Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

Actually went into the office for a few hours today, to pack things up because we’re getting kicked out some time after the first of the year. We’re moving not quite a mile down the road to a very dated building that another agency vacated a couple years ago. This is mostly because a cabinet secretary who lives in the suburb where my office is located doesn’t want to commute downtown to his agency’s long time (and admittedly quite decrepit) headquarters. As my small gubm’nt agency has no political leadership at the moment, there was no fighting this, so we’re moving. Whee. I went in, packed those things I wanted to drag home with me, boxed the stuff that the agency movers can haul over, and tossed things that were no longer needed. Only other thing I ended up doing was certifying my time for payroll, because nothing was really pressing. As expected, the drive took half as long as usual because of the holiday, and the cart came in handy to get everything back to the car in one haul. Now I just have to figure out where to store and/or put the stuff I brought home.

The husband, in the meantime, was off work, and put up the Xmas trees. Poor guy is under the weather; we suspect food poisoning from something left out too long yesterday (that only he fixed and ate). Once I got home I helped unbox ornaments and stage them for him to hang. He crashed earlyish, after fretting over all the holiday lego sets that were sitting in bags on the kitchen island that needed to be sorted & repaired. I insisted he leave them for tomorrow, then waited a sufficient time before going in and fixing them all so he’ll wake to that tomorrow.

I’m dragging today as well, from two days of not sleeping well. Yesterday was for love – I stayed up until midnight to make sure I could snag his Star Trek lego set online, which I did get after a few minutes wait. I dropped the directions and the legos for the miniature version when I got home from work, but he was so ill that the reaction was … muted. Poor guy. He apologized all over, but he really is sick, so he gets a pass. We’ll see how the advent calendar goes. Unfortunately the last of those bricks aren’t arriving until the later end of next week, so he may have some half built sets until they do.

Been feeling somewhat run down for about a week and a half, with an intermittent cough, and some light chest congestion. No fever, no discolored anything, but finally went to see the doctor this afternoon. The practice I go to is one I’ve been going to since 1998 or 1999, and seeing the same doctor, who’s about ten years older than I am. He’s been making moves to keep the practice going, but clearly looking toward retirement as well, and so is adding more doctors and nurse practitioners to the group (he’s had other doctor partners over the years, but I think they’ve all retired at this point, so he needed more). Saw one of the new guys, welcomed him to the practice. Didn’t find anything specific, because it’s not really presenting as anything, so he gave me a script for an inhaler to calm my lungs down and told me to monitor for any discoloration or change in the no-fever situation. First time using an inhaler, which is an odd thing to get used to. Still glad to have gone in and had it checked.

Work is still playing catch up to get operations back and running. We’ve gotten partial back pay while the payroll processor figures out all of the missing deductions and what not. In theory we should get the rest this week, then I can figure out what goes where and try and clean things up, financially.

Finished the niece’s scarf this evening. Added some length to it in the middle, and had to use a tiny bit of the second skein to complete it. Will wash & block it tomorrow and get some more pictures. Already have the yarn wound for the next project.

My legs have been killing me. Between the increase in hopping and braking work, the three (!!!) childhood fillings I’ve had to replace the last two weeks, and just the general state of the country, I’ve been completely worn out and sore. Hence the day of knitting today to polish off the scarf. Heck, I even reactivated Netflix so I had something more to play in the background (started Supernatural, which I’d never watched; it made good background for me for knitting). I did make sure to get up every few rows and move around, so I wasn’t a complete lump, and my shoulders are happier for the movement.

Early day metroing downtown for dentist appointments for the husband and myself. Walked him up to a different metro after, then I walked up to the U street metro, all around about a mile and 3/4 (2.7km). Hardest part was reminding myself to brace my core and stand upright. I’ve been walking oddly for so long because of the knee that I have to retrain myself to walk normally. But I’m determined not to be one of those old men who are permanently hunched over.

Home to cool off, then PT. The husband met me there, a quick trip for groceries, then home to shower and knit. Finished the body of the shawl, now I’m on the border. Between the afternoon and evening (post comics & dinner) I finished the last two rows of the body and the first four rows of the border. Fourteen more to go, then bind off and done. So maybe seven more hours? Ha.

After all that I’m hoping I sleep like the dead.

Knee was sore this morning, probably from the seats at the movie theater. We normally get ones that have some leg room, but there was a snafu with our tickets so we ended up elsewhere. Still did PT, and actually felt better for having worked the knee, but it definitely threw me off today.

Pro-tip: Clip your toenails before you have knee surgery, and not a week afterwards. It’ll be a lot easier. 😉

Sutures are out, balance is good. I drove to PT. Hardest part of driving right now is getting in and out of the car. Strength and coordination while driving were fine, it’s just awkward getting out of the car. So now it’s working on range-of-motion (so much flexing of the knee) and strength (so many variations of squats).

In other news, it’s hot as all get out here in the DC area. Currently around 96F/35C. Which was a perfectly fine temperature when I lived in Taiwan and had acclimated to sub-tropical heat, but not so much now that I’m stuck in AC all the time and fat.

My small gubm’nt agency is getting kicked out of our new (2017) office building in favor of a big gubm’nt agency that wants to move out of their mid-century brutalist monstrosity downtown. We found out definitively yesterday evening, with the press stuff happening this morning. So far the rumor is that we’ll be moved to the federal center in Suitland MD, which would be fine by me because it’s a straight shot down the green line for me – no more switching trains. But I bet it would lead to a lot more attrition, as both the current and former HQ buildings are in Northern Virginia, and people aren’t going to want to go to Maryland.

In better news, since I can drive we can go get haircuts. And comics. And groceries. Yay!

First PT appointment. Third time seeing this particular therapist and he was glad I finally had surgery to fix the knee. Ran me through my paces, took measurements for posterity, and gave me homework for the next two days until I see him again. Whee! Took my bullet journal with me and took good notes on the exercises. Surprisingly still not feeling the need for pain medication, even after the session. The most irritating part was getting in and out of the ubers with the brace on, honestly.

The husband is off to dinner with a friend, and they’re going to pick up the weekly haul of comics. I’m probably over a month behind on those at this point, but I’m not stressed about it yet.

In the meantime I’m currently stuck on the couch under a cat, so I’ll figure out the rest of the evening later.

First follow-up appointment was preceded by some Uber drama, but still managed to get there in plenty of time. Bandages were removed, and the surgeon seemed pleased with the progress. In the procedure he cleaned up rough cartilage and some damage to the meniscus (and gave me pictures!), so everything should be good to go inside now, without things catching and further damaging the inside of the kne. PT starts on Wednesday. I can shower now (huzzah!), and can start weaning off the crutches and the brace as I feel up to it. I probably have two more weeks before I can drive. All-in-all it’s going well, which I’m pleased as punch about.

Surgery went well. I’m exceedingly glad we chose to do a hotel 5 minutes from the surgery center, as that meant a normal sleep & wake up time, as opposed to the 40-60 minutes an uber would have taken in the morning (with all the necessary schedule adjustments to sleep, etc.). The staff were great. Had a slight issue with getting an IV going on my left arm, but they got it first go on the right side. Absolutely no recollection of talking with the surgeon afterwards, so I’ll find out more details about what they found when I see him on Monday. The only thing the husband remembered was him saying that my ligaments were a little strained as well, but those are strengthenable with exercise so I’m not as concerned there.

So far the nerve block is still mostly in place, not quite 24 hours later. That or (hopefully) it’s not going to be that painful. In any case, Tylenol is at the ready. Turned down any opiates/opioids, as I can’t handle the constipation they cause. It’s hard enough to use a toilet with the brace and crutches without also not being able to go, ya know?

The cats got some fun sniffing in on the brace, and thankfully they’ve seen crutches before so they’re not freaked out. Ezri is mostly hanging out near me and squishing the back cushions on the couch that she’s lying on; Benjamin is mostly in my office in his heated bed, unless/until it’s time for treats.

Excited to see that they’re working on Spaceballs 2 after 30+ years. The trailer was delightful, especially all of the factoids in the crawl. It’s one of my favorite films, so here’s hoping they let Mel run with it (perhaps not to the level of Blazing Saddles, but still, let the mensch do what he does best, please!).

I started situational telework early this week, and it was weird being at home all day. Couple of Teams calls, but those aren’t the same as just popping into a colleagues office and talking through something (or just shooting the shit). A lot of what I have to do as an attorney for an agency is managing relationships and small-p institutional politics and in-person time is a lot easier to handle that aspect. Even when the commute eats up 10 hours a week (though, frankly, half-time in the office – 5 days every two weeks – was plenty for managing that in most instances). I did write out at least one big research project, on the history of some of my small agency’s specific legislative authorities and limits for construction activities, which will be easier to handle at home without meetings or drop-ins. And which can allow me to get in some creditable work hours versus the full week of leave I have scheduled for next week.

But for today it’s reading, some crochet, napping, maybe some replay comfort video gaming.

Finally saw the second orthopedist on Monday and he’s recommending an arthroscopy to go in and clean up the meniscus and some cartilage, and that we don’t need to do a more invasive repair of the tendon on the inside of the knee. Unlike the other guy, this one physically manipulated my knee, moving it around to see what was going on, which is why he recommended the minimally invasive route (based on that and my original MRI). Got ahold of his scheduling person yesterday morning, and I’m set for outpatient surgery next Thursday, the 12th. This morning I’m off for pre-op bloodwork and an EKG from my regular physician, whose office was amazing at working me in. Was remarking to the husband that it had been a while since I’d had an EKG, and he reminded me of the hospital stay for the not-stroke-that-turned-out-to-be-migraines. I was thinking of the baseline one I’d had years ago with my physician in his office, and not the hospital. Whee.

Bodies are such fun.

Recovery time is typically 12 weeks, which again beats the more invasive stuff. So here’s hoping this does the trick, as I am really tired of not being able to walk like a normal person without pain.

I’m approved for situational telework afterwards (huzzah!), which means I have to clean up my office, as it’s gotten junky, post-return-to-the-office-full-time. And I need to plan & shop for some easy meals the husband can make for us (we divide kitchen duties normally – I cook, he bakes). Only thing it’s going to spoil is a Loudoun United game we bought (cheap) tickets for on the 14th, and I’ll see if I can move those. If not, not a huge loss.

Beyond that, the trip to the eastern shore was wonderful. Got through three books, and didn’t check the news, so I actually relaxed. Managed not to go into the jewelry store so I didn’t buy anything expensive this year. All in all a good way to wrap up May, and with the surgery planned, not a bad way to begin pride month.