I know, I know. I keep trying to find a balance between blogging and just putting everything up on Patreon. Obviously, I keep failing at this as well, given how long it’s been since I’ve put up an update.

This morning, I woke up with a bad enough headache that I’m not able to write fiction. I figured out that I could write a blog, though.

And honestly, that’s part of why I don’t blog as much. I either have a day that’s good enough that I can write fiction, so I do, or it’s so bad I can’t write anything. Very few days like today that are in between.

Anyway—it’s been one year since my surgery and I had a full knee replacement.

Let’s start with all the good stuff. I’m regularly walking 10K steps per day. I’m not up to doing it every day, but last week I averaged 8.8K steps per day. My knee is stable. It doesn’t wobble. I can trust it, and I couldn’t trust the old knee, that it wouldn’t give out on me at some point. I can squat all the way down now. I’m even starting to kneel a little.

The bad stuff—it clicks A LOT, like three clicks every step. It’s always stiff and sore. It hurts constantly. Does it hurt as badly as it once did? Hell no. The pain is minor and I mostly ignore it.

At the start of this journey, it felt as though nails were being driven into the top and the bottom of the scar when I pressed on it. The pain diminished over time, the top part getting better faster. After the nails it felt like it was just needles, then reduced to pins, then eventually, to feeling only bruised. The top and the bottom of the scar are still sore to the touch, but those areas are so much better. I can kneel a little bit now, if I’m careful.

I have my masseuse working on my knee every week. We just started this two weeks ago. Already, in such a short time frame, I’m seeing dramatic results. My hope is that perhaps by the end of the year, my knee won’t hurt all the time.

I go see my surgeon for a review at the end of October.

My eyes continue to not be great. Things are fuzzy all the time. I have an appointment with an ophthalmologist in November. We’ll see what he says. I’ll bring up all the stuff about how the fuzziness is affecting my work. I still feel safe to drive—cars are big objects, and I can see them just fine. Light may have halos around them, but I can see green vs. red. It’s primarily fine details that are fuzzy.

My hands continue to deteriorate as well. I replaced my very worn-out comfy braces with new ones and that has made a tremendous difference. I don’t need surgery yet. I’m hoping that it is another nine years out. I can still grip things tightly. There’s just frequently pain. I’m hoping the new braces help, as well as not doing as much, as it’s winter time.

I got blood work done regarding my thyroid. All the hormones that my thyroid produces were below range. So this week, I’m starting new thyroid medication that’s 25% stronger than the last prescription. Fingers crossed that deals with some of the fatigue I’ve been having.

I continue to write as much as I can. Of course that is never as much as I’d like. Chances are, though, I’m going to make my goal of 500K for this year, which would be a marvelous thing.

Blaze and I go out to eat sometimes now, though nowhere near as often as we did prior to the plague. There are still weeks when I don’t leave the property, and I don’t get as antsy as I did at the start of this. We’re not traveling anywhere for the holidays, but we will go back to MN in July of next year.

We’ll get the next booster shortly. And we are masked most of the time when we go out into public areas. Mind you—there is very little population density where we live. Our numbers are *so* much lower than Seattle proper.

Due to the thyroid issues, I’ve gained weight that I’m now focused on losing. *le sigh* That appears to be my primary focus at this point. Walking and watching what I eat, writing down everything.

How are you doing? What personal thing are you focused on right now?