Today (Wednesday) marks four weeks since my surgery. Some days it feels like it was a lot closer. Full recovery, I have been told, can take six to nine months, so I am barely limping along that path. Still, I feel I’ve accomplished some milestones so far. I need to get to 120° bend, and I’m just over 90°, so there’s a long way to go, a little bit every day. There are still days when I wonder if I made the right decision to go ahead with surgery.
My scar is slowly smoothing itself out, and doesn’t quite look like it belongs in a Frankenstein movie, but still has some smoothing to go. Today was the first day I used some moisturizing lotion on it. The leg is still swollen, especially at the knee and thigh, however, and at night seems more tender and sensitive than during the day. However, I am getting a little more side sleep at night than previously, but nothing more than a couple of hours at a time, and usually less.
I managed only a short walk today (400m) because when we went out, it was too hot for Bella, and we had to turn back to get her home. Plus we had earlier been to the optometrist’s office to pick up some DVDs, and stopped at the bookstore to look for a title (Kazuro Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day, which I used to own, but somehow lost or loaned and now want to read it; didn’t find it, though). So I did get some walking in beyond the dog walk. And I managed to do a full circle on my stationary bike (backwards, of course), although it is somewhat painful to do. Another couple of centimetres of seat height would help…
Doomscrolling: I was looking at images displayed on a tower of Windsor Castle, showing videos and stills of the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the man he called his best friend, Donald Trump. Shown as Trump arrived at the castle. That’s the sort of peaceful protest I like to see. As Jeff Tiedrich wrote on his Substack feed, “Preznit Fuckwit gets the British welcome he deserves.” Brits won’t let anyone forget the close relationship between the pedophile and the now dictator. Canadians should do the same, albeit without the castle.
The Dictator Trump is in the UK on his second state visit, one opposed and protested by millions of British people, but invited by PM Starmer in what must be the most tone-deaf move a prime minister has made since Margaret Thatcher decided anything. And seeing news reels of the visit reminded me of two lines from Horace’s Epode 4: “licet superbus ambules pecunia/fortuna non mutat genus.” Which in Niall Rudd’s translation comes out as, “You may strut around as proudly as you like on account of your money—fortune does not alter breeding.”*
And while I’m on doomscrolling stories, the Dictator Trump filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times in yet another attempt to bully and coerce the media into becoming rightwing propaganda outlets for Trump and Putin, like Fox Newz, Newzmax, and similar disinformation outlets. He did it with the Wall Street Journal, ABC, CBS, and the Des Moines Register. Just more evidence the USA is in full authoritarian mode: The Trump administration is sparing no effort to make Project 2025 a reality and bring about full, racist, pseudo-Christian fascism. But instead, a Florida judge tossed out the case as frivolous piffle, in his decision criticizing the “many, often repetitive, and laudatory (toward President Trump) but superfluous allegations” in the dictator’s whinging complaint.
The fascist cancel culture continues unabated in the USA: in a Nazi-style stunt (see the 1939 news clip, right), late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is the second one to be cancelled for making jokes about the dictator Trump (despite the lame excuse that it was about not mourning sufficiently over Charlie Kirk’s death). Ever seen the movie Cabaret? Although fiction, it portrays well how the Nazis cancelled all dissent and opposition, including comedians, who challenged the administration and turned pop culture into monochrome praise of the dictator. Now that’s coming true in the USA. If you want to understand the goals and methods of the fascist administration in the USA, read Richard Evans’ book, The Third Reich in Power. It explains in detail how Germany went from a democracy to a single-party state in only a few months. It’s the genesis of Project 2025. Know your history: the same thing is happening here in America right now. But I digress…
We finished the last of my butternut squash soup at lunch, and tonight Susan is making a dish from Mushrooms.ca that should last us another two nights. We both like mushrooms in many forms and dishes. After that, I will likely make either a pasta or a pizza. (Update: Susan was disappointed with the result, and I found it okay, but bland; in future, I would add more onions, more garlic, nutmeg, and grated cheese…). I might try to make a mushroom soup in future.
Thursday: Had a rough night: my leg seemed more sensitive at night than during the day, and I tossed and turned a lot, as I often do. But this morning it seems a lot better. We’ll have to see how it feels at bedtime, though. I always do some of my exercises at night, but I’m not sure if they help soothe my leg or make it more sensitive.
This morning I was able to get up and go into the basement to feed the cats while Susan was still abed. I’ve been wanting to take on some of the morning chores, but today was the first time I felt confident enough to do it myself.
Walked with Susan and Bella, 800m in the morning and 400m in the afternoon. And I can get into and out of the car more easily, although it’s still a bit of a challenge to get in sometimes. Not sure how long it will be before I can drive. We can’t walk further up our own street because the Town ripped up all the asphalt a week ago and left two blocks of dirt and stones, impassable for anyone with mobility challenges, support devices, or mobility scooters. Typical of the Town to inconvenience everyone for so long.
Physio appointment today. And some milestones reached! The platform for my lunges is even higher, about 12″ (30cm) so the stretch is tougher and, I hope, better for increasing the bend. My leg lifting is now made tougher, too, with a 2lb (~1kg) weight on my ankle. I was able to pedal forward for the first time on the stationary bike, after some initial effort and pushing (and encouragement by the therapist, which always helps me push myself more). I was able to repeat this at home, too, so now I can use my stationary bike to its best advantage.
Friday: Another rough sleep with a throbbing leg, enough to keep me tossing and turning most of the night. My leg always seems to calm down and feel better after I get up and move around. Same is true when I sit for any length of time: getting up I am still stiff and sometimes sore.
I am trying to depend on my cane less and less around the house, although my gait is still the “limping penguin” walk. I am not quite confident enough to discard it when going up and down stairs, or going outside, however. I keep it nearby, just in case.
Today I walked 1km in the morning and 600m in the afternoon. I pedalled my stationary bike for five minutes this morning, but managed a full 10 minutes this afternoon and 8 minutes in my third exercise cycle tonight. I want to be able to extend my cycling to 30 minutes per session over the next few days or week. Now I can push the pedals around the full circle, it is easier than before, and less painful, but still slower than before my surgery.
This weekend is the annual Great Northern Exhibition, the local, rural fall fair. We have attended almost every fair since the early 1990s, barring one or two because of heavy rain. But this year, we have to give it a pass because I can’t navigate on grass or uneven ground. Very disappointing for both of us. It’s usually a highlight of our fall.
More to come.
Notes:
* In Epode 4, Wikipedia reminds us, Horace “criticises the pretentious behaviour of a social climber.” Trump is certainly that. Have you seen the images of just how tacky the Oval Office looks today? I have not looked up the Epode in other translations I have, yet, but Rudd’s is sufficient, methinks.
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