Knee replacement surgery - week 1

I went on a group ski trip to Squaw Valley back in 1989 and had a great few days of perfect skiing. I got so confident that I didn't hesitate to follow our group hotshot (we called him 'Rocket-Man') down a black diamond slope. 

I should have hesitated! I took a spill partway down the mountain and, when I tried to get up, I noticed my knee moved in all sorts of unnatural directions. Somehow my plight was noticed and I got a ride in a basket the rest of the way. They took me straight into a clinic, wrapped up my knee and gave me a gift of crutches. I flew back home to Fort Lauderdale and got scheduled for knee reconstruction surgery at Plantation General hospital with Dr. Abrahamson. I heard he was really good. That he did surgery on the Miami Dolphins when needed. After all, I did have the "Joe Namath" triad injury: torn ACL, MCL and Medial meniscus. The doctor must have been pretty good because after surgery, 6 months on crutches, and nearly a year of physical therapy, I hardly acknowledged that I had a knee problem at all. Hiking, biking, diving, and mostly Dancing. I even went skiing one more time in 93 - but, somehow the joy of it was gone. I was told that the surgical area would be a magnet for arthritis however, and I would most likely need another surgery at some time as I grew older. 

Well, I'm older now. Here is an xray from a couple years ago. I don't know what I'm looking at, except that I can see the staples that were placed there so long ago.

SO!

I finally got it together after a strong recommendation for a Knee surgeon from a local nurse friend, and made the appointment. January 23, 2025 was my date with Dr. Chan.

I got to the hospital about 9:30am where they took me in and prepped me for surgery that afternoon. After we had the opportunity to chat with the Anasthesiologist, and the Doctor, Jim left and would collect me later. 

I still remember the pain in the recovery room after my first surgery 35 years ago. I had no idea there was that much pain possible in one little body. So, I was pleasantly surprised to experience very little pain this time. I suppose that is thanks to the spinal injection of a pain blocker that completely numbed my body from the waist down. I woke up with nurses around me wrapping my knee in an ice bandage. They put a diaper on me and made me stand up because well, when you're numb, you have no control. I had no trouble standing up and taking a few steps then lay back down to relax until Jim came to take me home. He brought a walker to help me. When we got home, I wanted a photo. I remember the afternoon, last year, when he came home after getting a new hip. He proudly posed in the back yard with his walker and then never used it again. I was hoping to do the same. I struck a dance pose and felt wonderful!

Obviously, the pain meds had not yet worn off!

Day 1 Thu: came home from hospital, still numb, feeling good. 

Day 2 Fri: Still feeling good, slept good. Had first appointment with Physical Therapist, he was amazed at my range of motion. I was happy, feeling great. Turned out to be a false euphoria. By evening, all pain blocking was gone and it was not fun. Pain kicked in, couldn't sleep. I took every pain pill allowed just to make it through the night! I barely slept, completely unable to find a comfortable position for my leg. Jim kept the ice machine full and my leg wrapped. 

For the record, I didn't feel any relief with the Oxycodone. The best pain relief came from the simple (I think) acetaminophen. 

Day 3 Sat: starting to recover. Happy to have an excuse to just lay in bed and read a book (Lovely One: Ketanji Brown Jackson autobiography) Keeping ice on leg. Staying in downstairs bed, not ready for stairs yet.

Day 4 Sun: slept good, feel good. Knee is sore for exercising, but doable. I tried a few of the exercises that the PT laid out. I couldn't do 10 reps, but I did a few. Cool how they have an app with a video of each exercise. 

Day 5 Mon: slept good, taking the acetominophen regularly. No other pain pills. Acetopminaphen really makes me sleep like a rock. 2 tablets, 1,000mg, every 6 hours. Went to PT in the morning. Therapist gave me an A+! She even put me on the stationary bike, something usually reserved for several weeks in. I felt like celebrating so made Jim take me out to Flanigan's for dinner. Another photo showing how my anasthesiologist signed her work! BP - Biana Pizan (or something like that.)

Day 6 Tue: The PT cleared me to go upstairs, so I slept in the bedroom last night. Using the injured leg technique, one step at a time to do the stairs, even though he said my leg was strong enough to climb leg over leg. Nope - that hurts. I was able to complete 3 full sets of 10 reps each of all the exercises. I now feel confident that I will recover quickly - 1 month? and I even am getting the hint that my leg does work better than before. I don't feel like I'm pivoting on my bad leg when I walk, I'm actually stepping. Dancing here I come! Or at least walking fully. I'm not using the walker now except when leaving the house.

Taking advantage of a beautiful day to do my exercises.

Day 7 Wed: Slept good. Back to normal thinking about the lesson plan for this Sunday's YouTube show. I took a shower after Jim wrapped my knee in saran wrap. Weird how it feels like there is a tight wrap around my knee even when there's not. It feels like a block of wood in between my calf and the beginning of my thigh. And, the bottom of my leg is sore to the touch. Something to do with blood pooling. My goal today is to see my ankle bones! My bad leg is swollen. I'm going to lay down and put my leg up.

We did it

After spending a week on board the Villa Vie Odyssey, we loved it. AND, we were ok with the non-balcony room, so we figured we could afford it. We met with the sales team before leaving the ship and agreed in principle that we would buy cabin #4036. We scheduled an appointment with our financial advisor for Monday. She ran the numbers and gave us her stamp of approval, so we sent in our deposit. The only thing left to decide was what to do with the house and when we would get on board.

We toyed with the idea of keeping the house, renting it, or just keeping it for a year. That idea felt good for a while. The best of both worlds? But then it dawned on us that was just kicking the can down the road. The idea is to lighten our load. It's a completely different experience to take off unencumbered or to still have the obligations of a house. We choose freedom - so, sell the house. 

We did decide to keep the camper van. Our good friend, Alex, in the Gainesville area, has property where she says we can keep the van while we're gone. If something should go wrong with life on the cruise ship, we could 'come home' to the camper. The mail forwarding service that we used for our legal address during our RV years is just about 30 minutes away. We could reactivate that as our place to vote and get our driver's licenses. We like the Gainesville area and have often considered that it would be a good place for our Final Chapter. There are several good senior living facilities around. 

Here is the YouTube show we did from home talking about our decision.

So, what now? What do we do? When do we board?

The biggest job is cleaning out the house. I started with 3 boxes under the bed. Should be easy right? I don't even know what's in there, so I certainly don't need them! They had lots of Mom's memorabilia - notes, photos, journals from dozens of her trips over the years. It seems so disrespectful to just throw it out 😒But, it also seems downright stupid to keep it all. I thumbed thru it and chose some notes and journals to scan. My phone and Google Drive is a godsend for this task - see my tutorial video here. After many hours of scanning, I did it! I tossed those boxes in the dumpster. Feeling lighter already. Now for the dozens of photo albums, books, and knick-knacks. 

What it looks like:

As for boarding, we looked at the calendar and the Odyssey itinerary map and decided that San Francisco on June 22 would be good. We already had a trip planned to Amsterdam - a boat and bike trip the first week of May. So, if we get the house cleared out and on the market, then we go on our trip. Come home and hopefully finalize a sale, then we can go in June and it helps that the port is in the continental USA. 

The planning begins.

Some of what we want when we're on board is more than will fit in suitcases. And, Jim is really getting into thinking of what other stuff we'll want. For example magnetic shelving is very useful - just attach it to the wall and you have a shelf. Other folks on board say, 'when you think you've bought all the magnets you can use, buy some more!' Jim did. We also gave it a lot of thought and decided that there was room for a little desk for me as well as the built in one that Jim will be using. This looks perfect! I know I said I'd be happy schlepping my laptop to the business center - but it would be nice to also have a workspace right in the room and this should fit just fine.

Then there's winter clothes and some other things that we decided to box up and have the Villa Vie company ship to the ship. Since the Villa Vie offices (actually Kathy Vilalba's house) is in Pembroke Pines, it's a simple matter for us to take a drive and drop boxes off there. Those boxes are due to be delivered to Barbados on April 8. 

We're also talking to a company who does 'estate sales.' A Hint of Vintage My good friend, Chris L. used them to clean out her mom's house and was thrilled with the results. First they go thru the house and layout anything that could be sold. They have a kind of open house, splitting the proceeds. Then, they'll clean out the rest for a fee. Sounds heavenly! The only issue is they want us to be gone. If we're still living there and have some stuff that we want to keep, it makes their job harder. The real estate sales person also says it's easier to sell an empty house. So, how do we do that? Sounds like we should plan to clean it out and leave by end of March, then let the estate sales lady do her thing, and finally the real estate sales. We could clear out and leave with the RV to Gainesville in March/April. Then go to Amsterdam first week of May, back to Gainesville and maybe meet up withe ship in Mexico in May. The itinerary has them in Puerto Vallarta on May 14. OR, we could cancel Amsterdam and meet the ship in Cartagena on April 20. It's my understanding that we don't need to be physically present for the closing - it can be handled online.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines! Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!