In Praise of Recliners

When Mark and I first got married he had a suggestion or two for updating the living room. I'm cool with that. I think the new window treatments are a big improvement over the simple valance and blinds that were there before. And I was quite happy to spend an entire week doing a faux finish paint job. But when he suggested replacing the recliner with a different type of chair I nearly turned into Martin Crane. Remember Martin Crane's recliner on Frasier? Here it is, complete with dog and duct tape.

I didn't always feel this way. In fact, I was reluctant (reluctant is probably an understatement) to get a recliner in the first place but now that I have it, I'll probably always have one. Even though we don't typically use it on a daily basis, it is perfect if you have congestion. It keeps you upright enough so that you can breathe. It's also perfect if you have a nosebleed. It keeps you tipped back just enough to keep the blood in your nose. And if you have vertigo, you can get up without tilting your head to one side or the other - which can make the room start spinning. It's better than one of those adjustable beds when you have the flu or if you're recovering from some type of surgery or hospitalization. You have choices - you can watch TV or you can sleep. In other words, it's the perfect "sick room" in a compact size.

Given that in the past month, I've had a head cold, vertigo, two massive nosebleeds, the flu and knee surgery, I can't imagine how I would have managed without that recliner. The only thing that chair couldn't do was elevate my knee above my heart. (That took three pillows.) But if it starts to look like Martin Crane's chair, I'll be looking for a replacement.

Better Every Day

I saw the doctor yesterday. I'd had a full day - a meeting with my CPA, lunch out with Mark, and then the post-op appointment. After waiting in the doctor's reception area for nearly 40 minutes (fairly unusual) I was becoming a bit grumpy and irritable. I told the receptionist that I didn't mind if they took another hour as long as I could wait in a horizontal position. I just couldn't remain upright any longer.

And that seems to be how it goes right now. I tire so easily. After being busy for a couple of hours, I find I need to go prop my feet up for a couple of hours - maybe even have a snooze. It's fairly annoying because I can't seem to get much done. It's also boring. I love to read, but there's just a limit to how much I want to read on any given day. As for TV - there's really not much I'm interested in watching and there's no reason to get sucked into some program now.

But the doc says that getting tired is to be expected. General anesthesia has that effect on people. The pain pills extend the effect. (I haven't taken any of those since Sunday, so hoping it eases up soon.) He also showed me the pictures of the inside of my knee. (Not as gory as I expected.) I'm told there's very little arthritis in my knee - so to those clowns and quacks I saw back before the pain in my knee got serious, and who told me I had "garden variety arthritis" and I should learn to live with it, I say "poo-poo to you". They clearly had no clue and no interest in getting one.

I'm told that once the swelling goes completely down and I've been through the physical rehab therapy that I will have the knee of a 25-year old. It looks like I'll be doing rehab three times a week for four weeks -and since I was expecting six weeks - this is a bonus! I'm meeting with the physical therapist later today for an evaluation and so she can tell me what I should do at home to improve progress.

All I can say is that I thought I'd be ready to start training for a marathon by now and while it's a bit disappointing that I'm not ready for that, I think the prognosis is much better than I thought it would be. And I am feeling just a bit better every day.

Family, Food, and Friends

Now that I'm just about over what must have been the flu, (and yes, I did have a flu shot) I'm finally feeling up to writing a bit about our February trip to England. (Yikes! That was nearly a month ago.) Given the problem with my knee, and my inability to walk very far, this trip was mostly about family, food, and friends.

We were able to spend some time with Mark's dad, kids, grandkids, cousin, and an aunt and uncle. We accompanied the kids to Eureka!, an interactive children's museum. We even got to spend some time with a couple Mark has known since his days at British Aerospace, but whom he hasn't seen in years. For me, it was making new friends and putting faces to a couple of those folks we exchange Christmas cards with each year.

We did manage a quick visit one afternoon to the John Rylands Library in Manchester - a lovely old building with a number of interesting exhibits. We'd planned an outing to the Turner Contemporary in Margate, but for some reason, we came to believe that it houses more contemporary artists than Turner and we ended up just having a leisurely lunch at the Tartare Frigate in Broadstairs instead.

So let's talk about food! There are some things you just have to have when you're in England. (Well, some things Mark has to have - like steak and kidney pie, or kidney and bacon pudding. Things that I will never feel compelled to eat.) But let's be realistic. First of all, you have to have fish and chips. You have to have food served in a pie. You have to have curry. You should have Italian. Chinese and/or Thai food is optional. And of course you must have a roast dinner at least once.

So how did we do? We had fish and chips when we visited his dad. Being a seaside town, it's always good and fresh. We had traditional English fare at lunch several days and a dinner or two. For Mark this translates into lamb dishes or dishes with kidney and something in pies or "puddings". For me it means corned beef hash or Lancashire hot pot, or something served in a pie. We had curry four times. Good for me! I love it, and given that when we were there last September, Mark's condition was deteriorating from it's normal "cast-iron" into "delicate", and we had zero curry. (I threatened him with a week of it when we returned home, but after that whole episode in the French hospital, I couldn't actually do it.) We went out for Italian one night, as well as middle eastern. Ordering the mezzes is wonderful. Lots of little dishes so you can try an assortment of things without feeling over stuffed. We even ordered fajitas one night. Not the Tex-Mex version we're accustomed to, but they were good and it was just the right amount for us to share. Our daughter in law made the Sunday roast dinner and it was way better than the roast dinner you'd get in a pub.

On our last night in Manchester, we got the folks at the Church Inn to do us some sandwiches. Ham and cheese with mustard for me. And when you get them to leave the butter off the bread, it's wonderful. Nothing ruins a good ham sandwich like buttering the bread. And when you have the best mustard in the entire world, I don't know why you want to ruin the taste of it with butter. But all you have to do is ask them to leave it off.