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I feel like just typing my thoughts as they come so maybe you should consider yourself warned that there may not be any real direction to this post.

It is a weird feeling when I want to talk but the honest truth is I really have nothing to say.

In case you are wondering, I have returned to work.  I've been given the okay to work four hours and if I teach, I can stand 30-40 minutes.

A typical day now finds me limping out of bed and going straight to the stationery bike.  My best friend the last couple of weeks, Angela, is my physical therapist.  She wants me to pedal on that bike three times a day even if I an only do it five minutes. 

Pretty pathetic, isn't it....being able to pedal only five minutes but that is the truth.  I'll get to six minutes, I know I can, ha! ha!

It is a blessing upon blessing that my employer has given me the best parking privileges.  I can leave the garage and pull into the parking ramp without stepping outside on the ice and snow. 

About three and half hours into my four-hour day I feel like the plug holding in all of my energy gets pulled and all my energy gets sucked down the drain.  There have been a handful of days that I wonder if I can walk back to the car and drive home I am so tired.

But I drive home and scrape together a salad or a sandwich, something quick.

Then the dog and I snuggle into bed and I've been averaging a 2 to 2 1/2 hour nap every single day.  And I have absolutely no trouble falling asleep anymore at 10 p.m., my bedtime. 

Surgery and rehab really took a toll on this out-of-shape body.  And for the many weeks that I had trouble sleeping, well, I must be making up for it now.

Yesterday I had a physical therapy appointment after my nap.  I felt so groggy going into that appointment.  Oh my gosh did Angela work me.  She made me ride the bike for eight minutes and then start the hip, leg and knee stretches.  Forty-five minutes later she says I'm warmed up and she take measurements.  This is the point where I lay on the table and she measures how straight I can make my leg.   Yesterday, I passed the straight leg test.  I can push that quadriceps down at the knee and make a straight leg!  That is a great accomplishment.

Then she picks up my leg as I am laying on the table and she starts gently bending my knee and straightening the leg.  Then she bends it a little more and straightens it out.  I know what is coming but I have to relax as she increases the bend each time.  She really pushes on that knee and then she brings my heel to the table, pushing, pushing, pushing my heel toward my butt until I tell her to stop because of the pain.  Quickly she grabs her measuring tools and determines what the bend is, in degrees, of my knee.  The goal is 110 to 120 degrees.  At my first appointment with her I could bend to 90 degrees.  In three weeks, because I've been diligent with my exercises, I got to 100 degrees.  YIPPEE!!!!  There was tremendous pain with that bend but I got it there. 

As she helped me up from the table she told me that the last 10 degrees are the hardest to achieve.

Game on.  I'm going to get to that last ten to twenty degrees!

Last night I ached all over from that therapy appointment.  I shuffled around the house like Tim Conway, for those of you that have watched The Carol Burnett Show.

Switching subjects if you haven't fallen asleep at this post, Kidlet Three had a hockey game in town tonight.  I put on layers and layers of clothes as the game was in the coldest ice rink this town has.  Which doesn't really feel much different than the -3 degrees the thermometer on the bank displayed as we drove to the game.  The game was discouraging as they boys didn't really play to win....they played to a tie game but they should've won.  Kidlet Three skated awesome on his newly-operated-on-healing-knees. 

Switching topics again.....I think when my knee was operated on the gene to do housework was traumatized.  I see the dust on my furniture and I know the kitchen floor should be mopped, but there is no umph or energy to even start.  So, if you stop by, don't wear your good socks.  They might just stick to my kitchen floor.

Yawn.  I'm putting myself to sleep with this post so I'll sign off.

Enjoy an amazing night's sleep everyone!