On 11/12/15 about 2-3 weeks ago, people who see me regularly suddenly started looking startled and saying, "Look at you MOVE!!"
I was - a bit puzzled! It's three weeks short of two years since Surgery #2 - wasn't I moving along quite well last time you saw me - a month go??
Apparently not!!! I re-dedicated myself to sharpening up again - not that iI was neglecting, but - vigilance and focus are always the best things to practice. more stretching - siting on the floor and doing yoga stretches, back tp the one-legged balance and knee lifts and such - less sitting, more doing! But I am amazed! Better continues!!! My right leg is still a tad stiff - just a stiff knee when sitting on the floor, so not all the way relaxed - but I mean to work to get it to loosen up all the way!
I haven't had the Dance party yet - time and sad events made my friends' home unavailable, and I haven't really the budget to rent a hall.. but I'm still ruminating. Writing this, looking back over all of the amazing facebook posts at the time of the actual surgeries - so many emotions swirl in me re-reading them for the first time! Amazing friends and loving support -
see the last loving posts from my dear Deborah before she died between my two surgeries... Mercy, what a time it was -
"Time it was and what a time it was, it was."
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Sunday, November 30, 2014
November 30 2014 - walking, and leaves. Beautiful - and potentilly treacherous...
November 30 2014 - walking, and leaves.
I'm walking - not every night, but usually a mile.
In the summer, it's bloody hot here, and now though it's not cold (Cool and damp, but not too cold for a good, brisk walk, certainly!)
Two things tend to keep me from doing it every night, even though I have the time. THey are legitimate, not excuses...
Though my city of Sacramento is a beautiful place, it is also, of late, with more social struggles (mostly based on poverty and greed) a little bit less safe after dark. I used to walk after dark all the time, but less-so now. I wouldn't even classify it as "dangerous" - just - a bit less safe. I get home from work after dark, so - tricky. (I am no morning person. Getting up early is not in my DNA).
Fear of slipping on wet leaves is the other. Though we are in drought, it has finally begun to rain a bit, and with it, the leaves re finally dropping. Many people "on the grid" of downtown/midtown Sacramento keep their leaves swept off the sidewalk, but some do not, and now it the time it's hard to keep up with. So when I go walking, as I approach a wet sidewalk with layers of leaves, some several days or more old, it just looms like a monster. I have conquered most of my fears, but with the new fancy hips, this one - falling - is new and real.
I am top- heavy, and with that, my peripheral vision around my feel is not great - so i for most of my adult life, I have been prone to tripping and falling. It used to be a joke with my Murphys Creek Theatre family - I started beginning the summer by warning them - "I usually fall once or twice every summer - it looks alarming, but it's harmless, I promise." I might scrape a knee a little bit, but nothing bad.
Then the hips started to show their colors, I developed the limp, and it got a little less amusing.
So now - falling? No joke whatsoever. I've done it once since the new hips, and that will be plenty, thank you. I was very lucky not to damage my replacements, though the bark on my shin (If you've read posts from spring 2014) brought me the lovely "Shin Divot" ulceration, which took several months and some serious treatments to heal.
The very real possibility that I could damage the hips by falling is legitimately frightening, so when I approach those wet leaves, my tendency is to want to cross the street... but instead, I focus even more sharply, get very mindful, and walk across them targeting the least thick areas, and stepping as though I were on ice - straight down, and pushing off gingerly. It seems to do the trick.
But it looks like, until the days turn again, walking will happen mostly on weekends during the day (Dusk is fine, and beautiful), or perhaps with a friend.
All that said, I did my mile yesterday, plus about another half block. Took some lovely photos along the way, as well!(see below!)
Today, just now, in fact, I only made about nine blocks. That's OK! For some reason, I was pretty winded today, and I pushed beyond the 8 blocks where I was when my body started whining to go home. That's still 3/4 of a mile, and I like that!
I always push a little further than my body wants to go - just a bit.
I didn't get on my 'bike yesterday, as I have begun Christmas knitting projects... but I fully intend to tonight. It's only 5:30... it's on the docket. Dinner just needs warming, so that won't take too much time...
... later in the evening... Dinner consumed in a timely manner, a good solid vigorous half an hour in on the 'bike, and five inches of a sock, done! hurrah! Need to boil some eggs for lunch, and I'm set for a new week. I will miss the 4-day weekend, though!
I'm walking - not every night, but usually a mile.
In the summer, it's bloody hot here, and now though it's not cold (Cool and damp, but not too cold for a good, brisk walk, certainly!)
Two things tend to keep me from doing it every night, even though I have the time. THey are legitimate, not excuses...
Though my city of Sacramento is a beautiful place, it is also, of late, with more social struggles (mostly based on poverty and greed) a little bit less safe after dark. I used to walk after dark all the time, but less-so now. I wouldn't even classify it as "dangerous" - just - a bit less safe. I get home from work after dark, so - tricky. (I am no morning person. Getting up early is not in my DNA).
Fear of slipping on wet leaves is the other. Though we are in drought, it has finally begun to rain a bit, and with it, the leaves re finally dropping. Many people "on the grid" of downtown/midtown Sacramento keep their leaves swept off the sidewalk, but some do not, and now it the time it's hard to keep up with. So when I go walking, as I approach a wet sidewalk with layers of leaves, some several days or more old, it just looms like a monster. I have conquered most of my fears, but with the new fancy hips, this one - falling - is new and real.
I am top- heavy, and with that, my peripheral vision around my feel is not great - so i for most of my adult life, I have been prone to tripping and falling. It used to be a joke with my Murphys Creek Theatre family - I started beginning the summer by warning them - "I usually fall once or twice every summer - it looks alarming, but it's harmless, I promise." I might scrape a knee a little bit, but nothing bad.
Then the hips started to show their colors, I developed the limp, and it got a little less amusing.
So now - falling? No joke whatsoever. I've done it once since the new hips, and that will be plenty, thank you. I was very lucky not to damage my replacements, though the bark on my shin (If you've read posts from spring 2014) brought me the lovely "Shin Divot" ulceration, which took several months and some serious treatments to heal.
The very real possibility that I could damage the hips by falling is legitimately frightening, so when I approach those wet leaves, my tendency is to want to cross the street... but instead, I focus even more sharply, get very mindful, and walk across them targeting the least thick areas, and stepping as though I were on ice - straight down, and pushing off gingerly. It seems to do the trick.
But it looks like, until the days turn again, walking will happen mostly on weekends during the day (Dusk is fine, and beautiful), or perhaps with a friend.
All that said, I did my mile yesterday, plus about another half block. Took some lovely photos along the way, as well!(see below!)
Today, just now, in fact, I only made about nine blocks. That's OK! For some reason, I was pretty winded today, and I pushed beyond the 8 blocks where I was when my body started whining to go home. That's still 3/4 of a mile, and I like that!
I always push a little further than my body wants to go - just a bit.
I didn't get on my 'bike yesterday, as I have begun Christmas knitting projects... but I fully intend to tonight. It's only 5:30... it's on the docket. Dinner just needs warming, so that won't take too much time...
... later in the evening... Dinner consumed in a timely manner, a good solid vigorous half an hour in on the 'bike, and five inches of a sock, done! hurrah! Need to boil some eggs for lunch, and I'm set for a new week. I will miss the 4-day weekend, though!
Ginko and Sycamore Leaves
Japanese Maple, Succulents - a Neighbor's Garden
Tudor Apartments Autumn Gold
November 29 I start rehearsal for another play soon!
I have been off the stage for the most part (aside form some nice open-mic readings at poetry events and singing for my company's Holiday CD and upcoming party).
A few weeks ago, my friend Greg told me that our mutual friend, Steven, who has dealt with MS for a long time, and is now confined to a mobility scooter to get around) would like to do one last good show - a swan song, if you will. He's a damned good actor, and it's a shame. They are doing Love Letters - it is two actors, seated side by side at a table on stage, reading their love letters to each other over the course of their lives. It was written to be on Broadway and put together with very minimal rehearsal and preparation, and so that several actors could step in and out of the show - they could use busy actors for a week or two as their schedules permitted... A lovely idea. and perfect for an actor with mobility issues.
So, they were bandying about actresses in town who would be appropriate for the role and decided that I might be just the thing! I feel honored and delighted. I said yes before the whole question came out of my mouth. Greg will direct, we will each have understudies - I think they did not understand how recovered I am... (though I will not need one, if they would like for me to give a performance to her, I'd be happy to! ).
It's the perfect project for me at Valentine's time, as well. I am really ready to be doing a show, and it will be just right, before I begin the rigorous process of a professional show - Pirates of Penzance - for the first time since It All Went Pear-Shaped for my hips! In fact, I was doing a professional world premiere musical at the same theatre (A Little Princess) when I lost the last of the use of my hips without support (cane, and soon thereafter, a walker). I keep reminding myself, " Good lord, if I was able to get through A Little Princess in that kind of searing pain and limited mobility (and fistsfull of Ibuprofen), this should be a walk in the park! I get to play the Pirate's Maid of All Work, Ruth!
But I digress.... I am so excited to get to do Love Letters with Steven and Greg! Had a lovely conversation with Steven last week, and we'll have our first read-through this week. Stay tuned!
A few weeks ago, my friend Greg told me that our mutual friend, Steven, who has dealt with MS for a long time, and is now confined to a mobility scooter to get around) would like to do one last good show - a swan song, if you will. He's a damned good actor, and it's a shame. They are doing Love Letters - it is two actors, seated side by side at a table on stage, reading their love letters to each other over the course of their lives. It was written to be on Broadway and put together with very minimal rehearsal and preparation, and so that several actors could step in and out of the show - they could use busy actors for a week or two as their schedules permitted... A lovely idea. and perfect for an actor with mobility issues.
So, they were bandying about actresses in town who would be appropriate for the role and decided that I might be just the thing! I feel honored and delighted. I said yes before the whole question came out of my mouth. Greg will direct, we will each have understudies - I think they did not understand how recovered I am... (though I will not need one, if they would like for me to give a performance to her, I'd be happy to! ).
It's the perfect project for me at Valentine's time, as well. I am really ready to be doing a show, and it will be just right, before I begin the rigorous process of a professional show - Pirates of Penzance - for the first time since It All Went Pear-Shaped for my hips! In fact, I was doing a professional world premiere musical at the same theatre (A Little Princess) when I lost the last of the use of my hips without support (cane, and soon thereafter, a walker). I keep reminding myself, " Good lord, if I was able to get through A Little Princess in that kind of searing pain and limited mobility (and fistsfull of Ibuprofen), this should be a walk in the park! I get to play the Pirate's Maid of All Work, Ruth!
But I digress.... I am so excited to get to do Love Letters with Steven and Greg! Had a lovely conversation with Steven last week, and we'll have our first read-through this week. Stay tuned!
November 27 Rediscovering good shoes - kind of a big deal when you've had trouble walking for so long!
SHOES! I can wear shoes that are good-looking! I can more and more easily and safely wear my swing dance shoes - purchased because I needed some attractive heels to wear with a dress, but most heels were impossibly painful. Dancing shoes - these are Aris Allens - are built to be immediately comfortable without having to break them in. they are wonderful - and I love mine. But they are not winder shoes (Peep-toe spectators), so I needed some practical shoes for winder (mostly for work, but also for other times). The flat, chunky rubber-soled Maryjanes I had found are getting beaten up, and they are not handsome, just utilitarian.
The other, heeled Maryjanes I bought last year are all right - sometimes not super-comfortable after more than a few hours.
Flats are the best for simple safety and comfort - but they can be so ugly. Ballet Flats are terrible or a wide foot - they have no support and are not pretty with your foot spilling over the edges.
For a flat, I prefer a brogue or a good black oxford. But they are not the current style (Even though they are sort of an eternal look), so, hard to find, especially on a budget. Enter the good internet!
After a goodly bit if searching, I found a pair of brown simple lightweight but well-built wing-tip brogues, and a brown pair with a little more decorative leatherwork. Beautiful shoes, well-built, found both pairs for a total of $32 including shipping! And I suddenly feel like I have a little style happening again, whether I'm in a dress, leggings or trousers. I love them - and life feels that bit more fun and normal at the same time. Because my normal life IS fun! They are light enough to feel almost as though I am walking barefoot - my favorite, yet not-work-appropriate way to be. hey make walking with a lighter, smoother gait so much easier - and they're great for dancing, as well :)
Reminds me - being boot season, I need to find a good pair of flat-or-short-heeled boots for Pirates of Penzance! The costumer is also a good friend, and she suggested I look for them now, and she can purchase them in advance! Taran-tarahhhhh!!!!
The other, heeled Maryjanes I bought last year are all right - sometimes not super-comfortable after more than a few hours.
Flats are the best for simple safety and comfort - but they can be so ugly. Ballet Flats are terrible or a wide foot - they have no support and are not pretty with your foot spilling over the edges.
For a flat, I prefer a brogue or a good black oxford. But they are not the current style (Even though they are sort of an eternal look), so, hard to find, especially on a budget. Enter the good internet!
After a goodly bit if searching, I found a pair of brown simple lightweight but well-built wing-tip brogues, and a brown pair with a little more decorative leatherwork. Beautiful shoes, well-built, found both pairs for a total of $32 including shipping! And I suddenly feel like I have a little style happening again, whether I'm in a dress, leggings or trousers. I love them - and life feels that bit more fun and normal at the same time. Because my normal life IS fun! They are light enough to feel almost as though I am walking barefoot - my favorite, yet not-work-appropriate way to be. hey make walking with a lighter, smoother gait so much easier - and they're great for dancing, as well :)
Reminds me - being boot season, I need to find a good pair of flat-or-short-heeled boots for Pirates of Penzance! The costumer is also a good friend, and she suggested I look for them now, and she can purchase them in advance! Taran-tarahhhhh!!!!
The Wing-tipped Brogues in question.
November 26 flattening scars, improving gait!
Hello! It's been a while! Life still gpes on, and my hips still have plenty to do with it!
Here's today's:
My scars are flattening out.
The anterior incision hip replacement, parting the muscles, kind of keeps a bit of a new contour, sort of a dip, in the top of one;s thigh around the scar as the healing progresses. but I am noticing, even though that sort of dip or valley is still there a year later (It will be a year for hip #2 in just over a week!), I noticed the other day, they are starting to flatten out. The muscles are finding their way back to their old places slowly, and the scars are flattening out and turning white.
I noticed some time ago that, once my left leg became pretty easy to cross onto my right knee, it took a bit longer relatively, for m right. So I started concentrating on stretching it and getting it more limber - i can't quite get it to cross all the way without lifting it with my hand yet, but closer all the time! **ALMOST** - bot not quite!!! not too frustrating - each step of the way has been gradual - it's a matter of time.
Also - my gait is still evolving! Mostly I notice and work on it at work (Or on my extended walks, but they are more for stamina)... walking around the building, I can modify to feel my footfall become lighter. I have always liked having a fairly light step, especially for having a rounder physique - but for a very long time, my gait was just pretty much a stomping lurch. Recently, I was experimenting with sort of lightly gliding across the floor - and it worked! Putting focus the weight on the *middle* of my foot, while still using the whole foot in balance - heel-middle-toe - makes it a smooth gait, indeed. I cannot wait to glide across a stage again! I've done pretty well with it this year, but it's getting continually better, and not sitting back and being content with "better", and striving for Best is the ticket!!!
Here's today's:
My scars are flattening out.
The anterior incision hip replacement, parting the muscles, kind of keeps a bit of a new contour, sort of a dip, in the top of one;s thigh around the scar as the healing progresses. but I am noticing, even though that sort of dip or valley is still there a year later (It will be a year for hip #2 in just over a week!), I noticed the other day, they are starting to flatten out. The muscles are finding their way back to their old places slowly, and the scars are flattening out and turning white.
I noticed some time ago that, once my left leg became pretty easy to cross onto my right knee, it took a bit longer relatively, for m right. So I started concentrating on stretching it and getting it more limber - i can't quite get it to cross all the way without lifting it with my hand yet, but closer all the time! **ALMOST** - bot not quite!!! not too frustrating - each step of the way has been gradual - it's a matter of time.
Also - my gait is still evolving! Mostly I notice and work on it at work (Or on my extended walks, but they are more for stamina)... walking around the building, I can modify to feel my footfall become lighter. I have always liked having a fairly light step, especially for having a rounder physique - but for a very long time, my gait was just pretty much a stomping lurch. Recently, I was experimenting with sort of lightly gliding across the floor - and it worked! Putting focus the weight on the *middle* of my foot, while still using the whole foot in balance - heel-middle-toe - makes it a smooth gait, indeed. I cannot wait to glide across a stage again! I've done pretty well with it this year, but it's getting continually better, and not sitting back and being content with "better", and striving for Best is the ticket!!!
Monday, November 10, 2014
11/9/2014 Catching Up, Losing Electra, a New Big "First Since" Goal met!
It's been a while.
Lot has been going on... I did a stage reading of Macbeth on Halloween - the first rehearsal in which I rushed onstage with rage ( as is call for by the character, Hecate, in the scene) I heard my friends who were in it as well all kind of gasp or murmur - they were just amazed that I was able to move so fast and so well.
Running is out because of the impact - but moving fast, I can DO! It was a fun performance.
I've been doing social things - attended three fall weddings, and with our unseasonable beautiful (though dangerously dry) weather, they were ll gorgeous. You'll have read about the one in which I danced a lot - it was divine! The other two were less about dancing, but it was great, and I stood around talking to people with a glass of wine in my hand for long stretches - it's so nice!
This weird weather continues - the next five days - here in the middle of November - are forecast between 68 and 77 degrees F?!?? Right now, it is after sunset and 72 degrees, with the windows open (my cat Maia's favorite thing is sitting in the open window and watching the night go by). lovely, but so strange and worrisome.
I do have some lower-back pain, and occasionally have some pain in my left hip with makes me pause. But in a day or two, it's gone.
I have been pretty steady on the bike. Last week was less regular - about every other day - but my littlest of my two three-year-old cats, Electra's health failed after a long decline (We think it was cancer), and she died very early Friday morning in my arms. it was very, very sad, and her sister Maia and I are figuring our what life in our home is like now. They were feral babies, and Maia has never been super-affectionate. We're getting closer already.
So - I am still sad, but back at nightly exercise.
It's early enough that I will be able to get in my half-hour on the exercycle tonight, along with the walking.
Someone told me I look like I lose more weight every time they see me. Could be - I do hope so - less impact on the hips, better blood pressure control. Easier tying of shoes. :}
It looked like I had today in the mirror as I was heading out for my walk. I stand up straighter now, so who knows if it's an illusion?
I am certainly working at fitness.
But the BIG NEWS is - burying the lede -
I BEAT MY MILE WALKING GOAL!!! I haven't been walking for exercise specifically in over a week. a sore knee here, exhaustion or grief there...
but today I had all the time in the world, was feeling pretty good, and make the step out at sunset. I slowed my pace, because I tend to get out there swinging and get too tired or a knee or such gets sore and brings me home before the mile goal. So - slower, taking my camera along an making beauty stops, and pacing myself. By the time I got to my street and had the option to turn for home, I was ready for a few more blocks and took them! 13 blocks - ONE MILE!!! I am SO HAPPY.
I was able to get in 25 minutes of exercise bike AND vacuum!
It seems my energy is picking up, and I'm hoping that is because I have added Potassium to my supplements. It was fairly low due to my BP medication/diuretic, and I've just been completely exhausted.
A good friend and neighbor came by this afternoon and surprised me with beautiful roses from her garden in memory of my little Electra, and came in for a great gab. She and her wife are wonderful people and it was so kind and good of her to come. What would we do without friends? I cannot imagine.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
10/18/2014 Challenging house chores, Tearin' Up the Sheets (Literally. Don't get too excited), Time Check
I changed my sheets today, which is a little job in and of itself, but when you have two mostly-white Turkish Van cats, with 5" long super-super fine fur, and you prefer black sheets... it is a real major task, and a bit of a workout!
That hair sticks to every fabric like velcro, on contact. And then it forms little balls. Just throwing it in the wash is not gonna do it.
With regular cats, a good fluff-n-dry will de-cat-hair anything.
Oh, no. It takes a brush - brushing the whole top sheet on both sides, and the fitted sheet on the top - thoroughly - to get them even ready to wash.
Don't evenTALK to me about sticky fur rollers. I go through an entire one before I'm half-way done.
There is no keeping two feral-born kitties out of the bedroom (They like to cave under the bad - it's their most secure place - but they like to be ON the bed too... and one will even cuddle with me, but only when i am IN the bed. So... unless I want to be heartless, no.
But dammit, the sheets are clean again and bed will be fresh and cozy tonight! (Everything is physical therapy, right?)
Also - a funny little after- effect of the Post-Surgery times last year - this particular set of sheets has obviously been washed and used again several times since - but I think this was the fitted sheet I used most when I was doing the in-bed physical therapy exercises the most (though I still do them on a lesser basis to keep things healthy and limber) - a few nights ago, suddenly I moved a foot across the sheet turning over - and it tore right through! That spot between the knees and feet, where I moved my feet across it the most doing the PT repetitions just gave up the ghost!
I had to chuckle. I think with a repair, and putting it one the other way-round I can probably get a few more uses out of it... but I had to laugh!
Never wore through a sheet before!!
Just for the record, it is 1 year and two months since Hip Replacement #1. 10 months and two weeks since #2.
I just keep on rolling ahead. Not every day is great ( this has been a bit of a low week), but I keep at it... I'm on the 'bike at least 6 nights a week, and though I had a little issue with my right knee for a couple of weeks, I started giving it really good attention and regular Ice and stretching/strengthening, and it's getting back to well again... I hope to get a good walk in tonight for the firs time in a couple of weeks!
It's slowly becoming Autumn here, far behind schedule, but almost there, so it should be a lovely night for it.
No walk tonight after all, but just completed a nice, half-hour vigorous exercycle session. Whew!
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