Friday, June 20, 2008

Works in Progress . . .

Cue the Benny Hill music . . . . another weekend arrived with yet another Friday night trip to Home Depot. I would save all the frustration caused by the crappy service (employees who are no help whatsoever) if I weren't such a cheapskate and instead shopped at a non-chain, non-mega home improvement store. But then again, who else is going to be open until 10:00pm on Friday night? Thankfully, I do see a light at the end of the tunnel on the deck project. Again, I remind myself not to do these home projects myself, but I always forget how much they take out of me and start another project anyway (I hear that this is how the second pregnancy happens too).

The deck has really taken a toll on my bum right knee. It has been bothering me for years really and, being in managed care I never really had a proper diagnosis until recently when my HMO sent me over to a local hospital they contract with when they are booked up on appointments. The referral hospital happens to have an excellent Orthopedics team and they immediately diagnosed me with a Meniscus cartilage tear. They recommended surgery that would require three weeks of recovery (and no driving for a week). That was a few months ago. Since I drive Lukas to and from day care, and have been busy getting the house in order for his 1st birthday party, I have put it off.

I finally decided, with some helpful prodding from Mrs. LIAYF, that there would never be a good time to get this done. Plus trying to do all the fun things I want to do with Luke on a bad knee which will never heal itself, was not something I was willing to accept. Lukas is walking, and getting more and more mobile every day. So, I finally scheduled the surgery. I will deal with the inconvenience for a few weeks to not have it bother me as Luke gets faster and faster on his feet.

Lukas is becoming less like a baby and more like a little boy every day. For instance, he has added a couple of more words to his repertoire. He is now saying "nigh-nigh" at bedtime, "ma-ma" (finally, to the relief of Mrs. LIAYF), and just this afternoon he started saying "ah-ba" whenever our feline freeloading cat Albert walks by (which is rarely since the cat mostly lays around the house all day and does nothing). Luke seems to really be expressing himself quite well recently and I can anticipate he will be holding very detailed conversations with us in the near future.

Finally, instead of just pulling his books off the bookshelves and stacking them in a messy pile, Lukas has started to select one and for us to read. He grabs the book, walks or crawls over to one of his parental units, and says "da-do" (translation: "please read me this fine piece of literature so that I may someday grow up to be a Pulitzer prize winning author and be able to support my wonderful parents in the princely manner you both deserve"). He then hands one of us the said book and actually climbs up into a lap for some good reading time! Amazing!

With our little boy growing up so quickly, I'd better get my bum knee fixed soon! My surgery is on July 7th - wish me a speedy recovery.

7 comments:

Ed (zoesdad) said...

You'll have plenty of time for reading during the recovery. Just looking for a silver lining...

Whit said...

You're right to get that surgery now, no time like the present.

Martin said...

Get it over and done with, and then you'll be free to roll around at will!

(Thanks again to you and Mrs LIAYF for going to the trouble you did for telling your story, I really appreciated it)

KristyCK said...

Yes, it's the right time to get the surgery done . :-)Good luck and speedy recovery!!

SciFi Dad said...

Good luck.

I broke my ankle when my daughter was 13 months (I was carrying her down the stairs at the time... take a moment to ponder that one) and was laid up for a few months.

I've got a plate in there now, and every so often the doc mentions removing it (and the six week recovery). But like you, I keep putting it off (and with my wife six months pregnant, it ain't happening any time soon.)

Anonymous said...

Yes, lol, get your knee sorted. Hubby left his for so long that in the end he could barely walk on it and had no choice but to have surgery. It was anthroscopic surgery and the recovery time was so remarkably quick that he was left wandering why the hell he didn't sort it sooner.

James (SeattleDad) said...

Great silver lining Ed. I just won 11 books from Joeprah so maybe I can get through a few (pages, LOL)

@Whit - Yes, no time like the present, or future by a couple of weeks, in my case.

@XB - You are welcome for the comments, likewise my friend. We are more than happy to discuss our TTC. Closure.

@BM - Thanks for the well wishes.

@Sci-fi. I bet you are a riot at the airport! Must be a pain. Hopefully, I won't need any plates for this, unless something goes seriously sideways.

@Shorn - Thanks for sharing. That helps to validates my decision to get it done now. Glad you could stop by.