Woke up at 7 AM after an incredibly deep slumber. Once again, the knee feels noticeably stronger today. Used the CPM for an extra hour or so while reading, already at 105 degrees!. Plan today was simple—sort through a box full of work papers until 12:30 when football started, enjoy the game, and then go to Thanskgiving dinner at friends of the family at 4:30. Well, the day went exactly was planned although I turned off the football pretty quickly because the Lions were barely trying to prevent Payton Manning from scoring and the score became lopsided very quickly resulting in an uncompetitive game.
We ended up at our family friends virtually on time—what a shocker. I was still using the crutches and not quite sure if I had the confidence to walk the distance (about 50 feet) on my own or whether it was just guilt in not using the crutches! NOTE: My parents have been driving me nuts all week. Every time I have ridden a bus, got on the subway, or even moved anywhere outside a 30 foot radius of my bed they read me the riot act how if I fall, I can go call an ambulance but better not call them. It’s as though having surgery means constant immobility 24 hours a day until it makes sense to move. I wish they had seen the rigors of physical therapy that I went through for the past 3 days.
So our host had been in a car accident and he had to have some serious surgery to reconstruct ligaments in his hand, wiring his elbow and a whole lot more. Apparently some minimally insured foreigner who couldn’t read the street signs decided to make a left turn while he was going through the intersection. Our friend swerved and his car slammed right into a lampost and his hand, arm and shoulder slammed into the airbag and shattered. He had a long, painful surgery and a full arm cast for a while and then, just 2 days before my surgery, and work done to reconstruct ligaments in his thumb. While his daughter, eldest son and daughter-in-law were their with their kids as well as a nice female guest, we—the two injured people of the group—chatted about our experiences for a while and would for the rest of the night. I have suddenly joined a whole new club!
The food was incredible—these people are the best, let me tell you. Not only is the company good but there is never a meal without several fabulous courses, which is what makes Passover Seder a lot of fun. In addition to the turkey and pecan pie, there were spare ribs (superb!), succulent mashed potatoes, corn muffins, fantastic vegetable soup all topped off with this fantastic, fabulous chocolate mousse which had a nice firm touch of amaretto.
We ended up talking and chowing down on these awesome home made marble cookies until 10 PM. I realized that my knee injury and pain (or lack of it) didn’t even compare to his painful wiring and reconstruction, which requires quite a bit of percocet and elevation. When I got home I did some of my PT exercises, took a few swigs of apple juice, and then didn’t realize how quickly I passed out in the CPM machine with SportsCenter still on the tube…
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