Tell Them You Love Them

Thank you for all of the prayers and good wishes. They are much appreciated.

I am writing this as my family is making funeral arrangements for my dad, who died in the early morning hours of Christmas Day. He passed peacefully, lying in his own bed with my mom sleeping by his side.

I will write more later about this remarkable man, but to be honest, I am still in disbelief. Dad has always seemed indestructible even at 90 years old. I need more time to process the fact that he is no longer with us.

If you are one of those lucky folks with your mom or dad still here, hug them. Call them. Because you never know when that will no longer be possible.

Blessings All Around

I know that I haven't been posting regularly, but I haven't been ignoring y'all, really I haven't. I am recovering from my knee replacement right on schedule, and although my energy levels have taken a major hit, at this point I think I have avoided a major flare.

But a new development may prove to be a bigger challenge than surgery: I recently learned that my Dad is having serious health issues which required hospice to be called. I will be traveling there on Christmas Day. I plan to take another short hiatus from Reasonably Well as I focus on family for a bit.

Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas for those that observe. And have a very happy New Year!

We're On Track

Hi guys! I wanted to check in to let y'all know how I'm faring -- which is to say that my new knee and I are becoming acquitted. At this point neither of us has completely accepted the other without reservations, leading to the occasional aches pains, and swelling. But the doctors tell me that this is completely normal. So in the meantime I'm faithfully doing my exercises, attending physical therapy appointments, icing every part of me that needs it, and resting in my little recovery lair (previously known as the study).  Aside from having a cozy little bed perfect for daytime napping and stretching out for exercises, and a TV on which to watch old Christmas movies, my lair affords me a pretty nifty view of the Christmas tree.

And when the Christmas festivities get too wild and crazy around here, rather than hide out completely in my bedroom upstairs, I can duck in to take a quick break here without feeling as though I'm missing on out of all the good stuff.

I've turned over the cooking and baking duties to my friends and my girlies. Karen has already baked a batch of delicious sugar cookies and chocolate/oatmeal bars. I've got daughter #1 on fruitcake and fudge duty for tomorrow.

I think Christmas is well in hand here. How about your holidays? Are you all set?

Bring on the eggnog!

Hello everyone! I'm so glad to be able to tell y'all that my surgery went well and I'm on my way to a full recovery. I'll check back frequently to fill everyone in on all the details, but in the meantime, I'm just dying to hear everything from everyone. What did I miss? Has everyone had an exciting time preparing for the holidays?

Until we talk again, take a listen to this piece of memorable Holiday music to get us all in the mood for the festive season ahead.

Enjoy.

Let's DO This

Image found on Bonesmart.org 

Finally. By the time y'all read this, hopefully I will be peacefully snoring away while getting a new knee installed.

I think instillation sounds better than "major joint replacement surgery".

I'm not certain what I'll be capable of blogging-wise afterwards, so I'm planning on taking a short hiatus from Reasonably Well. I'm guessing it will be approximately a week, but I may pop in sooner.

While I can be lazy for a bit here, this does NOT mean that y'all can be slacking off. Here's your assignment while I'm gone: to visit The Seated View for your daily #ChronicChristmas tip. I am assigning Terese as your classroom monitor while I'm gone and will expect a full report of everyone's activities in my absence. I expect that everyone will behave themselves in an appropriate manner while I'm gone, people.

**meaningful look with eyebrows raised**

Yes, this means YOU. And you know who you are....

See you soon.

The Seated View: #ChronicChristmas Advent Calendar

Have you ever read Lene Andersen's blog The Seated View?  She describes herself as Health care writer, RA and disability advocate, wheelchair user and camera nut. Author of Your Life with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Tools for Managing Treatment, Side Effects and Pain. 

Her blog is relevant and helpful for anyone dealing with chronic disease. Check it out.

Ms. Andersen has devised what she has dubbed as a #ChronicChristmas advent calendar: #ChronicChristmas is an Advent calendar of tips for a sane holiday season with a chronic illness. Check back tomorrow for the next tip..

I'm a little late in coming to this very useful party, but the season is young. It's going to be easy to read the first week of tips to catch up. Here's Day #1:

#ChronicChristmas #1: Shop Online 

Do your gift shopping online.  

Cyber Monday may have been yesterday, but I bet there are still deals to be had. One of the best part of doing your shopping on the Internet is that poking about you normally do anyway is now with a purpose. You’re not procrastinating at all! Continue reading here. 

You can read Tip #2 here.

I love this Advent calendar!

Christmas How-To

The holiday season is upon us once more. And when faced with a plethora of shopping and entertaining decisions, what's a person to do?

Relax.

This Mental Floss article has NINE -- count 'em -- NINE spectacular flow charts to help you get through until February leaving all your friends and family scratching their heads and exclaiming, "How DOES she do it?"

Here's only one of the nine, so head over there to see them all.

One of the Good Guys

Here's some good news for your Saturday:

Sean Parker donates $10M for autoimmune research

Jon Swartz, USA TODAY 

SAN FRANCISCO — Taking a page from the philanthropic playbook of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker on Monday made a major gift of his own.

He donated $10 million to establish a new research laboratory at the University of California-San Francisco Diabetes Center for autoimmunity research — and strongly hinted more is to come.

The 35-year-old Parker, who is worth an estimated $3.1 billion, has an "ongoing interest in immunology," dating to his health issues with allergies and asthma.

"The strategic plan is to eliminate type 1 diabetes," he said. "By no means is this the last grant."

Parker, who started companies including Napster and Airtime and was Facebook's first president, said he hopes to be a "catalyst" for scientific research that leads to improved treatments and reduced costs. Continue reading here.

This Device Should Not Be Used To Chill Beer Cans

John and I attended a "joint replacement" class this afternoon and I have to say that I came home feeling bummed.

I know. I know. I've been telling everyone in the tri-county that I can't WAIT for my knee surgery. But after the class during which the staff hauled out examples of the raised toilet seats, walkers, examples of steri strips and incisional dressings, and gross pictures of what a dressing would look like when it needed changing; then discussed at length the probabilities of constipation after surgery and specifically what I should do about it, I have to say my excitement was dampened a bit. As a nurse, this stuff is not a surprise to me and should. not. gross me out. I suppose when I'm the one receiving the bandage instead of changing it that things get much more personal...

One demo in particular though intrigued me more than disgusted me, which was a bright spot in this class. It's this cool device (see what I did there?) that I will be taking home from the hospital with me. I'm not certain that this is the particular brand that I will get but it looks very similar to the one that they used for the class today.

You can buy your very own here. 

It attaches to a special knee pad, and using tubes connected to the device pumps iced water through the pad, keeping my surgical area cool. 

I think I will like this thing a lot judging from what the staff told me since it reduces swelling and pain. 

Um. Wait a minute.........oh, no. I'm getting a vision here of what John and Greg might decide would be acceptable alternate uses for this device. Oh, and people? Please don't help them about by posting suggestions below. M'kay? Thanks. 

Any application or use of this device NOT LISTED IN THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL by anyone other than me will be strictly prohibited. 

Are we clear here? Don't make me use my grabber for a not-in-the-instruction-manual application guys. Wouldn't be pretty. 

Munch munch

My contribution to the luncheon. You can buy your very own here. I recommend them highly....

Today I'm sleeping off a pot-luck luncheon and Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation support group meeting.

I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. In the meantime, think I'll have another cookie.....

No. One. Tells. Me. To. Leave.

If you buy one of these, found on Walgreens here, I hope it lasts longer than mine did. 

Well. With my total knee surgery only a week away, and after my final pre-op appointment with my surgeon, I decided to do a small bit of Christmas shopping yesterday.

I'm guessing that I won't feel like doing a lot of shopping at the mall after surgery and before Christmas.

So I hobbled into Macy's with my cane. Three purchases later, as I was looking for the furniture department so I could stretch out on a recliner to take a load off my knee evaluate the structural integrity and comfort of Macy's upholstered furniture, I stumbled. What the heck?!, I thought. Turns out my footed cane had just thrown off it's foot. I sat down and began puzzling out a way to reattach it. As I was about to toss the stupid thing across the room in frustration, a young woman sat down on the coordinating couch (with the recliner that I had plopped my duff into) and asked if she could help. As we sat with our heads together over the cane she told me that she was an assistant manger of the store. After a few minutes during which it became obvious that my cane was beyond repair, she sat up and snapped her fingers.

"I have an idea. We have a lost and found. Maybe there's a cane in there!", she enthused, and scampered off. She returned a few minutes later and sadly shared that there were no canes to be found. It was obvious that my cane wasn't fixable, and no substitute, AND this mall did not have a store that sold them. Rats. It appeared that my little shopping trip was over.

Until.

I really liked this little gal. But not so much when she assumed her manager-type persona and said, "OK. Well, I'm really concerned about the possibility of you falling if you continue shopping here. So here's what I want you to do: the elevator is right over there. (she pointed her perfectly manicured finger) and I want to make sure you use it. I don't want to see you on that escalator, it's far too dangerous without your cane. (Here she playfully waggled that manicured finger. Oh, brother.) Can I help you out to your car?"

Wait. Did this little snot just inform me that I was done shopping? That I had to get out of her store?! That I wasn't capable of making that assessment and decision myself?!?!!

I sat up straight and asked Miss BossyPants if she would be so kind as to throw the pieces of my cane in the nearest garbage. She accepted my dumb stupid cane with a smile and told me that she would be right back to help me out.

Once she walked around the corner to find a garbage container, I did a little a little scampering of my own in the completely opposite direction of my would-be caretaker. Hmph. I hustled myself out of Macy's and into the mall corridor before she could snag me and drag me off to my car.

She was probably right in thinking that it would have been best if I didn't try to do much more walking without my cane or my brace, but honestly. I simply won't be bossed around by someone half my age.  And hour later, bags in hand from three other stores, I limped my sweaty and exhausted self as quickly as I could through Macy's heading to the car; hoping to escape Miss Manager-Who-Kicks-Sweet-Old-Caneless-Shoppers-Out-Of-Her-Store. Bet that was not a pleasant sight.

I took the escalator. So there.

I groaned in pain when I headed into my house. Now I'm camped out in bed watching old PBS programs with an ice pack on my throbbing knee.

And it's all her fault.

It Actually Was Wonderful

Some people really rock Thanksgiving accessories. 

In looking back over the last week's posts, I've realized that the overall tone of my discussions has been rather muted at best and just plain whiney at worst. I've ripped off whatever I had been thinking at the moment and usually wrote those posts at the end of days that had high energy requirements.

Gosh. What a whiney-butt I've been.

What I forgot to include in those posts are the wonderful heart warming times that accompany the holidays at my house. I've shared with y'all before how much I enjoy filling my house to the rafters with people I love and great food. And once again, that's exactly how our Thanksgiving played out this year.

My favorite moment of the entire four day weekend was over dinner; when 24 lovely people sat around festively decorated tables and shared a meal; it's my favorite time not so much due to the food although it was excellent, but rather the wonderful rumble of two dozen voices speaking with some measure of authentic happiness. I slipped away to our foyer just after dinner began, sat on the bottom step of our stairs, and grinned ear to ear as I simply listened with my eyes closed. Happy voices in my home is a wonderful sound. One I hope I never forget to revisit all year round, not just at the holidays.

Second favorite? Watching the group engage in a game. One that everyone regardless of age can take part. This year, Terese had to devise our annual Turkey Trophy game. We laughed as she told us that there would be no pie until AFTER the trophy had been won and awarded.

Third? (It's hard to assign rankings. Actually, they are all my favorite times). There's those inevitable times when I need to excuse myself from the party and grab a quick nap. The need for rest isn't gratifying, but while I'm waiting to fall asleep, hearing how the gathering has a life of it's own and can continue on regardless of where I am is delightful.

Every year, when I read or hear stories of families that can not gather for a holiday without some kind of conflict or nastiness coming to light. I find this so sad.....  I know that the day may come when our family and friends may have difficult relationships of some kind, but at this point our gatherings have been delightful, each in it's own way. I don't know how or why we've managed this, but for whatever cause or reason, I thank God. It's such a blessing to be surrounded by those that we truly love and cherish.

So I have to apologize if I've given anyone the impression that I haven't had a happy Thanksgiving. Yes, I've struggled this year with a bit more pain and fatigue than usual. But a house full of fantastic people goes a long way towards making it all far more bearable.

Thanks, my family and friends.