Fall Hunter Moon
The big news here on Shadow Mountain. Orthopedic surgeon William Peace added some surgery days. Result: total knee replacement on December 1st. I’m excited because this pain is distracting and medication intensive. Currently using CBD’s and acetaminophen during the day and vicodin at night. This works, sort of, but I still can’t exercise, hike, twist suddenly, get up and down easily.
Kate and I had our first ever joint pain management doctor’s appointment. The family that confronts pain together smiles more. She’s got a bad left shoulder, pain in both wrists and bursitis in her right hip. Makes it hard to get comfortable for sleep. She got a cortisone injection for the bursitis and a referral to a rheumatologist for new treatments. She has rheumatoid arthritis in addition to osteo. Since they moved up the date of my surgery from next January to December 1, I just got a script for vicodin.
So much for the organ recital
It’s surprising, but all this medical stuff, a steady drip since we moved to Colorado almost two years ago, seems pretty superficial. Not unimportant, but more like maintenance for the car. Gotta do it to keep the thing running right.
The important stuff is life: grandkids, divorce, Jon, Beth Evergreen, needlework and writing groups, the mountains, our time together, being creative, the dogs, old friends and new, Evergreen, Denver, politics, climate change work.
And the third phase of life, closer to death, much closer, than to birth, makes all these things sweeter, more precious. I find myself often struck by their emotional power. Their presence in our lives creates the micro-world that sustains us.
Blessed be.
My brother-in-law who is 84 just had a total knee replacement a month ago and is doing very well in recovery . I hope at your age you will do just as well. My wife also had both of her knees replaced and had a splendid result too. Now if only medical science can find a cure for old age before it’s too late for us crusty curmudgeons…… Tom
Thanks, Tom. News of good results is very welcome. My sense is that knees have come a long way in the last ten years or so. We’ll see. Pain relief alone would be a success, though I’m hoping for more than that.