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Posting begun at 9:05 PM.
About ten minutes ago, I walked down my street to the tin-roofed structure where all the music was coming from. It had been going on for quite a while, probably several hours, and was so loud that it vibrated the walls and windows of my house. I had been working on a project and it was beginning to look like I might have to be up for several more hours. I had had my headphones on most of the night to block out the sound of the music, but I had to take them off because I had decided to catch a little sleep before the next wave of requests arrived in my e-mail (so I had to listen for the sound of mail arriving. I couldn't sleep. It was too loud, so I decided to go down and ask them to turn it down some. A reasonable request, I thought.
As I approached the building, which had a sign over the door that read "? Watercoolers", I could see a light coming from inside and could smell meat cooking. The music was very loud at that point, and I could see that it was coming from a station wagon parked in front of the entrance. Someone was sampling the meat, and another man was behind a grill cooking it. I stepped between the dumpster and the car and tried to speak to the cook, but he couldn't hear me and motioned me out to the street. He was probably in his late 40's and a few inches shorter than me, but quite stocky. I asked him to turn his music down, that it was rattling the walls of my house. He said, "Where do you live?" I said "About five houses down, the second from the corner." He said that that was "bullxxxx." I told him that it was too loud, and asked if he could just turn it down some. We were both shouting. In my case that was because it was the only way I thought he could hear me. He seemed to get angrier, though, and asked me when I went to bed. I said that didn't matter. It wasn't the point. His music was intruding on my ability to think, work, whatever. One final time I said "Please turn it down," and turned to walk away.
He followed me, shouting after me, using the "BS" word a lot, interspersed with the "F" word. Something to the effect of I was trying to "F" him, because he couldn't play his music. I tried to explain to him that I wasn't even asking him to stop playing his music, just to make it quieter so I could listen to my own music, or read a book, or sleep, etc., without losing my choice as to what I listened to. He was having some difficulty speaking to me in English, so his sentences weren't entirely coherent, but I got the idea that he wasn't going to turn it down.
I tried to leave once again after telling him, "Look, I came down here to ask you politely to turn it down. So please do that or I'll have to call the cops." He got really upset at that point and started shoving his finger in my face. I told him to stop it and turned to go again. He grabbed my by the arm and then moved in close and grabbed both my arms from the front. I pulled them away, and then he shoved me in the chest and said "Fxxx You". I walked away that time, shouting back at him. "Turn it down or I call the cops." He shouted after me to come back, but I didn't.
By the time I got home, the music was off. Even though I was still angry, and it seemed to me that he had done everything he could to push me into a fight. And, technically, he had assaulted me by grabbing and shoving me. I'm writing all this down mostly for future reference, just in case I need to remember it.Current Mood:  irritated |
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From Congressman Robert Wexler, a true American patriot (for his nearly single-handed attempts to initiate impeachment proceedings against George Bush) I saw it with my own eyes: The Bush and GOP machine stole the 2000 election and the presidency in Florida (not to mention Ohio in 2004) and the results have been catastrophic for our nation and the world. Don't take my word for it - read the dissent of Supreme Court Justices Stevens, Breyer and Ginsberg in the absurd legal decision of Bush v. Gore: "Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law." Back in 2000, in Florida, I witnessed the votes of World War II veterans thrown away and GOP thugs bully the Miami Dade elections office into stopping a recount. I swore to myself that never again would the votes of Americans be thrown away and replaced by the votes of appointed judges. Following the 2000 election, I spent 7 years fighting to remove the DIEBOLD electronic machines from Florida and to install a voter verified paper trail which we accomplished last year. I have bad news: They are trying again to silence our votes. Most people associate the 2000 election with paper "chads" and the Supreme Court's tragic decision. Yet the voter suppression in 2000 went way beyond not counting votes – from illegal roadblocks near minority precincts to the complete purging of legitimate voters from the rolls through what is called "voter caging "– the practice of using databases to improperly delete voters. Now, we are seeing signs of voter caging again in both Michigan and Florida. In Michigan, the state is using a list of foreclosures to purge voters (many of which are still legitimate voters in their districts). In Florida, my home state, the Republican led Supervisor of Elections is aggressively applying a new law designed to limit voter fraud by summarily deleting voters who might have – as part of a clerical error – a different driver's license or social security number than was put in the database. If legitimate, legal voters are denied access to the voting booth – we risk a repeat of 2000, in multiple states. We must remain vigilant, not just in defense of our economy, but in defense of our rights as Americans. I am working with my colleagues in Congress to call attention to this matter, but I encourage you to contact your state elections supervisor and demand that they allow every person who claims to be a legitimate voter to submit a provisional ballot. There is a system in every state to deal with provisional ballots – to verify their legitimacy after the fact. Voter caging is a threat to our (already challenged) democratic principals. Please join me and pass this email along to spread the word. If you have not already signed up at www.wexlerforcongress.com, and would like to be on this list, please sign up today. Sincerely, Congressman Robert Wexler
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If you're an Obama supporter like I am, watching the polls or reading the news can feel pretty good right now. And we should feel good—progressives have worked hard to get this far! But we can't listen to the pundits who say it's over. Can you share these "Top 5 reasons Obama supporters shouldn't rest easy" with your blog readers—and encourage them to volunteer for Obama between now and Election Day? TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN'T REST EASY
1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. And the polls are narrowing anyway. In the last few days, John McCain has gained ground in most national polls, as his campaign has gone even more negative. 2. Dirty tricks. Republicans are already illegally purging voters from the rolls in some states. They're whipping up hysteria over ACORN to justify more challenges to new voters. Misleading flyers about the voting process have started appearing in black neighborhoods. And of course, many counties still use unsecure voting machines. 3. October surprise. In politics, 15 days is a long time. The next McCain smear could dominate the news for a week. There could be a crisis with Iran, or Bin Laden could release another tape, or worse. 4. Those who forget history... In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote after trailing by seven points in the final days of the race. In 1980, Reagan was eight points down in the polls in late October and came back to win. Races can shift—fast! 5. Landslide. Even with Barack Obama in the White House, passing universal health care and a new clean-energy policy is going to be hard. Insurance, drug and oil companies will fight us every step of the way. We need the kind of landslide that will give Barack a huge mandate. If you agree that we shouldn't rest easy, please sign up to volunteer at your local Obama office by clicking here:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=31260&id=14523-160967-uf6dJAx&t=1
We're just two weeks away from turning the page on the Bush era—but we can't afford to take our eye off the prize. We've got to keep pushing until the very end.
Credit to MoveOn.org for the original version of this posting, and for suggesting I post it on my blog.Current Mood:  rejuvenated |
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Woke up before my alarm went off at 7:00. I woke up every few minutes all night long. I staggered out of bed, shaved, showered and went in to fix breakfast. I scooped some of the leftover broccoli-rice casserole into a plastic container, added a chunk of cheddar cheese to the top, sealed it and dropped it into a paper sack, along with a couple of pieces of chocolate.
I fixed breakfast (English muffin, and watery protein drink). Minay got up about then, so I sat on my exrcise ball at the dining room table and ate while she read the paper. Before I left (about 8:00 AM) I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen.
The drive to Rice was miserable. I feel horrible today. My leg ached badly, and I couldn't get it comfortable. The ride lasted almost an hour, the traffic was slow, slow, slow.
After retrieving coffee, etc., I started going through my work. I had a number of receipts I had to sort through and get ready so that Linda could transfer payment from the correct funding sources. I had tons of web design things I could be working on, and I still had the issue of my semi-dead laptop to deal with. I walked some paperwork to the appropriate offices to set up one of the websites, then followed up with an e-mail. I also sent some e-mails regarding departmental purchases, hardware and software.
The ache in my knee hadn't subsided all morning, so I propped it up as best I could (on a box under my desk), and continued to work.
Took a Tramadol and Ibuprofen when I started to eat lunch (about noon). I worked on some more stuff while I ate, but the pain hung in there. I decided to call it a day (however short) and headed home a little after 1:30. Traffic was much faster and filled the lanes more sparsely on my way home, so I got there around 2:00 PM. I realized I had set my final PT session for the same day and time as the 6-week exam with my surgeon (Friday the 25th at 10:30 AM), so I rescheduled my PT for that afternoon at 2:00.
I rested for a while in the easy chair with my feet propped up and an ice bag on my knee. Minay got home from her parents' about 3:00. We sat and rested for a while, and had a bowl of ice cream.
I got in one of my wiggly states (it's actually an ache, but it feels like someone is tickling my left leg from the inside). It's almost unbearable sometimes. I can massage it, or get up and move around, but when I stop it starts "tickling" again. When I'm like that, I do wiggle and squirm (and get up and move around), so I call it being wiggly. We watched Countdown while I wiggled. At one point I brought my exercise ball into the living room and sat on it, doing some of my knee stretches. I continued doing various PT things just to keep myself occupied. When Countdown was over Minay decided she needed to do some housework. I was still wiggly, so I vacuumed all the rugs in the house while she swept and cleaned. The rugs are all clean now, but I'm still wiggly. Sometimes it lasts for hours.
About 7:00, we decided it was time for supper, so we reheated the mac and cheese and each had a big lump of it with some heavily-buttered multi-grain bread. Yumm! We watched what we thought was a shameless mushy movie, Message in a Bottle, while we ate. Somewhere in there I had some more pain stuff, which was good, because -- once again -- I got suckered into another movie with a stupid, pointless ending.
We watched a few minutes of the news, until 9:00, when we had to watch Eli Stone live while we TIVOed a couple of other shows. At 10:00, we watched some news while I got a snack. Took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. In bed by 10:40.
We were reading when Minay said she heard someone next door. The house next to ours has been a victim of the housing crisis. About three years ago, our neighbors of many years decided they were going to sell their house and retire to the summer home they had built down near Galveston Bay. They left the house empty when they moved and tried to sell it for nearly a year (but I think they were asking twice what it was worth). Then their son moved in with several of his drinking buddies. I assume they were paying house payments to his parents (they should have been paying us for disturbing our peace on a regular basis). The For Sale sign appeared and disappeared from the lawn periodically over the next year or so. Finally, about eight months ago, a couple and their kids moved in. They were there for about five months and just disappeared one day. Several different realtors have had signs on the front lawn, but the house has been abandoned now for a few months. We heard a rumor from one of our other neighbors that homeless people had been seen slipping into the backyard at night, and had been using it as a sort of home base.
I got dressed and grabbed a flashlight and went out the front door. The gate was open, although there was usually a bolt in the hasp to keep it closed. The wind was blowing pretty fierce in anticipation of a projected early morning storm, so the gate could have just blown open from the wind. I shone the flashlight up the length of their driveway and into the backyard without seeing anything. I went into my backyard and started to shine the flashlight over the fence, when a movement at my feet startled me. When I shone the flashlight at the movement, a two foot long possum scurried toward a gap in the fence and disappeared. I shone the light over the fence and check out the neighbors' backyard. No homeless people or possums visible anywhere.
Came back in and was asleep by about 11:10 PM.
Michael
See images about my knee replacement at
http://michael.sirois.com/knee/.
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Woke up at 7:45. Got a glass of orange juice and sipped on it while I fixed the rest of my breakfast (English muffin, protein drink, coffee, yogurt). Had a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen about 8:30, followed by a fish oil tab and a calcium pill.
Logged on, downloaded my e-mail and answered a few. My nephew Chris will be in town early in May, on his way back to Alaska. He's got an 8 hour layover, so we're going to meet him for lunch.
I worked on the blog for a while, and then took a shower before getting into my exercise clothes for my morning PT session. I got too warm in the shower, so I had to lie down on the bed for a little while to cool off. Left the house about 10:10, but made it to the therapy center with a few minutes to spare.
10:30 to 11:40 -- Autumn talked me through the changes in my PT (treadmill, leg lifts, etc.), and discussed how to change my home PT routine (continue the stretches, add more strength exercises, especially for the quads). She was very busy today (more patients than normal), so it took her longer than usual to get to my massage at the end. I had a good workout, though.
I drove from there to a local mega-store, and picked up my final prescription of Tramadol, some cheese, and some other stuff. I stopped at another store to pick up a half-gallon of whole milk. Yesterday I bought a gallon of skim milk by mistake, and we can't stand it -- it tastes like chalky water -- so, Minay is going to make her extra-special macaroni and cheese, using some of the skim milk. I'll try to use some more of the skim milk in my protein drinks, and then we'll mix the whole milk with the remaining skim, and maybe it will be drinkable.
My last stop on the way home was for gas. I filled my Prius up for the first time in 41 days (the average time is every 14 days, but I filled it up just before the surgery, and then didn't drive it for about three weeks). The Prius' average MPG over the space of a year is 47 MPG in largely city driving.
Minay was ready to eat when I got home, so we heated up some leftovers (tuna patties, cream corn, and green beans almondine). I tried to work on the blog a little, but my leg was hurting quite a bit. At 2:00 I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. I tried to sit still, but I couldn't, so I went back to the bedroom to nap.
I did manage to fall asleep, and got up around 4:00. I sat in the easy chair and iced my knee and watched the movie Practical Magic.
At 6:00, I took a Tramadol, an Ibuprofen, and a multivitamin. Minay whipped together two casserole dishes full of her mac-and-cheese, one for us and one for her parents. I made a small salad, and we pigged out -- boy was it good.
Just as a test, once my stomach had settled, I had a small protein drink, made with the skim milk. It was drinkable, maybe just barely, but I'll manage.
We watched the Democratic Debate, then the results show of American Idol -- bye bye Kathie Lee Cook -- and then we watched a Daily Show while I got a snack (cookies and milk -- 50/50 skim and whole), and had a Tramadol and and Ibuprofen. In bed by 11:00, and asleep by 11:15.
Michael
See images about my knee replacement at
http://michael.sirois.com/knee/.
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| » A Nearly Full Day at Rice |
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Woke up at 7:00. Showered, ate breakfast (and took a fish oil tab, a calcium pill, an Ibuprofen and a Tramadol), packed my lunch (broccoli rice casserole and a couple of pieces of chocolate), and was out of the house by a little after 8:00. It was still cold/cool (52 degrees) outside, but it warmed up in the car quickly.
I still have a bruise on the right side of my left knee. It's faint, but tender. It will be a good test today, to see if I can avoid keeping it elevated (Rose said yesterday I should start using the knee as normally as possible so the body gets used to it in all the different positions I might use while it can still gain some flexibility).
I hate driving this time of morning. Around 6:00 AM the traffic is already starting to build, but by 8:00 the freeways are packed solid. and a 20 or 30 minute drive turns into 45 minutes or an hour.
I got to Rice just before 9:00, and walked up to Duncan Hall at the same time as Fran Moshiri. She asked about my knee, and I told her it was doing fine. She said something about me being too young for knee problems and I told her my age, 61 years. She couldn't believe it, said she thought I was much younger, no more than 50. I thanked her profusely. It happened later in the morning too. Two of the IT guys, Ahmed and Kerry, had the same reaction and thought I was late 40's or early 50's. I wish, but it's good to know I can pass for younger.
I did my usual routine, dropped off my lunch and got some coffee. This time I actually walked down the stairs (not just the both-feet-on-the-same-step hobble, but a one-foot-in-front-of-the-other stride). It was a little painful because the left knee bends more that way, but it gets easier each time I do it.
Last night I copied all my e-mail files from the laptop onto a flash drive. This morning I renamed my desktop computer's mail folder, then copied the mail folder from the flash drive onto the desktop machine. Now my work computer has exactly the same e-mail files as my home computer.
I went down the hall and discussed several things with the IT personnel (transferring all my data to the new laptop, getting a web site on the CAAM server for AGEP, etc.). I answered my e-mail, taking care of several things and setting up a few others. I put in a call to one of our software vendors to see how much certain pieces of software will cost us (they hadn't called back by the time I left), but I spent much of the rest of the morning looking at the differences between several configurations of laptops.
I stopped for lunch at noon, but brought my lunch back to my office and ate while I finished gathering data on laptops and narrowing it down to three candidates. After lunch I downloaded a bunch of the purchase data from one of our vendors and dumped it into a spreadsheet, so I could have a record of the cost of some of our software purchases (so I can work on our potential software costs at home).
I left Rice a little after 2:00, and drove to a grocery store to pick up milk and some soy isoflavones for Minay. She hasn't been sleeping well due to the dreaded hot flashes. She was taking soy recently and it seemed to help, but she ran out. I left Randall's about 2:30, thinking about how badly my leg ached, and realized I hadn't had a Tramadol since this morning. I pulled over and took an Ibuprofen and a Tramadol, and then drove home.
Minay was working on one of her quilts when I got there. We were both tired, and went into the bedroom to take a nap. My leg was still aching, though, and I couldn't keep from wriggling. I told Minay I would wake her in about an hour and I went out to the living room and did some Googling (for software and hardware). I called the pharmacy to ask about my pain medication, and the prescription renewal was approved. I'll pick it up after my PT tomorrow.
When Minay got up, we washed dishes and then Minay cooked supper (breaded tuna patties, sweet corn, green beans almondine, water). Took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen.
We watched Medium, American Idol, Eli Stone, How I Met Your Mother, and Two and a Half Men on TV. I got a snack about 10:30, and took another Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. We were in bed by 11:00, and asleep by about 11:15.
Michael
See images about my knee replacement at http://michael.sirois.com/knee/.
Apr. 15th, 2008 @ 10:50 pm
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| » Different Stuff in PT and Mowing Lawns |
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Woke up about 8:00. Minay was already up, getting ready to go teach a class. I struggled out of bed and shivered my way to the bathroom. It was quite chilly in the house. I came back to the bedroom and dressed. Then I tottered into the kitchen, booting my laptop as I passed the easy chair, and fixed a little breakfast (my usual plus a piece of turkey sausage). Minay showered and ate, then finished getting ready. I helped her carry some of her supplies to her car, then she left about 9:00.
I forgot to take any medicine so far this morning, and I have a PT session early this afternoon. At 9:30 I took a fish oil cap, a calcium tab, and one Ibuprofen. I'll take more before I leave for PT. But first I needed to do a home PT. I did a light workout, mostly just the stretching exercises
I've been struggling with a decision for the past couple of days about whether to ask for a renewal prescription for my pain medication. In the end, I decided it's probably better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. So I called the HMO and asked to talk to the doctor who prescribed them for me. Her nurse said it didn't work that way. I needed to call my pharmacy and they would submit the request for me. This doesn't make any sense to me. It would seem more logical that I should talk to the doctor so I could explain why I need more pain medication, but I called the pharmacy, read them the prescription number, and they said they would submit it for me.
I took a shower, still feeling cold, but when I got out of the shower I was overheated and had to go lie down on the bed and cool off under the ceiling fan. I got dressed, came into the kitchen and made a quick lunch (cheese sandwich and sliced tomato). While I was eating, I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. Grabbed several empty water jugs and headed out of the house about 12:25. I got off the freeway before the Beltway and filled up the water jugs, then headed toward the airport and the therapy center. Got there a little before 1:00 PM.
I wasn't on the sign-in list, but Rose just had me sign at the bottom and come on into the gym area. Today is a measurement day, so she had me start on the stationary bike to get warmed up. Rose is of the opinion that the difficulty I've been having attaining a normal stride isn't related to problems with the new knee. She watched me walk up and down several times, and said that the new knee is bending and moving normally. She said my right knee has a wobble in it, indicating a looseness in the joint. She doesn't think it's bad enough to need surgery, but thinks I should start concentrating on strengthening the muscles in my right leg to tighten up the joint and provide more stability for my right knee.
Rose worked on my knee for a long time, massaging it and stretching it. Some of the stretching was quite painful, but I ended up with some good results. On my left leg, after much downward force and stretching, Rose measured my extension at -5 degrees. Bending my leg, I was able to get it to 111 degrees flexion on my own, and, with some help (grabbing my lower leg and pulling it toward me), I managed 116 degrees flexion. The right leg (the one I'm trying to emulate) has 0 degrees extension and 138 degrees flexion.
I also started on some new machines and exercises (balance board, leg press, stair steps, and treadmill), working toward strengthening both knees and improving the quality of my stride. Summer was there also. She took pictures of her friend's wedding over the weekend, and thought she got some pretty good shots despite some problems with batteries depleting too quickly.
I drove home, arriving about 2:30. The lawn hasn't been mowed since just before the operation. I decided it couldn't wait any longer. I was tired after PT, but I changed into some grubby sneakers that I keep in the garage and fired up the lawn mower. The grass was so tall that the mower died several times as the grass clogged the blades. I only cut the front yard. I wouldn't have been able to do more than that today without killing myself. I'll try to do the side and back yards during the week.
Also, just before the operation, I got two large suitcases down from a storage rack for Minay. She needed them for two presentations she gave during the month (to pack her display quilts in). She won't need them again until sometime in May, so I hefted them back up on the storage rack.
After all that, I needed a break. I booted my laptop (still viewing it from a separate monitor), and checked my e-mail while I iced my knee and had a few potato chips. I started watching some TV, and had a bowl of ice cream while I watched the last 30 minutes of Shanghai Noon, and then CNN's Situation Room. Minay got home about 5:30, and we watched more Situation Room, and then PBS's News Hour.
Minay reheated supper about 6:oo (avocado and tomato salad, broccoli-rice casserole, pickled beets and water). I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. We watched TV (Nature: What Males Will Do, The Human Footprint). While watching (maybe because I did too much today) I became very wiggly and restless. My left leg ached. I kept shifting my weight and getting up and walking around. I balanced on my exercise ball for a while, and that helped. Eventually, about 8:20, I took another Tramadol.
Around 9:30, I got a snack (yes, cereal), had another Tramadol and another Ibuprofen, and got ready for bed, achy and tired. I laid out clothes for tomorrow, and was in bed by 10:15. Asleep by 10:45.
Michael
See images about my knee replacement at http://michael.sirois.com/knee/.
Apr. 14th, 2008 @ 09:59 pm
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| » Sunday at Home |
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Woke up about 8:15 when Minay got up. She said she slept well until about 3:00 AM, and then she was awake and asleep the rest of the night. Apparently, a snorting noise I make when my nostrils are plugged, is quite loud and relentless.
Went to the bathroom, booted my laptop, and fixed some breakfast. Took a Tramadol, an Ibuprofen, a fish oil capsule, and a calcium tab. Watched some TV (Meet the Press), before shutting off the TV. I continued working on the blog (I'm trying to catch up my backlog of postings from notes -- I'm up to April 1st), and Minay went into her design wall and continued designing her newest quilt.
It is a beautiful day outside, clear and cool (possibly one of the last cool days we will have before the summer heat onslaught begins. Summer in Houston (in terms of sustained miserable heat) usually begins in late April and lasts through October). Minay and I both agreed that it would be a perfect day to work in the yard, and we also agreed that neither of us wanted to do that. I'm probably capable of a little more physical activity, but mowing is hard on the knees. The yard really needs it, though. I mowed just before the operation, so the grass has been growing unchecked for a month. Minay doesn't want me to mow it myself, because she knows it's a pretty tough job. I guess I may have to hire somebody.
We both stopped working around 12:30. I reheated last nights pasta and we sat down to watch some TIVO'd TV while we ate (This Week with George S.). I took another Tramadol and an Ibuprofen about 1:00. About 1:30, I began a PT session. Iced my knee after I was finished and worked on the blog. About 2:30, I shaved my head (about a once-every-two-weeks ritual for me), trimmed my beard, and took a shower. Minay was marking a quilt top, getting it ready for basting in a day or so, but she stopped long enough to take some pictures of the knee.
She said, "It's starting to look like a leg again, and the kneecap is starting to show under the swelling".
It's true that I'm starting to feel a little better. I have more flexibility. I'm still torn about whether to ask for more Tramadol or not. I only have enough to last me through Wednesday, so I need to decide soon. Maybe I'll call the doctor tomorrow and ask them what they think.
I sat in my easy chair with my legs propped up, and worked on my computer for a while. Minay has been washing clothes all day, in between working on her quilting. Around 5:30, she asked me to sous-chef for her while she fixed dinner, so I stirred and gathered while she chopped and cooked and garnished and spiced. Around 6:00 we sat down to watch a little of The Daily Show while the rice finished cooking. I took another Tramadol and Ibuprofen while we watched. By 6:30, she had the casserole (brocolli-rice) assembled and in the oven to finish baking.
It was done by a little after 7:00. Minay added an avocado and tomato salad to the casserole, and we ate while watching TIVOed shows (Cold Case, then part of Ebert and Roeper at the Movies). At 8:00, we watched John Adams: Part 6 live while we TIVOed a couple of other shows. About 9:30, when John Adams was done, we finished watching At the Movies, then watched Face the Nation while I got a snack and finished writing this.
We were in bed by about 10:30, and asleep by 11:00.
I think I turned some corners today, in gaining strength and flexibility. It snuck up on me, but I realized when I was getting dressed after my shower that I was able to bend my knee more easily to get into my clothes, which caused me to remember that I got out of the shower more easily than usual.
Michael
See more images about my knee replacement at
http://michael.sirois. com/knee/.
Apr. 13th, 2008 @ 10:09 pm
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| » Happy Birthday, My Computer's Dead |
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Today is Minay's 53rd birthday. She looks pretty damn good for 53.
I woke up about 8:10 AM, shortly after she did, and struggled out of bed. My calf was still sore, and my glasses were still broken. My new glasses arrived at the Pearle Vision yesterday afternoon, and my calf will eventually get better, so those are just temporary disappointments.
Minay had told me the other day that the thing she wanted most for her birthday was to not have to cook or do dishes or be bothered with daily life -- she wanted to have a day where she could sew all day if she wanted to, or soak in a bath until she was pruney, or whatever she wanted to do. It was my job to see that that happens as much as possible.
I fixed breakfast and then turned on my laptop, knowing that I was going to go pick up my glasses soon and get out of Minay's hair until I brought back lunch. Nothing appeared on my laptop's screen. I could see the hard drive's LED light flashing, so I knew it was running. The Wi-fi indicator was also blinking, meaning it was trying to connect to my home network. So it seemed obvious that the problem was with my computer's screen (the most expensive part to replace on a laptop). Looking closely, under just the right light conditions, I found I could make out some images (but so ghostlike as to be less than barely visible, the dimmest of images).
Using the Windows key and some good guesswork with the mouse, I managed to shut the computer down. I then turned it back on, thinking (but knowing better) that maybe a driver had failed to load, and a reboot might help. The result was the same. To test it, I borrowed Minay's monitor, "Happy birthday, honey, I'm stealing part of your computer." I hooked it up to my laptop. After failing miserably at trying to open the Properties dialog box (by memory and by moving the mouse an appropriate distance down the screen after I right-clicked on the desktop), I remembered the Control-F8 keystroke (to switch to an external monitor or a projector). An image popped up instantly. I couldn't maintain possession of Minay's monitor indefinitely, so I need to get my extra one from work.
If I use this as a workaround while a new laptop is ordered, the IT people at Rice should be able to burn a ghost image of my laptop and burn it onto the new laptop's hard drive once it arrives.
I finished eating breakfast (but added turkey bacon, yogurt and coffee to the muffin and protein drink. I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen about 10:00 AM, and finally left around 10:30.
I drove to Pearle Vision, and picked up my glasses. They fit fine. The vision seemed good, I'll just need a little time to adjust to the differences.
From there I drove to Rice, and parked next to Duncan Hall. I went up to my office, and spotted several letters on my desk, waiting to be converted to pdf's. I opened Acrobat and converted them. When I put them on Linda's desk, I noticed that Richard's briefcase was in his office. That meant he was somewhere n the building. Then I remembered that the Texas Empowering Leadership meeting was being held at Rice yesterday and today.
I went back to my office and restructured the layout of some of my applications, so I could switch from using two monitors to using just one. Last year sometime, I had brought a monitor from home (from an old desktop that had died a cruel and horrible death). I did it so I could spread the tools in various computer programs (like Adobe Photoshop) onto a second monitor, giving me more screen space on my main monitor. Once I had switched everything I could think of, I opened the Monitor Settings dialog box and set the computer to use a single monitor. Then I disconnected the monitor, and carried it out to my car.
I came back inside because I had seen CJ and Aaron working outside the auditorium, where the meeting was being held. I told them what had happened. CJ went inside and got Cynthia Lanius so I could say Hi to her. Cynthia is the person who originally hired me at Rice, and is one of the nicest people I've ever met. We talked about my knee and how well the recovery is going, but she encouraged me to continue to work from home as much as I can to keep the stress level low.
I went back up to my office and logged on to my Dell account and looked up the records for my laptop. The warranty had expired on February 25th, barely over a month ago. Naturally!
I left about 12:15 and started on my way home. I stopped at a grocery store and got some more English muffins (I eat a lot of them, in case you hadn't noticed already), and some yogurt and soup and other things. Then I drove almost all the way home, stopping at a fast food chicken place, getting some lunch for Minay and myself. The drive home wasn't too bad, I seem to be able to walk well without the cane now, but long drives really produce an ache in the knee. It's difficult to stretch it out fully in the Prius.
We ate around 1:00, and I hooked up the monitor and tested it out. It seemed fine, and I spent the rest of the afternoon adjusting windows, recovering Quick Launch bars, and other things. Minay continued to work on her quilts, and I tried to stay out of her hair, except when she wanted an opinion.
Around 5:00 I did a PT. I decided I had been feeling good enough that I would also try to do a little on the rowing machine too, so I added about three minutes of rowing to my PT, then collapsed in the easy chair and worked on this blog posting.
Tonight I'll check out new laptops at Dell.com and send an e-mail to Linda and Richard explaining what has happened and see what they say. Life is always interesting. Well, I have to go make dinner for the beautiful birthday girl.
Michael
Apr. 12th, 2008 @ 06:03 pm
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| » A Painful Day |
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6:15 AM - I woke up in pain (behind the knee, of all places). I got a glass of milk, and swallowed a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen with it, then peed and went back to bed.
8:30 to 9:15 AM - Got up, with great difficulty. My left leg ached and felt stiff. Had a glass of orange juice, and fixed myself some breakfast (English muffin, protein drink, banana). I gathered up some of my old backup Cd's and started searching through pictures from my time at Lanier Middle School. One of my friends from there, Alton Freeman, is retiring this year, and they wanted pictures of him to include in a scrapbook. I had decided to sit as still as possible today and let my leg rest, so I thought I'd go through the Cd's and see if I could find some pictures of Alton for them to use.
9:15 to 11:00 AM - I searched through images for quite a while, but only found three of Alton out of thousands. I e-mailed those to the person putting the scrapbook together. I checked my e-mail and found one from someone on my mom's lawyer's staff. She told me she was going to look into Mom's propane snafu.
11:00 AM to 12:30 PM - I got a cookie and some coffee, and took a Tramadol, an Ibuprofen, followed by a calcium pill and a fish oil cap. I worked on the blog, and iced my knee, trying to sit as still as possible in the easy chair.
12:30 to 2:30 PM - Minay fixed lunch (leftover cauliflower, kale, buttered toast and water). We ate and watched New Amsterdam. I worked on the blog some more while Minay ironed and watched some programs about Egypt.
2:30 to 3:30 - I took a nap.
3:30 to 6:45 - Woke up. Took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. I watched CNN and iced my knee some more. I'm really stiff today, and have a lot of pain in the back of my knee. I worked on the blog some more while Minay cooked supper.
6:45 to 10:30 - We ate (bowtie pasta and pesto, garlic bread, salad, water). We watched the movie American Dreamz, then American Idol and Medium.
10:40 PM - Had a snack (cereal). Took a Tramadol nd Ibuprofen and went to bed. Asleep by about 11:30.
4:00 AM - I got up after a restless, achy night. Had a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen with milk and a cookie. Peed, went back to bed.
Michael
Apr. 8th, 2008 @ 11:50 pm
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| » A Long, Tiring Day |
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I woke up all night long, almost every half hour.
6:30 AM - Got up to pee when Minay's alarm went off. Went back to bed while Minay got ready for work.
8:30 - Woke up, made some coffee. Minay had washed a bunch of dishes while I was asleep. I felt guilty about not helping her. She had cooked a couple of pieces of ham (one for me). I fixed coffee, and got the rest of my breakfast together (banana, English muffin, coffee) while she ate and got ready to go to work. I had a Tramadol, an Ibuprofen, and some fish oil and calcium.
9:00 to 10:00 - Helped Minay load her car (teaching quilting requires a lot of "stuff"). She left, and I came back in and finished my breakfast while watching some of "Shut Up and Sing", the movie about the Dixie Chicks' struggle after making a negative comment in 2003 about George Bush. I think it's shameful the way country music fans treated them, and I've always admired their courage at standing up for their principles (against the Iraq War) despite the general record-company wisdom that they would be finished as a group without the country music fans and radio stations. I still can't listen to their song "Not Ready to Make Nice" without crying.
10:00 AM to noon - I checked my e-mail and answered a few of them. I did a PT, but might have overdone it. I felt a slight pull in my back muscles. I'll have to be careful. I opened iTunes, and found out a new version (6.7.2) was available, along with a Windows version of Apple's browser, Safari. I chose to download them, even though the 90MB download would take over a half-hour. At work, the download would have finished in seconds. I worked on my mom's tax stuff, getting it ready to mail, while I waited for the download to finish.
Noon to 1:00 PM - Reading my e-mail, I found out that the server for one of our programs was down. I e-mailed Rice's IT department, and they had the server up and running again within an hour. The iTunes download finished. I installed it, rebooted my laptop, logged on to iTunes, downloaded two EP's by Keaton Simons, and burned a CD of them. He's good -- bluesy pop.
1:15 to 2:00 PM - I fixed and ate lunch (a cheese sandwich and some chunks of fresh pineapple that Minay had bought yesterday and cut up (so we could fit it into the refrigerator). I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. I washed up, changed into my gym clothes, and left around 2:00.
2:00 to 4:15 PM - I drove to the post office and mailed the packet of my mom's tax papers to her lawyer so he could prepare her tax returns. I also sent some invoices from the propane company that had been sending me bills after we had sold my mom's house (bills for deliveries of propane which should have been paid for at the house closing). Then I drove north, stopped at a shopping center and filled up three jugs of water before driving to my PT session.
2:50 to 4:15 PM - I did my PT, but had a tougher time than usual. When I stopped to get the water, someone parked close to my car's door. In order to get into the car, I had to twist my knee at an odd angle (certainly an angle I haven't tried since the operation). Pulling my leg into the car was quite painful, and it was still hurting when I got to the therapy center. Some of my exercises, especially those that had me lift my leg and twist it (sidestepping onto a platform, etc.), caused my muscles to lock up. Summer brought her photo portfolio to show me some of her work (we've been talking about photography a lot). The pictures were mostly very good, she had some interesting fog pictures and some nice perspective shots. At the end of the session, she measured me at -4 degrees extension and 111 degrees flexion.
4:20 PM - I drove home, and rested and iced my knee. Minay got home around 5:00. She washed dishes. I tried to help, but couldn't stand too long.
6:15 PM - We ate supper (cauliflower in Hungarian cream sauce, toast, water). I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. We watched some TV (Nature: What Do Females Look For in a Mate?, John Adams: Episode 5, ABC Nightly News, and Samantha Who. I was restless the whole evening. My leg hurt all evening, especially when I shifted to the side.
9:30 PM - We watched The Big Bang Theory while I had a couple of cookies and a glass of milk. Then we watched Countdown. Took a multivitamin.
10:45 PM - I took another Tramadol and Ibuprofen, and went to bed. Minay stayed up a little later to work on one of her quilts. I read The Dangerous Book for a while. I was asleep by 11:30 AM, but had a very restless night, in a great deal of pain.
Michael
Apr. 7th, 2008 @ 11:22 pm
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| » Starting to Catch Up |
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6:30 AM - Woke up, got up to pee. Drank a glass of orange juice. Went back to bed.
9:00 AM - Minay and I woke up. We were both too tired to get up right away. Finally struggled out of bed around 8:30 and got breakfast. I had my usual (English muffin and a protein drink), and took my morning pills (Tramadol, Ibuprofen, calcium, fish oil) by 9:00 AM.
9:20 to 11:15 - We watched some TV (Face the Nation, Meet the Press).
11:30 AM to 1:00 PM - I did a PT, then (while Minay was planning one of her quilts) I started sorting through my mom's papers to find invoices, etc., to send to her lawyer, Terry, for mom's tax returns. She left about 1:00 to go to the farmer's market for vegetables.
1:00 to 2:00 - I stopped to eat lunch (leftover green beans and potatoes). We watched some of This Week with George S. while we ate.
2:00 to 3:30 - I continued to look for Mom's tax stuff, then iced my knee for a while, and called my boss about preparations for one of our summer programs, and left a message on his cell's voice mail. I posted another blog entry (for March 16th), I'm catching up.
3:30 to 5:45 - Minay came back. We put away the vegetables, then left again. I drove this time. We stopped to fill up some water jugs, and then went to a grocery store (for groceries, of course). From there we went to Office Depot. Minay copied some materials for her quilting classes, and I copied all of the tax stuff to send to my mom's lawyer.
6:00 to 10:10 - I took a shower and shaved. Once I was dressed I came into the kitchen to help Minay with supper, but I found I couldn't stand for too long (I think the afternoon trip wore me out). I sat down while she finished fixing supper (kale, cooked like turnip greens, and the last of the leftover jambalaya).. We watched Download, The Closer (a 2-hour episode from Christmastime), plus The Big Bang Theory -- which we often save for last so we can end the evening on a funny note.
We let the TIVO play during the last commercial break of the show, and I got a snack of cereal and milk, then took another Tramadol and Ibuprofen. We were in bed by 10:30. I read the Dangerous Book for a while. Asleep by about 1115 PM.
Michael
Apr. 6th, 2008 @ 11:50 pm
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| » An Imaging Day |
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8:30 to 9:15 AM -- I had a good night's sleep, even though I woke several times in the night when I tried to turn on my side. I always start out sleeping on my back (which lets me keep the knee in the best position for it -- straight). But, before long, I try to roll in one direction or the other. Sometimes I'm successful, but other times I will jostle the knee and I'll wake up.
Anyway, I woke at 8:30 and got out of bed to pee around 8:45. I got a tickle in my throat and started coughing. The coughing got so bad that I thought I was going to throw up ay one point. The coughing finally settled down and I went back to bed until 9:00. Got dressed and came into the kitchen and made breakfast (English muffin and a protein drink). Minay had been awake since 8:00, and had started baking a batch of scones.
9:30 to 10:45 AM -- I took a Tramadol, an Ibuprofen, a fish oil tab, and and a calcium pill. Got some coffee and began working on the blog again, and also worked on a freshly baked orange-cranberry scone. Yumm!
11:00 AM to 1:00 PM -- I did some image editing, and worked on setting up an image gallery at my website to post all the images we've been taking of my knee.
1:00 to 3:30 PM -- Minay fixed lunch (chicken and wild rice soup, tuna salad sandwich, water , coffee). We watched several TV shows (Real Time with Bill Maher, The Daily Show, Pre-Human: Riddle of the 7,000,000 Year Old Skull).
2:30 to 6:30 PM -- I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. I worked on the knee images website (to enhance the blog) for most of the afternoon. We watched several TV shows (Big Bang Theory, Old Christine, The Universe, Nightly News, etc.) while I worked and while Minay ironed, washed fabric, and sewed on one of her quilts.
6:30 to 10:30 PM -- I helped Minay fix dinner (beans, guacamole, quesadillas, water). We ate and watched Numbers. Then we folded clothes while we watched more TV (Countdown, Miss Guided, The Daily Show.
10:40 to 11:30 PM -- I took a Tramadol, an Ibuprofen, and a multivitamin with a bowl of cereal. In bed by 11:00. Asleep by 11:30.
Michael
See the knee images gallery at
http://michael.sirois. com/knee/.
Apr. 5th, 2008 @ 09:42 pm
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| » Friday at Home and About |
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7:30 to 8:30 AM -- I woke up, finally struggled out of bed by 8:00. Fixed breakfast (coffee, protein drink, English muffin). I took a multivitamin, a fish oil cap, a calcium pill, a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen.
8:40 to 9:30 AM -- I did some image editing on my laptop, and checked my e-mail. One e-mail from my boss was particularly important. He wants me to change the way the information is currently accessed from one of our websites, sending them to a site that is designed more like a print publication we have for that material. He also wants me to work with DL to completely redesign another website for a program we're affiliated with. That will make five company websites I'll be dealing with, plus two summer programs to prepare for. Maybe I'd better get healthy very soon.
9:30 to 11:00 AM -- I did a PT session, and then showered. We took pictures of my knee afterwards.
Minimal bruising, scar healing very well, and the shape of a knee is reemerging from the swelling.
11:00 AM to 12:10 PM -- I massaged my knee afterwards, and then got dressed in exercise clothes (for my afternoon PT). I read through some more of the material for my summer programs while icing my knee, and then caught the paper version of the blog up to this point.
12:15 to 2:10 PM -- We fixed lunch (turkey-cheese sandwich, water, coffee). We watched Countdown while we ate, then I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen and laid down to take a quick (25 minute) nap.
2:35 to 4:10 PM -- I left for PT. Minay stayed home. It started to sprinkle a little on the way there, but not too badly. I brought my laptop to PT. Summer does photography in her spare time, so I set it on Screensaver and let it scroll through my best pictures since about 2000. Summer and Beatrice, the receptionist, spent much of the hour looking at my screensaver (and they had a lot of nice things to say about my photography). Summer said she would bring her portfolio on Monday for me to look at.
4:10 to 4:45 PM -- I drove home. It was raining steadily now. By the time I arrived, Minay had finished exercising, and wasn't feeling well. She lay down to take a nap.
4:45 to 6:15 PM -- I sat in the easy chair, iced my knee, and watched some TV (CNN). At 6:15, I woke Minay up.
6:30 to 10:30 PM -- We washed some dishes, and Minay heated up supper (fish, potatoes, salad, water). We ate and watched Countdown, then two more episodes of Download: The True Story of the Internet, and then two episodes of The New Adventures of Old Christine (during which we had some popcorn), which I followed with some cereal and a Tramadol, an Ibuprofen, and a multivitamin.
10:30 to 11:00 PM -- We got ready for bed. My leg has been hurting badly today, and has been very stiff. I read The Dangerous Book for a while, and was asleep by 11:00.
Michael
See more images about my knee replacement at http://michael.sirois. com/knee/.
Apr. 4th, 2008 @ 06:24 pm
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| » First Day Back at Rice |
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5:45 to 8:00 AM -- Got up, showered and dressed (including my TEDs). Fixed my breakfast (English muffin, protein drink, coffee), and packed my lunch. Took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. Ate my breakfast, took my calcium and fish oil, and left the house a little after 7:00, just as Minay was getting up. I was already a little tired from the process of showering, dressing, and fixing breakfast.
I drove to Rice, the journey taking twice as long as usual because the traffic was so bad. I usually leave the house before 6:00 AM, and miss the heaviest traffic. This morning, the drive took so long that I felt my legs tightening up, and my mind wandering long before I got there.
8:00 to 8:45 AM -- I parked in one of the handicapped spaces in my lot by Duncan Hall, and took the elevator to the 3rd floor, where my office is. I spent a while figuring out how to arrange my office. I moved a second chair behind my desk, and rearranged my monitors and keyboard so I could work with my legs elevated from one chair to the other. I booted my desktop and laptop. Sent a quick e-mail to Linda to let her know I was there.
I felt like I really needed to use the restroom, so I decided I would do that on my way to get coffee. I watered the ivy I have climbing a trellis by my window. It was thriving despite a three-week drought. I grabbed my lunch sack, my coffee mug and my cane and headed out the door.
A few steps down the stairs I realized that descending stairs after knee surgery is tricky business, and can be quite painful if you start off on the wrong foot. I saw several people on my way down to the second floor, they were all very supportive, asking me how I was doing. I left my lunch sack in the fridge in the Fridge Room (our coop lunch room). Then I made it down to the 1st floor, negotiating the stairs a little better than from 3rd to 2nd.
I got some decaf coffee and headed back upstairs. I was back in my office before I realized I hadn't gone to the bathroom. I walked down the hall to one of the 3rd floor restrooms and took care of business.
8:45 to 11:00 AM -- I spent some time setting the office up. I worked on the Chevelle website, reducing many of the header images that were much too large, scanned something for Linda, and handled some e-mail.
11:00 AM to Noon -- I stopped by Linda's office and talked to her for a while, discussing how I should transition back to full time. Went downstairs again to get some tea. Ran into some more people on the way, and talked with them. On my way back, I stopped at the Fridge Room, heated my lunch, and brought it back up to my office.
Noon to 1:00 PM -- Worked some more while I ate, keeping my feet up on the other chair. They ached the whole morning. I probably should have taken a Tramadol around 10:00, but I completely forgot. Headed for home about 1:00 PM.
1:00 to 2:30 PM -- I stopped at a grocery store on my way home, bought some seven-grain bread and English muffins. Came home. Sat and rested and talked to Minay for a while. I think I convinced her that I can start going to go back to work, but made it clear to her that it wasn't easy today, and I know I need to take it slowly so I don't have a setback.
2:30 to 4:15 PM -- I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen, went back to the bedroom and took a nap.
4:15 to 5:30 PM -- Woke up. Came into the living room and worked on my laptop for a while.
6:00 to 6:45 PM -- Watched CNN and Countdown on TV while Minay took a hot bath. She had been bending over fabric all day, and her back was aching.
6:45 to 10:30 PM -- Minay cooked supper (fried tilapia in butter, chives and capers; dilled red potatoes; sliced tomatoes; pound cake; water; coffee). We ate and watched more TV (an episode of Download: The True Story of the Internet, How I Met Your Mother, Eli Stone, and the ABC Nightly News).
10:30 to 11:30 PM -- I had a bowl of cereal, then took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. I went into the bedroom, took off my TEDs, read some more of the MLI articles in bed, and was asleep by 11:30.
Michael
See images about my knee replacement at
http://michael.sirois. com/knee/.
Apr. 3rd, 2008 @ 11:39 pm
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| » Breaking Away From the TEDs |
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8:00 to 9:00 AM -- Woke up, went to the bathroom. Fixed breakfast (an English muffin, a protein drink, coffee, and orange juice). I checked my e-mail, then took a Tramadol, an Ibuprofen, a calcium pill and a fish oil capsule. Then I added a couple of pieces of turkey bacon and had some more coffee while I worked on these notes.
9:00 to 10:30 AM -- I washed my TEDs, then got them in the dryer while I did a round of PT. I took a shower after the PT (getting in and out of the shower is getting easier, but I still have to use some care so I don't twist my knee in an awkward position). Oddly, though, I'm often out of breath after I shower. It must be a little more work than it seems.
10:30 to 11:00 AM -- I massaged my knee. Then we put my TEDs back on.
11:00 AM to 12:30 PM -- I called in a refill of my Tramadol, then I iced my leg and worked on the blog while Minay exercised with her ball.
12:30 to 1:40 PM -- I took off my TEDs and changed into my PT clothes. Took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen at 1:40.
1:40 to 2:30 PM -- We fixed lunch (leftover jambalaya, carrots, coffee and water). We ate. I sat around until Minay finished showering, then I finished getting ready while she dressed.
2:30 to 3:00 PM -- Minay drove today. We stopped and filled up some water jugs, and made it to the therapy center by 2:55. Minay dropped me off and went to get her hair cut and run some errands.
3:00 to 4:00 PM -- During PT, when Summer was starting me on the stationary bicycle, she said -- as she does sometimes -- "rock n roll", meaning to rock the pedals back and forth without doing full rotations (unless I feel like I can). I asked her jokingly if we could actually play some rock and roll for once. The radio has always been on a country station before. She put it on Jack FM for me, which was nice.
4:10 to 6:00 PM -- Minay got back from her errands a little after 4:00, and drove me home. I put my TEDs back on and iced my knee. We watched CNN, Countdown, and the ABC Nightly News.
6:15 to 10:00 PM -- I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. Minay cooked supper (hearty tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, and water). We ate supper and watched TV (Two and a Half Men, The Hoax, American Idol, and an episode of The Daily Show).
10:00 to 11:00 PM -- I got a snack (bowl of cereal), took another Tramadol and Ibuprofen, and laid out some clothes for tomorrow (I'm going to go to work for a while tomorrow). I didn't wear my TEDs to bed, but will wear them tomorrow. Read a little of The Dangerous Book for Boys. Asleep by 11:00 PM.
Michael
See images about my knee replacement at
http://michael.sirois.com/knee/.
Apr. 2nd, 2008 @ 11:40 pm
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| » Strange E-mail on a Boniva Day |
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7:45 to 8:00 AM -- Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Made my way downstairs and drank a cup, and looking up, I noticed I was late . . . April Fools.
Actually, I got up and went to the bathroom, but don't have enough hair on my head to comb.
Minay was already up. Today is a Boniva day for her. On a normal day, she takes a Prilosec pill when she wakes up, drinking it down with a cup of warm water, and then has to wait an hour before she can eat anything. The warm water soothes her throat, and she's found it to be helpful with her breathing. The Prilosec (which is for acid reflux) apparently helps calm her asthma. On a Boniva day, she has to take the Boniva (for preventing bone loss) and then wait an hour before she can eat anything. She's supposed to take the Prilosec on an empty stomach, so she has to wait another two hours after eating before she can take the Prilosec, and then wait another hour before she can eat again. So, today, that means Boniva at 8:00, breakfast at 9:00, Prilosec at 11:00 or 11:30, and lunch at Noon or later. This is workable for her as long as she sticks to the schedule, but not much fun if she gets off of it. At least it's only once a month.
8:00 to 9:00 AM -- I drank some orange juice to get myself started, and made a pot of decaf coffee before making breakfast (English muffin, protein drink, yogurt -- plus the coffee and orange juice, of course). I checked my e-mail, most of which was the usual junk mail, plus a few business things, but I had two very strange ones -- from the same person.
The first e-mail had as a subject line, "GirlTECH Information". GirlTECH is one of the programs we run at CEEE (the center I work for at Rice), so I assumed someone wanted to know more about the program. When I opened the e-mail, I saw it was from a man at a nursing school at a university in Mississippi who said he was "working on scholarships for [his] nursing students." He said he kept all of his information in Microsoft Access and he needed help exporting his data into Microsoft Word. He wanted to know if anyone could "walk me through this process?".
I thought maybe he was someone who had attended one of our TeacherTECH training courses, but I looked through our roster of attendees, and he wasn't among them. Then I noticed another e-mail from him (a duplicate of the other one, but with the subject line "Combining Merge Records"). It was sent to me and everyone else in our center. At that point, I thought maybe it was a phishing scam, or someone trying to get people to return e-mails to verify the validity of e-mail addresses.
At this point, I will usually turn to Google and type a few pertinent phrases from the e-mail that I think might be a scam or a hoax. If I end up with thousands of hits on an exact phrase, it's usually an e-mail that's been making the rounds for a while. I ended up with zero hits on a couple of exact phrases from the e-mail, so I Googled the person himself, and got a hit on a newsletter from the same nursing school, welcoming him to their staff in December 2007. He is a real person, who has been hired at this university as a receptionist and data entry person after working for a university in Illinois, and working in insurance, realty and government for ten years in Georgia.
I'm sure we weren't the only organization that received these. Instead of buying a manual for Microsoft Office, or searching online (or in the Microsoft Help system built into the software), this man -- who has supposedly been out in the business world in some capacity for over ten years, but hasn't learned many technological skills -- searched through Rice's web pages, and probably many other places too, gathering e-mail addresses so he could send out queries to strangers, asking them to tell him how to do his job. I'm not sure what this says about this individual, or about the organizations he worked (and works) for, but it does seem to be a sad commentary on the state of this country's educational system, at the very least.
9:00 to 10:00 AM -- I took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen, plus a fish oil and a calcium. We decided we needed a little more breakfast, so we heated some turkey sausage and had that. I worked on the blog until 10:00.
10:00 to 11:15 AM -- Took off my TEDs and did a PT. I'm going to start weaning myself from wearing them (using them mostly when I'm going to be sitting or lying still for long periods of time.
11:20 AM to 12:15 PM -- I took a shower. Minay came into the bedroom after I had dried off and took more pictures of the knee.
It's looking better every day.
I massaged my knee for about ten minutes with a massage cream, then gave the scar a light coat of Vitamin E oil, and worked it into the scar tissue.
12:30 to 1:30 PM -- I worked on the blog a little, then watched CNN
1:40 to 3:00 PM -- Minay and I reheated some leftovers for lunch (jambalaya, mashed potatoes, brocolli, water). Watched Countdown and a documentary about a forensics expert. Took a nap about 3:00.
4:30 to 7:00 PM -- I woke up after decent ninety-minute nap. We watched Ebert and Roeper at the Movies and 60 Minutes. Then we washed dishes (I can stand on my feet long enough to help some now). Minay fixed supper (yellow squash with cheese, tater tots, and water).
7:00 to 11:00 PM -- While we ate, we watched TV (Medium, American Idol, Miss Guided, Bill Moyers' Journal, and Two and a Half Men -- the 2nd funniest show on television.
11:00 PM to Midnight -- Took out the garbage, then brushed my teeth, etc. Read some MLI articles (preparing for some presentations we'll be making to a program this summer). Asleep by midnight.
Michael
See more images about my knee replacement at http://michael.sirois.com/knee/.
Apr. 1st, 2008 @ 01:21 pm
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| » Changes in PT |
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6:30 AM -- Woke up when Minay's alarm went off. Got up and used the restroom, came back to bed while Minay got ready for work.
8:30 AM -- Woke up again. Had leftover pancakes and coffee.
9:00 AM -- Took a Tramadol, an Ibuprofen, a fish oil tab and a calcium pill. Minay left for work. I called the therapy center and rescheduled this week's Pt (moving today from 4:00 to 3:30, and moving the rest of the week to 3:00). We decided it would put me in less traffic coming home if I left PT earlier.
9:30 to Noon -- Did a PT. Had a protein drink while I iced my knee and checked my e-mail. Took a look at the Chevelle website to make a note of some of the graphics I need to redo as part of the changes I need to make.
Noon to 2:00 PM -- Fixed a sandwich for lunch, and started a backup of the files from my Optiplex at work. I was transferring files I brought from work on a backup drive to my personal 500GB drive. That way I'll have access to all my work files at home. After I ate, I cleaned up some dishes in the sink, and decided I hadn't had enough to eat. Had a quick snack of Cheetos and melted cheese. Good and greasy
2:00 to 2:20 PM -- Tried to nap, but couldn't.
2:30 to 3:00 PM -- Minay got home just as I was about to take a sponge bath. As soon as I was cleaned up a bit, I got into PT clothes, and relaxed while Minay ate her lunch. Took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen.
3:00 to 4:30 PM -- I drove to PT, but Minay came with me to make sure I was going to be okay. Summer had me do some different exercises this time (mostly related to correcting my walk and movement). At the end, she spent a lot of time massaging my knee, and bending it and forcing it straight.
4:30 to 5:00 PM -- I drove home. Driving didn't seem any harder then normal. Getting in and out of the car is still a little tricky, though.
5:00 to 6:30 PM -- We lay down for a while and rested. I iced my knee while Minay cooked dinner (jambalaya, brocolli, sliced apple, water, cran-peach juice).
6:30 to 10:00 PM -- We ate. I took a multivitamin, a Tramadol, and an Ibuprofen. Watched Bill Maher, John Adams Part 4, ABC Nightly News, and The Big Bang Theory (plus 10 minutes of Countdown).
10:00 PM -- Had a snack (bowl of cereal). Took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. Asleep by 11:00.
Michael
See images about my knee replacement at http://michael.sirois.com/knee/.
Mar. 31st, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
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| » A Further Outing in the Prius |
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7:30 to 9:00 AM -- Woke up, went to the bathroom. Had a glass of orange juice. Borrowed Minay's scanner to scan some copies of some documents for my mom's insurance. Had trouble printing some of them from Minay's computer, so I just scanned the documents to a flash drive, and saved them from there to my laptop. I edited the files in Photoshop on my laptop, and will print them from my laptop later (it should be easier than what I was trying to do on Minay's machine.
9:00 to 9:25 AM -- Took a fish oil capsule and a calcium tablet. Minay made pancakes. I cooked some turkey bacon. We watched Meet the Press.
9:30 to 10:20 AM -- Ate breakfast. Took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. Finished Meet the Press, and then watched This Week with George S.
10:20 to 11:30 AM -- Minay started washing dishes while I worked on the blog a little, then I helped her dry.
11:30 to 12:30 AM -- Minay went to the store to get groceries (she was cooking meals for her parents and was missing some ingredients). I did my PT, then finished preparing invoices for my mom's insurance policy and writing some checks related to her care.
12:30 to 2:00 PM -- Minay finished cooking her folks' meals. I nuked our lunch, and we sat down to eat.
2:00 to 3:30 PM -- I took another Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. We watched the rest of This Week with George S. I worked on the blog a little. Minay finished cooking, and we left for her parents' house around 3:30.
3:30 to 6:00 PM -- I drove my Prius (a bit further this time, about ten miles) to Minay's folks' house. We left them some dinners that they could heat up over the next few days. We showed them the pictures we've taken of my knee. I drove home. I felt alert, and not in a great deal of pain. I think I'll be able to drive on my own as long as the drive doesn't take a tremendous amount of time.
6:00 to 7:00 PM -- When we got home I did an abreviated PT, and then showered. Minay took more pictures.
You can see left leg is becoming much slimmer, and the blood blisters are beginning to break up.
I changed, and we had supper (some of the same things we took to Minay's parents -- turkey salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, water, ice cream). I took a multivitamin after supper.
7:00 to 9:50 PM -- Watched some (most) of Countdown, then watched Bush's War, Part 2.
9:50 to 10:20 PM -- I got a snack, then took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen, and watched an episode of Miss Guided.
10:20 to 11:30 PM -- Went to the bathroom, got ready for bed, asleep by 11:30.
Michael
See more images about my knee replacement at http://michael.sirois.com/knee/.
Mar. 30th, 2008 @ 12:07 am
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| » A Weekend Like All the Others |
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7:30 to 9:00 AM -- Woke up, left Minay sleeping. Went to the bathroom. Drank a glass of orange juice, checked the weather on TV (slight chance of rain the next two afternoons). Watched some TV, worked on the blog.
9:00 AM -- Minay woke up. I finally got my breakfast (I had been sitting in the easy chair, working on my laptop since I got up). Had an English muffin, a protein drink, and coffee. Watched a little more TV.
10:00 to 10:50 AM -- Took a Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. Forgot to take my morning fish oil and calcium tabs. Swallowed them down with my now-cold coffee. Worked on the blog some more.
11:00 to Noon -- Did a PT session. I tried to add ankle weights to some of the leg lift exercises, but my injured leg still feels a little too sore to use them.
Noon to 2:30 PM -- Started icing my knee. Channel-surfed a little. Settled on a movie called "187", starring Samuel L. Jackson. It was very engrossing, but had possibly one of the stupidest conclusions I've ever seen. Fixed a sandwich and watched the end of Independence Day.
2:30 to 3:30 PM -- Took another Tramadol and an Ibuprofen. I did another blog entry, and then watched CNN while I caught this up.
3:30 to 5:30 PM -- Having a sudden wave of tiredness, I took a nap.
5:30 to 7:30 PM -- Got up, watched some of Countdown, then watched an episode of The Universe about colonizing other planets.
7:30 to 10:45 PM -- Minay fixed dinner (Bertolli pasta and garlic bread). We watched The Good Shepherd. Then I got a snack (milk and cookie), and took a Tramadol, an Ibuprofen, and a multivitamin. Then we watched an episode of Adventures of Old Christine.
11:00 to Midnight -- In bed by 11:00. Read the Dangerous Book for Boys for a short while. I told Minay that I was just beginning to blog about my surgery day, and that I would need her help reconstructing what happened. We talked about our separate memories of the day. I tried to go to sleep eventually. Had difficulty falling asleep, but finally did around midnight.
Michael
See more images about my knee replacement at http://michael.sirois.com/knee/.
Mar. 29th, 2008 @ 09:31 pm
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msirois's journal
