i could cry, but i choose laughter

Day 3, post knee surgery:

today, i ventured out of the house! i felt air on my skin! i saw life happening! i went to lanesplitter's for a quick lunch. okay, nevermind that it probably took more time than i was outside to: unhook the picnic coolers, remove the anti embolism stockings, put on pants, and crutch-walk my pokey self down hall, down four steps (thankfully, there's only 4!), open door and get self into 4 Runner. getting one's self into a car isn't quite so easy when one's knees don't bend.

yeah. my right knee is wonky. swollen. huge. it looks like a misshapen soccer ball. only with sesame street band-aids and a few bruises on said sad misshapen ball. it's not stable in the joint, but if i carefully step into the foot, i can get the knee to stabilize. truth be told, there's some fear of weight bearing on ole righty! when i removed the dressing for the first time last evening, i saw my right knee had an extra stitch, which translates into a third place a scope or device entered my knee joint.

left knee: great. barely swollen. still not so bendy, but pretty fine for three days out.

my handicapped placard came! holy crap, i'm lame! i'm excited to have a disabled placard. (full disclosure: i can park on the metered streets for free in SF and no longer pay $18 to park near work!)

super scrabble, iChat, backgammon, and paul are keeping me from losing it.

tonight i laughed at this outdoorsy moment of lameness. i desperately needed a shower, but didn't feel like i could be stable standing in the shower for 5 minutes without crutches on a soapy surface. so paul put a big picnic cooler in the tub and i sat on that and showered! clever guy, love him! i felt like i was in an elderly shower stall, but i am CLEAN and that's all that matters!

still avoiding the percocet. except for popping a vicodin before bed, i'm only taking ibuprofin. yay!

i start PT thursday, and go back to the doc that day, too. i'm not so sure i'll be mobile enough to return to work next monday. i'm hopeful, but we shall see!

freshly showered, now it's back to the KoolerHosen .