Week 33 - My Bum Shoulder

I didn’t have to be at the airport until 3:00 so you know me, I jam packed the day. I met Deanne at a café in Wickford for breakfast so we had a nice chat and then walked around. Of course I hit The Mermaid’s Purl and bought a skein of sock yarn. Just one. I drove back to Carolyn’s to await Cornelia, who would be picking me up for a late lunch and the traditional dump and drive at the airport. We went to Crow’s Nest for lobster rolls. It was another good catch up and then an uneventful flight. The first one anyway – the 2^nd flight was delayed a bit so I didn’t walk in my door until 11:00 pm. It was a quick trip but absolutely wonderful.

The alarm was a rude awakening on Tuesday but work was fine and then I got to pick up Gansey, who was freshly spayed, at Becky’s. It was wonderful to have her home and be home. I thoroughly enjoyed my first night at home.

I had PT at 7:00 on Wednesday so despite sleeping well, it was an early morning and a totally messed up routine. At least lunch was taken care of. We were having Bethany’s goodbye lunch at Blue Orchid. She’d only been in my office for a few months but we were all going to miss her a ton. So lunch was yummy but sad. I was still knackered from my trip so went home for streaming and knitting. It was the deadline for state fair entries and I’d given it some thought but couldn’t muster the energy to do them so that didn’t happen. I’ll live.

After only 2 days of relatively normal life, Thursday was time for my shoulder procedure. I left work at 3:00 and thought I was having something akin to acupuncture. Imagine my surprise when he said it was a needle biopsy! It started out OK and I even said it was no worse than getting a steroid injection in my knee and then he hit something that sent a bolt of pain down my arm that would have had my off the table except I was in a super awkward position. The pain was only a few seconds but the adrenaline rush had me a mess. The nurse spent the rest of the procedure, about 10 minutes more, petting my leg and telling me it was almost over. I left with a bandaid as the only evidence that anything had been done. It would be 2 days before the steroids kicked in, 2 weeks before full effect and a month before I’d know if it worked. Sheesh!

Work was fine on Friday and I was leaving early for what I hoped would be my last PT. I talked to Cory about not coming back and asked him to give me exercises to do on my own. He agreed and got me going but after an hour of all things PT, my shoulder was killing me. What should have been an easy round of e-stim had me groaning in pain. Cory took pity on me and hooked my shoulder up to some Game Ready icing. I was covered head to toe with equipment and feeling pretty cranky but I was still knitting. The ice did some good. Damn good thing!

I spent the weekend getting caught up. I had unpacked earlier in the week but except for the dirty clothes, which did make it to the hamper, everything was still on the counters. I got everything put away and then started cooking. I was determined to have a normal week the following week so was happy to end the weekend with the house in order and a fridge full of food for the week. Oh, and the steroids did in fact kick in so my shoulder was feeling much better. All good.

Week 32 - A Quick Trip

So the early week was a blur of fiscal year end at work and prepping for RI at home, which included getting Gansey ready to drop back at Becky’s so she could be spayed while I was gone. I did that before work on Wednesday, when I also worked late so it was a long day. I went home to throw clothes in a suitcase and was on the road to the airport at 5:00 a.m. on Thursday. But when the plane touched down in Rhode Island, it made the long days all worth it.  

I had done almost no planning for what to do while there but I did arrange to have dinner with Auntie Margaret on Thursday night. With the afternoon free, Carolyn and I decided to bake cookies so we whipped out a double batch that afternoon and headed to the Crow’s Nest for an early dinner of fried belly clams with my family. Aunt Margaret forgot her hearing aids and I couldn’t exactly yell in a crowded restaurant so I’m not sure what she got out of the meal. Like Carolyn said, she’s 94 so I have to cut her some slack. It was good to see her, as always. 

Friday was the only day with a plan and it was jam packed. Carolyn and I drove down to pick John up then headed to Ikea in Stoughton. The annual Ikea trek is always fun and I bought tons of stocking stuffers and gifts, as usual. Since Stoughton is a restaurant dessert, we headed back to Providence for a yummy lunch at The Salted Slate in Wayland Square. From there we headed back to East Greenwich to pick up Marianne and drive to The Newport Yacht Club for drinks on the deck. It was a gorgeous day with gorgeous views and the Menard clan was fully represented – John’s aunts, uncle and mom. It was fun and after we dropped Marianne back home (she’s pushing 80 and didn’t have the energy for dinner), John followed us to Carolyn’s where we had a nice dinner of spinach pies from Don’s Pizza. Yum! 

The only other plan for my entire trip was Saturday night at Bob’s, when I would be buying take out so no one had to stress about cooking. So with the day free, we had a leisurely morning at home, complete with scrambled eggs (Carolyn makes the best eggs, bar none) and then we headed out for some shopping. We had to pick up a few things at the market to go with the pizza we’d be ordering and then we hit the new Job Lot in East Greenwich. After offloading everything, we had a bit more time at home before heading to Bob’s. Michele, Rob and the kids were there as well as John, Bob (duh! It’s his house) and Daisy (his daughter.) After starting with vodka laced Del’s lemonade, we had a lovely, low key dinner of pizza, chicken wings and had assorted ice cream novelties, Carolyn’s idea, for dessert. It rained briefly but Bob’s table is completely covered so we didn’t feel a drop. We talked for hours and hours. Nice. 

Since Sharyn is stuck in Attleboro and still not driving, Carolyn and I went up there on Sunday and had a fun morning of shopping at the Christmas Tree Shop and Five Below then had lunch at Panera. From there we drove the full length of Rhode Island (all 39 miles) to East Beach, picking John up on the way.  

Now East Beach is by far the best beach in RI but it’s a hidden gem that few people know about. The problem with it is the tiny parking lot so you have to get there either early or late to get a spot or they turn you away. We planned accordingly and got there at 3:30 but still had to wait 15 minutes. As a car left, they let one in. It was worth the wait because it’s gorgeous and never crowded. I had bought a clip on umbrella that morning so happily sat in the shade with a towel over my legs knitting in the sun. John and I went swimming right before we left, which was also fun. If John hadn’t had to be back at his mom’s by 6:00, I could have stayed on the beach until sunset. We had the best time and it made me want to rent a beach house there next summer.  

After the best shower ever (there’s no better shower than after a day being at the beach), we ended the day with fresh swordfish and sweet corn. This was the only meal we cooked the entire time and since I was leaving the next day, it would stay that way. But YUM! It was a lovely end to a lovely day and I was sad to be heading home. But a short RI trip in the summer is better than none at all and I have no right to complain about the quick trip since I’d been to Scotland for 2 weeks this summer. Oh to have unlimited vacation time! I guess that’s called retirement. Just ten more years. : )

Week 31 - On the Mend

This week was still all about my knee. It was also the beginning of fiscal year end closing meetings week plus I was watering at Lorri's and would be watering at Lisa's (my neighbor 2 doors up) by the end of the week, even overlapping a few days. Add in the county fair and PT and it was going to be a busy week.

I scheduled my first PT appointment for 7:00 a.m. on Monday, which was too damn early but got me to work earlier so I went with it. And Monday night was fair prep for my knitting entries so I quickly grabbed 12 items after work and spent most of the 2 hours at the library prepping those so I could give them to Drae to submit for me. Because Tuesday after work I'd be at the fair doing vegetable check in for 4H, which is my annual master gardener volunteering. I was back at PT first thing Wednesday and Cory told me not to swim. I think I'd been in the pool twice all summer and the rest of this week wasn't looking good. Oh well.

Darla IM'd me Wednesday afternoon to ask what I was doing after work. When I told her I was going to the fair to check on ribbons, we made a plan to do it together and get corndogs for dinner. Fun. Well, I got about 2/3 red ribbons. WTF! I never enter anything that isn't absolutely perfect so was a bit surprised, even considering the lame judge they have who knows nothing about modern knitting. Nothing to be done about it but see what the comments are when I get my projects back. Then there were no corndogs to be had at the fair. Seriously? I really wanted one so Darla and I headed to Dairy Queen for a corndog and soft serve supper once we were done at the fair. They were yummy and it was great to catch up with Darla. It always is.

Closing meeting prep was in full swing so the work days were flying by and it was Friday afternoon before I knew it. I'd scheduled 4:30 PT on Friday, hoping it'd be my last, so left work early. I was ready for the weekend big time. Well, not only was it not my last PT (they always want you longer than you think) but Shane manhandled me so much that I woke up with joint pain on Saturday morning. Not good. The muscle was only a little tight first thing in the morning (the med pack of steroids I'd remembered I had and started on Tuesday was also helping) so it was getting better. At least there was that.

I didn't get a ton done all weekend. I got dressed and went to the library Saturday morning thinking I'd make a deposit but the money wasn't ready so I got presentable for nothing. I was supposed to sit in the library booth at the fair Saturday night but got a reprieve when Lorri called to say it was so slow that we could break the booth down at 5:00, which meant I wouldn't be sitting there until 9:00. Then Andrea offered to pick up my entries on Sunday evening so another reprieve. Nice on both counts.

I was under the gun to finish my July challenge socks so knitted at home all night Saturday then knitted between chores on Sunday. I got the 2nd sock done Sunday night only to find a mistake that required me to rip out 2/3 of the second sock. Oh well. Between all the knitting and all the regular chores, I did manage to go through the upstairs freezer so at least all my frozen food is in good order. My cupboards are next up, btw.

So all in all, a good week. Progress on my knee, lots of knitting and enough productivity to keep my ever present self-imposed guilt in check. I even baked a cake to take to knitting. Plus it wasn't super hot - I even slept with the windows open several night. See? All good.

Week 30 - Now Knee Pain

Yup, my knee blew again. It happened on Tuesday afternoon when I was getting back into the car after getting my free iced coffee at Panera. Nothing’s free, right? Anyway, I grabbed my cane out of the trunk, hobbled back to my desk and called Nebraska Ortho. I needed to make an appointment with a new doc since mine had retired last June.

I had called a month ago to make a new patient appointment but they said to just call when I was in pain. Right. I did and they said my replacement doc was booking new patient appointments a month out so I got in for Wednesday with another doc who had an opening. Whatever. I needed help.

Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon when, long story short, I found out that all the shots I’ve gotten in my joint over the past years have been for nothing! My pain is not now and never has been in my joint so cortisone in my joint has had zero effect. That explains so much, like why when this happened 4 years ago (my last full blow out) the shot did nothing and I was still limping and using a cane after 6 weeks. PT saved me then and that was the plan for this go ‘round too.

One session with my PT in Wahoo first thing Thursday and my hamstring spasm, which has been the problem all along btw, was released. Not that it felt good after a 44 hour Charley horse though. I knew I’d be in PT a long time but at least there was hope on the horizon. I can work with muscular. I had another session at the end of the day Friday – 1 hour and 45 minutes of pain and torture but it was getting better.

Needless to say, I didn’t do much on the weekend. Sitting and knitting – all good. I did manage to do the long overdue basement freezer defrost, which left me cooking and baking with some of the stuff I found. I made a nice blueberry pie with crumb topping (single frozen crust and 4 cups of blueberries from the freezer) to take to knitting, which felt great. I’ve been dieting, or trying to anyway, for so long that I do very little baking and I miss it. I also picked the first beans from my garden and made 3 bean salad. At least that was healthy.

My latest rotation was definitely off the rails but at least I’d lost my vacation weight gain in the week I'd stuck to it. There’s always the next one, or maybe not. I’m giving serious consideration to doing a 2 or 3 day fast (600 calories) and see how that works. And one of these days I’ll be able to swim again. I live in hope. More PT will do the trick.

Week 29 - Drama and Pain

I had started a rotation on Sunday so was happy to be on a 600 calorie day on Monday. I was determined to have a good rotation and lose some of the 7 pounds I'd gained before and during my trip. The fridge was stocked with healthy food and swimming was back so I was stoked.

Somewhere in the wee hours on Wednesday morning, I managed to pull a muscle in my back while sleeping. I was fine at 3:30 when I woke up to pee but was a mess when the alarm went off 2 hours later. It was between my shoulder blades just along the left side of my spine and hurt every time I moved my head. I made it through work OK but made the mistake of thinking swimming would help. I only lasted 25 minutes and it wasn't pretty. And when I went to bed, the only position I could stand was flat on my back with no pillow. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much.

I woke up feeling much worse Thursday. I went to work but the pain was so all encompassing that I couldn't concentrate, not even to hold down a conversation with Dodie at lunch. I'd talked to my friend who's a personal trainer that morning and she suggested laying on a heating pad so I left work after lunch and did just that. It felt good just to be home and after an hour of heat, my back started to loosen up. I was on and off the heating pad for the rest of the day and slept in my awkward position again but this time on the heating pad. I was 80% better when I woke up on Friday. Despite the improvement, I wasn't going to chance swimming again so hit HyVee and went home for the weekend. It was a gorgeous evening on Friday with low 60's overnight so I slept with the windows open, which felt like a treat. Blazing heat was coming back on Sunday and would be around for weeks so I enjoyed the night and slept better than I had in several nights.

There was some post-trip drama late in the week. Someone posted to our private Facebook group asking if anyone had heard from the tour company on the bus fiasco, at which point our leader posted a snarky, accusatory comment that got everyone riled up and emailing. My email complained about many things beyond the bus, the leader being problem one. After flurries of emails and posts, we got an offer of a $300 refund for the bus problem and a $200 credit if we'd take another trip with the same leader. Not a chance in hell! Moving on....

I had a nice, relaxing weekend, interspersing chores with bouts of sitting and knitting. I'd done pretty well on the rotation so was down 5 pounds and was starting 1200 calories, which always feels great, on Sunday. I'd also been able to sleep with my pillow on Saturday night. Yay! Nancy stopped over for tea and a chat on Sunday afternoon. We hadn't seen each other in ages so had a nice catch up. And my back was at about 95% better so only hurt once in awhile when I moved my head the wrong way. Progress. I'll take it.

Week 28 - Meet Gansey Girl

Monday was the 4th of July so I had another day at home to get over jet lag and back on track before heading back to work. I woke up with the intention to leave the house but as the day went on, I just couldn't muster the energy and so didn't. I puttered in the yard a bit, getting some weeding done, and stepped outside to watch the fireworks at 10:00 but that's as close as I got to leaving the house. Tuesday morning would be soon enough.

The re-entry to work wasn't bad and I stopped at the bread store on the way home then headed out to Lori's after a quick dinner to drop the last of the pre-trip produce for her chickens and her gift for airport transportation services. There was no water aerobics all week so I was free to get things back on track. I prepped for the cleaning lady, restocked my produce at Fresh Thyme and made it through the week to Friday, which was going to be a banner day.

I'd made it known years ago that if Husker Cats came across a female orange kitten, I'd be interested. There had been one a year ago but I wasn't ready. Well, Becky had one now and with Wrennie gone, it was time. Becky had bottle fed her and her 2 litter mates from when they were just a few days old and they were ready to be adopted. I went to Becky's house after work on Friday to meet Gansey Girl and after playing with her for awhile, I took her home. Becky set me up with absolutely everything I'd need - kitten food, litter boxes and litter, a couple of toys and her favorite blanket. She was an angel in the car too. This was going to work out great.

It was fun to have a kitten in the house again. For me anyway. The other cats bolted out the door and refused to come back in so I fed them on the deck and spent the weekend bonding with my new kitty. I've never had a round eyed kitty before and Gansey (named after a knitting style) is a peach. I think having only known a human as her mother, she's not fearful at all. And she's cute as a button, don't you think? What a nice ending to my first week at home. : )

Week 27 - Scotland and Home

I was not happy to be leaving Shetland so took an extra long walk after breakfast - our last by the sea. We'd be heading in search of puffins before flying to back to the mainland. The puffins were in cliffs at the very southern tip of the island and were fun to watch. After having lunch in an old hotel and checking out a Norse ruin, we got on a plane and headed back. I would miss Shetland dearly and was sorry to be leaving. It only took an hour to fly back and then it was onto the bus - the same broken down, stinky, heap of a bus. They'd listened to none of our complaints! Go figure. We settled in for another crappy ride on the bus headed to Tilloch Castle where we'd be spending the night. It's the most haunted castle in Scotland, or so they say. After a dinner that had more drama due to bad communication on the part of our leader (ha!), we took the ghost tour but ducked out early since it was pushing 11:00. Again, so sad to not be in Shetland anymore.

I had haggis with my breakfast the next morning, my first since New Year's Eve 1982 unless you count the deep fried haggis balls appetizer I'd had earlier in the trip, and it was wonderful. Then it was back on the bus. Ick! It was a gray, rainy day so I guess that could have happened on a worse day. Our first stop was Loch Ness for a boat ride but our leader left us huddled in the rain without tickets so that when we finally got on the boat, we had to sit outside because all the covered seats were taken. It was cold up there! Luckily the boat stopped halfway through the hour long cruise and some people got off so we could get inside. The entire thing was a touristy waste of time. Then it was back on the bus. Are you seeing a trend here? We stopped for lunch at a cute restaurant before heading to the highlands, which were gorgeous and the only thing worthwhile all day.

The bus was always a rattle trap but it was making progressively more alarming noises as the day wore on, which was all the more troubling because in the highlands there were many places where all that separated us from a plunge down a mountain was a single guardrail. Well, we were on the outskirts of Edinburgh when a passing motorist started honking and pointing so the driver pulled over and when he did, lug nuts fell to the ground. One of the tires was 6" out from the others and was about to fall off. Yes, we were nearly a story on the evening news. You know the one - 19 knitters killed when their tour bus careened off a mountain this afternoon. WTF! We waited by the side of the road while the bus company sent a replacement bus. I should add that our leader chose the last day to make a snarky comment that left Erica near tears and me mad and stewing all afternoon. What a banner day, right! I couldn't wait to get through the farewell dinner and get packing. 

The tour was over the next morning but since Anne, Eileen Gail and I were taking a train to York, we weren't going to the airport with the rest of the group. Good thing because the driver was an hour late, leaving some people having to take a taxi to the airport rather than chance missing their flights. The tour was just getting worse with every passing minute! We happily got into a taxi and headed to the train station. We'd met some lovely people, visited gorgeous places and had lots of knitting fun but it was all despite the inept Celtic Journeys. Good riddance! We'd never be travelling with them again.

The trip to York went off without a hitch and the B&B we'd booked was perfect. We had the two rooms that were above the breakfast room so could open our two doors and have the whole floor. We had made plans to see Philip and Jean Thursday for elevenses so had Wednesday afternoon to explore. We couldn't go into the Minster so shopped - Ramshambles (the yarn shop on The Shambles) and Duttons for Buttons plus anywhere else that looked interesting, then went to Betty's for tea. Unfortunately they sat us in the basement but it was still fun. We walked back to the B&B via the Museum Gardens, where we took a break to knit on a bench then took lots of pictures of the flowers and ruins. We ate a light dinner back at the B&B and collapsed into bed exhausted. It was a long but fun day and we were happy to be on our own in York. And tomorrow we'd be seeing Philip and Jean, which is why we'd gone to York.

After breakfast, we were looking to kill some time and headed in the direction of Philip and Jean's thinking we'd check out a park. Well, we found a lovely shop - Birdie's Perch -  on the way to the park and spent an hour there, happily purchasing all kinds of fun things, and it was only a 5 minute walk to Philip and Jean's. It was so good to see them! We sat in their garden chatting over coffee and cookies for a couple of hours. It made my day to see Jean looking happy and on the mend. After a brief stop at the B&B to offload packages, we headed back to York, popping into the Minster, which was full of stands and props for a mystery play they were doing, then hit the National Trust Shop (best gift shops in the UK) and then shopped a bit before having our personal farewell dinner at Jamie's Italian. So delicious and far better than any meal we'd had on our tour. Anne and I were headed to Manchester Airport for our early flight the next morning. It was hard to believe the trip was over but I was so glad to have ended on the high note of York with Eileen and Gail and getting to see Philip and Jean. Now to get home.

The train to Manchester was uneventful and the hotel we'd booked at the airport was comfy. We were at the airport first thing ready for our flight home. We had an empty seat between us so spread out for a day of knitting and watching movies interspersed with airplane food. I watched The Big Short, Joy and The Martian, which is more movies than I've seen in the previous year. 

Unfortunately we got bad news once we landed in Newark. Our flight to Omaha had been cancelled and there was weather over Newark screwing up all the other flights. After waiting in line to rebook, they told us the best they could do was getting us to Houston with potential for standby to Omaha later that night but with a confirmed flight to Omaha Saturday morning. We had no choice but to take it and hope for the standby. Well, that didn't work out. The flight that was supposed to leave for Houston at 4:30 didn't leave until 11:00, at which point we'd been awake 22 hours! Tired doesn't begin to cover it. I was dead asleep within seconds of sitting down on the plane, never even noticing when someone sat down next to me. I got 2 solid hours of sleep and we got to Houston at 1:00 a.m. 

Despite needing to be back at the airport at 7:00, when Anne suggested waiting at the airport, I put my foot down and insisted we get a hotel. We'd done some checking from Newark and all of the hotel shuttles stopped at midnight but I pointed at the flight crew and said someone was picking them up. They said they were staying at Doubletree so we hopped the shuttle with them and Anne was a trooper, making online reservations on the bumpy ride over. It was the nicest room we'd been in and we got about 4 hours of sleep, which made it all worth it. The flight to Omaha was uneventful and Anne and I split up to head home. It had been a wonderful trip despite everything and Anne and I were perfect traveling companions. Two weeks of being together 24/7 and never a spat. I'd travel with her again anytime and will for sure.

Lori picked me up with a gallon of milk and a big bowl of fruit in her trunk then we went through BK drive through on the way home. I was home by noon, feeling pretty decent and thanks to Lori's food, I was set to stay home. I unpacked right away and started getting back to normal. It was the same on Sunday. It felt great to be home, eating regular food and hanging with my kitties. I had lots of gorgeous pictures and nice memories so it was all worth it. Now to get back to reality, by which I mean work.