Wide Awake At 3am

I wake up in the middle of a dark bedroom with two sleeping hounds. It's so quiet that I hear nothing. I don't hear them snoring, breathing or running in their sleep. I hear nothing outside in the distance like I do sometimes. I'm not too hot nor cold like I was just a morning or two ago. The window is wide open and it's 66°.

It's 2:14am and something has woke me up.

I feel literally nothing in my hip, on the side of my hip ... it feels normal, zero feelings of any kind. Yet when I woke up I was just on the verge of rolling over on my ride side to sleep, the surgical side. Rarely do I sleep on that side and I can confirm I haven't for at least the past 26 nights. Was I dreaming or was I really about to roll to my right side?

I lie there for a second waiting for some sort of feeling or twinge of pain from that unadvised move ... there isn't any. I wonder how long my surgical side has been moving? From the hip all the way down to my foot ... what has been moving while I slept and in what angles? Did the hip, knee, foot or leg move outside the safety zone? Is there even a safety zone?

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By 6:30am I had my answer from a friend that is a PT and works with a lot of patients from the same surgeon that I had. ---

"Dr. ********** is right. You need to listen to your body! Sometimes that comes through trial and error because everyone is different. If you’re walking a lot then the next day you can’t move because you hurt so bad, it’s too much. Cut back. If you’re walking a lot and don’t feel bad at all, then you’re fine! It really just depends how YOU feel! You won’t hurt the hip... only if you fell on it or really twisted it or something."
 
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I don't know that there is ... the doctor never verbally issued one. So in a way the 'confusion' I spoke of a few days or weeks ago is there lingering in the background. It's also one of the things that come with writing about my health issue or rehab. I expect it and knew from the start when I decided to write about what I was going through ... there would be a lot of comments and different ideas from readers and Facebook followers.

It's hard to sort out at times because most people have a different idea or an opinion. That comes with blogging on any subject and it's also prevalent in my Facebook updates to friends, a few family that use Facebook but don't follow the blog.

I have no problem with the different opinions. I like reading them. I listen to what people say because some of them are more experienced with this "medical train" than I am. Others have had the same surgery or know of someone that has. Some readers have even taken care of someone that has had the same surgery. So there is a lot of information out there just from the feedback I get in blog comments, emails, Facebook comments, texts and information I find online from my own research.

At 2:15am, all of this is going through my mind as I lie in a dark room with an open window on the south wall in front of me that looks like a large movie screen as it captures the light from the sky. It looks bigger in the dark than it does in the daytime.

Since I woke Heidi up at 8pm on Thursday night to go outside for her last pee of the night, she is sound to sleep at 2:14am. I feel that's a good trade and keeps me from chasing her down a hallway at 1:30am hoping to get to the backdoor before her, to let her outside so she can pee. Getting old is a pain in the ass, even if you are a basset hound.

I hear Stella now running in her sleep. Her paws are moving against the wall she sleeps next to. Is she with Sadie chasing deer again in the field back in Indiana? That has to be it because she has not ran like that for years and out here in the Wild West she has only trotted during her walks but has never ran full speed anywhere.

By the sound of her paws rubbing the wall .... she is in a full sprint gallop after something.

I decide to take my own trip to the bathroom and the first thing I feel when I stand up has nothing to do with my new hip or a leg and foot that is back to normal size. It's my left shoulder. I must have slept on it wrong or it is still reminding me I threw too many baseballs when I was a kid decades ago. At one time I was playing on three different baseball teams and a few times pitched too many innings in a week. Yes, I still feel the damage done to a left handed pitching arm 50 years later.

Where's that Ibuprofen?

I feel good coming back down the hallway with the walker that now glides over the tile floor since I added those two Wilson tennis balls to the rear legs of the walker. That adjustment also makes the walker glide over the carpet when I am in the bedroom or computer room. Remember, I use the walker from the time I go to bed until I carry the first of two cups of coffee to my computer room.

This morning that happened at 3:54am !!!!

Yes, I had been laying in bed awake all of that time trying to get back to sleep. My watch told my my pulse rate was 52bpm so there was nothing there that kept me awake. It was 66° outside, no wind and cloudy skies ... but my mind was working, sorting through all the latest comments I had read the previous 24 hours. I don't dwell on them but it's amazing the number of things I should or should do during this rehab.

It confuses me at times, just like it is at 2:45am.

I also think of my friend that just returned home after 77 days in 3 different hospitals after having major back surgery. He can stand up straight he said, for the first time in years. He is learning to walk again with is wife holding him up one step at a time. Last month he had to learn how to breath again on his own. His situation and recovery makes mine look like a day at the beach in sunny southern California.

I suggested to him last night to add the tennis balls to his walker for a smoother 'ride'. He replied my walker was the exact one he had been using in rehab. He is another old friend at 68 years old with major surgery to rehab. My list of friends doing that grows by one.

I start thinking about my situation again as I lay there. I can barely see the silhouette of the chest of drawers. I see the tiny green light of the wired in smoke/carbon detector. I feel how good my hip feels, it feels normal, like nothing ever happened. Do I dare move my right leg sideways to the point of a twinge so see how far it goes?

No, don't think so.

Honestly I don't know what is too much or not enough. The doctor didn't set firm guidelines with numbers of reps, or minutes for walks, or dates of the month ... all numbers that I like because I am and have always been a 'numbers guy' ... remember I have the addiction to spreadsheets even in my time of retirement.

I think back to that room 14 days after surgery where I had my followup appointment. My surgeon told me things look great and even said fantastic as he watched me walk across the room. Had he seen the x-rays they had taken before I was called into his exam room? Greg was right with his comment yesterday ... face time with him was about 10 minutes, it seemed rushed and he ended our consultation within a minute after reading a text on his phone.

But at 2:45am while thinking back to that appointment and double checking to see if I missed something he said, I only remember him telling me to walk as much as possible AS LONG AS I did NOT walk to the point of fatigue.

Although my neighbor told me I didn't know the meaning of that word 'fatigue' and I didn't know what my body was saying no matter if I rode a bike or not for many years ... I do know that if my leg muscle or hip would 'fatigue' I would collapse immediately, just as I did that Saturday when 3 people held me as I tried to stand up on the side of the road. I collapsed immediately then and I would now if I walked to the point of fatigue.

So ... I do remember "that limit" he set for me.

He also told me to rest so I could heal. He reminded me that he had sewn a lot of muscle with the new implant as well as muscle torn in my bike wreck and that I needed to rest. But ... he didn't tell me how long to rest. Sitting in a chair count the same if I am laying in bed? Probably not, but at least I am not moving ... so that has to mean some sort of rest.

He didn't give me the numbers my brain needed to know what is good or bad, what is good rest or not enough. He didn't give me a number of steps I need so I still don't know what is too much walking or not enough. "Don't push yourself, I know how you bicyclists think" ... "Listen to  your body and it will tell you how much is too much or not enough"

I understood his instructions ... but I'd like some numbers. 6,000 steps in a day too much? An hour nap not enough? The 'urge' to walk and keep walking ... is that listening to my body?

I don't know the answers to any of those questions really.  Ha Ha

So that is why some blog readers or Facebook followers say be careful after they have read what I have done that day or that week. That is why some friends on Facebook say 'back off' and do only what the doctor tells you.  LOL

I thought I was and think I am following those doctor's orders.

So .... around 3:30am as I am reading Ed Fry's blog that is linked on my sidebar ... I realize that I am not going to get back to sleep. I might as well get up, make some coffee and blog. Really, I have a big urge to write.

Yes ... at 3:45am as the coffee is dripping into the pot, the hound have gone outside then headed back down the dark hallway to go back to sleep in the dark bedroom ... I FELT LIKE BLOGGING !!!!

Just like the times last December when I had moved this blog to a Wordpress blog I had, I felt like writing at all times of the night so there were a few days I was blogging at 4am and was wide awake.

I am not sure what was worse though ... freezing weather outside in December or a cane handle sitting on my desk reminding me my new hip is only 26 days old as of right now and it needs to heal.

or ....

Sitting in a chair reading a book or laying in the prone position in bed with my eyes wide open wondering what in the hell happened that beautiful Saturday morning on September 7th?

Don't take what I said about blog and Facebook comments wrong. I want those comments from all different ideas and beliefs. I have gained a lot of information from comments on the blog and Facebook as well as private emails and texts. The good stuff out numbers the questionable stuff. It more of the "TONE" of how it's said that upset me the other day NOT what she said. She wasn't the first nor the last person to say the same thing about seeing a cardiologist.

It was the 'tone'.

So I guess I will classify this post as rambling, no photos.

I will add that once Stella saw I was blogging she walked from the bedroom to her corner on the right side of my desk and has been sleeping every since with the room light on ... at least she didn't let out a bloodhound howl wanting her breakfast served at 3:56am ... that will probably come later this morning. She LOVES food, I've never seen anything like it with my other hounds.

After all of this ... I only know one thing ... what the doctor told me "listen to your body" and that will tell me what I'm doing today.

It's still dark outside but with the windows open and no cold air blowing anywhere, it's a great morning here in the Wild West ... I need a 2nd cup of coffee.

I'll blog later tonight with some photos of the day.

My Brain Cells Go On A Trip

I knew this morning when I saw the small creek had flooded into the fields, the chances of Stella wanting even a late morning walk would probably not happen. Heidi let me know that she was not staying outside any longer than needed because it was April 20th and 42° with light rain.

Usually when Stella is in this stance she is not going anywhere and is only waiting for me to confirm her decision by walking past her to let her inside the house. It took less than a minute for her to let me know we were going nowhere this morning.

So after pouring my second cup of coffee trying to wake up from my late Friday night of watching the Reds pull out another win in San Diego ... my brain cells floated away down memory lane. Was it the weather outside trying to make me forget it was officially spring or was it something else. I typed realtor dot com into the address bar at the top of the screen and started looking at houses for sale.

That happens when the weather is bad but it normally happens during the middle of winter when it's freezing snow and 7° outside, not Seattle weather in April. Now before you get too excited there is only one area that I would look at with the hounds in tow. All of the other places are for when I get older and might be boundless ... or I am tired of doing yard work or freezing my ass off in the winter.

While looking at houses, condos and even apartments for rent in one specific location, I did this the rest of the morning missing lunch and into the early afternoon. That is how curious I was. A little after 2pm the hounds acted like they wanted outside and I too needed to relieve some of my 'cabin fever' so we were off.

I didn't know that Stella was planning on take an early afternoon walk but that was nice.

She wasn't waiting for me as she silently snuck away while I was checking on where Heidi was at and what she wanted to do. It was 47° but felt colder and a light sprinkle of rain. For the second afternoon in a row, Stella took a walk in a light rain. That is history right there.

Long time blog followers have been on this 'trip' before and heard the same commentary as I move from state to state, large towns to small and from north to south. Today I covered NM, AZ, CO, NV, WA and CA. I reminded myself the reason I was moving was to see the sunshine as many days possible in a years time, with temperatures as high as possible for as many days as it could.

Another words, I need weather in southern Arizona or southern California to do that.

After living in Carlsbad California for close to 10 years I know what the weather is like and that May is the month of fog while December tries to get all the annual rainfall in one month. That's fine, it's not single digits. I have to watch myself though when I look at familiar neighborhoods because where I use to live I cannot afford. Plus I am not a fan of California's political leadership. I went from the coastal towns, looked at La Mesa and as far east as Borrego Springs.

Depending on locations in that state determined whether I looked at houses, condos or possible apartments to rent. Of course this would be years down the road without any hounds. I will admit though, good memories living in that area do cloud my thinking when I try to justify I could live there again.

I also looked again in my old stomping grounds on Whidbey Island, WA. I then reminded myself the reason I was looking to move was for good or great year-round weather. Whidbey Island is beautiful with the Cascade mountains only an hour away by car, Seattle a few hours away with today's traffic and Ft Ebey SP just minutes away. I also enjoyed the 10 years I lived there.

I did glance at Colorado, the two towns I lived in the early 90's and a couple that sparked my interest a few years ago. Yet, if I want snow and cold winters, I can stay where I am.

When I think of small towns in southern Arizona there is always one thought and not what you might think. No it's not immigrants traveling through the area but what will the water availability be like 10 or 15 years from now? I'm serious. Out there in rural small town Arizona water is more valuable than gold and seems to be disappearing in some mysterious ways.

Still the thought of being warm during the winter made me feel better ... then I remembered seeing the snow somewhere in southern Arizona where RVsue lives. Maybe what I want is winter or year-round weather is no longer possible. No ... Florida is not an option.

If you had not noticed in the photos, Stella started our walk taking the return path and then cutting over to the regular outward path in this next photo.

It might sound strange considering where I live now and from the pictures you see on the blog but I can see myself living in one of those small townhouses in Borrego Springs, CA. I always have a good feeling when I look in that area and at that property. A few of the townhouses have been for sale over 550 days.

La Mesa CA interests me because I could use public transportation and get to San Diego Padre games only 12 miles away. I'd have great winter weather and a lot of activity would be within walking distance. Maybe an over 55 complex might be the way to go in that area.

I could go as far east as Escondido or Vista or San Marco in northern San Diego County. Of course when I rode my bicycle through all of that area in the late 1970's it was all orange groves and now it is wall to wall houses. I remember when I flew down to visit friends in that area in 1994 I didn't like all the changes and the huge population/traffic explosion ... so I moved to Indiana, where I am now.

Of course all of this brain cell tripping could be just a case of things "always look greener on the other side of the fence" or it could also mean in a few years I will be ready to pack up and get out of cold winters.

So what location would I be looking at when the hounds would be coming with me ?? New Mexico. I've looked at a couple of towns since 2010 off and on. I saw the other day NM is now one of the three states that are popular with retirees. Ara over at The Oasis Of My Soul has given me a lot of good information about the town he lives in.

Like anywhere in any state, all towns large or small have their own plus and minuses. Compromise is a needed feature anytime you move. I can say though that everywhere I have lived in my life I have really enjoyed my time there. I have never lived in NM but have traveled through it numerous times by car, VW Bus and bicycle.

It does get cold in that town and they do get snow in Alamogordo but rarely more than an inch or two and it is usually gone within 24 hours. If you want snow, the mountains are 20 minutes away. I have always enjoyed the time I have visited towns in the high desert.

Like I have said many times though, where I am now is perfect for the hounds. I cannot beat this 7 acre field anywhere that I look at property out west. I also enjoy a lot of the benefits living in this area. I'll not list everything but this small town had a higher livability rating than any of the towns I have looked at out west. Now if I can just remember what that website was called that gave every town or city a 'livability' rating, I could check out some more information.

Another telling sign is, when I get in moods like this and consider different moves, it usually takes me only one walk through the field to pull those run-away brain cells back into formation where I can think logically and find out this place is hard to beat. I like hot and humid weather, it's just being delayed this year.I will continue to look at property just like I did this morning.  :)

Yesterday was my first day in a very long time that I ate food without logging it into my phone app and then later manually inputting some data from that app into my spreadsheets. I had no problem getting through the change. I bought nothing different when I shopped for groceries yesterday.

It is the late night baseball games that is killing me this past week. Last night the game went 11 innings which put us past 1am. I also think looking at the city skyline during that game in San Diego and remembering just how many Padre games I use to attend, in a different stadium, may have brought on those thoughts about moving back to the San Diego area.

The thought of living in southern California again, maybe in a condo with no yard work, does spark my interest more than it should.

It will be interesting to see what Stella does in a few days at the end of her walk when the weather is sunny, no rain and back to the high 70's. Will she still walk as close to the house as she can or in the middle of the yard where it will be nice and warm.

Luckily the Reds game starts an hour or two earlier tonight but I still might need a short siesta this afternoon if I am going to make it through another 9 innings of baseball. Otherwise I'll make a new cup of coffee, log back into realtor dot com and let my brains cells take me on further travels.

Seattle winter weather today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

More Changes In Store ??

For the new readers I will warn you, I ALWAYS change my mind on things. ALWAYS. Some changes are good, others are out of curiosity or possible boredom and some have been quite expensive financially. Sometimes the changes are diet related, internet browsers, NEVER computer brand names, and sleep times. I know, not really interesting most likely. Late last night I was wondering if my latest diet change was going to work ... or last.

At 9:44pm I had a craving for a fast food cheeseburger so strong I considered driving 12 miles away to get one. Then I had doubt about the plant-based diet, adding grain back to my diet because I felt just a little indigestion after eating a slice of multi-grain wheat bread with natural peanut butter. A commenter reminded me by what he said ... no matter what diet you follow, death is the end result.

Like him, I also knew vegans, workout addicts that died young. I knew of old people that started smoking cigarettes in their teens and lived to their late 90's. There are heart attacks every day, some fat people, some skinny, younger or older. So it made me think for a short time about what I was doing but it did not take long for me to confirm what I was doing was the right thing to do. At least for me.

I may have misled some readers with the linked article about the study that showed reversing the amount of plaque in arteries. My commenter had a "widow maker" heart attack a couple of years ago. He knows about arteries and I am sure his surgeon updated him quickly on recommended eating methods. I remember in 1987 when a heart surgeon told my dad the same information after his quadruple by-pass surgery.

So let's say that medical study I linked was bogus and there is no way to reverse plaque build up in arteries ... diets can still make a difference in what happens from this day forward. Do I want to add to that arterial plaque build up by what I eat or do I want o minimize it by changing the food I eat?

I've read other cardiac doctors talk of tests they have proved reversal can be done. So who knows? Who do you believe?

I still wanted that cheeseburger.

I'll go back to what I said in yesterday's post ... bottom line ... a plant based diet will not hurt you, where a Keto or Paleo Diet could hurt you. Medical studies prove that. I just can't get over that paradigm that fat is not good for you.

So I am giving my latest food changes three weeks, until April 7th, before I even consider changing my eating habits. I might decide to put dairy, meat, seafood and chicken back on my daily menu. Then again, I don't plan to make drastic changes like that anymore. I know there will be challenges up ahead as I make this change.

I had my first night in many months last night, where I slept without getting up or waking up. The sleep app on my Apple Watch will even record if I sit up in bed or if I wake up while laying down, right down to the minute. I also had over 50% of my sleep noted as "restful" and positive sleep rhyme and heart rate dip. Those are different than my past sleeping habits. It was my second day of eating no dairy.

I had a bowl of oatmeal this morning. That in itself is a big 'test' because I will find out if I am going to have any kind of indigestion or not. I use to, sometimes quite intense. I will also be adding grains again today for the second day in a row and will find out if I have any negative responses to that.

POSSIBLE CHANGE ... the time of day that I publish my daily post.

I use to do that a few years ago. It seemed like the right time to do it. Posting them after my morning walk and before lunch seems to eliminate a lot of Heidi photos or afternoon photos because I rarely post twice per day. I know this spring and summer while I work on my 'to do' list, I will not have time to post twice per day and some days will not post at all.

Like I have said before, when I post once per day I have too many photos in that post. Even now as I am writing this I feel like posting it as soon as I am finished and probably will ... LOL As you see I did post right after I was finished.

It's good to see my 10-day forecast showing a lot of days with high temps in the 60s and the overnight low temps in the 40's. So this heavy frost and freezing this morning may be our last time for really cold weather for the year.

I hope so. I'm more than ready for spring

Will it take my body three weeks to get used to grains being back in my diet? There is a reason I asked that. I feel very slight irritation after having oatmeal two hours ago.

Not a cloud in the sky this morning.

I don't know why my neighbors tv antenna caught my eye this morning. That's an electrical rotor about four feet below the antenna, used to change the direction of the antenna with a controller inside that use to sit on a tv. Young readers will not have a clue about what I am talking about, older readers will.

Even today with HD signals ... that antenna pointed that direction will pull in CBS, NBC and FOX perfect on an older tv with an analog signal. The ABC affiliate is SW where the antenna is pointed NW. Mine worked perfect for years until they replaced the analog signal with HD. That changed the screen on my large Sony tv I had at the time.

The banner showing the scores of any ballgame in any sport was being cut off my screen, where I couldn't see the score or I would see only part of the score. I was forced to buy an HD tv if I wanted to continue watching games.

I doubt that he uses that antenna anymore, which has been up for over 30 years. I see a DishNetwork satellite dish in his yard so he probably found the same thing I did and was forced to change years ago.

Does anyone know how well a satellite tv signal works with streaming tv online? Maybe I need to make a call to HughGen 5 today and see what my options are again. I still have one year to go on my DishNetwork contract and I am not sure I want to pay the fee to break it with 12 months to go but I am really curious about streaming tv games through my internet signal.

I did this same research I last spring or winter.

As you see Stella still needs to walk as close to the house as possible ONLY AFTER the morning walk. In the afternoon she will walk down the center of the backyard to end her walk. How weird is that?

By Wednesday I'll be watching "March Madness" starting at noon. Those games will go nonstop over four channels late into the night. Back to those changes ... one might be a short intro paragraph and 25-30 photos for my blog posts this week. I guess we will see soon enough.

Mind is active, lots of thoughts, but things are okay this morning in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.