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!

Pirates and Promises

Serendipity! My knee surgery was originally scheduled for Nov 7, but because of an abscess tooth issue, it got rescheduled to Jan 23. We now have absolutely nothing scheduled for December. This would be a great time to get a week on board the Villa Vie Odyssey to 'try-before-you-buy.' And, guess what? The ship will be at the closest point to us during December. We made arrangements to get on board in Jamaica. One week on board takes us through the Panama Canal (again😮) and we can get off and fly home from Panama City. 

We booked our flight a couple days early so we could see a little of Port Royal before getting on the ship. The hotel was delightful - the Grand Hotel Excelsior. An outside bar right on the waterfront. We stayed there till our room was ready, then stayed there some more! Hey, we could barely move after the Capt Morgan's Rum Punch they served. Usually, Rum punches are mostly fruit juice and you can drink them like soda. Not this one. 

Breakfast was included, also with outdoor seating near the water. So beautiful

Not only was this, I'm sure, the best hotel in town - I think it's safe to say that it is the only hotel. The next day we decided to take a walk to the main town area of Port Royal and see the Fort Charles. Lots of history here, including the stories of the real Capt Jack Sparrow. His name was Calico Jack here. But he wasn't even the most famous pirate - that would be Capt Morgan:

The following morning, we watched as the Odyssey pulled in to port. It was a beautiful day with the sunshine making the ship sparkle. 

Oh boy! We can't wait to get on board. It's just a short walk from the hotel to the dock. We got on and found our room - 4036 - an Ocean View window, not a balcony. If you look at the photo above and see the row of square windows just below the solid blac line, our cabin is one of those just below the davits (I think.) The window gives us a very nice view.

Happily, I decided I could live with that view and not need a balcony! This means we could actually afford it (see end of previous post.)

After dropping off our carry-on bags, we wandered around the ship and shortly ran into Randy Casshingham, author of the ResidentialCruising.com website. One thing we were interested in was the ability to have an office on board. Randy has one he showed us but, unfortunately, he said all the office spaces were already taken. The shared workspace was very nice - that will have to do. Actually, we wanted the office space for our YouTube studio, but they were not sound proof. The walls had openings - some kind of ship regulations. So, you need to be quiet. That would not have worked for us anyway. 

We used the desk space in our room to deliver our Live-Stream YouTube show on Sunday Dec 15. The Starlink Internect connection worked perfectly (we know that won't always be the case) and the space was also sufficient. This could work! Here is the show:

We ate all our meals in the cafe with the buffet. I love eating from a buffet. I browse and get exactly what I want and exactly the quantity I want. The food was delicious. The, after breakfast, or sometimes before, I would go to the gym and take the stretch/exercise class. After lunch and dinner, Jim and I would walk a couple times around the deck. So much better than our typical day at home where we sit at our computers all day. If we choose to live on board I think it promises to be a healthy choice!

And, the people! So many fun and interesting people. The ship has a completely different vibe than normal cruise ships. These people are living here and they want to get to know you. I don't think we ate alone even once. 

By the end of our week on board, we wanted to stay. No more cooking, cleaning, driving, shopping. Lots of friendly people for our community. Lots of activities. And, oh yea, we'll be traveling around the world!! We could keep our business going and we'd actually be Geeks ON TOUR again!

So much to be Thankful For

 Today is Thanksgiving Day, 2024 and life is so good. 

Most importantly, 

I'm thankful to have Jim, and we both have our health. We've been together for 31 years now and, for all but the first few, we've worked together as well. That's a LOT of togetherness! Sure, every once in a while we get on each other's nerves, but it's surprisingly rare. He keeps me grounded, I keep him looking to the future. We laugh a lot and we both make each other's dreams come true. I couldn't do the RVing, diving, travel without him and he couldn't do our business without me.

Speaking of our Business

I am so thankful to have something I love to do that other people appreciate. Teaching and technology is my passion and there is no end to the learning/teaching that can be done. Using technology for producing videos and live streaming shows is Jim's passion. Truly a match made in heaven! To love what you do and feel that it matters how could anything be more fun?Our business, Geeks on Tour, is what keeps us on our toes. We're always thinking about what to teach, how to teach it, and how to reach those who could benefit from it. It exercises our creative juices, keeps our brains active, and makes us a little bit of money too. Our business is also a community. We've become friends with many of our Geeks on Tour members. Several of them joined us on our Hawaii cruise for Jim's 70th birthday in January, and we see many of them on group, and private, zoom calls often. 

Oh yeah - Zoom is also something I am SOO thankful for. We had been using Zoom meetings for Online Presenters Toastmasters meetings since about 2016. This meant that we were quite familiar with it by the time everyone needed it in 2020. When the pandemic shut down our Toastmasters meeting-place at Denny's, we told everyone to go home and get on their computers and we guided them thru using Zoom. It was so good that we have not gone back. Now our meetings have people from all over, not just those close enough to go to Denny's. 

Speaking of Toastmasters

Many people join Toastmasters to gain skills and advance in their careers. Jim and I just like to have an outlet to tell our stories, and we love hearing other people's stories. Our Earlybird Toastmasters club is our weekly connection to a diverse group of people who we get to know quite intimately through the medium of speaking and storytelling. I am very thankful to have this group in my life. It keeps me challenged with putting together speeches and delivering them.

Living in this house in S Florida

When the pandemic shut everything down, we were so lucky to have a wonderful house - THANKS MOM! - We stopped fulltime RVing in 2017 and made this house our home. It is a townhouse in a gated community so we can travel whenever we want, just lock the door and go. I have an office upstairs, Jim has an office (and YouTube studio) downstairs. We have large glass sliding doors from the living room to a small backyard with a hot tub. It is SO delightful. We love the weather. Yes, it can get hot, but air conditioning works well. Hurricanes have spared us for several years now. We are spoiled. 

Our backyard

I'm equally happy in my office in my other home

Financial Freedom

Both Jim and I have worked hard all our adult lives, but that's never made us much money. What we have made, we've invested well. Other than travel, we don't spend much. With the booming stock market, inheritances, this house, and now social security, we haven't had to worry about money for several years. The only fear I've ever experienced is the fear of not having any money. I am so thankful for having the freedom from that fear.

Sense of Adventure

When Jim and I first started dating, there were 3 things that got us together: 1-technology, 2-scuba diving and 3-travel. We both were passionate about all three ... and still are!! One of us suggested, in 2003, that we sell our house and live fulltime in an RV. The other said, Yes! Let's do that! And we did. When we settled down into this house and friends said, let's take a scuba diving trip to Indonesia and Bali, we said, "Let's go!" We've taken several such trips every year.

I am so glad for our sense of adventure, especially Jim's because he's the one that actually makes things happen. When I get cold feet, he forges ahead. (back to #1 thankful for Jim!) Although we actually enjoyed being home-bodies during the pandemic year of 2020, we had to have adventure in 2021. We packed the camper van and took off for nearly 3 months. 

When you're so comfortable at home there's a force field that keeps you there. It's hard to break out of the force field, but once I do it's a euphoric feeling. Freedom from daily responsibilities, excitement over what you'll see around the next bend, love for the people you meet up with along the way.  

Our Next Chapter: as we get older that force field keeping us home gets stronger, but our will to break free is also strong. We've traveled a lot these last few years, but it doesn't qualify as "The Next Chapter." I've been looking for the next chapter ever since we stopped fulltime RVing. Do you believe that life happens in 7-year segments? Well, it's been 7 years since we stopped fulltime RVing. Jim has been following Randy Cassingham's Residential Cruising blog and dreaming. He showed it to me and I immediately said, YES! that could be our next chapter. Living on a cruise ship and traveling the world! That's kind of like fulltime RVing except you don't have to drive. You also don't have to cook or clean! They have good Starlink Internet, so we could continue our work. In fact, we'd truly be Geeks on Tour again!  Here is a map of the 3 year itinerary:

BUT, it's expensive. Very expensive. We'd have to sell the house in order to buy the cruise ship cabin. Then it's still $8,000/month for all living expenses. When you consider that it covers travel - that's similar to our current living expenses. 

Do I have cold feet? Yes. See 'financial freedom!' But my sense of adventure is also strong and Jim's is stronger yet. As we get older, you gotta do things now! We have booked a one-week "try before you buy" cruise for next month. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, the thought of selling the house has us looking around and starting to get rid of clutter. That's a good thing!

12/7/24 Note: We booked a 1 week 'try-before-you-buy' cruise and we leave in 3 days. We'll pick up the ship in Jamaica, travel thru the Panama canal (again!) and leave in Panama city. Every day the pendulum swings as to whether we think buying a cabin on the Odyssey is a good idea or a bad idea. Every day Jim and I look at each other and give a 👍or a👎. It usually depends on how good we slept. 

• Slept good, feeling positive: yes, we want to travel the world and the cruise ship is by far the easiest way. $$ be damned, we can do anything as long as we're together. Our business will thrive when we are fulltime travelers again.
• Slept poorly, feeling negative: no, are we crazy? We have this beautiful home, free and clear. We can travel anywhere now, it just takes work to plan, book, and pack. What if we sell the house, move aboard, and the ship goes bankrupt and we lose everything? We'll regret it then! 

The only real problem is the money, it's clear that both Jim and I want to do it. I have said that I won't go on a cruise ship again unless I have a balcony. The balcony cabins are a LOT more expensive than the non-balcony cabins. BUT, it occurred to me (just yesterday) that if we want that lifestyle so bad, we could make do without a balcony if it meant being able to afford it. If all goes well, we could upgrade later. The screenshots below are from the Villa Vie website. The balcony cabin has a purchase price of $340K and a monthly expenses of $4k/month each. A smaller room, without a balcony, has purchase price of $169K and expenses of $2500 each. 

At $169K we could afford that without selling the house. We could have 2 homes for, say, 1 year while we learn for sure whether we like living on the Odyssey. And, a big cost factor is the monthly fee. I don't understand why, but the monthly fee for the Balcony room is a lot higher than non-balcony. $8,000/mo for the 2 of us instead of $5,000. At that rate, we could move tomorrow and sleep easy at night.

This has me excited all over again. To have this exciting new chapter AND still have financial security. YES! (I slept good last night.)

Our cabin for the 1 week is #4036, just like the "Outside Window" shown above. So, we'll be able to experience the smaller, non-balcony room and see if we can live in it. One more factor that I haven't mentioned - you can also rent an office space on deck 5. I think that costs $500/mo. How cool is that to have an office with a view on a cruise ship? 

Uber is magic

Almost as if it was a self driving car.  No words need be spoken - is a good thing cuzz driver does not speak English!

In Fort Lauderdale, Uber is prevalent. All we do is pull up the Uber app and tell it where we want to go. It knows where we are because the app is very good with GPS. We've learned to be completely ready when we tap the button to Choose our ride because they usually arrive within just a few minutes!

No money needs to pass hands - the App has our credit card info. The app tells us the amount we will be charged when we order the ride - no mysteries, no watching the meter run. The car knows where to go because we entered our destination in the App. 

We took uber to Miami Airport - so convenient and comfortable and reasonably priced. About $45. When we return, we tell the App we want to go home. Once again, no words need be spoken. The App knows where 'home' is and gives directions to the driver. Money is charged from our credit card when we reach our destination. 

I love Uber. We have also used it in many foreign countries where it is even more convenient because there - we don't speak the language AND we don't need to have any currency to pay.