4 Weeks Post-Op

What does Pretty knit almost 4 weeks after surgery? Well, a second sockhead in Serpent, for starters!

And stripey socks!

And a small, speckled sweater!

And, if you look in her queue on Ravelry, you may or may not find patterns to cast on soon for finger puppets, because, well...why not?

I'm doing well, walking as much as I can and knitting in the down times (well, I knit when my eyes are open anyway!). I'm getting back into work, and I've been back in the office a week now. Sometimes I even feel like I am fairly productive...yay! Other times, I go home a little early, and I fall into bed ahead of schedule most nights. 

I hope this post finds you being productive, working on your fall routines and traditions, and knitting like the wind! Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Thank You!

To all my friends, both near and far,
Who've extended help and prayer -
Thank you from the depths of my heart
For the time and the love you have shared!

Seriously, so much love and practical help has come my way since my hip replacement surgery, and I simply can't say thank you enough! Now that I am back to work, and I pretty much go to bed as soon as I get home, I wish there were more awake hours to thank each of you in a much more personal way...but I am working on my thank you cards!

Yes, I'm knitting too...simple stuff still...those ambush naps are still a big part of my life!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Tradition!

Much like Tevye was, I am a fan of tradition. There is a certain comfort in having a plan, and knowing that certain things will always happen at the same time, and in the same way. Growing up, some of my favorite traditions included the following:

Opening presents on Christmas Eve, after my younger sister's bathtime (Santa would often bring them while she was in the bath...lol!), followed by Christmas day dinner with turkey, lasagna, soup, salad, homemade bread, everything made from scratch and shared at Grandma's house with all of our cousins (and aunts and uncles, too).

Spending one glorious day at Cedar Point every year in the spring, usually a Wednesday, before school was even out! We would get up early, stop for a fast food breakfast to eat in the van, then drive to the park, where we would ride and laugh and play until the last ride closed. Then we'd buy salt-water taffy to take home. 

The Russo family reunion, on my mother's side, the first Sunday of every August at Coulby Park. We'd pack giant picnic baskets, and our family would often pick up Grandma and Grandpa (who didn't drive) and be their transportation for the day. There were cousins, aunts and uncles, second cousins, and great aunts and uncles. Sometimes we kids would pick blackberries, and we would always be free to roam the whole park...around the pond, to the playground and all the way over to the ball fields by the pool. And there always seemed to be baseball on the transistor radio in the shade under the big tree. 

As an adult, a wife and a mother, our pretty little family had it's own traditions. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our little house almost every year (with no vegetables in the stuffing, at my hubby's and brother-in-law's request); we opened one gift on Christmas Eve, before Santa even arrived for the next day; and we continued going to Cedar Point each summer. Tradition punctuates so many of my happy memories!

I like tradition because I like to know what's coming around the bend, and I don't take to unexpected change as gracefully as I should. As I look back on the last year or so, I see that my traditional self has really been turned on its ear. Things have changed where I work, often suddenly and without warning. Things have changed in my family, some beautiful changes (most notably a beautiful new granddaughter), and some not so pretty. Things have changed for me physically, with the recent addition of that shiny new hip!

I am doing well, despite the changes, and I might even assert that I have handled many of the changes with a fair amount of grace. But this morning, as I looked toward my return to work on Monday, I found myself longing for some of the traditional things I've missed over the past year. So I started my day with a little laundry and a little visit to Bedford Falls (I never did get around to watching this movie last Christmas), as well as some comfort knitting (a new baby sweater for a little one that will join her family this fall).

Now that I've done that, I'm off to enjoy whatever adventure I find today. I'm down to just the cane now, and I even go without that around the house sometimes, so I think I'm up for whatever life throws at me...but we'll see. I wonder what new traditions are coming my way next...

Do you have any favorite traditions? I'd love to hear about them in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Holy Knitted Cats!

By all that is good, I cannot explain it. 

"I'll knit a little cat to go in the box to the girls," I thought. So I did.

Then I knit  another...

and another...

and another...

until there were 5 knitted cats!

Yikes. I just kept knitting until the yarn was gone. Is it the pain meds? Is it the lack of sleep? Is it the time off work? Or is it just that I really like to knit toys?

Let's go with that last one. Yeah, that's it. 

In the meantime, at least two of these will go in a box to the girls, and if I have "leftovers," I am sure they will find good homes. After all, who doesn't like a knitted cat? I know, right!?!

I am Pretty, knitter of multiples...of just about anything. Maybe I should go back to the hexipuffs...or maybe I'll cast on a second sockhead. Either way, I'm going to knit and nap today, and I hope you'll get a little of one or the other into your day, too!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Baby Steps

One thing they've told me, time and again, is that healing is going to take baby steps forward...and it has. But even though it seems to me that my progress is slow, I know that I am healing well, and I am grateful for that. :)

I'm slowly transitioning from the walker 

to a cane, as I am able. 

I am more able in the morning and early afternoon, and with a fresh dose of painkillers, but I am more and more able to walk more and more with the cane each day. I am also trying to walk a little more, and sit a little less, with each day, and I am feeling pretty strong most of the time!

Still, I sit a lot, and I am not back to work quite yet, so the knitting (and the cats) have been a very appreciated addition to my days at home. 

As with my hip, my knitting seems to be taking baby steps along the way. My big accomplishment seems to be hat knitting, with one in worsted cotton

and one in fingering wool finished this week.

Simple knitting, stuff I can do with my eyes closed (which happens occasionally, to be sure - the naps do tend to ambush me following physical therapy!), but satisfying projects that become finished objects, nonetheless. So satisfying that I have now cast on a simple pair of stripey socks as well, and I am looking forward to seeing them fly from my needles!

That's the thing about progress...sometimes you can see it, like in a newly finished object, bound off and gifted to a thankful recipient. Other times, you just trust that progress is there, sight unseen...as I trust that my hip is improving when I can make it all the way around the block without stopping to rest, taking in the sights of my lovely little neighborhood along the way!

Long story short (too late, I know), the hip is doing well, I am doing well, and I am thankful for each day that I open my eyes and take a breath, even if I'm in pain. There's too much life to be lived, and pain is often part of that life, so I might as well keep on putting one foot in front of the other. I hope that you are doing the same, and that you are also finding some joy in the journey of this life!

Thanks for stopping by, and knit in good health!

9 Days Later...

Well, it's been 9 days since my surgery, and I am feeling good. When I think back to the hysterectomy 3 years ago, and how I felt (like I was hit by a bus), I almost can't believe how good I feel! I'm still having some pretty fuzzy moments, and I occasionally nap without warning, but overall I feel great. One thing that's the same as the last surgery...there hasn't been as much knitting as I supposed there would be. Still, I am managing a few stitches here and there. :)

I know that I had shared about my pre-op anxiety, and I'm happy to report that even that wasn't as bad this time around. I did ok on my way in and out, although I did have some pretty funny (and totally irrational) fears...

Ultimately, I woke up from surgery, and I have a new hip. I also have pain, which I expected, and some side effects that I did not (numbness in the non-surgical leg is apparently pretty normal), but I'm dealing with those just fine. I must have communicated my fears to friends and family before surgery, because some of the post-op texts I got were pretty funny. Others just really communicated to me how loved and cared for I truly am. Here are few of my favorite texts and text conversations , pre- and post-surgery, and upon my arrival back at home:

"Have a happy surgery!"

"I'm sure you already deserve a gold star." 

"Hi...glad you're alive still...been praying for you. :)"

"Yay! Now take a nap!"

"Yeah! Hope you have a very quick recovery!! Now it's time to snuggle kitties!"

"Do you want to go for a run?"
"Sure, I'll meet you on the corner of never and again."

"Perfect."

"Try this Sweetie make me a sandwich and make it snappy"

"Sweetie says that's not funny...but I think it's hilarious!"

"Tell him I said less talking and more action"

"Awesome :) Glad your home"

Thank you local friends, for loving me through your kind words, cards, visits, meals brought in, and by tooling me around town to my various appointments in the next few weeks. And thank you internet friends, for prayers, good thoughts, and caring messages. You guys are the best, and my life is so blessed because each of you are in it. 

For the rest of today, between my physical therapy exercises, I think I'll try to get back to that knitting. I hope that you will have some time to do the same.

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Claiming Hippie Status

This week has sure been busy, and this post is going live just a little late today. Where has the time gone? Let's take a look...

Sunday evening - Check into hospital for hip replacement,
and work on some pre-op knitting before bed. 

Monday morning - IV in, prepped for hip replacement surgery.

Monday afternoon - post-op knitting. Stuck in bed...and...ouch. 

Monday evening - FINALLY in the chair! So happy! And...ouch.

Tuesday - get well carnation from Dr. Stanfield! Nice touch.
A little less ouch, and I get to shower!
Also, knitting & napping, physical therapy...and...ouch.

Wednesday morning - IV and catheter out, AND a shower!
More physical therapy, and more knitting & napping.

Wednesday afternoon - HOME!!! I guess White Cat missed me... 

Wednesday evening - post-op knitting DONE!

Thursday - I guess BOTH cats missed me!

Black Cat: I didn't miss you. Did you bring me anything?

Friday - post-post-op knitting finished!

Saturday - post-post-post-op hat cast on! 

Between all the sitting, knitting & napping, there's been quite a bit of physical therapy, exercise on my own, visiting with friends, and lifting my leg. 0_o It's been a busy week indeed!

All in all, I am glad to have the surgery done and over. Even though I am in considerable pain more often that I want to be, I'm feeling strong, and I have quite a bit of energy! Met a great group of people in my surgery group at the hospital, and I had great nurses, therapists and other caregivers. If it wasn't for the pain (and waking up every two hours for a vitals check, around the clock), my hospital stay was almost like a vacation!

I'm still doing a bit of napping and a lot of knitting as I recover, but I thought I'd pop over to say hello to Blogland and officially claim my Hippie Status, now that I have a new, shiny, left hip! 

Hello! I'm a Hippie...a pretty knitty Hippie...with a new hip! lol!

Surgery didn't cure me of the silly, I guess. I'll call that a good thing. :) 

I may or may not be on the computer a little less than usual, but I'm still here, and I am well. I hope that you are also! Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health! 

Hat-trelac!

If you're reading this post, it means that my surgery went fine, and I remembered to hop online and schedule it to actually post! Go me! I'm probably still on pain meds, and I'm probably a little loopy, but I am still knitting!

I managed to finish that slightly complicated hat before surgery...

Check out the crown...it's a pink star!

Too bad it's not a gold star though. I like gold stars...I like them a lot. Gold stars mean "Great Job!" and "Keep it up!" and "You go, Girl!!!"

If you're reading this, then I am busy with post-surgery physical therapy, too. If you see me, and it looks like I'm doing well, I won't stop you when you give me a gold star for my progress...just sayin'. (wink!)

I hope that you are doing well, and that you've got gold-star-worthy things going on in your life and in your knitting! I will assume that you do, so Great Job! Keep it up! You go! Now, back to exercise I go, then maybe more knitting when I'm sprung from the hospital. :) 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Monday, Monday...

Monday, Monday....can't trust that day. 

Or so the song goes. 

I, however, choose to trust that Monday will be good to me. Monday is the day I get a new hip. I am excited to NOT be in pain all the time, eventually. I am a little anxious about general anesthesia, which is pretty normal for me, and for all sane people. (Please do not tell me you are not anxious, or that you would not be anxious if you were me. This would not be helpful. Just tell me that you will be praying for me. Even if you won't, it will comfort me to think that maybe you are.) Finally, I am nervous about abandoning everyone where I work, even though they are all very smart people who will figure it out, or put it on hold until I get back. Maybe, come to think of it, I'm really worried about what my desk will look like when I do get back! lol!

In any case, I have simple, post-operative knitting at the ready, 

and I think all my ducks are in a row. Tomorrow is the annual church picnic, and I am eager to see what the pot-luck goodies will be! But today I will just chill and knit (maybe something a little complicated?) 

while I wait for Monday. The waiting, they say, is the hardest part. I think "they" are correct. 

I anticipate that I may miss a blog post or two. I will be in the hospital until at least Wednesday, and I haven't had time to blog ahead, so I'll miss seeing you all here in Blogland. But, as Schwartzenegger would surely say, "I'll be Bach!" I don't know why he wanted to be Bach. Maybe he thought Johann Sebastian was a cooler name than Arnold. Cool or not, Arnold would beat Bach in arm wrestling, for sure!

Wow. All of that even before I get sleepy-time pain meds? I can only imagine what I'll imagine post-surgery! If it's good, I'll blog it! In the meantime, happy knitting to all the knitters, and happy everything to everyone! I'll catch you on the flipside with my brand-new, shiny hip! 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!