Filed under: family, Farm | Tags: arthroscopic surgery, Arthroscopy, farm, health, knee surgery, medicine, physical therapy, repairs
Friday, June 29 I had Arthroscopic Surgery to take care of some ragged pieces in the cartilage in my right knee. I’m sure that the first damage goes back many years, but it got significantly worse this spring. I toughed it out until I got the bulk of the spring work done, then I started seeing doctors. Finally I saw a surgeon, and we set the date for surgery. With a bare minimum of preparation, they walked me into surgery, put me out, and went to work.
When I woke up, they walked me out to the car for my wife to take me home. What I could see of my knee looked like this.
The word was, keep it dry, start your exercises, change your bandages. Under the wrap I had two big pads to catch any leaks. A few days later we switched to band aids. I still kept it wrapped, mostly to keep the band aids in place.
Today was my second trip to the physical therapist. The swelling is down and range of motion is returning. I’m still a bit tenuous going down stairs, but the rest is returning. Today my knee looks like this.
You can see the two small scabs just below the knee cap, with one on the left side above. I’ve started sleeping without any bandaids or wraps on the knee. Showers are OK, but no swimming yet. Oh, you should see this!
Isn’t that a beauty of a bruise. That’s where they put the tourniquet. It’s going to take a while for that to go away.
I’m still working on range of motion stuff, but I am getting better. The knee is more than a bit tight. I have very little pain, even when doing my exercises. I wonder why I didn’t just go and have it this spring when things first got bad.
So there you have it, my knee is doing much better. Thanks for you concern,
Michael
Filed under: fish, garden, house, pond, projects, rain, water garden, weather | Tags: floating water plants, garden, Koi, pond, railing, screen porch, water garden, weather
Our porch and pond continue to change. This week the railing that we had ordered special made came. 
Sunday we spent some time cleaning and roughing the metal, then Karen painted it. Today I installed it.
It looks great, and adds a bit of safety also. It’s only 4 steps up and a drop to soft grass so we were not worried about spacing on the bars. The hand rail will help get up and down the steps.
When we were in Colorado we found some nice brackets to add to the west posts of the porch, they were installed Sunday also.
They will allow the hanging of some decorative items to add some color.
Our floaters in the pond are really growing in this warm weather. Here’s the pond on June 30th,
and here’s the pond today, July 9. More and more the year old koi are turning from black to orange. It’s fun to watch them all come when I feed them, it is taking more and more food to make them happy.
I finally found our newest batch of kittens today, they are about 2 weeks old. Mom is not happy to have me around so I left them alone for now. When they get older I’ll start getting to know them.
Our grass is starting to show signs of stress from the heat of last week. Many places are starting to turn brown. No rain is forecast for the next week, but temperatures will be a bit cooler than they were.
Some areas in the corn are showing a lack of water. This was more pronounced in the 100 degree heat. Now that temps are in the mid 80′s the roots are able to keep up with the demand for water. There is some water if you go deep enough, I just hope it is enough to get the crop to the next rainfall.
Michael
