Not much going on, I went to the knee doctor this morning and was told I am doing great. I asked what I am allowed to do now and he said I could jump out of airplanes if I wanted. I am not up to that yet but I think I will be using canes more then the walker. The bride is doing very well after her surgery. Life is getting back to normal. I have been cutting back on the pain pills so my thinking is slightly clearer, not that it was all that clear before.

They say we may get snow this weekend. I need to make sure the snow blower is up and running. This early in the year I am not too worried about having a lot o snow staying for a long time. I figure what ever we get I can let melt and I should be strong enough soon to run the snow blower.

I am starting to get restless hanging around the house and this is never a good thing. There is only so many reruns of “I love Lucy” I can watch. I want to get out and do something but this is just a passing thing. I believe we will go out for dinner tonight, that will be nice.

Let me update a little from my adventure with the dog. I am down stairs later that evening with the physical therapist doing my stuff. The bride says she is not feeling very well and heads up stairs, after awhile I ask mom if she could check on the bride. Mom comes back down the stairs telling everybody the bride is in tears and on the phone with 911 and ambulance is on the way. The paramedics are at the door in a matter of minutes. The bride put on a stretcher, and loaded up and heading to the emergency room. I tell mom to hold down the fort as I load the walker in the back of my truck. And I am gone. I get to the emergency room and I am giving directions to her waiting room. The ER is packed. No open beds and a waiting room full walking wounded. The bride is in more pain then I have ever seen with her. Two shots of morphine and one a shot of Demerol before the pain eases. Some very good friends (Terry and Lonnie) show up at the hospital to watch and pray with us, plus the associated pastor wife is two floors up having contractions (they are having a baby) and he comes down the pray. They are finding nothing wrong but they do suspect a thing or two. About 10:30 they have not decided if she is staying or not and my legs are killing me. The ER doctor suggests I head for home and Lonnie says she will stay with the bride. Terry gets me a wheel chair and takes me to the truck. I get home to some much needed pain pills and play the waiting game.
The bride gets home about midnight but has to return to the hospital for some additional test in the morning. Long story short she is having her gall bladder removed as I type this. Nobody will let me drive so mom and I sit here and wait. The bride should be home about 7:00 this evening.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and I do have much to be thankful for. Wonderful friends and family, wonderful medical facilities and skilled doctors to help us through life, but most is a God I can relay on

Any of you folks that have read me for while know that I have two dogs willing to run the neighborhood given half a chance.

Since mom has moved up here one of the things she looks forward to is getting the mail. I have told her that she has to make sure that door clicks when she goes out. If not a breeze will open the door and the dogs are gone.

I was laying on the sofa resting (babying) my knees and I suggest that mom goes to check on the mail. With in a minute the back door moves and I can see the increase in light coming from the front of the house. I know what has happened; Mom did not click the door. I am up on my walker to see if the dogs are in the back yard. I thank God Foxy is safe and sound in the back yard. I am flying towards the front of the house. (flying is relative when you are using a walker). Mom is at the mail box in panic as she sees little Dusty running for his freedom. I had grab a bag of doggie treats and the leash handed them to mom and went back to call the bride and grab my truck keys. Mind you I had to be carried into the house by four grown men just last Thursday. I could not make my legs work that well with the new knees. I called the bride and told her what was happening and to get home. She calls me back and tells me that I can not leave the house much less drive. I was almost to the truck and told her to get home quick. I had to fold the walker to fit it in the cab and was amazed that I could climb into the truck. I was off having not a clue on the direction of my dog, and 86 year old mom had gone . I head up and around the block after a couple of minutes I see mom sitting on the curb with Dusty by her side. I pull up and Dusty takes off, the lease was not on the mutt. I open to door and the little turd locker jumps in happy as he can be. Mom gets in and we are on the way home. The bride pulls up just as mom and dog get in the house.



All and all it was not too bad and I will talk to the physical therapist tonight and see if I have been pampering myself just a little too much. It has been two weeks for one knee and one week for the other. But after today I can much improvement. I got back into the house with very little assistance, and I seem to be no worse for wear after my little adventure.

The right knee is gone and I have a bright shinny new one in its place, or so they tell me. It looks like my old knee with a very long scar. The in home therapists should be here in about two hours. I am not sure what this is going to consist of but I don’t think it will be fun. My legs hurt and are very weak. I have not been up stairs since the second knee replacement and have not had good nights sleep in the past three. I can tell things are getting better and I am grateful for that. The day after the surgery the physical therapist came into the room to get me out of bed. I was scheduled to go home Wednesday. They had given me a nerve block to help deal with the pain and it worked great. I felt nothing. Anyway I stood up and nothing worked I went crashing to the floor (the look on the therapist face was priceless) and I was everywhere. This did hurt just a little. Knees seem to work. I looked at them and they were bent one going one-way and one going another. Nurses came running into the room clamoring on the best way to get me off the floor. They went with getting a towel under my butt and a bunch of little hands grabbing corners to lift me up to a stool, a chair and then the bed. I told them I was not leaving the hospital until the next day. I here to tell you that mom and the bride could not handle me if I went down at home, they would have to 911 my butt.

My plans were to take the month of November off but I may just take of to the first of the year.

I have been dabbling in the stock market for about a year now. There has been wheeling and dealing market tumbles and recoveries money lost, money gain. After one year I have lost the grand total of 9 cents. I am going to play with this just a little longer and if I still about even I think the money is going into the bank.

I had my left knee replaced and I was released from the hospital next day. I am doing the physical therapy and it HURTS. I strap my leg into a machine a couple, three times a day and it manipulates my leg. I can control the amount of extension and flex . But you have to push the limits to get any benefit. The Doctor likes his patients to spend 6 hours a day on the machine. I have not worked up to that yet. Some folks sleep with their leg in the machine. I tired that the first night in the hospital and after 1 ½ hours I pushed the snivel whine button and had the staff take the thing out of my bed. I may try it tonight and see how well I do.

I am home from the cruise and all is well. I have to be honest in saying that this is the roughest cruise I have ever been on. The storm Noel played havoc with us. The worst night we were in 20 foot seas. It was hard to walk and it was rough every day. All the activities went on as scheduled. The crew severed dinner every night, the shows were wonderful all and all we had a great time.

I did develop a head cold that still has me down some. Tomorrow I go in for the first of my procedures. They are putting in a screen to catch blood clots. Then Tuesday I get my left knee replaced. As I was unpacking from the trip taking suitcases down stairs I slipped and went down about the last three steps of the stairs. I bent my left leg back as far as it would go. I have to tell you it hurt. It seems to be alright now it hurts a little more then it did before the fall, such is life. I need coffee