replacement surgery. Yesterday I had a melt down. Starting Thursday night I was so totally exhausted, I went to bed and slept all night and slept as well as I can these days. I woke up feeling like I could hardly get out of bed, so I didnt. I decided not to go to work. I had brought some work home with me, so I did that and stayed in bed and cried for probably half the day. I felt like I was never going to get completely well. Altho when I look back from where I was the day after the surgery to where I am now I know I have come a long way. I guess I had false expectations of how quick the recovery would be. I know that the doctor told me I would be off work for 4 - 6 weeks and in reality, I started working from home 10 days after the surgery. In retrospect, I do think I went back a bit too soon. I was back in the office the 3rd week. I have not made it a full day yet and I dont expect this week will be full days, but I am aiming to extend the hours I am there. I think that my body has not had enough rest. I really do. When I went to the physical therapist on Thusday she told me that I was doing so well. That I was strong and doing extremely well and my knee I got to bend to 109 degrees. I do walk around the house without a cane over half the time, but when I go out, I still feel I need that bit of security. Anyway, the physical therapist asked how often I did the PT and I told her twice a day. She told me that was OK, but that I should not do it more often then that as the body needs time to heal too. Sooo, maybe my taking yesterday to just rest was OK. Today I made waffels for breakfast and helped Jim clean up the kitchen, I went to Costco with Jim and when I came home, I cleaned the bathroom and mopped the kitchen floor. I was REALLY tired when I was done with that. Anyway, that is where I stand with the road to recovery.

Tonight we went to a Chinese buffet. I dont think I overate, but my body is not reacting well to that food. My belly has been complaining almost since we got home and I and the bathroom has been my home about half the time. UGH!! Hope this gets over with soon. NOT fun.

It is my grand daughters birthday today. She is 15. I tried to call her but she was out on a walk with her friends. In a bit I am going to try again and see if the phone is not busy. With 2 teenagers in that household, it is hard to find a time thier phone isnt busy.

Well just an update for anyone who cares.

Hugs
Sandi

Knee Replacement Done!!

Here it is 3 1/2 weeks after my knee replacement. Was it worth it? The jury is still out on that. But I am told that I have to wait 6 weeks to find the pain gone and 6 months for complete rehabilitation to be done.

The days in the hospital after the transplant were horrible. Besides not being able to move my right leg even a half an inch I was sick sick sick. I could not eat for the entire time I was in the hospital and threw up for the first 2 days and was nausiated the next day and went home on the 4th day. After I got home, things started to look up. Hubby brought me home Friday around noon. By 8 that night I think he was ready to take me back to the hospital. I was so totally dependent on him. That is tough for a guy that had lived alone for 17 years before we got married just a little over 2 years ago. I believe he was VERY happy when my daughter arrived at 11 that night. Even tho she brought all the wonderful grandkids with her. (Sometimes a trying thing for him). They stayed for 10 days and by the time they went home I was able to get in and out of bed by myself so it wasnt soooo much work for him. He has been a champ tho. From making dinner for me, to helping me with my shower, to helping with me with my rehab excersises twice a day. I am so glad that he is semi retired and can be home most of the time with me.

This past week I went to work for a few hours on Tue, Wed and Thur. I worked 3 1/2 hours on Tue and Thur and just 1 1/2 hour on Wed. I was TOTALLY beat after Tue and really struggled most of Wed. But I did good after Thur. I did not go to work today, but did work from home. I have been working from home since 10 days after the replacement.

The thing that I am finding so hard with the replacement is this "band" that feels like is going up and down the front of my leg and bending my knee makes it feel like I am stretching it so hard it is going to pop. But I hear this is normal too.

My left knee which also has degenerative arthritis in it has been doing SOOOO much of the work has been hurting quite a bit lately. As I write this today, I say "I wont do this again". I can only hope that in 6 months from now, I will be able to say, "Yea, if my left knee needs it I will do it". But it is no cake walk.

We belong to a small group from our church. They have blessed us so tremendously by bringin us meals every other night for the last 2 weeks. They wanted to do it for another week, but it is time that I get back in the kitchen and help Jim cook and we will do great. I am actually getting stir crazy from being home so much. Today I decided that I needed to do some cleaning and actually picked up the stuff that has been laying around the house. And doing a bit of cleaning.

I wanted to go out to a store tonight just to get out, but Jim had to do some softball stuff. Tomorrow he is involved with a softball tournament all day. It is to be over 100 degrees here tomorrow. Hope he and all the girls and coaches do OK in that heat.

Through this knee replacement I am so thankful to God for being with me and for giving us such a wonderful circle of friends and family that have been holding us up in prayer. My prayer is that God will pour out on the blessing upon blessing.

Until next time

Hugs
Sandi