Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Baymule]

Come to think of it, I didn’t see and UPS trucks swimming by. I wonder if they are as backed as the USPS!

 

[Ridgetop]

Looked up the order and it is en route. The delivery date UPS gave me is "Friday, February 02 by 7:00 P.M." order#W0702153 zip code 75847

Thank you so much for allowing me to send stuff to you.

Just spent several hours on my knees. No, I didn't fall down and struggle helplessly while the men folk are watching the football playoffs in the other room. When I pulled out the shelving unit in the office closet to take to Texas, I remembered I had laid the new(er) viny plank flooring down without removing the shelving unit. I didn't want to pull up the laminate, which was in fairly good shape, other than the pattern being scratched and worn, so I just put the self-stick plank over the laminate flooring I had laid previously. Naturally there was now a s24" x 18" gap in the vinyl flooring. I always keep extra pieces of the vinyl or laminate I lay so I had enough to cover the space. Luckily it is in the closet so didn't have to pull up complete pieces and replace them since I didn't have enough to do that. I just cut it in to fit. My knees don't feel too bad so maybe I can put down a self-stick viny plank floor in Yantis and do the more expensive version later.

I am taking the opportunity to get some of the office clear out done while DH is out of the room. With the horizontal file cabinet and the closet shelf unit gone I am actually lacking a lot of shelf space. I also moved the small bookcase into the family room for DDIL2 to use for the children. DS2's folding desk that I was using as a console to sort stuff on is now in our room holding the tv since ur dressers are in Texas. In fact, I wasted an hour this morning looking for the other 2 fie storage boxes until DH reminded me that I was using them for his bedside table because our nightstands are also in Texas. I am sorting out the other file drawers, getting rid of my duplicate paper files, and packing more of the office stuff.

DH finally found a roofer to come out to look at the leaks. The roof is only 7 years old and in great condition, but it is a flat roof, and the HVAC ductwork is mounted on the roof. The laundry room skylight has a cracked frame which is causing it to leak very badly. There is some rot around the skylight that has to be repaired too. The roof mounted HVAC vents need to be resealed. The roofer is coming back Tuesday. He is going to remove the skylight and close up the roof over the laundry room, remove the old patch material that DS1 around the ductwork, and reseal everything with silicone. He is bringing out an HVAC guy to service the unit and check the heat pump units in the laundry room and BR5. The cost is not quite as bad as we expected although nothing we wanted to spend when saving for our Texas generator. DS1 said he would repair the ceiling drywall in the laundry room after he and DH make the next trip to Texas.

Little by little we are getting more done for our move.

 

[Baymule]

So your package will be here on Friday. That’s good, gives me time to put up address sign.

 

[murphysranch]

Once I get my bad knee done, will I be able to kneel on it? I can't now.....

 

[farmerjan]

Honestly, @murphysranch , it is very unlikely. One of the things they did not tell me about the knee replacements. I WAS able to kneel... it was the standing and walking that was so painful... I was totally NOT prepared for the inability to kneel after everything healed. The thing is, it is not the joints so much as the super sensitivity of the nerves in the skin on the knees. They cut the skin, muscles, everything if it is done from the front. It affects all the tiny attachments of the nerves just below the skin, and they cannot put them all "back together exactly".... and they do form new "pathways"... but at the expense of them being SUPER sensitive. And my PT told me that is very common... 75% cannot kneel on them. I was SO P.O.ed about it since I could kneel on them before. "They say" that the nerves get less sensitive over time... but after 2 years, mine are still super sensitive. I can run my fingers down the front of the knees and they have a funny tingling with some areas sorta numb and some feeling extra sensitive to just the touch. Doesn't "hurt", just super sensitive to the lightest touch.

I have been told that the newer method of doing replacements with the surgical cuts done on the side of the knee, not down the front, makes the nerves much less affected... I wish I had known that, I would have searched for a dr that would do it that way...
I am NOT SORRY I got the replacements... I can walk without pain, stand without the horrible pain... I used to not be able to stand for 5 minutes without needing to sit down from the pain.... and if this was the only choice, I would do it again... but if there is a way to try the surgery from the side of the knee, I certainly would have tried it... However... there are people that can kneel on them... my PT guy said they are not very frequent.
I use a foam "kneeling pad" sometimes... I can barely take that... the problem with getting up from being on the ground... can't roll over on your knees and then "get up".... It is driving me nuts to not being able to climb up on the tailgate of the truck on my knees like I used to... HOPING, that as time goes on they get less sensitive.
Maybe @Baymule and @Ridgetop have had different reactions... and maybe doing one will let you to do things more "normal" using the "real knee" for all the things you don't think about and don't use the "new one" for.

 

[Baymule]

Once I get my bad knee done, will I be able to kneel on it? I can't now.....

I couldn’t kneel on my knees before surgery. Bad knee hurt too bad. 24-7 pain all the time. I can’t kneel now, what @Ridgetop said. I used to squat down. You know, copping a squat to pee out in the woods! Or I just squatted instead of bending over. But due to no cartilage left, osteoarthritis and pain, I haven’t been able to squat in years. With new knee installed, 2 rounds of therapy because I asked for more torture in Round 2, I still can’t squat. Mechanical knee doesn’t bend that far.

I am deliriously happy with my knee replacement. No more PAIN! Can’t squat, can’t kneel, but I couldn’t do that before anyway. I don’t jump off the tailgate of a truck, in respect to my new knee. If I had of jumped off a truck tailgate before surgery, I would have crumpled up, writhing on the ground screaming in pain.

When I roofed my house last summer, I was scrambling up and down that ladder, all over the roof like a monkey. No pain. I walk miles a day, no pain. I do what the heck I want to, no pain.

Knee replacement surgery set my FREE! I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[Mini Horses]

They make ladders/steps that can be mounted on truck tailgate, folds up...for days you may want to climb in . Getting up if you fall -- needs practice, I'm told.

Thankful for original parts. But I'd consider replacements if I had pain every day. I'd deal with limitations!

 

[farmerjan]

It's true, you learn to deal with the limitations... Like I said, I am so thankful for not being in pain for the walking and all... just that I COULD kneel on them before, so that has been a real kick in the teeth... I am having trouble with stairs... and the weight not wanting to co-operate and drop off... back to doing some exercises to try to kick start the metabolism....nutritionist doesn't understand why I am not losing weight...
Yeah, it doesn't bend quite so far as the "original equipment".... and the balance can be a little shaky on uneven ground and stuff... but remember, I had both done... PLUS the left ankle 2 years before that... Even though that joint does not "straighten out" like I want, making boots difficult to slide into... that was the very best thing I ever had done... and the PT guy told me that I HAD to understand that the mechanical joint just does not work the way the "real thing" and that it has some limitations that 95% of the people would never notice in normal "day to day things" that as a "farmer" I find a little bit limiting. He laughed and said, hey you are exceptional in your expectations...
I can do more than I could do in alot of ways... but I notice the things I want to do and can't manage.... YET......

 

[Margali]

@farmerjan You can try dry brushing to deal with phantom / wonky nerve signals. I had that same tingly spider crawling on me sensation all over my stomach after C-section. Dry bushing worked! Supposedly the pressure and stimulus helps retrain nerves under skin on what is actual sign vs static.

 

[Weldman]

Only two types of skylights are on structures, ones that leak and ones about to leak.