Living

with Jim and Gayle

April, 2022

I had my right knee replaced in Renton, WA. on 3/28/2022.  I checked in for surgery at 9AM.  At 11:30AM, I was wheeled into the operating room where they did a spinal block and then gave me anesthesia.  That's the last thing I remember until I woke up in Recovery at about 2:30PM.  By 3:30PM, I was up and walking with a walker and climbing stairs (a requirement since I had to go up the stairs at the trailer when I was released).  We were back to the trailer by 4:30PM.

The next day, we drove home.  With all the required stops, it took us a little over 7 hours to make what normally takes a little less than 4 hours.  I rode in the back seat so that my leg could be horizontal.  By the time we got home, I was exhausted and in quite a bit of pain.  The nerve blocks had definitely worn off.

Although the eMend drug that I took prior to surgery kept me from experiencing nausea and disorientation from surgery, the opioids and Tylenol that I was to take for pain caused me nausea and just to not feel good.  It took several days working with my surgeon's nurse to reduce the nausea.  I quit taking all pain medication as soon as I could as that was the source of the nausea and just overall feeling bad.

I started Physical Therapy 3 days after surgery.

The outer bandage stayed on for 5 days.  The leg was quite bruised.

The inner bandage stayed on for 3 weeks.  There were no staples or surface stitches.  The bandage and glue held the incision together (along with the subcutaneous stitches).

After 3 weeks the inner bandage came off.  I am now working on scar minimization along with regaining strength, bend, and extension.


I felt that my flexion was being affected by a point on the inner side of my knee.  My Physical Therapist did "scraping" of the area.  I've never had that done.  It started out as a nice gentle massage, but quickly became quite painful.  I think it did help the area to loosen up but it hurt enough that I'm not sure that I'll try it again.

For some reason, the killdeer abandoned their nest.  Fun fact -- killdeer always lay 4 eggs.  Only after the fourth egg is laid do the birds start incubating the eggs.  All four eggs had been laid, but then the nest was abandoned.  There was no obvious reason why.  About 3 weeks later, a pair of killdeer started nesting in the same general area.  We're not sure if it is the same pair or a different pair.

  When Jim turned the sprinkler system on this spring, he had a broken pipe that flooded the side yard.

The weather this month has been, for the most part, gray, rainy, and gloomy.  We even had record breaking snow storms.

Bo continues to entertain.