Fanciful Quilts

Another case of left knee swelling for Riley....which now makes episode #3. If one were to ask me why my thoughts about bilateral total knee replacements, I would have to think twice before giving an answer....and perhaps in a month or two, I could so do. Don't know what the answer would be...but lots of thought would have gone into it before speaking. Episode #1 left knee swelling - a trip to the hospital via ambulance and a very long wait in a well designed (she writes with sarcasm) ER room. Swelling decreased with elevation, ice & happy juice pain medication. Sent home shortly thereafter. Episode #2 left knee swelling - after a long weekend chess tournament. Elevation, ice & compression relieved swelling. Amazing what one can learn by visiting the ER for a bit. Episode #3 left knee swelling - today. Okay, I think right about now: enough is enough. The theory is this: adhesions & scar tissue is plaguing the left knee. Blood thinner is causing the adhesions & scar

On the 9th of July, my parents will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. Imagine....sixty years. Riley & I will celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary on the 27th of July...and I think that's one long length of time (a good length of time, Riley - honest). I thought it would be a wonderful gift to my parents to bring our two kids & their family to WI to help celebrate their 60th....a tad early since we'd be coming in on the weekend of the 4th of July. I examined driving....500 miles in a 12 passenger van with 7 adults and 2 kids under the age of 5. Well, room for 12 did seem like a lot of room until you figure in car seats for the tykes. Scratch that. Thought about renting 2 mini vans and doing the caravan bit for 500 miles. I wonder why I felt tired just at the thought. Driving 500 miles on Friday....driving 500 miles back on Sunday. Scratch that. Flying. Yes, that's the way to go. No fuss, no muss. Fly in, rent a couple of cars to get around, snag 3 hotel ro

As earlier written, Riley had both knees replaced on the 13th of May. He was home on the 22nd of May and all was well....until..... Friday, the 26th of May I came home after 5 hours away (womens' group studying a Beth Moore lesson @ church; a trip to the quilt store and to JoAnns) and the dear man's left knee was swollen. Mind you, not overly swollen. He couldn't get comfortable and within 45 minutes or less, the left knee now resembled an overripe cantaloupe and he was in a lot of pain. Horrors. Could get him down by elevator to the lobby (curses on living on the 6th floor of a high rise apartment - at least temporary curses) but he could go no further. A 911 call was made (thank you Deanne and Jason of our leasing office!) and within minutes, an ambulance was getting him on the gurney.Despair does not begin to describe my state of mind. Long story short - adhesions & scar tissue had torn away from the knee and while good for the knee to bend properly, it was c