Between knee replacement surgery and recovery, the flu and cold which still have a tight hold upon me even after 5 weeks, and attempting to make progress on the housing development in the City of Adair Village, I’ve not been able to make time to keep our blog posting current.  Sorry.  Such is life.

I believe I mentioned that daughter’s Sasha and Demri are both pregnant.  We found out recently that Sasha is having another boy (this will make three for her and her husband James), and we found out today that Demri and Eric are having a boy (their first child).  That will make two granddaughters and eight grandsons.  The girls are definitely outnumbered.

I recently spoke with my primary care doctor and he said that people who are getting the flu this year are remaining sick for longer periods of time, more so than usual.  If I have the same strain of flu as most people, I will likely continue to be sick for another couple of weeks.  Unbelievable.  I’ve been sick since before Christmas.  Thank goodness Lisa has remained healthy and strong.

I met with another doctor on Monday, the doctor who performed my knee replacement surgery.  An x-ray technician in his office took a couple of x-rays of my left knee.  You can see the two prothesis implants in the x-ray pictured below.  The doctor was very impressed by my quick recovery (no doubt due to the awe-inspiring skill of the surgeon).  At my rate of recovery he believes I should be back to normal, or as normal as can be expected, by July.

Ian’s friend from church, Tyler, was able to provide us with addition building material for use on the expansion of the brooder shed at the farm in Corvallis.  I took the material with me in the bed of the truck when I drove to Corvallis last week.  Tyler has provided us with a couple of thousand dollars worth of material, for the project, at no cost to us.  Hopefully Ian will continue to remain good friends with Tyler.  Below are current pictures of the work Kevin has done on the brooder shed.

On Wednesday my friend Bob, a mechanic who owns an auto repair shop in Corvallis, performed some work on my truck so I got to spend the day with my brother Kevin.  Bob has always done a great job repairing my vehicles over the years and my preference is to take my car/truck to Bob over any other mechanic.  Yes, I know the job will be done right.  No worries.  Don’t ever move Bob or I will be sad. 

Kevin wanted to add a cupola to the roof of the shed so I was able to help out with the design and the construction of the cupola base while the truck was getting repaired.  It was like old times working alongside Kevin, even though it was but for a short time.

The project in Adair is moving forward, although slower than I would like.  I’ve hired a wetland consultant to perform a wetland delineation on the property to determine if wetlands as present.  The consultant will be performing his assessment at the end of February.  I’ve also hired an architect on Whidbey Island to develop a conceptual site plan, showing the location of the roads and houses.  The City of Adair Village wants this drawing to help provide a vision to the City Planning Commission and City Council for use in the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) Expansion and the Annexation process.  I will be writing the application for the UGB expansion and annexation in February and I have hired a consultant to review my application for accuracy and  completeness.  I hope to be able to turn in the application in March with a public hearing to follow in April or May.  

 Lisa's sneaky husband dropping a picture of her into the blog for no reason

A number of you have asked for an update on my condition following knee replacement surgery.  Here is a summary of the last four weeks, the time since going under the knife.

There is nothing like a visual to put things in perspective.  Pictured above are my 63 year old legs.  My left knee is healing nicely, although still swollen.  The incisions are slowly disappearing.  The two incisions above and below the knee are where robotic guides where attached into the bone.  The stitches have since been removed.  The knee incision was put back together with superglue.  The blue lines where drawn before the incision was made, allowing the lines to be used as a guide when gluing the skin back together.  I’ve noticed the west and east ridge lines don’t quite match up, leaving what I will call a sawtooth mountain range.  Hopefully time will eliminate the ridge line. 

For those of you who have an interest in seeing what a knee replacement looks like, I’ve included three video links for your viewing pleasure, each succeeding video getting more graphic.  Simply cut and paste the link into your web browser.  The first video is an animation.  The last includes images from the operating room.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNBX0_XLDQA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbrmZMlm5qg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov2zorMq7Ls

I had another physical therapy session this afternoon.  I’m doing so well that my appointments are being reduced from twice to once per week.  A measure of success in recovery of knee replacement surgery is measured in how much one can bend the knee and how quickly.  Mine was calculated today to be 122 degrees, excellent for only four weeks following surgery.  Normal for my right leg is 135 degrees.  The way I’m progressing I should get to 130 degrees in the next few weeks.  The remaining 5 degrees will take a year to accomplish, or so they say.

The last four weeks has not been a bed of roses.  Taking the pain medication Percocet caused my mind to be in a constant fog in addition to being constipated.  Constipation is one of life's least enjoyable adventures.  Attempting to relieve oneself is like pushing a log through a straw.  No joy can be found in the experience.

My adverse reaction to the pain medication is still occurring, even though I’ve not been on pain medication for over two weeks.  I’ve developed “restless leg syndrome” (RLS), a result of taking Tramadol.  RLS is sleep-related movement disorder known for its overwhelming and often unpleasant urges to move the legs while at rest.  This has been keeping me up most every night. 

A week ago I came down with what I thought was another nasal infection.  Not knowing if the infection was viral or bacterial I asked my doctor to prescribe antibiotics, which he did.  I also asked the doctor about my RLS and he suggested I take an iron and magnesium supplement.  When I went to pick up my medication and the supplements the pharmacist said not to take the iron and magnesium tablets while I was taking the antibiotics.  Those two supplements would cancel out any benefits the antibiotics would provide.  So, what to do?  Take the supplements to overcome the RLS and get some sleep, or take the antibiotics for the next five days which may or may not help the nasal infection.  I chose to take the antibiotics.  I chose poorly.  My nasal infection turned into a full fledged flu type sickness.  Headaches, chills, runny nose, watery eyes, cough, and sore throat.  I’m still suffering as of this writing.

I began taking my iron and magnesium supplements last night before going to bed, hoping for RLS relief.  I woke up in the middle of the night with a headache, a headache even two Excedrine Migraine tablets had no effect in alleviating.  So much for the iron and magnesium supplements. 

Now, to make matters worse, I need to (have to) go to the bathroom every hour or two, day or night.  For men my age this is usually associated with an enlarged prostate, but I’m not sure that is the case with me.  Something about the surgery, the medication, or my weakened immune system has triggered this uncontrollable urge to constantly run to the bathroom.  Combine this little problem with my RLS and I have turned into a walking zombi.  I lie in bed at night for hours on end unable to sleep or find comfort.  During the day I’ve become the living dead. 

Who knew that the seemingly simple decision to have knee replacement surgery would turn into such a grueling, tiresome, and physically draining ordeal.  Lisa has endured it all along side me, without expressing one word of discouragement.  If not for the patience and ongoing caregiving of my saint of a wife Lisa, I do believe I would go (would have) gone crazy.