2022 Life Logs, Day 343: Another Orthopedic Knee Appointment
Date: Friday, December 9, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny: High 42, Low 35 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 6:58 am & 4:13 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a cold one with wind coming out of the north. I guess the full Cold Moon is performing its magic. I had a morning appointment with my knee surgeon’s assistant. I saw him on November 1st and declined to get a cortisone shot. But since then, especially after I got home from Puerto Rico, it has become evident that I need to do something to control the pain. Today I was talked into the cortisone shot and a knee brace to wear when I am hiking or taking long walks, doing yard work and gardening. Vince, the PA, explained that doing these two things will probably allow me to do all the things I want to do until I finally have a knee replacement. I have waited too long for this year as my surgeon is booked until summer. And I do not want to be recovering from knee surgery in the summer! But I will meet again with the PA in June and decide then if a fall or late winter surgery is in my future. And if so, I’ll book the surgery then.
I came home and took Shadow for a walk, wearing the brace. It felt good enough that I wanted to keep walking. But I was told to take it easy for 24 hours after the cortisone shot, no long walks. So, we walked a half a mile and then came come and played ball down by the dock. Recently, each day when I walk down there to play, our presence scatters the water birds, usually just geese, swans, and common mallard ducks.
Yesterday I noticed that there was a raft of new ducks in the neighborhood. They were there today, but they are such fast swimmers that they were too far away to get a good photo by the time Shadow and reached the water’s edge. From a distance, they look like hooded mergansers to me, but I think hooded mergansers are usually freshwater ducks. I took a photo and if anyone can tell what I was seeing, please let me know.
It would make more sense if they were buffleheads, but I don’t think so. Tomorrow I will try to sneak down earlier without Shadow and get a better photo.
