Another Trip to the Doctor - Knee Pain

I popped in to see Dr. Wilson yesterday so he could have a look at my knee.  I just wanted to be sure nothing was seriously wrong with it as I was having extreme pain on the right hand side of the joint.  Dena and I are starting training this weekend for our 1/2 Marathon in Pasadena and I guess I just wanted a blessing.

He said I have Chondromalacia.  This is basically rough cartilage under the knee cap, it's either hereditary or has arose from age/menopause and aggravated by 45 days of relative sedentary life imposed by post surgical recovery.   I'm not convinced that is what I really have, but regardless, whatever it is, it is not something that requires surgery so that's good.
Here's the prescription:

Wear soft cushioned shoes with no hard sole and take Glucosamine chondroitin and MSM or whatever it is. He mentioned that there are mixed reviews on these supplements but he admits that they help some people tremendously and some others not so much.  My mom takes this supplement for her knee and says it really helps.  Oh, there we go!  I get to blame my mom!  It is genetics....


I'm not allowed any weekend warrior type exercise.  I must exercise with consistency, equally all the time, at least 4 times a week.  As for the 1/2 marathon if I really, really want to I can run but he would prefer if I speed walk it.  That seems fine with me as running hurts and I'm sure that is how I've pissed off the knee to begin with, running with our dog, Gepetto.  He also said that low impact exercise is important and wants to see 50% of half marathon training to be on low impact machine, aka elliptical or stair climber or bike, etc.


Couple other tidbits I've learned today - 4 Aleve equals one Celebrex so take 2 Aleve in morning, 2 at night when it flares up. Don’t take for any more than 4 days in a row.  Celebrex is an expensive anti-inflammatory that insurance companies don't like to pay for anymore. 
5 pounds of weight loss equals 15 pounds of pressure off knee.

The New Year

The whole cancer scare was quite a wake up call for me as you can imagine.  As I slowly healed plans formed in my head.  Plans of health, self care and fitness.  How was I going to do it?  Besides sheer will power what motivates me to exercise and eat right?  I don't know.  I suppose if I knew, I'd be healthy and fit.

This is what I've decided to try this year.  I've started back with my trainer, Christie.  She's wonderful and will adjust my work out routine based on any issues I have.  For example, when I first started with her my shoulder had a couple little tears in the rotator cuff and major inflammation in the AC joint.  She researched and got a routine going for me that eventually healed all of that, without surgery.  Now, after the hysterectomy I'm weak.  I'm trying not to be frustrated by that but it is hard.  I have to rebuild my entire core muscle group since they cut them right down the middle and I have to build up my stamina/heart health again.

I've bought myself a "fitbit".  This is a cool little gadget that tracks every step you take, calorie you burn and all the shut eye you get.  It didn't take long to figure out I wasn't getting enough sleep.  I had no idea I was only getting about 6 hours and 30 minutes a night.  For some reason I'm awake for 8 minutes in the middle of the night, every night.  Not at the same time each night but it's still 8 minutes. I wonder what I do in those 8 minutes?  Am I sleep walking?  I don't remember going to the bathroom.  Maybe I should put a nannie cam in my bedroom so I can figure it out.  Because of this little device I've made a concerted effort to get more sleep.  I can feel a stronger energy level the last few days.

All of these statistics are logged on a secure website that I can access anywhere, even from my phone with the app.  Everything has an app now.  I just got my 50 mile badge.  I've walked or ran 50 miles since January 3rd. Not bad, eh.  I'll expound on other things I'm doing to try to motivate myself in the next blog.

Politeness and Common Courtesy in Today's World

I know we live in a fast paced world.  I live here, you live here and it's hard to keep up most days.  But with that said; why is it that common courtesy seems to have just been thrown by the way side? Are we too busy to be polite?  I doubt that.  Or perhaps we are just too lazy?  Or perhaps just so tired of the humanity all around us that we don't care.  


I say "thank you" all the time.  I was raised to be polite.  You would say, please, thank you, pardon me, etc or you'd get a whack up side the head.  What bugs me is when I say "Thank you" and some one says "umm hmmm".  What is that?  Does that mean "piss off, you're lucky I helped you"? Or does it mean you're too lazy to say "you're welcome"?  I first noticed this years ago in Los Angeles whenever I said "thank you" to someone black.  I know, you're all saying "that's racist", no it's not racist, it's a statement and an opinion and using the term black allows me to identify a segment of the population.  I've just started noticing white people doing that "umm hmmm" thing.  Clearly this problem is spreading and we need to stop it. 


The origin of the whole "Thank you" and "you're welcome" back and forth began in the middle ages with "wilcume" meaning "I'm pleased you came"   That morphed into when someone arrived at your home they were "well come", i.e. we're pleased you came.  Somewhere in those centuries it morphed as a response to "thank you".  They might not have had proper hygiene and plumbing back then but at least they were polite.  And just to clarify - "No problem", "think nothing of it", and "it was nothing" are not equivalent nor appropriate responses to "thank you".  The sense in you're welcome is one of "it was pleasing to me to do" whatever it was that you were thanked for.


Now is that so hard?
Today - practice your common courtesy.  A warm smile, holding the door open and a "thank you" and "you're welcome" goes a long way in making it just a little easier to get through the day.

What a Week

I don't even know where to start - it's Thursday and I've had a whirlwind of a week.  Maybe I'll start with today.  The day started after midnight with ferocious Santa Ana winds kicking up throughout our city.  The banging and crashing and creaking of the house was nerve wracking culminating with a huge crash at 5am.  We discovered a large 10' branch from our neighbors Redwood tree across our back door and spanning the bathroom bay window.  Dena and I pushed it off but it was just complete luck that it didn't go through any of the windows.  The gazebo is a total loss, I'm sorry to say.  It stood no chance against 80 MPH gusts.

Today was also my first day of work in 6 weeks.  After about 4 hours I hit a wall - exhausted to such a point that I could barely keep my eyes open.  I trundled home on the way calling the next door neighbor asking him to get his six huge tree branches out of my back yard.  Thankfully by the time I got home they were gone and during the surveying of the back yard a freaky gust picked up the gazebo canopy and lifted it 6' off the ground. I lunged across the yard grabbing one of the poles and pulling it back down to earth.  After surveying the many rips I decided the best thing was to take the canopy off for now.  After all this excitement it was time for a nap as we had a special event tonight.

But of course, home maintenance never ends.  The solar company called, our solar panels were not reporting production.  I checked the panel and it says :ground fault, check fuse".  Well, how could I resist fixing that?! They told me they'd send someone out but I just had to tear the unit apart and troubleshoot it.  I found the fuse and tested it with my ohm meter and my fuse tester.  Both reported it blown and I told the solar company to just mail me one.  They said they'd send someone out.  Sure, send a man to do a woman's job that is already done....

I bought the National Geographic speaker series probably six months ago and tonight was opening night.  I had to be awake so the nap was good.  Tonight was Ocean Soul - opening night. It was breathtaking, eye opening, inspiring and touching.  I felt alive.  I felt fortunate.

What a day....

In the Hospital with Lots of Machines

The green machine is the most important - that's the pain medication! 

Where Are You Shopping This Year?

For Christmas and/or Chanukah where will you be doing your shopping for your loved ones, co-workers and other gift giving necessities?  Gift cards?  Something nice from one of the big box stores?  This year, consider an alternative - consider shopping at local businesses, buying from local artisans, buying only Made in America products, giving your time on behalf of a charity or giving financially to a charity.  What about tickets to a play, concert or other event - this is supporting the local economy.  These are all alternatives to the usual gift giving ideas and just a few I dreamed up in the writing of this blog - I'm sure you can all add your ideas to the comments page!

With the US economy stalled at the bottom of a big (OK, humongous) dip, wouldn't it be powerful if the majority of Americans shopped for locally made products?  Think of the economic boost that would provide to their community and their country.  Below are some ideas.

Shopping
An American product only website - http://www.proudamericantradingpost.com/
New Balance - Many of their running shoes are made in America, they also have lots of other products.
Cool Building blocks for kids
Dog and Cat products
Made in California Products
Online Store - Every item made in New England
If you just put a little effort into it, it's a piece of cake to buy your gifts, American Made.

Charities
Donate your time and volunteer - here is the Los Angeles website for all opportunities
Want to give to the needy - donate a couple chickens with Heifer International
Top 25 rated children's charities
Putting homeless to work in Hollywood  -- donate time, money or clothes!
People helping people - in Los Angeles

Yes, charities are always iffy as you never really know how much money is given to their actual programs versus to their administrative costs.  Well, wait - you can know - check out the Charity Navigator - this rates all charities - I find any charity with 3 stars and above is great.  It's hard to find a charity with over a 70% program rate but they are out there.  3 stars is usually in the 60's. 

Day Before Surgery

This was a busy, busy day.  My surgeon, being a Canuck himself, was very sympathetic to my plight that my immigration interview for citizenship at UCSIS in downtown LA was on October 18th, so he kindly scheduled my surgery for the 19th.  Apparently, completely escaping his memory and much to my dismay, the pre-op instructions required a clear liquid only fast starting 24 hours before surgery with nothing by mouth after midnight.  Also required was a laxative and an enema.  My first thought was of how functional was my brain going to be at the 2:00 pm interview?  My second thought was regarding my patience.  With a lack of food I tend to be on quite a short fuse so I was a little nervous for the health and safety of the interviewing officer.

Dena and my Mom made Jello and made me "eat" every 2 hours or so.  I actually felt pretty good going in to the federal building but as my wait time extended past an hour my energy began to wane.  Finally, I was called - I was asked five questions, here's a sampling:

1. How many US Senators are there?
2. What ocean borders the East coast of the United States?
3. Name one state bordering Canada.
4. What year was the US Constitution written in?  (1787....that's a trick question)

I cannot remember the 5th question but I got all 5 correct (you would hope so!) and the interview moved on.  At the end I received a check box on my application that I was recommended for citizenship.  Now, we wait, again - approximately 30 to 60 days for the final verdict and hopefully the swearing in date.

Now, back to the enema.  I hate to even comment on this but I'm sure you're all wondering why an enema would be required.  When they are working "down there" they want you clean of "debris" so that in case they nick something there will be no contamination.  That fact alone makes you stick strictly to your clear liquid diet let me tell you.  And have you ever tried giving yourself an enema?  I hadn't even ever bought an enema at the drug store!  There was no way in hell I was going to have my mother help me as I'm an adult now....it's been a long time since she looked at my behind, especially that personally.  And there was no way I was going to ask Dena to give it to me.  I mean we are married but let's face it, the romance really goes out of a relationship when you venture into this territory!  I don't want any bodily function cleanup coming until we're well into our 80's or 90's.

So, with that said, I studied the instructions and pictures on the box and laid some towels on the floor of the bathroom and twisted and contorted myself to try to make it happen.  Finally, I did get it in but I had forgotten to take the cardboard stopper off the bottle so nothing came out, so I had to uncork it and try again.  By the end of all this frustrating ridiculousness I was exhausted.  I decided that I'd just risk it.....and hopefully the laxative would do the job.