No New is Good News

I once rode on an elevator with the late David Brinkley, iconic newsman from NBC and later ABC. At one point long after his NBC Nightly News days, Brinkley questioned the need to fill an entire newscast every day of the year. He said it might make sense to simply go on the air some days and say, "Good evening. Nothing much important happened today. I'm David Brinkley in New York. Goodnight."

That's where I am in today's journal update: Not much to report. Yesterday I went to see my primary care physician to get my blood clotting level checked and to tweak my anti-clotting medication. I drove myself, so that's fairly significant. This morning, my surgeon's nurse called to say I only need to have that test done twice more - and I can discontinue the anti-clotting medication after that. Oh, I went with Hettie while she did some grocery shopping last night. I noticed that people look at you different when you're on crutches, especially (I think) since I don't have some big ol' cast on my leg. No turf-toe, no water skiing accident - what's up with this guy?

I had a fairly lousy night, pain-wise, which was something of a surprise since I really didn't hurt too much yesterday. (OK, maybe I did more than most days). I'm still taking the meds to hold the pain at bay, but in greatly reduced dosages compared to that first week post-op. I know at one point in this blog, I owned up to the pain being more of an issue than I'd actually been reporting, largely because I think I was prepared for that part of this experience. I mean, considering all the carpentry work I had done, it makes sense. And I look at it as a trade-off: Lots of extra pain now is a fair exchange for eliminating the awful joint pain that had been so limiting my quality of life over the past couple of years.

So, yeah, the surgical area still hurts... and I suppose the more I push the more it pushes back. But I've been in training for years and I'm pretty adept at hanging in there when something hurts. What's getting to me lately is again that nagging feeling that I'm dragging people down - my wife, my coworkers, even the dogs seem bored that I'm gimping around a 1/4 speed. It's time for me to get back in the game - at least as much as I can. I don't like other people having to pick up my slack. So... here it is, Friday again. I'll do what I can to handle some workstuff from home today, rest and mend this weekend, and try to meld back into life next week as best I can. I don't think I'll be walking the dogs or doing yard work for a while - and the crutches will still be with me for an undetermined time - but I'm ready for the next step.

Other than that, with credit to Mr. Brinkley, there's really not much happening.