Tuesday, June 28, 2022

 Tuesday, June 28, 2022

My second PT appointment was this morning at 7:30 am. I walked with a walking stick while Katie watched. She saw that I reverted to favoring my right leg as before the surgery. She said I didn’t do that when I was using the walker. She held my hips in neutral while I worked on using my body symmetrically. 

   Today I asked Katie which muscles she had been concerned about and why. Before the surgery, she told me she thought I wouldn’t be happy with the hip replacement. The adductors on my left leg were super tight because I turned that leg in and overused those muscles. If I had a posterior approach hip replacement, it would favor a turned-out position and put great stress on those muscles. As it was, she anticipated those muscles would pull my leg into internal rotation and cause problems with the anterior approach I got. She asked if those muscles were bothering me. No, they weren’t. But I had made great strides in loosening them over the last year with my work with the PTs and the acupuncturist. I had a much greater range of motion.

  Katie showed me how I avoided using the upper thigh muscles of my left leg when walking. She gave me some exercises. It wasn’t the number of exercises I did or how vigorously I did them; I needed to use the correct muscles. Katie expanded my exercises, so I engaged those upper thigh muscles more. They have been underused for most of my life, at least since I was a teen. This was going to be a big change.

  The only concern Katie had was my inability to raise my left leg in the air when lying down. I could easily raise my right one; I can’t get my left leg off the ground. Those thigh muscles are that weak. I have my work cut out for me.

  I took a short nap when I got home. My phone beeped. It was a text from M & W’s mother. “Good morning, Betty. Just double-checking on tutoring today. Thx.”  OMG! I forgot about this completely. I apologized, saying I had a precious hairdresser appointment. I thought I had forgotten to log the appointment in my calendar. When I checked, I saw I had posted it. I usually check my calendar every morning and set alarms to remind me. My best guess is that I knew three appointments in a row, two being PT and a haircut, would be too much for me. Still, ow!

 At 10 am, Elsa and I drove up to Paulette’s to get more Kangen water. Paulette knew I was coming and had filled bottles sitting in the garage. I called out to her. She came around from the side of the house. She had been helping Judy dye her hair in the laundry sink. We talked for a few minutes. My alarm went off. I had to leave, drop off Elsa and the water, and get to my 11 am haircut appointment with Randee.

   I arrived a few minutes early for my haircut. I ducked into the deli next door for a small container of their Swedish potato salad. It reminds me of the German potato salad my mother and grandmother made. Hmmm! It has more vinegar and less mayonnaise than the American one.

 It’s always nice to see Randee. She loves working on my hair. I let her do whatever she wants. If I don’t like it, what the hey; it will all grow back.   In the meantime, I always have a good cut that lasts and lasts. Her haircuts last so long that I often get compliments on the days right before my next one.

  Once home, I finished getting the day’s public blog posted and completed the day’s Wordle puzzle. Once they were finished, I ate some delicious food a friend sent over via B and went down for a nap. While I felt great yesterday and the day before, I felt foggy again today. Everything was too much.

  At three, I signed up for the Step Up Tutoring community-building meeting led by Ethan. Two other people signed on. Ethan wasn’t one of them. One woman said she wanted some ideas on how to help her student. She was one of the people who signed up for my office hours yesterday. She had to study and couldn’t make it. I answered her question today. Her student read words well but had poor comprehension skills. I turned her on to asking detailed questions about single sentences. She had to leave after half an hour. The other participant dropped out earlier. This had no meaning for her. I emailed Daniela the form I discussed with her. She thanked me; she thought this would be helpful. I stayed on for a while longer. Ethan never showed. I hoped he was okay.

  I watched more of Unforgotten. I watched the program during the day because I was anxious to know the outcome. This show is so well written and acted. While watching it, I got Deja Vu flashes. Snippets of the show would be familiar. However, I didn’t remember anything about the main plot line or the outcome. There are advantages to growing old. I got to watch good shows over and over as if I was seeing them for the first time.