|| 2001 ||: slytherincesss

slytherincesss

|| 2001 ||

Nov 22, 2013 14:12

MMM, LUNCHTIME ! NOM NOM ...

NOTE: I have 10 pics of some of my different recent manicures at the end of this post -- please feel free to skip if it's not your gig.

Thanks a ton for the support and encouragement on my last post -- it really meant so much to me. I'll be answering comments, I will, but am just a bit behind in correspondance! Bear with me. Seriously, I really appreciate your encouragement ♥

BLASPHEMOUS MISPLACED APOSTROPHES!

I'm laughing that 'tattoo getters,' 'potty-mouths,' 'rock n' rollers', 'entertainment and sport worshipers', 'jewelry worshipers', 'bitter people' (LOLOLOL!), 'two-faced church goers', 'backsliders' (what is this, even?), and 'sin-friendly heresy teachers' were all included. Anyway, a picture is worth a thousand words (plus, I like to grammar troll fundamentalist religion signs)

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We've bought a new Christmas tree:

Some of you may remember (but it's okay if you don't!) that last Christmas when we got out the Christmas tree, it was sporting three legs instead of four :? *scratches head* So DH went down to the basement to look for the leg -- because what does a Christmas tree do 11 months out of the year? It stays propped up in the same spot and collects dust -- and the leg is nowhere to be found. Fast forward six months and we've emptied out the basement -- the stupid leg is STILL missing! Now this is a big tree we're talking about. Not wide, but tall and thin (a pencil tree) so it absolutely is a weapon of death without the fourth leg. DH and I discussed it and we decided to trash the tri-ped tree, HOWEVER, I made several things clear before leaving the decision to dump the tree up to DH: 1) We would be getting a new tree this year, 2) Because I refuse to shop at Hobby Lobby (those mofos still use manual cash registers, but never mind that in light of their anti-semitism and homophobia) our new tree might cost slightly more, 3) we would not be getting a cheap tree, and 4) we did not need to get the most expensive tree. I just wanted a good-looking, good quality Christmas tree. DH "remembered [our convo] differently" when it came time to order the tree, naturally he wanted to buy the cheapest tree on my list of potential contenders. We went back and forth and I finally said, "Oh, eff this" and got out my stash of mad money. We ended up going Dutch -- I got the tree I wanted and he didn't have to pay full price by himself. I felt that was fair, although I don't think O'Henry would approve!

I hope the tree looks nice once it's all done up. That's a a really blah picture of the tree, but I found some others that showed closeups and it seems the tree is pretty. I kind of like the pinecone effect.

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This is my 2001st LJ post. I've had this journal for ten years, so that's an average of 200 posts per year, so four times per week, give or take.

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I don't have to wear a knee immobilizer brace anymore! A knee immobilizer is that kind of brace that keeps your leg totally straight and goes from mid-thigh to just above the ankle.

BUH-BYE!

Because I can straighten my leg to 0°, i.e. perfectly straight, and I can lift my leg (barely) from the floor upward and do a few leg lifts, I have been released from the knee immobilizer brace! Good times, good times. It was such a PITA, seriously. It fell down constantly. I'd put that sucker on like a tourniquet and after about 25 feet of walking, there it was, pooling on the top of my foot (as much as an immobilizer can 'pool'). I winged that thing into the depths of my garage and didn't even bother to turn on the light. *Tebows* (Oh, please, as if I'd ever really do a Tebow ... besides, I can't even bend my knee ... :)) ) Anyhow, the amount of necessary durable medical equipment has been reduced. Now I have two main things I have to wear -- an anti-blood clotting gadget and an automatic ice pack machine. The first is a set of wraps that go around my legs and are connected to a pump; the pump fills the wraps with air in a rolling motion. It squeezes my legs with the air chambers from ankles to knees. Knee replacements are apparently at higher risk for blood clots so I hqve this little machine ... except that I'm supposed to wear them ten HOURS per day. *Waits for laughter to die down* I wear them as often as possible, but my compliance rate isn't 100% :/ The main problem with this gadget is that the air hoses drag on the ground, which when trying to wrangle the air pumps and a walker or cane is a recipe for a Wyle E. Coyote-like demise!

The ice pack thing is pretty cool, no pun intended. It's attached to a wrap that goes around my knee by a hose, which is attached at the other end to the ice cooler portion. It pumps ice water through the wrap, keeping my knee cool.

And of course I have Zippy, my handy dandy, reliable and shiny red walker. Zippy is a real lifesaver -- I keep it on the ground floor and use it to help me with fixing meals and snacks, to get to the table for meals, and to get out to the car. Otherwise I use a cane to get around for short distances (couch to bathroom, for example). Call me Grandma, but I actually like the walker better than the cane! The walker lets me walk almost completely normally, at a normal pace. The cane ... I limp pretty significantly when I use it and it's surprisingly difficult to keep the cane balanced.

Anyhow, I don't think I'll be posting extensively on my knee from here on out because I know there's only so much people can take on the subject. I just wanted to share the basics of the surgery and the recovery process. As far as recovery goes, I'm a little worried that I'll have had a long break between physical therapy sessions. The last sessions I had were last Saturday the 16th and the hospital couldn't fit me in until this coming Tuesday the 26th. I'm trying to keep up on my at-home exercises, but it's not the same as actual PT. I got to 60° while in rehab; my goal was 90°. My pain wasn't under control until the second week of treatment and it's really impossible to fully give into the necessary physical manipulations of PT when you're in severe pain to begin with because PT totally pushes the limits of your pain threshold. When your pain's not under control, you reflexively recoil from pushing the limits and just try and keep from hurting more or screaming (I swear -- I'm not being dramatic! There were moments I had where I had to work to not scream.). Aaaaaaaaaaaand that's enough about my knee. Basically it's now a matter of time and healing. 'Nuff said.

And I will wrap up this post with 10 manicures! If you hate cosmetics talk, click away now.