Retirement life...Almost 6 months later!
After a nearly five month hiatus from blogging, I am back. And what a five months it has been!
I didn't even get settled into my retirement routine before we headed south to Arizona for a couple months. Now, we didn't have any premonitions or inside info, but it turns out that we missed possibly two of the most miserable months of winter weather that this country has ever seen! It was cooler than normal in Arizona also, and the locals there said it was the worst winter they had seen in a lot of years...temps hung in the 50's to low 60's, which was a darned sight better than what Nebraska was experiencing.
We headed back to Nebraska at the end of March in preparation for my bilateral knee replacement. I knew having both knees done at the same time would be challenging, but I simply didn't want to go through the surgery twice in a short span of time...and besides I couldn't decide which knee to do first since they were both bone-on-bone and needed the surgery equally bad.
The doctor said I had gotten all the good I was ever going to get out of my knees, and that it was a good thing we did the surgery. I was in the hospital for three days, during which time we were treated to another round of winter weather which we couldn't miss this time. The doctor declared the surgery a huge success, but it took me a bit longer to realize how successful.
I have now completed nine weeks of physical therapy...whoof! They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and PT was literal proof of that. But I have now graduated physical therapy and am moving around easily and pain-free. I honestly haven't felt this good in the better part of ten years! We are now up to walking eight blocks at a time, with our goal being all the way around town by the end of summer. Our walks are a family event with Mike and the dog accompanying me. Even the dog is benefiting, he has lost his winter belly.
I ended up taking a part-time job at Hespe Auto Center, which has turned out to be a good thing for me. I just hadn't gotten my knees under me very well following surgery, and some days found me still sitting on the couch drinking coffee at noon. I loathed myself for being so lazy and unmotivated, but still I sat there. Now I have to get out of the house at a decent time two days a week, and it has given me incentive to get moving even when I'm not working. I always wondered at how many times my dad "retired" but it appears the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in this area.
When I retired I was ready to jump into my retirement life, but even though it has taken me a few more months to get there than I thought it would, I have now arrived. I am so much freer to come and go and do the things I want to do. And the best part of all is that I now feel like doing so much more than I even thought I was going to with my new titanium knees.
Hopefully I can get out to the computer and this blog on a more regular basis. I have a new laptop computer on the way, which is an upgrade that will hopefully make it easier to keep current with my blog. Life just keeps getting better by the day!!!
I didn't even get settled into my retirement routine before we headed south to Arizona for a couple months. Now, we didn't have any premonitions or inside info, but it turns out that we missed possibly two of the most miserable months of winter weather that this country has ever seen! It was cooler than normal in Arizona also, and the locals there said it was the worst winter they had seen in a lot of years...temps hung in the 50's to low 60's, which was a darned sight better than what Nebraska was experiencing.
We headed back to Nebraska at the end of March in preparation for my bilateral knee replacement. I knew having both knees done at the same time would be challenging, but I simply didn't want to go through the surgery twice in a short span of time...and besides I couldn't decide which knee to do first since they were both bone-on-bone and needed the surgery equally bad.
The doctor said I had gotten all the good I was ever going to get out of my knees, and that it was a good thing we did the surgery. I was in the hospital for three days, during which time we were treated to another round of winter weather which we couldn't miss this time. The doctor declared the surgery a huge success, but it took me a bit longer to realize how successful.
I have now completed nine weeks of physical therapy...whoof! They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and PT was literal proof of that. But I have now graduated physical therapy and am moving around easily and pain-free. I honestly haven't felt this good in the better part of ten years! We are now up to walking eight blocks at a time, with our goal being all the way around town by the end of summer. Our walks are a family event with Mike and the dog accompanying me. Even the dog is benefiting, he has lost his winter belly.
I ended up taking a part-time job at Hespe Auto Center, which has turned out to be a good thing for me. I just hadn't gotten my knees under me very well following surgery, and some days found me still sitting on the couch drinking coffee at noon. I loathed myself for being so lazy and unmotivated, but still I sat there. Now I have to get out of the house at a decent time two days a week, and it has given me incentive to get moving even when I'm not working. I always wondered at how many times my dad "retired" but it appears the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in this area.
When I retired I was ready to jump into my retirement life, but even though it has taken me a few more months to get there than I thought it would, I have now arrived. I am so much freer to come and go and do the things I want to do. And the best part of all is that I now feel like doing so much more than I even thought I was going to with my new titanium knees.
Hopefully I can get out to the computer and this blog on a more regular basis. I have a new laptop computer on the way, which is an upgrade that will hopefully make it easier to keep current with my blog. Life just keeps getting better by the day!!!
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