https://www.joanforder.com/ Thu, 09 May 2019 12:56:30 -0700 https://www.joanforder.com/blog/a-bad-day https://www.joanforder.com/blog/a-bad-day <p>I’m having a bad day.</p><p>My new knee is hurting in multiple different ways. The doctor told me there are different types of pain so I’m on three different medications to combat it. I had a total knee replacement one week ago yesterday. Everyone tells me I’m doing exceptionally well and I believe I am. I’m way ahead of schedule on being able to bend my knee, do the exercises, walk longer distances than expected, and put full weight on the leg (with support close by). This is all great news.</p><p>But today I’m exhausted, in pain, and overwhelmed. Thank God I live in a seniors’ complex where I have friends and support. This morning, one friend called me to see how I was doing and to bring me a cold pack. I admitted I was struggling and didn’t have the energy to do anything more than make it out of bed to use the commode and then wrestling my way back into bed to find a position for my leg that might alleviate some of the deep aching and intermittent stabs of sharp pain that were plaguing me. When she arrived, she immediately took control and made me a bowl of oatmeal, since I hadn’t eaten anything yet. She wrapped the new cold pack for me and placed the used one in the freezer. She sat with me for a while as I started to eat the oatmeal and then on my assistance, she left to deal with her own aging issues. She’s twenty years older than me but before she left she scolded me as a loving mother would do, for doing too much the day before.</p><p>I admire the seniors that live in this complex. At the age of almost sixty-two I’m the youngest one living here. The average age is about eighty. Aging is not for the meek or mild. Aging is hard. These people face it with courage and conviction. Many of them far more mobile and healthy than I am. But hearing about someone falling and needing an ambulance, or hearing about someone who needs a hip replacement or cataract surgery or hearing tests is common place. Worse of all is hearing of someone who can no longer care for...<a href=https://www.joanforder.com/blog/a-bad-day>Read More</a>