"" Writer's Wanderings: An Adventure Of A Different Kind

Thursday, July 26, 2018

An Adventure Of A Different Kind

Attitude and expectations are all important when you travel whether it be for rest and relaxation, exploration, vacation, or just journeying through life. The last one is the latest in my travels, a segment of my life journey. A while back it became obvious that the arthritis in my knees was going to be a major interference in my enjoying life as we do. There were some stop gap treatments but the obvious became more urgent and the timing worked such that two weeks ago I underwent a total knee replacement.

It has already been quite a journey and I am thankful for all those who knew what was going on and surrounded me with love and prayer. There were plenty of things to take me out of my comfort zone--I hate needles for one, but with the help of my doctor and the hospital staff I was well prepared to face it all. Just as if I were taking a long trip, we explored the procedure and noted all the things that we would probably face along the way.

Joint Camp was one of the more unique preparatory experiences. Bob was a bit disappointed when the nurse told him there would be no s'mores and camp songs. What we found instead was a wealth of information to prepare the both of us for what lie ahead.

With all of the detailed care of explaining what would happen the morning of surgery and for some time after, I was well prepared--as much as could be expected never having been through something like this before. Since we are all different in our approach to pain and are motivated in different ways for things like physical therapy, I tried to look at it as a new adventure. It would be difficult, no doubt, but I would look for the good things, the positive healing process, the people I would meet along the way, and above all, any humor I could latch on to.

There were lots of little gems of humor that I gleaned. I shared many on Facebook but the one that's been the best so far involved my caretaker, Bob. (By the way, he's been amazing and is becoming a pretty good cook.) When he finally got comfortable enough with leaving me to go downstairs to work his ham radio, he urged me to use my cell phone to text him if I needed anything. The cell phone I guess, has replaced the old fashion bell to ring from the sick room. So, one evening, I didn't really need anything but I did want to just send a little love note.

I chose the emoji with eyes made of hearts and sent it off. A minute later there were hurried steps coming up from the basement.

"What's wrong? What do you need?" Bob asked, a bit winded and with concern written all over his face.

"Nothing. I'm fine." I said, a little confused as to why he was so worried.

"Well, you sent me this picture and your eyes are all red from crying. You worried me."

"Honey, you need to put your glasses on. The emoji has hearts for eyes." Trying not to laugh, I added,  "I love you."


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