2 days to Christmas...

Not that it's a big deal at our house.  We really don't do much... I bought four gifts for the the great grand-niece and nephews, and with so few to wrap, I can do an especially nice job...

 We used to really get into Christmas in the early days - put up a tree, bought lots of gifts for each other and the family. But several years ago, when the nephews were grown, we decided within my family that it was dumb to spend all that money, to fret over what to get everyone, etc., and forego the gift-giving part and just enjoy it as a holiday to spend together.  Now we've got young ones again and it's pretty much about the kids now in my family.  It's a lot of stress off the adults not to have to buy for each other.  So I don't bother putting up a tree anymore (maybe I'll gain enthusiasm for that again someday, who knows?)  And Mark and I don't even buy anything for each other anymore.  We kind of quit that during the "lean" years and have never bothered to start back up.  

Today (the 23rd) is our "family" Christmas.  We're getting ready to go down to Merry's (my sister) in Plattsmouth.  So it'll be us, Mom, Merry & Rick, their boys and their families - Brian and Ann, Henry (2-1/2) and Winston (7 weeks old); Jeremy and Kara, Ella (8) and Will (3).  We always do soups for our Christmas get together, which will line up with my diet just fine, I think...

Oh, my diet... I haven't blogged since I started that.  I went to see the bone doc on 12/15, hoping they would schedule my hip replacement.  The doc, as it turned out, had an "out of town emergency" and instead, I saw his PA.  She told me I would need to lose about 27 lbs. before they would do the surgery.  She said something like, "Would you like to make a follow-up appointment for 6 months?"...and quickly changed it to "...or 3 months?" when she saw the look on my face.  I said, "Honey, if I have to wait 6 months, I'm just gonna buy a bullet 'cuz I can't deal with this pain that much longer!"  I told her I'd "find a way" to get it off quicker than that...

So after some research, I decided on the high-protein, low-carb diet because that sounds like the most radical and fastest for weight loss.  I only really plan to do this one until I get the weight off for the surgery, because I'm not sure how healthy it is.  But it IS working.  I started it the day after I saw the doc, on the 16th, and I weighed myself day before yesterday (the 21st), and I'd lost 6 lbs. in those 5 days.  Not bad.  Only 21 to go.  When I get to the halfway point, I'm going to call them up and say, "Let's get this scheduled!" because she told me it would be a month or so out from the date of scheduling... 

So what I learned about hip replacement is that it requires no PT!!  None!  She said that walking is basically all the therapy I'll need.  I've thought of SO many things I want to do once I get it replaced... go to Lauritzen Gardens and spend a day in the GH and walking through  the grounds... go to the zoo and peruse the Leid Jungle, the aquarium and the desert dome... go to a mall and walk around!!!  Take my time at the grocery store or any store for that matter!  I had to go into Target one day because of phone problems... walk CLEAR to the back to electronics.  It was a fucking nightmare!  I didn't think I was going to make it, and then the thought of having to making it ALL THE WAY back to my car was terrifying.  It was awful.  But, as I sat there in electronics while they figured out my phone problem (which took well over 1-1/2 hours, which is probably the only reason I made it back to my car without collapsing!), I looked around and realized how much I miss just walking around and SHOPPING.  Not necessarily BUYING, but LOOKING.  My world has gotten SO small since this hip has gotten bad... and that's been a long, long time.  For probably at least 3 years before we sold the business, I would go to work and home and that was IT.  I never went anywhere I did not HAVE to go.  Work, home, grocery store as needed and that was it.  And since they've had "aisles on line" at HyVee, I've been using that almost exclusively.  

But the doc did put me on something called Meloxocam that is helping.  It's like prescription strength ibuprofen, so nothing narcotic, but here's an example... I needed to do some "running around" yesterday.  A grocery store stop to pick out a turkey (I'm making tomorrow or Monday), a stop at Walgreens, and department store for a couple kid gifts.  So I decided to make it one stop at Walmart... haven't been in a Walmart for... oh, over a year, I'm sure, maybe two.  It was tough, but I did it, from one end to the other.  Couldn't have done that a few weeks ago...

Work has been sparse (because of me, not them) but good.  I've been working one or two days a week.  I can't wait to get back to three days a week, and maybe I'll be able to do that on this Meloxocam.  But I was finding 2 days in a row would set me into a tailspin, pain-wise, so if I work one day, I'll have them take me off the schedule for the next day.  I think I may try 3 days when we get past the holiday.  On a sad note (for me), Todd, my very most favorite car mate, decided to go to the 8:00 crew only.  (I'm on the 10:00 crew, and he would get 10:00 fairly regularly before making his request...)  He gets called to "truck duty" about once a week, which starts at 7:30, and he doesn't like it when he's on 10:00, which usually goes to 6:30 minimally, and sometimes as late as 9:00 or so, and then getting called into trucks the next morning.  I can understand that.  But I will miss getting to work with him now and then...  But there are a lot of others whose company I enjoy, so it'll be ok...

Anyway, we're off to Plattsmouth.  More soon!