A Tax rose is but a rose by any other name

[bowlingbun]

Hi Saj, lovely to hear from you.

I've had both knees done. Dad is behaving "normally" at this stage, so don't worry unduly, it is incredibly frustrating. The pain is probably not from the knee replacement itself. During the op the surgeon will have taken a lot of trouble to make sure it is properly aligned, a worn out knee is wonky.
For up to 12 months, some ligaments etc. will be feeling stretched, especially on the inside of the knee, 2-3" above and below the joint. There will be a spot where if you press it with your thumb, it wilil make him yelp!
My knees are still getting better and better, although the ops were done in 2009 and 2011, it's actually all the muscles around the knee which are getting stronger again.
To encourage me, I was told that however much it bends in 6 months, will be the maximum bend it will have for life.
The other tips are
Make sure he's taking enough ibuprofen to reduce the swelling so the exercises are easier.
Make sure he has a comfortable recliner, so he can take frequent rests with his feet up.

Otherwise, life down here in the New Forest is good. My son is in the process of changing care provider, I've been complaining continually for almost 3 years now. Finally the council have listened! A few months ago they gave this provider the contract for care at a new complex for people with LD. After only a few months, they've had the contract taken away again.

I'm off to Lanzarote in a few weeks, then going Greek Island hopping with a good friend in September.

PS, send my regards to SM. Such a sad and difficult time for him. I'm sure you are supporting him as much as possible.

[MrsAverage]

Hi Sajehar
Great to hear from you!
Loved all the news
Yep doing the exercises is vital to good recovery, in fact increasing them would help too.


Too late for more now, but glad you are back and in good health and voice too

[Greta]

Hi Saj,
Very good to hear from you. Isn't photography fun? I did a course, one day a week for 20 weeks, three years ago when I was looking after my brother. Before that I did a fair amount of photography but I hadn't taken it seriously. I only use a mirrorless camera though, it isn't as heavy or rather the longer lenses are not so heavy.
I am posting a picture I already put on another thread, of one of our favourite grey squirrels - don't show it to SM.[/img][/img]sqpf-1047546.jpg

[Melly1]

Lovely to hear all your news, Sajehar.

When I had my second hip replaced, a little old lady was putting all the other knee op patients to shame. She was recovering from her second knee being done. She said her Grandson was going to lend her his skateboard again; as she got such a good bend on her first knee as she used to sit with her foot on the skateboard watching TV. The gentle rolling it back'n'forth got her knee bending, whilst she was distracted by what she was watching. Worth a try.

Hope SM is able to travel back to you ASAP.

Melly1

[bowlingbun]

What a good idea with the skateboard. When I had my ops the hospital had a machine that gently slid your foot backwards and forwards, increasing the amount every day. One day whilst having this done, I fell asleep, much to the surprise of others, who saw it as something more of a torture device!

[Sajehar]

It’s taken me another month to get around to putting up my next post as I’ve been so busy and so much has happened in the meantime. Still, that’s an improvement on 6 months

I’ll start where I left off on Christmas Eve. I’d actually written my last post early in the morning of Christmas Eve but didn’t get around to posting it until the evening as I was too tired to add bits to it so posted it as was. I thoroughly intended to elaborate on ‘developments’ that happened on Christmas Eve sometime during Boxing Day or the day after.

I’ll get the bad news out of the way first, then follow with a really good ‘the kindness of strangers’ event to leaven the (my) mood.

Dad’s had a lump on his arm for a few months now, but none of the various creams the doc had prescribed had worked. On the Sunday before Christmas Day I rang the out-of-hours doc service (behind dad’s back) to arrange a home visit as dad’s lump had become positively leprous looking which really worried me. The doc took one look at it and arranged for dad to see a dermatology consultant at our local hospital on the day after Boxing Day.
We duly turned up expecting the consultant to prescribe yet another cream. Instead, she cheerily declared in a gorgeous Scottish brogue that she’d be “whipping it out” in an hour’s time.
True to her word dad left the hospital with his arm in a sling and eleven stitches to boot. The scar healed beautifully – it’s so faint it looks about 20 years old – but we got the results of the biopsy last Wednesday. The lump was cancerous; albeit at a very early stage. Dad now has to go in for another arm op this Tuesday. They’ll be using a laser and it’s to be an out-patient op.
Despite reassurances that this op is purely preventative, I’m worried sick about dad. I don’t know much about cancer but I do know that if you get cancer a second time – dad’s already had prostate cancer 7 years ago – it tends to be much more aggressive and harder to treat/go into remission/cure. And then there’s his age; he’ll be 84 later on this year.
My one consolation is that he’s recovering so well from his knee op that this bodes well for any future treatments; even cancer ones…. Maybe, perhaps, hopefully?

Any road up, I’ve got to dash soon as I’m due at the hedgehog sanctuary for 9am. I love looking after the hedgies and helping to make them better. I’m hoping to become a foster carer to a disabled hedgehog in the spring when they come out of hibernation. I have my eye on a bad tempered, blind hedgehog who hissed at and bit all & sundry apart from me. I’ve even re-arranged bits of the back garden to accommodate him.
Asides from doing my bit to home a visually impaired hedgehog in dire need of anger management therapy, he’ll help to keep my garden free from slugs & snails. And woe betide any puppy foxes tails that Mad Max sinks his teeth into.
I might even risk planting some more Bizzie Lizzies this spring. Last year I spent all day planting out 60 Bizzie Lizzy pugs or plugs or whatever they’re called. By the very next morning those pesky slugs/snails had eaten every last one of them, reducing then to tiny little stumps which never recovered. I’ll take great pleasure in setting a psychopathic hedgehog on to those mindlessly voracious greedy little b*****ds!

I’ll have to complete this post later… hopefully today and not in another month’s time.

Chow for now X
P.S. I still don’t know what a Bizzy Lizzy actually looks like… Durr!
P.P.S.
Belated 'Happy New Year' cyber card I'd done for CUK and then forgot to post till now.

[attachment=0]IMG_20190101_103317

[Sajehar]

P.P.P.S.
You have to left click on the photo in order to enlarge it to read the writing... at least I have to!