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[sjc <indexer AT fairpoint.net>]

Thanks for the wb :) 

I'm a little over halfway there; the surgery last fall was to stabilize 
the upper back.  This last one was to rebuild the bowed right leg and 
replace the knee (stainless steel, titanium, silicone), and rearrange 
some muscles and ligaments that had long ago gone bad.  Then began the 
PT, 6 hrs a day, punctuated by an hour of OT after lunch each day.  I 
had no clue how much work it was going to be, and although I'm really 
not much of a wuss, was completely taken aback by the amount of pain 
this time; I'm told most of that is the muscles trying to reform 
themselves according to Hoyle.  Amazing that they can do it at all, 
given that this surgery is 60 years "too late".

It is indeed a weird thing to be able to walk upright now, also weird to 
have so much less pain when I put weight on the right foot/knee/leg.  I 
still have a couple of months of PT 2X/wk, but feel like I'm flying high 
now!  I can put my right foot where I want it to go, and have 100% 
extension in the new knee, 120% flexion....all better than when I was 
20!  So far, all has gone as expected/predicted by the orthopedic guy; 
he says that when all is said and done, will be painfree in 
legs/knees/ankles/feet. 
The upper back is as good as it's gonna get, but even so it is much 
better than it has been for 50 years or more.....I'll go for that!
Still stuck with the walker until sometime this summer, after the 
muscles/ligaments/etc in the right leg are all working correctly, the 
left lower leg bones will be done and that knee also replaced.  That leg 
doesn't have as much bow, and the knee is not nearly so far out of line 
as the right one was so hopefully this one will be faster and easier to 
get past.

You people who still have small kids about:  for crying out loud, make 
sure they don't have scoliosis, and if they do, that it gets treated in 
timely fashion.  All this (and everything that led up to it over my 
entire upright lifetime) could have been averted with one surgery 'way 
back when if my mother hadn't decided it not necessary.   My brother 
also deals with a congenital issue which should have been easily 
corrected when he was an infant.....  Some people shouldn't be allowed 
to have children; our mother was one of those.

SJ, where we have about a foot of snow still on the pasture but have had 
warm days and the syrup run has been fantastic.  My job since I'm not 
too mobile is to keep the fire going under the evaporators.  Grade A 
syrup $60 this year (maple, not sure about birch).

SJ


EarthNSky wrote:
> Glad to see you back my friend.  You and Donna should compare notes as 
> you both are on the mend!
>