21 November, 2023

Expecting worse

Category: Body,Cooking,Food,Health — Moose @ 9:09 am

In my head I was preparing for the worst scenario yesterday, and feeling like absolute dreck yesterday, today, and possibly tomorrow. I went to go get my seasonal flu and covid booster yesterday morning, and in my head I was conflating that with last year, when the husband and I got those and the monkeypox vaccine all at the same time. That three-shot combo laid me out for a day or two, so that’s what I was mentally preparing for this year. The two-shot combo wasn’t nearly as bad. I did end up taking a nap (which the female cat appreciated), but I stayed up to my normal time, no nausea, just a little tired. So yay for that.

While waiting to see if side effects would kick in I grocery shopped, set up soup in the slow cooker (sweet potato & apple soup), and finally seasoned (or in one case re-seasoned) all of my new carbon steel cookware. So it wasn’t like I was sitting around just waiting to feel tired. Should’ve knitted some, too, but you can’t do it all.

9 November, 2023

Fits and starts

Category: Adult,Aging,Body — Moose @ 4:48 pm

Knee is improving in fits and starts. I’m on my third brace now. I originally had a neoprene one from urgent care and a big complicated one from the orthopedist. Ortho cleared me last month to go back to the neoprene one, which was doing okay but started to tear and get stretched out, so just yesterday I got a replacement brace (recommended by the ortho’s office) which I’m trying to get used to, in terms of the fit and how it goes on. I’m also trying to spend less time in the brace, period, because I started getting some skin irritation under it. Slept for the first time with no brace on last night and it did well, but this morning I was truly sore from that and PT yesterday, so took the rare (for me) step of taking some ibuprofen.

19 October, 2023

Releasing it

Category: Annoyances — Moose @ 5:05 pm

The past few days my hands have been sore from overdoing it on video gaming while stuck on the couch. And of course my knee has been sore, because of the very necessary and very much appreciated physical therapy. I don’t like taking a lot of painkillers because they can retard the healing process, so I typically just tough it out unless it’s really obnoxious. Add to that the little indignities of not being able to get around as easily, not being able to grocery shop normally, not being able to drive, being stuck in the house, and my frustration levels were rising. Then one of the cats decided to pee in a way that spilled out of the downstairs litter box (likely due to the husband overfilling it) both last night and again this morning, both at times when the husband was not available to help, so I was stuck trying to awkwardly clean it all up. And with this morning’s mess I went to go get a plastic shopping bag from under the sink so I didn’t have to get my hands all over the pee-and-litter covered paper towels (again) to toss them and discovered we’d given all the bags away to my sister-in-law when she came down and hadn’t gotten any more because I can’t get out of the house to shop. At that point I hit my limit, stomped my good foot down, slammed the cabinet closed and wordlessly screamed at the top of my lungs for a minute or two while pounding the kitchen counter. And damn if I didn’t feel a lot better after that.

9 October, 2023

Rolling along

Saw my sister-in-law and niece off this morning, after they popped down for the holiday weekend.

Made some homemade pumpkin spice coffee additive last night (1.5 cups sugar, 1.5 cups water, bring to boil over medium heat, whisk in 4 teaspoons pumpkin spice blend and 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, lower heat to simmer for 20 more minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve (and cheesecloth, if you have it, to further reduce the solids) and add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Stores in the fridge for up to a week). Also made toddy coffee concentrate, so had homemade iced pumpkin spice lattes this morning (1/2 cup concentrate, 3/4 cup milk, 2 Tablespoons PSL mix). Was tasty. I’m normally a black coffee drinker, so anything beyond that is exotic for me, but this was a nice treat. And the SIL was impressed, which is what really counts.

PT this afternoon. I have some pitting edema going on, meaning there’s still a lot of extra fluid in the knee, so if that’s still there at the end of next week I get to ask the orthopedist about that. Flexion was about the same as last week, which may be related to the extra fluid at this point.

Short week last week (and weird because of the almost-government-shut-down), short week this week. My new attorney shadow gets here in two weeks; it’s someone I recruited from my old agency, so I know I’ll work well with him. Looking forward to training him on the new agency, and a new area of law, as well as passing off some of the stuff that I’m not as well versed in but that he has much more experience with.

Oooh, we played Uno Flip last night and really enjoyed it. The husband and I own it, but hadn’t played it, and it was quite a fun variation on the regular uno. Both sides of the cards are playable, a light side and a dark side, and every now and again people can make the deck flip from one to the other, which also flips all the cards in your hand. Kept things lively.

Got some more of the Halloween stuff put up, including the green-purple-orange light strings we bought last year but didn’t get up (maybe we bought them at the end of the season on sale? I don’t remember why they didn’t get put up). Our neighbor does a much better job with it than we do, but we outshine them at Xmas. 😉

5 October, 2023

Here and There

Category: Aging,Body,Food,Health,Stuff — Moose @ 10:11 pm

Physical therapy is proceeding apace. Flexion in the knee is increasing; was 85 degrees last week, 110 yesterday. Still sore as fuck after PT, of course, but improving, which is the point of it all. Trying to concentrate at work afterward is annoying, but since we’re not shut down the panicked mood has subsided there. Heaven only knows what November will bring.

Mostly wandering around the house with just one crutch now, with occasional short stints without any support.

Made out like a bandit for my 51st birthday. I have a lot of Lego art pieces to build and hang now. And cupcakes. So many cupcakes.

23 September, 2023

Biscuit recipe, redux

Category: Baking,Food — Moose @ 8:08 am

Back in January I started tweaking a biscuit recipe for my particular dietary needs (gluten and dairy free), and as of last night’s batch I think I have dialed it in. Cast iron skillet, 8″, and cut the recipe in half with some tweaks, including letting the dough rest for 30 minutes which allows the gluten free dough to rise in a manner more like regular flour and letting it rest for five minutes after baking (thank you for the tips, ATK).

Half-batch gluten and dairy free “Butter” Swim Biscuits

1 cup dairy-free milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1-1/4 cups gluten free flour (King Arthur, preferably)
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 stick of margarine (4 Tbsp)

Mix the milk and vinegar and let sit while you assemble the other ingredients (this creates fresh “buttermilk” and gives the acid needed for the baking powder to react).

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Add the milk mixture and gently mix all the ingredients together until a moist dough is formed (lumpy is good). Let sit for thirty minutes to allow the dough to incorporate the moist ingredients and get a good rise going.

At the twenty minute mark, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

At the twenty-five minute mark put the margarine in the 8 Inch cast iron skillet and place in the oven until the margarine is melted, about 2-6 minutes depending on your oven and how cold the margarine was. Remove from the oven.

Pour the dough right on top of the melted margarine and use a spatula to gently spread it evenly across the skillet until it touches the sides. Brush some of the margarine across the entire top of the dough – any bits in the middle without margarine on it will look and taste dry.

Use a knife to cut the unbaked dough (it should be swimming in margarine at this point) into mostly even squares. (It’s fine if they are not perfect squares.)

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

15 September, 2023

Recovery plan

Category: Aging,Body,Health — Moose @ 9:11 pm

The TL:DR version: 1. No surgery. 2. I dislocated the patella and it snapped back into place pretty much immediately. 3. Lots of PT. 4. Might take up to 3 months to get back to normal. 4. Follow up with Orthopedist in 3 week. 5. No driving.

So after waiting around in the large brace for a week, commuting from the 3rd floor (bedroom) to the 2nd floor (living room/kitchen) and back again, I got an MRI on Wednesday. I’ve had a couple MRIs over the years and this was the first time I didn’t have to get undressed and into a gown – everything but belt and jewelry stayed on. Wild. Saw the orthopedist this afternoon, and the message was better than expected. I don’t need surgery. I dislocated the patella when I slipped, and it smacked the femur, but it snapped right back. The MRI showed where the bones collided. I can’t quite get the knee into full flexion (fully bent), so for now I need to do a lot of PT to get the joint back to full mobility.

The tendon that runs on the inside of the knee is going to be angry with me as we bent the joint. The kneecap normally pulls to the outside some when the knee bends, and that’s going to irritate it. They gave me some prescription naproxen to help with it. I’ve put in a request with a PT shop that’s close (quick bus or Uber ride) so hopefully they’ll get back to me soon and we can start working on rehabilitation. In the meantime I’ll have to figure out how we work this with work, because I think I’m technically out of full-time work from home options, but I can’t imagine they won’t accommodate this since I can’t drive, thus can’t reasonably get to work via car or Metro.

I will say I’m grateful that I don’t need surgery. I’ll happily do PT until the cows come home to get back to normal.

9 September, 2023

Wrenched it

Category: Aging,Body,Health,Home,Mood,Stress — Moose @ 9:21 am

On Monday I was on a grocery run when I slipped on some oil in the parking lot and very badly wrenched my right knee. I didn’t feel anything pop, but I definitely went down and there was a lot of loud vocalizing about pain. On the upside, it’s a shopping center with an urgent care center, so after a bit of denial I leaned on a shopping cart and wheeled myself over to get checked out. I got a brace, crutches, instructions to go see an orthopedist.

Saw my old orthopedist’s office the next day (different doctor; the last guy specialized in shoulders, this one in knees). X-rays did not show anything broken, but did reveal that I have a bipartite patella on both knees, which is probably unrelated, but was an interesting conversation piece with the doc. Got a knee wrap and a stiffer, larger brace to hold things in place better (and boy have they improved since I last wore one back in 1986*). Instructions were to get an MRI and make a follow up appointment with the doc. First radiology place was going to take two weeks (!!!!) to get me in. I booked it, but then checked in with insurance to see where else was available and managed to get one a mere week later (this upcoming Wednesday the 13th, as opposed to the following Tuesday the 19th) a little further out. Definitely a sign that there’s too much demand and not enough supply in the DC radiology market.

In the meantime I’ve been sitting around playing lots of PS5, doing some reading, and a little bit of work. The collection of chargers next to the couch has slowly grown as I’ve needed to charge more devices like the kindle. The husband has been fantastic, fussing at me about letting him do more for me (I’m a terrible patient; I value my independence and hate asking for help). Thank heavens for the internet and videos for “best ways to get up and down stairs with crutches”, which we definitely did not have in 1986. Since this townhouse is a staircase with a couple rooms attached I’ve tried to minimize the amount of up and down each day to once each wherever possible. My neighbors have been good, too, with one graciously getting our car back from the parking lot to our garage, and another bringing a package in for me when the husband wasn’t going to be home until late. We have a slight problem with porch pirates, and I wanted to keep the cat food from disappearing, so I asked her to come drag it inside. The smart lock I installed a couple weeks back came in handy there, as I was able to unlock and lock the door from the couch so she could open the door.

And now I wait for appointments to see how badly I’ve messed this thing up. The swelling is down from the peak, but it’s still grapefruit sized and somewhat warm to the touch. Grateful we installed washlets on all the toilets, because when you only have one good leg to stand on wiping is not the easiest.

* Back in 1986 I was playing volleyball in gym class, went to hit the ball at the edge of the court, everyone yelled to let it go out as it was game point and we’d win, so I backed up quickly and in doing so chipped my thigh bone. I vaguely recalling yelling “shit” at the top of my lungs, and the whole gym was looking at me when I looked up. Teacher felt the knee, nothing broken, so ‘walk it off’ (Poor teacher; this was at the school where my mother was the librarian and I know she felt bad when it turned out to be worse than expected). Urgent care, orthopedist, arthroscopic surgery to remove the bone chips, and a massive leg brace to keep it all straight before and after surgery, which I recall being a pain in the ass to get on/off, with giant velcro tabs. This new one has velcro, but also has quick-release tabs that the velcro connects to, so is much, much easier to remove and put back on. Yay progress.

24 August, 2023

Maintenance

Category: Adult,Cats,Commuting,Exercise,Running,Transit,Work — Moose @ 6:06 am

Spent a chunk of yesterday finally getting all four tires replaced on the Mini. The local place was a lot friendlier than BJ’s, and apparently NTB is now Mavis, though the signage (and online) hasn’t caught up yet. Popped by the local carwash on the way back from picking up the car, so the beast looks (and drives) much nicer now.

Continuing to slowly build my running back up on the treadmill.

Up far too early this morning after Benjamin (male cat) decided to puke, twice, in the hallway outside our bedroom. Found it without stepping in it (yay?) and got it all cleaned up. Very grateful that I thought to stash some paper towels under the sink in the bathroom off that hallway so I didn’t have to go downstairs for some.

A good chunk of my office flooded last week. There’s a ledge outside the windows of about 2/3 of the offices (including mine) where water got backed up and came in though the walls. Nothing personal of anyone’s was damaged, and very few official documents were dampened since most of that is electronic now so there was only like one box on the floor in the suite (unlike a flood in my old office that was a nightmare of drying out old paper). While facilities swung into action while the flood was still ongoing thanks to one of our employees alerting them, it apparently still smells according to the few people who’ve braved the place, and they’re going to have to do all sorts of remediation. So who knows if I’ll be going back in immediately after labor day or not? That’s tentatively the plan since the local Metro stations reopen after that weekend, but not if they’re still dealing with walls and carpet and what not.

21 August, 2023

Throwback

Category: Adult,Stuff — Moose @ 12:57 pm

I was cleaning up some stuff in our entry hallway, putting away bits from having a smart lock installed last week, replacing a battery in a running accessory, and in doing so I had to go into the drawers in our little hall table, which I apparently need to do more often. Found the battery I needed, put the lock bits away, but also found some netting for a bike basket that I’d been looking for (should’ve been with the bike accessories, but why would I be consistent?), and then dug up one of the first, homemade masks we made out of a T-shirt at the beginning of the pandemic. It makes sense that it was in the entry hallway table, since you’d need them to outside, but what a throwback.