My QR Code Quilt - "Riverwoods Ramblings"

Some time ago, I found a website that gave me a QR code that when scanned, it takes you to my blog. When I downloaded and printed it, my immediate thought was, "Wow!  That would make a neat quilt!"  I finally decided to make the quilt. I took the printed code and drew red lines to divide it into individual squares - 33x33 for 1089 squares. 

 

I counted the number of black squares and the number of white squares. I decided to make the squares 2" finished. I then figured the number of 2 1/2 inch strips I needed to cut to yield the correct number of 2 1/2" squares. 

Once the squares were cut, I set about to stack up the rows in the correct order and number. (I love these little flat, numbered pins!)

 

 I worked on 4 rows at a time, chain piecing, being VERY careful to keep the squares in order within the individual row and not to mix up which row I was working on. (Ask me how I know how important that is!!)

Ordinarily, I would press seams to the dark, but there was no way to do that, so I pressed all seams of the odd-numbered rows to the left and all seams to the right of the even-numbered rows.

This let the rows "nest" together quite nicely when sewing one row to another without using any pins. 

All this would appear to be quite easy - just sewing squares together. NOT. Have you tried to sew black to black?? And get the edges evenly matched?? First of all I had to have extra light, so my Ott light came in very handy. 

Even then, it was still a challenge! It was easy enough to match the white to white or white to black...

But it was entirely a different story when you had to match the black to black....

 

It was very important to sew a consistent 1/4" seam since there were so many squares, so I had to really concentrate to make sure that was done. 

When I was all finished piecing the top, I took it out in my backyard and hung it from my fence.  I held my breath as I scanned it with my iPhone to see if it really would take me to my blog. I didn't want to start quilting it until I knew for sure - even though I had checked and rechecked it with my pattern. 

YAY!!! Sure enough!! It worked!!

So I set about to quilt it. I decided to just stitch in the ditch with invisible thread. I'm not terribly pleased with the quilting since the invisible thread shows up on the black. But when you get back from it, it certainly is not visivble. It's just that I *know* it....and my perfectionistic tendencies sometimes drive me crazy!  

I have it finished now and as soon as I get a chance to take a picture of it, I'll post it. 

I think it is quite unique, and I like it, but it will be awhile before I sew black to black on a large scale again!

Sunday Evening Walk

Annie loves to go for a walk, and I *need* the walk, so off we went after supper.

There was a breeze blowing so it was quite nice - just a slight cooler temperature than earlier.

 

Yep, I used to love to walk that trail, but on the other end is a long steep incline to get back on the road to our house. I just don't think my foot is up for it yet.

The sky tonight is coral colored even in the east and north. What is it they say, "Red in the morning, sailor take warning. Red at night, sailor's delight"?  

 

Very pleasant walk indeed!

 

Waaaaayyyy Behind!!

Oh, dear!  I've got so much to share and am so far behind, I don't know where to start.  Just overwhelmed with it all.

First of all, we spent the month of October in Kansas at our little house there in Little River.  We went back to check on the farm and on the house.  Prior to our arrival - sometime that month before - a terrible hail storm went though the area.  Hutchinson, where we lived before moving to Alabama (30 miles south of LR), got it far worse than Little River - hail the size of grapefruits!  Nevertheless, we got golf ball size hail, and it totaled the roof, punched holes in the siding on the north end of the house and battered the large awning over the deck on the back of the house to pieces.  Thankfully the roof did not leak.  While still in Alabama, we had contact with our insurance company and adjusters were sent - several times.  So while we were in Kansas, we hoped to make contact with the roofing company and find a siding company as well.  One man came from Great Bend and sounded quite enthused and willing to do the siding, but he just never got back with us on a bid.  Meanwhile, we contacted another company who had many signs in yards all over town, and he gave us a bid on residing the whole house.  Yowza!!!  $$$$$  BUT he could side the whole house for about twice what it would cost to do one end which the insurance company was paying for.  This would also involve "wrapping" the window frames - more $$$$.  Anyway, we agreed to kind of do it in hitches - siding now, windows in the spring.  Who knows when the roof will be replaced (which the insurance is going to cover).  You have to have temperatures above 50 degrees to roof, so it may not get done until spring.

We also wanted to have the backyard fenced, so that we didn't have to take Annie out on a leash every time - that's a pain!  We called one man, who said he was ill (and sounded like it), so he didn't show up at the appointed time.  We ended up going with Lowe's.  After making all the arrangements, we waited nearly a week for them to call us to come out and get started.  I finally called, and they were waiting on us to come pay.  Well, it would have been nice to know that!  As it turned out, he came out to drive some stakes in the ground the day before we were leaving to come home. 

Soooooo.....all that time there, talking with lots of contractors, and not a lick of work actually got done!  Shortly after we got home, the fence contractor's office called to ask me to sign off on the fence job, and I told her I didn't even have any proof that it got done!  I told her to have the contractor take pictures of the finished job and email them to me, and then I'd sign off on the job.  Well, here we are a half a month later and no pictures.  I finally called the next door neighbor there to ask her if they got our fence put up, and she said, "No, I just see some posts in the ground on the north side."  I guess there is no real hurry since we are not there and won't be until next April.  Hopefully when we go back then, we'll have a fenced in backyard, a new roof, and new siding (and awning).

Anyway, we had a great time - just pretty much doing nothing.  Jeannine and the girls came back for a long weekend in the middle, and we certainly enjoyed spending time with them.  The girls are in a new charter school where they are learning all kinds of crafts along with their regular school work.  Here they are playing with clay.

They both learned to "finger knit" which I had never really heard of. 

Jeannine said they are also learning to knit with needles they made out of sticks they sanded into round and pointed needles.  Since they got into the school after the school year started, Sofia had not learned how to knit with needles, so Grandma gave her a lesson, and she caught on very well. 

 

This was Sunday morning getting ready for church.  The girls had on their shirts that I applique embroidered, and the matching skirts I had made.  Aren't they so sweet?!?!

 

 

Jeannine brought her little rescue dog, Pippin.  Boy was he a scrawny thing!!  Bless his heart!

 

 

He was sleeping in Annie's bed here.



We also had to eat at Jeannine's favorite restaurant - Taco Hut.  Gotta love those Sancho dinners!!

The weather was actually pretty nice the whole time there.  It was in the upper 60s and low 70s.  There were even a couple days where the wind didn't try to blow the hair off your head!
Oh, wait!  I forgot!  It did snow one of the days we were there!

It snowed enough that the girls made quite a snowman in the backyard.  I didn't get a picture of it until the next day where it was warm again, and he was starting to melt.  I thought he kind of looked like the Alabama elephant mascot by then.  :)  Roll Tide Roll!!!!!!!

We went to a Friday night high school football game.  That was a trip!  A trip back in time!  I remember so well playing in the pep band - trying to keep my mouth piece warm on those cold nights. "Loyal and true, we pledge allegiance to you..."  Yep, I remembered all the words to the fight song!   And it was a cold night that night, too, with a major cold front that moved in.  I sat there looking at all the young people who had familiar looks to their faces, but didn't know to whom they belonged.  One lady sitting in front of us, Jackie, was a year ahead of me in school.  I looked at her, and she looked just like her mother did back then.  Her daughter sitting next to her looked like Jackie did back then.  And the daughter's son was one of the football players.  We skipped a whole generation!  Here we were now the grandparents sitting in the stands, and I sat there wondering if I looked just like my mother did back then.....

One thing I really enjoyed while there was going to the day and evening quilt guilds I used to belong to when I lived in Hutchinson.  I was a charter member on the Evening Star Quilt Guild, and there was only one other charter member still attending now - my quilt buddy from then - LaRue.  I was able to talk with her on the phone and then visit at the meeting.  It was great fun seeing some of the day guild members that I knew as well. 

I also attended a quilt show in a little town nearby and sitting at the greeters' desk was a nurse I used to work with when I lived in Lyons and worked at the doctors' office.  What a great reunion that was!!  Here are some quilts from that show.  This first one I liked because I have a wall hanging made from the red rose fabric.

 

This one was about the size of a sheet of paper.  Done with that special twist-it ruler.

I like this one because it's Christmas, and it is a row quilt.  I've always wanted to make a row quilt.

I liked the kaleidoscoping affect in the center of each block. 

This one was a picture quilt, celebrating someone's anniversary I think.  It reminded me of the one I made for Mom and Dad's 60th anniversary.

 

This little wall hanging had a lot of thread painting on it.



I had heard there was possibly a quilt shop in another little nearby town of Alden.  I had never been to that town all the years we lived there.  But I knew where it was and figured, how hard could it be to find a quilt shop in this tiny town??  Someone said it was across from the café.  As I entered the town, I saw a sign to turn left to the café.  It turned out that just about the only thing in town was this café and the quilt shop!  The shop took up about 4 store fronts and that was just about the length of the downtown part of town!  :)  They were the friendliest people in there!  They had fabric all over the place - from one room to the next to the next.  I saw this one quilt in progress on a table, and just had to have that fabric and pattern!  It was all about roosters.  I thought that would look nice in the house in Little River.  So I bought it and sewed it up before leaving to come home.  I just have to quilt it now.  The tan fabric has a chicken wire design.

Now we're back home and into our normal routine - pretty much.  I didn't do any physical therapy while I was in Kansas, although I took a prescription for it with me.  I did my exercises faithfully, and gradually, I went from 2 crutches to one, and then none.  My foot is healing pretty well, although I still have some tenderness when I walk.  BUT the big thing is my knee.  That gives me the most trouble when walking. 

Before going to Kansas, I went to a doctor for my knee, fully expecting him to tell me I needed a knee replacement, since another doctor had told me 4 years ago that I needed one.  However, after looking at the x-rays, he said I did not meet the criteria for a total knee replacement.  The inner part of my knee was bone-on-bone, but the outer part appeared to have adequate cartilage.  He had me flex and straighten my knee, and then he said, "Most people who need a knee replacement can't straighten their leg out or bend it like you can."  Well, the only reason I could do that was all the physical therapy I had been having getting ready for the knee surgery.  Also, I had not tried the conservative treatment route first - NSAIDS, cortisone shot, and PT.  So I left with the conservative treatment plan.  After a month to 2 months on that plan, my knee is no better - maybe even a bit worse.  So I returned to him after coming home from Kansas.  I told him nothing worked, and I'm still in pain when walking.  Was I a candidate for a partial knee replacement?  After poking around on the outside of my knee as well as the inside and feeling pain everywhere, he said I wasn't a candidate for a partial knee.  My whole knee was involved, so he asked me when I wanted to schedule the total knee replacement surgery.  He didn't seem to bat an eye this time.  At first I thought I'd wait until the week after Thanksgiving, but then changed to the week before.  He told me Guy would HAVE to take a week off to be with me, so I figured it would be easier for him to take off the week of Thanksgiving than the week after.  So the surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, the 20th.  He will only have to take off Wednesday and Thursday of that week since he has Fridays off anyway.

I had forgotten that Mark had obtained tickets for Guy and I to the Alabama/Chattanooga game the 23rd.  RATS!  I was SO looking forward to going to that game.  I've been wanting to go to an Alabama game for so long.  Mark said he'd get more next year and that I should go on and get the surgery over with.  I'm a little nervous about this surgery.  I didn't really get nervous over the foot surgery, and there was no pain beyond the initial few days after surgery, because it was immobilized for 11 weeks.  I know there is going to be pain with the knee, because you have to start moving it right away - and keep moving it.  I know you have to work really hard in PT.  I can do that - I did it with my foot.  I just want it to all be over - and 6 months down the road!

I'll close for now and continue with the rest of the update perhaps tomorrow.

Been a busy week.....

Several times this last week I thought I'd catch up here, but just never got to it.  I've been going to PT 3 times a week and working hard there.  And then I have a ton of exercises I have to do at home. My foot is doing pretty well - still some tenderness on the bottom, but my knee is still the major problem. Robert has got my range of motion going well and my extension and flexion measurements are good.  I can ride the stationary bicycle for 10 minutes on the 3rd level with no problem.  And most of the exercises I can do with little problem - all except WALKING!  I just cannot walk without my knee hurting.  I still need to use at least one crutch.  Friday he worked more on my gait.  I started Mobic (an NSAID) for a week with no change.  I called the Dr.'s office to see if they would change me to another NSAID - Lodine.  Back when I first started doctoring for my foot, the first doctor put me on Mobic and when it did nothing, he changed me to Lodine.  As I recall, it did nothing for my foot but helped my knee.  So the knee doctor changed me to Lodine.  I've only been on it a couple days, so I can't really tell any difference yet.

In the meantime, I've been doing some research on partial knee replacement, and from what I've read, it seems to me that I'm a perfect candidate for that.  Those are appropriate for people who have one part of the knee affected, but the rest is OK.  That's me.  The inner part of the knee joint is bone-on-bone, but there is good cartilage everywhere else.  The inner aspect is the part most commonly affected in most people.  PKRs are not nearly as invasive as total knees, and the recovery process is considerably quicker.  The PTs say that they've worked with those who have had PKRs, and they do very well.  So I will get a 2nd opinion and check into this the 1st of November.  That will give me a whole month on the medication and lots of PT.  If any of the conservative treatment is going to work, it will surely do so within that time.  I've got a prescription for PT in KS if I feel like I need it.  Otherwise, I'll just continue my exercises and hope I don't go backwards.  I'd still like to save some PT visits in case I have surgery later in the year.

The rest of the time during the week was getting ready for our Kansas trip.  One of the things I wanted to do was make a couple outfits for the girls.  I'm making a skirt with two different fabrics and then applique embroidering an "S" on a shirt for Sofia and an "M" on Maya's shirt.  I got the initials on the shirts, and they turned out well.  I got Sofia's skirt done except for the elastic in the waist.  When I went to cut Maya's skirt (different fabric), I cut it wrong!  Just as soon as I made the cut with the rotary cutter, I knew I had done it wrong.  Boo!!  And of course I didn't have enough fabric then.  :(  The next day I called Sew Delightful in Tuscaloosa where I bought the fabric.  As I described the fabric, she looked up my ticket and knew exactly what I needed.  HOWEVER, they had sold out of it.  ARGH!  She said she was pretty sure I could go online and find it.  I did, and I found it.  I ordered it to be sent to the KS address.  Hopefully it will come in time, and I can finish it before Jeannine and the girls come to visit, since they are planning to come while we are there.  She just doesn't know exactly when yet.

We always stay in Conway, AR, when we go to KS.  That is about half-way, and we have a hotel we like.  They allow pets and have a good hot breakfast.  The drive today was about the easiest we've ever made and the quickest.  Going through Memphis was a breeze, and the I-40 (perpetual) construction only slowed us up about 10 mph.  So that was a breeze, too.  We usually get here about supper time, but we arrived a little after 4:00 pm today.  The weather was just perfect until I came out from checking in at the hotel, and before we could get anything unload, the sky opened up and POURED on us!!  Thankfully it didn't last long.  With all the stops we made along the way and all the going outside at the hotel, Annie has not done her business ALL DAY!!  I don't know how she can hold it that long.

I don't think I've packed enough warm clothes.  I've heard from several that it is cold in Kansas.  When I looked at the long-range forecast, it looked as though it was going to be pretty pleasant while there - 70s-80s the first week and then into the 60s the rest of the time.  I saw that the lows would be in the 40s.  I don't think I'm quite ready for that!  I didn't pack any regular sweaters.  I did put in several long pants, and long-sleeved T-shirts and a couple cardigans to wear, along with a front-zip sweatshirt.  I couldn't fit anything else in my suitcase.  It seems that every time we go, we have the truck so full, you can squeeze in another blade of grass.  This time we didn't want to mess with a tarp, so everything had to go in the bed of the pickup with the flat top Guy has over the bed and in the cab.  I wonder if we'll ever get finished with taking stuff to the house there.  We still didn't get everything we wanted to take in this trip.  There are still pictures and another bedside table yet to go.  Maybe next time.  BUT I got my sewing machine, table, and quilt fabric in the truck!!!  First things first, you know!  :)  There wasn't room for the sewing chair, though.  I just need to buy one and leave it there.  It is such an unhandy shape to pack anyway.

Well, Annie has found her spot!

More Gifts.....

61.  Safe trip to Conway, AR. 

62.  Minimal traffic all the way today.  

63.  Able to listen to the Alabama game on the iPhone, even though it was a Georgia station - with announcers who were very complementary of our team. 

64.  The very friendly young man who waited on us at IHOP tonight. 

I guess there is a sucker born every day....

A few years ago, we left Charter TV and went to Direct TV satellite service.  I can't remember exactly why we did that, but we did.  We both hated it!  The biggest problem was that when you needed a television the most - right at the height of a bad storm - we would lose the satellite signal. And you know the kind of storms we have here in the south in the spring time!  And we get lots of rain.  When James Spann is telling you where that tornado is - practically street by street - you want to make sure your TV is ON!  So we got fed up with it, and paid to get out of the contract early.  We went with AT&T U-Verse - mainly because we were offered a "deal."  Well, as it turned out that "deal" ended up quite expensive and never seemed to be the amount we were promised.  The TV was fine; I didn't really have any beef with it - it was just costly.

Several weeks ago, I was in Best Buy and was approached by someone who asked who our TV provider was.  I could see he was a Direct TV salesman, and I told him I was doing just fine with what I had - in fact I had paid to get out of a contract early with his company, and I had no interest in what he offered.  He kind of chuckled and walked off.

Then last weekend we were again in Best Buy.  A Direct TV salesman approached my husband and began to give him "the pitch."  He listened and then brought me into the conversation, but I told the man the reason why we got rid of his company early the last time we had satellite TV.  He assured us that the equipment was all new technology now - that 99% of the time our reception would not go out, and it would be constant in a storm.  When he found our old dish was mounted on a pole, he said that was our problem before - there was too much vibration in a storm.  After all the discounts he would give us, the cost per month was over $100 less than what we were currently paying.  All the added benefits of Direct TV plus the deceased amount each month sounded tempting.  Plus we would get a $150 gift certificate to Best Buy.  I called AT&T, and we were no longer under contract with them, so it would cost us nothing to discontinue service with them.  Of course, they tried to keep us by offering to add channels to our current service AND reduce the amount of our bill for 6 months.  When I asked what it would be AFTER 6 months, of course it was more than what we were paying now.  I promptly told them NO!  So, to save money, we decided to give Direct TV another try.   I told the salesman, "If I get to bad weather season, and our reception goes out, I'm coming back to chew your ear off!" The installation appointment was made for last Tuesday which I had to put off to Thursday due to the doctor's appointment for my knee.

Thursday arrived and the installation tech arrived.  When he looked outside to see that we already had a dish, he told me that the dish we had used previously was the same they use now.  Even the center apparatus was the same as what we had before (i.e. no new technology).  That had been updated about 3 years ago.  The only thing that was updated now is the receivers - the boxes that go in the home.  They are about 3"x4" now.  I told him, "Oh, wait a minute now!  Do you mean to tell me that there is not "new technology" that will give me continuous reception in a storm???!!!"  He said, "No, whatever reception you had before is what you'll have now.  It is like shining a laser at something - if you put a piece of paper in between, you'll cut off the signal.  It is the same way with rain and with cloud density.  That's why we don't like to install them on really cloudy days, because you can't get a real good signal."  When I asked him about it being mounted on a pole, he said the pole we had was solid in cement.  That was not the problem.  AARRGGHH!!!  I said, "So what you are telling me is that lousy salesman just fed me a line?!"  He looked kind of sheepish, hung his head a bit, and said rather softly, "Well.....pretty much. I'm not going to lie to you."   AARRGGHH!!!  I told him to wait a minute - that I had to make a phone call, because we may not even want this!  I called Guy, and furiously told him all the tech had told me.  Guy reminded me that the salesman also told us that even if our TV reception went out, we could stream our local channel over our computers, so we could still get the weather reports as long as we had power.  The tech again told me that if the satellite goes out, there is no streaming over your computer other than through your internet - not the satellite.  Well, there you go....salesman lied again!  Guy and I mulled it over and decided that we would go ahead with it because it was saving us enough money, and we can stream the local channels over our internet, which we are leaving with AT&T (because we don't want the hassle of changing our email addresses everywhere!).  I said, "Well, in two years, we'll probably be ready to change service providers again anyway."  So I went back to the guy and told him to install the equipment.  He did put a new apparatus in the center of the dish since the old one had been sitting out there over two years, and this was a new contract.  We have several months until our main storm season rolls around.  We'll see what happens then.  Actually, Alabama has it's 2nd tornado season in November, so I guess we'll find out then.

As he was installing the equipment, he told me that the TV out on the screened in porch is too old for the connections, so we won't be able to hook that one up.  It was hooked up with AT&T service through a splitter, but splitters don't work with satellite.  Guy sits out there and watches TV a lot in the evenings in the spring, summer and fall.  Oh, well.....no more.  The TV we had out there was given to us by our neighbors when they had a garage sale.  Guy put it out there because, if someone came into our backyard and stole it, we wouldn't be out much.  Putting one of our flat screens out there doesn't seem like a wise option.

After all the equipment was installed, the guy said "We've got a bit of a problem.  The activation service is down, so I can't finish my installation.  I've got another install an hour away, so I can't come back after that one to finish here.  When the service comes back up, I'll activate it, call you, and walk you through all the rest of it."  He briefly told me the steps I'd take, and there was no way I could remember those.  But what could I do?  I reluctantly signed his papers, and he left.  And I had no TV.  That was OK because I don't turn the TV on until Jeopardy comes on.  But when it came time to watch Jeopardy, I tried streaming it over my computer - no luck!  :(

Considerable time passed, and I received no call.  I finally called him, and he was just finishing up his last installation, and he was going to call me on his way home to walk me through it.  He walked me through the steps on the main TV, which were numerous.  I then went to the kitchen and activated it, trying desperately to remember all the steps.  Then I did the one in the bedroom, hobbled upstairs to do the ones in the guest room, and in my quilt room.  (I know, we have too many TVs!)  In the meantime, I had to call him back a few times.  When they were all activated, I still had to use one remote to turn the TV on and control the volume, and the new remote to activate the satellite.  When I called him back to ask about that he told me how to program all the remotes.  The one in the living room and kitchen went just fine, but the one in the master bedroom would not program.  I tried about 20 times - until my thumbs were about to fall off.  I called him, and he told me to go do the rest so I was sure I was doing it right and come back to that one last.  I did that, and all the others went fairly smoothly.  The one in the master bedroom was a no-go!  He had me reset the receiver - no-go.  He had me do it a different way - no-go.  He finally said he would call his supervisor to see if he had an install this direction the next day, and he would come by to see what the problem was.  I told him I was sorry.  I had programed all the rest, so I knew that I was doing it correctly!  So I gave up and shut that unit in the bedroom off.  By this time, it was nearly 6:00 pm, and it had taken me nearly 2 hours to hobble all over the house and do this man's job.  Guy had come home, and I had no supper prepared.  (Aw, shucks!  Now we'd have to go out and eat!)  Later in the evening, I went back to the bedroom to try one more time.  I turned the receiver back on and after 3 more tries, it WORKED!!  I called the tech back for the ump-teenth time to say he didn't need to come back after all.

Do I need to tell you I was not a happy camper?  Here this slick, nice-dressed salesman (who, incidentally was training another salesman) had BOLD . FACE . LIED to me, and then I had to do half the install tech man's job.  In the midst of all this Jeannine called me.  When I told her what was going on, she just laughed and told me that I was crazy to believe anything sales people tell you.  And she said, "Good luck with getting the $150 gift certificate!  When we tried to get our $200 one, they told us they didn't know anything about that!"  What has this world come to????   I think it is a crying shame when you have to look at everyone in business as though they are lying to you!!

I will say that once I got everything going, I do believe that the picture on the TV is better.  It is a beautiful crystal clear HD picture!  But, let me tell you....I'm headed for Best Buy the first chance I have to give that sleazy salesman a piece of my mind!  And I hope his little trainee is with him because he needs an ear full, too.  He needs to know that his role model is a leading him down a path he should not be taking.  What I need to do is find out who the salesman's supervisor is and report him. 

OK, now that I've let off all that s.t.e.a.m., I'll move on.  Time to get ready for "the game."  ROLL TIDE!!!!!!

More Good News, from Knee Dr.......I think

I went to see a doctor today, fully thinking he was going to tell me I needed a total knee replacement.  4 years ago another orthopedic doctor told me I needed a total knee, but I didn't do it then because I could still get around without a lot of trouble.  Some of my peers told me not to have it until I couldn't walk across the room without pain, or it interfered with things like grocery shopping.  Now I'm at that point.  I just figured 4 yrs later, the knee was surely in worse shape.  After several x-rays, the doctor came in to tell me that I didn't really meet the criteria for a total knee replacement.   I have to say that I was shocked.  He explained the criteria: he said that the x-rays would have to show bone-on-bone pretty much in all areas - I saw my x-rays, and the interior side seemed to be pretty much bone-on-bone, but the outside area showed nice space as well as good space all around the patella (which means there is cartilage in those areas).  I would also need to have severe arthritis.  He felt I was on the borderline between moderate and severe.  I would not be able to straighten my knee completely out, and mine (carefully) would straighten.  (That's because I've been doing PT to get it to do that!)  I would not be able to bend my knee much past a 90-degree angle, and I could bend mine past 45 degrees.  (Again, PT working on that.)  I would also need to have tried all the conservative treatments and failed them - cortisone injections periodically, anti-inflammatory medications, a knee brace, physical therapy.  He said that for people who were borderline needing a total knee ended up with more complications after surgery than those who clearly needed the surgery.  He said he could go in and do a partial knee replacement, but didn't really recommend that either.  He felt that being off the knee for so long (with my foot surgery) and having arthritis all contributed to all the pain I'm having now.  So I went with his recommendation and got a shot in my knee with cortisone and a local anesthetic (oh, how I hate needles in joints!!!!).  He gave me a prescription for Mobic, an NSAID, to take orally to reduce the inflammation.  He didn't want to put me in a brace because he felt it could possibly hinder the continued recovery from the foot surgery and weaken the muscles of the knee I'm trying to build up.  He gave me a prescription to continue physical therapy to concentrate on my knee, and told me to come back in 3-4 weeks. 

So I've got three months until the end of the year to see if this all works.  I'm going to work hard and give it all the work out I can give it.  He said if we can get the inflammation down, I might get 5-10 more years out of it.  It just seems to me that someone in their 60s would tolerate and recover from surgery better than someone in their late 70s.  While I'm not ready to jump into major surgery that is not needed, and do appreciate a surgeon that is not chomping at the bit to cut you with his knife, I'm just skeptical as to how all this conservative treatment will work.  I have so many friends that have had total knees and wondered why in the world they waited so long and have never regretted having them done. 

And then I'm just very concerned about health care in the future for people my age.  Being in this very large group of baby boomers, who are just coming into the stage of our lives when we are going to need more and more health care,  I just think we are going to end up on the short end of the stick, and it just won't be available to us.  I look at my parents and all the things they needed in their old age, and it was all readily available to them, allowing them to live into their 90s in relatively good health, enjoying a good quality of life.  I just don't think those kinds of things will be available to me.  More and more doctors are simply going to stop seeing patients who are on medicare, so you'll not even be able to get the chance to see if some procedure would help you. 

I guess I'm feeling just a little discouraged this evening, because I wanted a definite FIX for this knee.  I was psyched up for it and ready to do it!  That's the kind of person I've always been.  If something is wrong, I've always been the one to find a solution and fix it.  I'm a fixer! I'm not a very patient person, either.  I hit this 4-month "bump in the road" with this foot surgery, and now I'm ready to move on and get back to my usual pace.

I thought about getting a 2nd opinion, but perhaps this is the road the Lord has set out for me right now.  I'll travel it until He turns it a different direction. 

"Lord, help me to accept your road and your time line."


More Gifts.....

58.  The cartilage that my knee does have.

59.  Soft, soft hair of Annie after giving her a bath. (After she rolled in "stink" found in the yard!)

60.  Guy's work being so flexible they told him today he can take off time to go to Kansas.

Some Good News Today

I went for another physical therapy appointment this morning.  Boy, Robert does work you hard!  He repeated some measurements of my foot that he had taken at the beginning, and there was a lot of improvement.  He said my foot was not quite 100% yet, and it would probably not be until I got my knee fixed.  He thought I should continue a little more therapy on the foot, and he's also working on strengthening the muscles around my knee.

This afternoon I went for my orthopedic appointment, and got good news.  He said the foot was doing great!  The x-rays showed it was healing fine, and I could get rid of all my stuff (crutches).  I told him that I thought, even though the foot was still a little tender, I probably could just walk on it without the use of assistance, but I still needed the crutches because of my knee.  I gave him the report Robert had sent with me, and he said that I could probably cut back to once a week on the PT.  He agreed that I needed to see someone about my knee, and he told me I was free to have the knee surgery whenever it could be scheduled. When I asked him, "If your wife were to need her knee replaced, who would you have do it?" he gave me three names.  Then I asked him to choose on of those three.  The doctor he named was the one I was leaning toward, so that seemed to answer my prayer.  In fact he said he would call him right then and set up an appointment for me.  As soon as I got to the car, I called this other doctor and made the appointment for next Monday.  While I was on the phone, I got a call, and when I hung up and listened to my voice mail, it was the nurse saying she had already called, and they would see me tomorrow at 1:00.  So we'll see what he says.  This particular doctor used to be in practice with Dr. Lemack, who is a pretty well known orthopedic surgeon who operates on famous athletes, but went out on his own.  Mark took Dylan to see him when he was having some issues related to soccer, and Mark was very impressed with him.  I'll try to schedule the surgery for November since there is still a possibility that we may go to Kansas for some time in October.

More Gifts....

56.  Bones that heal nicely.

57.  My grandson's 12th birthday.