August 15 - Look, Ma.. no hands!!!

2:30 am.  My knees are throbbing again.  I roll over, take a Vicodin, and go back to sleep.  I awaken at 7:00ish and feel great.  My ankles are still a bit swollen, and my knees are now grapefruits rather than melons, but they only ache a little bit.  


Hubby walks right in front of me down the stairs.  I leave one crutch behind.  For the rest of the day I am operating on one crutch.  My right knee feels pretty strong (except when I sit down and need to use those quads).  The left knee feels weaker and kind of gives a little a couple of times, but I am able to shift weight to the other leg and catch myself.  


"Did you feed the birds?"
"No."
"Would you?"
--deeply troubled and long suffering sigh accompanied with equally long suffering look and pause--
"I will in a minute"


He feeds the fish and returns with news that I'm almost out of fish food.  My gawd..  I need to get it together fast..  there is probably a pound of pond sticks in the skimmer and the bottom of the pond rotting.  I say nothing about it.  


"Did you count them"
"Oh yes, I saw four."

More icing and walking around -- this time with only one crutch.  I walk out to the end of the driveway and let the warm sun fall on my back.  I walk out to the pond and try to count the fish.  No go.  The best angle to do so is across a small rock bridge and onto a bench along the edge.  I cannot get across the bridge.  Now I'm truly tired and my knees truly ache, so I go back inside, lay on the couch, and ice my knees.  Hubby runs downtown to take care of some business.  When he returns we embark on what has now turned into a two day Harry Potter movie marathon.  


I'm not looking forward to frozen dinners and I need to do laundry.  Hubby can redo a bathroom, is great with gardens, troubleshoots plumbing and electric problems, and does my dishes every single night.  He has many talents and is a loving and fun partner.  He's also not bad with a vacuum cleaner, and tells great jokes.  Hubby does not cook...  at all... no not even a fried egg.  This is not a bad thing, because I love to cook, love my kitchen, and feel very territorial about it all.  We have friends who cook side by side, partners in the culinary sciences.  I am not so inclined, nor is Hubby.  I tell him that I want him to take me grocery shopping.  He starts the laundry, and tells me to let him know when I'm ready to go to the store. I never am..  not this day.   I was hoping to ditch the crutches earlier in the day, but I get so tired walking that I know I can't make it through the store.  I am content to lay around on the couch learning magic potions, with occasional visits to the pond.  


Dinner is lasagna (frozen) which is better than Friday's frozen dinner, but still too salty.  We eat in the kitchen.  I walk to the kitchen without crutches this time and do the evenings laps without them too.  I find I am much stronger than even this morning, and aside from occasional sharp twinges, I am relatively pain free.