The Stretch

Day 13. On Friday we went to a Diana Krall concert at Red Butte Garden with Doug and Dona et al. Doug took advantage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, to a minor extent, when we drove up to the gate and went in with two friends through the VIP/handicap entrance. The concert was sold out and the main gate line was a thousand people long waiting for the 6 o'clock gate opening. We went right through. Amazingly by 6:10 the main lawn was already full, but the wheel chair access is a cement strip all the way around the top of the lawn where there was plenty of room for my higher chair and for all of us. I sat, very comfortably, in a standard portable canvas sling chair. The opening act was a pleasant surprise, K and went for a walk between acts, then Diana crooned to us until about 10. Doug slickly parked the car nearby in the VIP lot so the walk out was short. Very smooth.

Saturday we got up to meet with some friends, pick up some books, get Sock-eye Salmon at the mini mart, back home to pack up and headed down to Torrey. By the time we got here, I was getting a bit tired. I'm tired, but care-giving is a maybe more of a strain than recovering. My nurse is coming out of a long Sunday afternoon nap as I write.

D and D came down to Torrey today. While they were driving down K and I went out, with my new Garmin 305 gps watch, for a desert stoll. K keeps singing, "If you're a nerd and you know it, check your watch . . ." We figured it might be about a half mile out to the neighbor house. I set out with two crutches then asked K to carry one on the way back. Even though the road is uneven dirt the walk was pretty easy. Sure enough, 1.02 miles round trip. Good thing I had the watch.

I'm weaning off the meds. In the morning my back hurts as much as anything, a pain I am familiar with and that I hope goes away as my new functioning hip kicks in. The 90 degree bending limit keeps me, in the meanwhile, from stretching out my leg and back the way I would like. But I don't need meds for that. So I quit the oxy as of Friday and going to half strength on the Lortabs. I imagine I'm off the Lortabs in a week. I can't take Ibuprofen or any other anti inflammatory while on blood thinner, so I will have to see how Tylenol does. Tylenol isn't usually much help, but the pain is diminishing fast enough.

I think I am in the middle phase where I am not yet better than I was before surgery but am getting better every day, slow but sure. There may not be much to report for awhile. Joe asked about the mental aspect. I feel happy and satisfied with how it is going, but with my usual impatience to get it done and be able to get back to normal workouts, no crutches, no toilet risers, no handicap parking, less dependent, able to sleep on my side, yada, yada. The stretch.