Nine weeks ago I had full knee replacement surgery done.

I know that I am getting better, but the progress is slow, sometimes.

Last Monday I had my last physical therapy session. I spoke with my PT about my pain levels. She said that while functionally, I’m well ahead of the curve, in terms of pain, I’m in the middle of the curve.

Before I left, she taped my knee, using athletic sports tape. Two strips, one on either side of the knee cap.

The good news is that reduced the pain a tremendous amount. Before the tape, I would wake up every time I tried to turn over at night, because moving my knee around hurt so much. When I started wearing the tape, I was able to sleep well and turn over without waking up. This was huge.

The bad news? The adhesive really bothers my skin. I wore the tape M-W. By Wednesday night, I could no longer lay on my side because the skin of my knee was so painful I could no longer rest on it.

When I removed the tape, I could see big red swaths where it had been attached to my skin. Those patches have faded, but I can still see them as of this morning, four days later. My hope is that by this coming Thursday I can try with the tape again. I got the gentle version of the athletic tape, which hopefully will be gentler to my skin.

Though to be honest, I sometimes have problems with bandaids leaving behind what looks like a rash when I put them on sensitive skin. So we’ll see.

I averaged 5.5K steps per day last week. I did ride the pedal machine more. I need to keep making the time to do that, instead of walking. Might be easier today, as it’s really cold outside and raining.

I averaged a little over 1000 words per day, and that included Sunday when I didn’t write anything at all. I also finished the story I was working on. (YAY!) Time to start the next one, which I’m hoping to keep short, though thinking about it, it kind of wants to turn into a novel on me.

I weigh exactly the same this week as I have for the last couple of week. I take that as a serious win given the amount of food I ate last week!

It was my birthday last Wednesday. (And again, thank you to everyone who wished me happy birthday! I read through all of them, though I didn’t comment, because there were too many greetings. Which really warmed my heart, that so many people would wish me happy birthday.)

Blaze got his booster Tuesday, so we didn’t really do anything for my birthday, and instead, I got to take care of him for a few days.

Saturday, we drove into Seattle and had lunch at Wood Shop BBQ. OMG. That was some of the best BBQ I’ve ever had. We’re already planning on driving all the way back into Seattle for more.

Then we spent the night at the Edgewater hotel, in a room on the water, with an electric fireplace. It was incredibly lovely, to have that fire going on a dark and dreary day. We went out to Anthony’s Pier 66 for dinner, which was really good. Blaze and I don’t often splash out that way, but I also don’t turn 60 that often either. (^_^)

The next morning, we went to Five Points for breakfast, our favorite dive. I loved the signs they had, and still wish I’d taken pictures of them, like the “Don’t do coke in the bathroom,” or the fees they’d charge to “covidiots” if they had to listen to whining about wearing masks.

This week, I have my final post-op appointment with my surgeon. It will be an hour long drive both there and back. After driving for two hours my knee will be very sore, and I’ll probably take one of the prescription pain meds that I still have. I don’t need to take those too often, maybe 2-3 times a week.

The pain is receding slowly. Today I’m more stiff than sore, and the aspirin/tylenol combo will be enough. But I did wake up early this morning because a front had come through, and the temperature had dropped. I knew this because of how my knee hurt. Those sorts of weather changes cause the deep bone pain. Don’t know if that sort of pain will ever go away, or if I’m always going to have weather aches now (yet another thing to put on the list to ask the surgeon).

And I guess that’s it for me. Busy week ahead, trying to get all the things done. What are you working on this week? Trying to finish before the end of the year?