Surgery's Done...one more to go

My knee is repaired. I had it done yesterday. There was a lot to clean out and the Dr said that I have arthritis in my knee too. He said that I will have to have the other knee done too.
Sue and Denny came over and Sue took really good care of me! When I needed something, she got it for me! What a doll.
I fell once last night when I was trying to use two canes. I'm using a shower chair now and Denny's going to get Mary's walker today. I fell once this morning. It's a scary thing because you can't stop the fall! I grabbed the chair but it fell on me. Then I remembered that one of my friends at the center told me to be sure to keep my leg straight. I think that I turned it and that's what made me fall. It feels a lot better today.

My Poor Knee

After months of pain in my knee that spread to my foot every day, I finally decided that I can't continue with the pain. So after three shots that didn't work, pain pills that didn't work (except for Denny's Vs, the doctor sent me for an MRI. I went to the orthopedic doctor Thursday. I'm having surgery next Saturday. I have a torn mediscus that has to be repaired. It's going to be done as an outpatient. So dummy me thought that since it's going to be done as an outpatient with only a couple of cuts, I'll be fine and would be able to continue my life as is without pain. Oh, I knew that I'd have to rehab and that there would be some pain. But I thought that I'd be able to go out to eat Saturday night and go to the movie the next day. NOT! I got a lot of info from others and I will not be going anywhere for a couple of days. I'll work hard at the rehab because I'm not going to be one of those people that have to keep having more surgery because they didn't want to do the rehab! I don't want any more of this continuous pain and my knee giving out! Think about me next week, January 30. Hmm, my friend Betty's birthday!

Little Isobelle is Third Place in the GR Press Baby of the Year

We thought that she should be #1 but third from all the participants is pretty good! They got a lot of nice prizes.

Jan as a child

I put a picture on Facebook of when I was a child because everyone was doing it. Here are the pictures I found in my album.

Facebook and Old Friends

What I love about Facebook is that I'm communicating with the people that I worked with at Meijer. It's so neat to hear from them. And the kids I went to school with. No, I know that they aren't kids anymore. It's been 49 years since we graduated. But I think of us as kids yet. If I saw any of them on the street, I'd probably walk past them because I wouldn't recognize them. Hmmm, maybe people should wear a button with their senior picture on it. Just in case! Don't you think that would be a cool idea?
Anyway this week alone, I've added three or four friends. What's really funny is this: For the last few years I was thinking of one of my friends and wondered what happened to him. Someone told me that he passed away. But I read the obits all the time for Grand Rapids and wouldn't miss it. So whenever I'd talk to someone from school, I'd ask them if they ever knew what happened to Rich Herringa. We were good friends (anyway, I thought so). He was like a brother to me in jr high. I remember fixing him up with a girl in high school...hmm, I'll have to ask him if he remembered it. I got an invite for a friend, Bob Ingersoll, yesterday. Of course, I responded. And when I was writing something, I noticed that he had Rich as a friend. No way could that be possible. I asked him if could possibly be the same Rich Herringa and he said that it was! So I wrote a note to Rich and he answered me that it is, indeed, him! Wow. Now that's a mystery solved.
I think one of these days I'm going to put the pictures of the kids I went to school with on my facebook that I'm friends with.
There's one more mystery regarding kids I went to school with. I used to sit by a kid in study hall and we'd talk every day. If he's alive, he probably wouldn't remember. I remember everyone that I was somehow connected to in my life. I remember him as not a good looking kid, bad complexion and he wore an ROTC uniform. He wasn't a popular kid. But I enjoyed our talks every day. I have no idea what we talked about. After we were out of school and the Viet Nam war was going on, I remember seeing his picture in the GR Press and it said that he was killed in Viet Nam. I went to the 5 year class reunion and he was on the 'can't find' list. I mentioned that I thought I read that he was killed in Viet Nam. To this day, I've looked for him. I'd ask people but they didn't know or didn't remember him. When I worked at Meijer, if I got a call from a Nowak (his name was Arnold Nowak), I'd ask if they knew him. One year I went to a park here that had the Viet Nam wall on display and they had computers to look someone up. I asked but they didn't find his name. Maybe he wasn't killed after all. So that's a mystery not solved. I think I'll look around in the internet for his name. Maybe I'll find it.
Anyway, I went to the 5 year class reunion and the 15 year class reunion but I've never gone to any more. I think one is coming up next year. Perhaps I'll go.

MRI

Well, I finally gave in to having something done about my knee. The pain is so bad that I had to resort to going to the doctor. I always refused to have it checked because everyone that I know that has had a knee replaced had to have it done more than once. But they were all heavy women and I'm not so maybe mine would work. That's if I have to have it done. I won't know until the doctor calls me. One neat thing is that they gave me a cd with my knee (in action). I don't know what the heck it means but it looked cool!

Pictures of Dallas

Here are some new pictures for 2010 of Dallas and Stella.

Baby, It's Cold Outside! My knee Knows!

What a winter we're having. It's soooo cold out. Tomorrow it's going to be in the single digits!!! I can't imagine it being that cold here in Texas! The good thought is that it won't last and in a couple of months I'll be planting, weeding and watering again! I'm going to hang onto that thought.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with the doctor about my knee. It just hurts all the time. The last time I was in the office, I was told that the only cure for my knee would be a knee replacement. I swore for the last 10 years that I would never have knee surgery. But, the pain is so bad that my foot even hurts and my whole leg. My knee has even buckled a couple of times so I'm going to give in. I sure hope it helps me!