How can one have snow and then green grass the next day? Just live in Minnesota. Yesterday we awoke to another light April snow, today we awoke to green grass. As I looked out the window I was reminded that soon the riding lawn mower would be removed from the shed and I would be making the passes, back and forth across our lawn in summer gear. Woo Hoo!
The joy of watching the birds peck and hunt in our front and back yards is a spring time joy. We have a pair of robins that squat under our deck eaves, alternating each year. They use one next one year and the other the next. I wonder which nest it will be this year; the robins have been hunting in the yard a lot lately. I have not seen the flickers yet. They come to our back yard each spring, a sure sign that spring is here and seed time will begin.
The river is finally starting to drop from the high of over 16 and 6/10 feet. It runs wild and free, way out of the backs and onto the fields still. It is receding finally. It is going to be a very late seed time this year and we probably won't be able to see all of our fields. The field north of Badger is the only field that looks even close to getting dry enough to drive a drill onto.
Following the rain and snow we had on the Sunday was the worse driving conditions on our country roads I have ever encountered. The roads are greasy and rutted no matter where I drove. Today is it partly cloudy and I don't think there is any rain in the forecast so hopefully they will dry out; the grader will come by and all will be well again.
Perhaps a little total hip replacement (thr) and total knee replacement (tkr) update should be noted. It is amazing how quickly the body recovers from surgery. Except for periodic stiffness and not always having the range of motion I would like to have, things are wonderful.
At this point, most days I can fairly run up and down stairs, walk a mile or two easily, sleep through the night without any pain, and generally feel better than I have in years. The terrible back pain I experiences prior to my hip replacement is gone, although once in a while I do have some back pain on the other side. This is annoying but livable pain; after all I have arthritis along my lower spine with many spurs to deal with. Would I advise these surgeries? Definitely!
There is lots to do at work, the Minnesota History test to complete, a news article to put together and some research to do. Time to head into work.
Life on the Haugen Farm
Showing posts with label total hip replacement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label total hip replacement. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Year One total hip replacement checkup
Yesterday was my one year checkup for my total hip replacement. Dr. Schall (Bone & Joint Clinic - Grand Forks, ND) also checked out my total knee replacement, my back (I have some arthritis deterioration in my spine), my other hip and knee. The prognosis was excellent, I do not have to see him for another year. Woo Hoo!
The probably reason for having this good report was due to following his instructions and doing many exercises. Over the past few weeks these are the changes I have become aware of:
1. less stiffness
2. more range of motion, dropping the level of the seat on my stationary bike by 1/4 inch increments when able to rotate easily.
3. walking 2 miles without pain or icing
4. no noticeable limp
5. sleeping through the night without a pillow between knees without pain
6. swimming 10-12 laps of all strokes consistently
7. more energy
I do not do the exercises recommended following surgery more than once or twice a week now and focus more on swimming, riding the stationary bike, and walking. Cross-training has helped increase my endurance and muscle tone.
If you are considering thr or tkr, follow through, it has been the best thing I have done for myself in many years. I had considerable back pain prior to my hip replacement which was relieved following my thr. In fact, I woke up from surgery without any back pain and have had very little since.
On to other areas.
Ardmore is definitely thinking spring. He has taken several trips to the Valley looking at grain trucks. Our old Ford needs to be replaced. He is thinking of a tag-axle, I want a tandem axle. He will make that decision and I will just go along with whatever he does.
We are worried about a wet spring. Last falls harvest was pretty wet and March has ended as a lion not a lamb. The beginning of April looks like it is going to be a lion also. After the beautiful weather prior to the snow on March 25 and some after that, it looks like Christmas not April. With only one month until we should be well into seeding, it looks like it isn't going too well. Farming is certainly at the mercy of the weather and northwest Minnesota is in the clutches of winter still.
The roads yesterday during the trip to and from Grand Forks left a lot to be desired. On the way, the roads were good to Thief River Falls then the predicted snow began and the roads became miserable in places, lots of drifting. On the way back the roads were not bad until after Thief River Falls. The wind had switched to the east and was drifting heavily on the east side of the road and I was driving north. At one time a semi had some problems on the west lane and the traffic from both north and south had come to a complete stop. A sheriff and a MN highway patrol car were preventing traffic from going in either direction. Finally we were given the go ahead but the driving was not fun. Roseau County had plowed though and from Strathcona on the road was pretty good until I reached highway 3 north of Badger. That was the worst road I had traveled on all day! I am home without incident though.
I did take some time to go to the mall in GF. Forgot to go to Bath and Body which was one of my main stops. Such in life, now I have to go back again or order online. I didn't even stop for lunch, just went straight home.
Today our granddaughter and husband begin the move into their new home. I am excited for them. I think they will find the home will bring them great satisfaction. I am excited to have Damen have a room of his own. That is so important. She now will be able to put him to bed and let him cry when she needs to. She can have a room for her exercise equipment, plus having a swimming pool and jacuzzi will be a benefit for them all.
The Roseau County Historical Society final Woman's History Month event went very well. I will do an update on the Red Hat and the Quilt event tomorrow.
Thought for the day: See this special spiritual thought Here
The probably reason for having this good report was due to following his instructions and doing many exercises. Over the past few weeks these are the changes I have become aware of:
1. less stiffness
2. more range of motion, dropping the level of the seat on my stationary bike by 1/4 inch increments when able to rotate easily.
3. walking 2 miles without pain or icing
4. no noticeable limp
5. sleeping through the night without a pillow between knees without pain
6. swimming 10-12 laps of all strokes consistently
7. more energy
I do not do the exercises recommended following surgery more than once or twice a week now and focus more on swimming, riding the stationary bike, and walking. Cross-training has helped increase my endurance and muscle tone.
If you are considering thr or tkr, follow through, it has been the best thing I have done for myself in many years. I had considerable back pain prior to my hip replacement which was relieved following my thr. In fact, I woke up from surgery without any back pain and have had very little since.
On to other areas.
Ardmore is definitely thinking spring. He has taken several trips to the Valley looking at grain trucks. Our old Ford needs to be replaced. He is thinking of a tag-axle, I want a tandem axle. He will make that decision and I will just go along with whatever he does.
We are worried about a wet spring. Last falls harvest was pretty wet and March has ended as a lion not a lamb. The beginning of April looks like it is going to be a lion also. After the beautiful weather prior to the snow on March 25 and some after that, it looks like Christmas not April. With only one month until we should be well into seeding, it looks like it isn't going too well. Farming is certainly at the mercy of the weather and northwest Minnesota is in the clutches of winter still.
The roads yesterday during the trip to and from Grand Forks left a lot to be desired. On the way, the roads were good to Thief River Falls then the predicted snow began and the roads became miserable in places, lots of drifting. On the way back the roads were not bad until after Thief River Falls. The wind had switched to the east and was drifting heavily on the east side of the road and I was driving north. At one time a semi had some problems on the west lane and the traffic from both north and south had come to a complete stop. A sheriff and a MN highway patrol car were preventing traffic from going in either direction. Finally we were given the go ahead but the driving was not fun. Roseau County had plowed though and from Strathcona on the road was pretty good until I reached highway 3 north of Badger. That was the worst road I had traveled on all day! I am home without incident though.
I did take some time to go to the mall in GF. Forgot to go to Bath and Body which was one of my main stops. Such in life, now I have to go back again or order online. I didn't even stop for lunch, just went straight home.
Today our granddaughter and husband begin the move into their new home. I am excited for them. I think they will find the home will bring them great satisfaction. I am excited to have Damen have a room of his own. That is so important. She now will be able to put him to bed and let him cry when she needs to. She can have a room for her exercise equipment, plus having a swimming pool and jacuzzi will be a benefit for them all.
The Roseau County Historical Society final Woman's History Month event went very well. I will do an update on the Red Hat and the Quilt event tomorrow.
Thought for the day: See this special spiritual thought Here
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Woman's History Month and a little knee rehabilitation
Things are moving right along with the exhibit setup for the upcoming Woman's History Month. Last evening several of the women were in working on exhibits, helping with signage, and taking publicity photos. It is getting very exciting! We are now moving into the final two weeks before we have our grand opening. Wow!
Two classrooms have materialized, a early 20th century and a modern one. The educators involved in the exhibits have put in many hours, especially on the modern classroom, ensuring that it represents every aspect of what a classroom of today has in it. We even have a set of lockers!
Britt and I have been working hard and furious trying to get the signage ready within this next week for the exhibits. One of the hardest things to work with are the photos we have access to. Many of them come from books, including school yearbooks. The quality is not always good and they are hard to improve. We try to make up for it by improving the signage. Every once in a while, some additional glitches appear, today we found out that the individual we thought was the first principal or superintend was not correct. Ouch! We have no idea where to go from here with that one. Hopefully someone will do some research and the info will turn up, with a photo too.
I have been trying to increase my range of motion on the tkr and yesterday I dropped my stationary bike seat down about 1/4 inch. This may not seem like much but believe me the first time one tries to pedal, you know you have changed something. The interesting thing about pedaling on a stationary bike and rocking in a wooden rocking chair is that they really help not only with the flexibility but also with the pain. I do ice after exercising most days. It helps with inflammation and also pain. I also do a lot of massaging of my knee (and hip) as this seems to improve circulation and helps ease pain. I am past seven months on the total knee replacement and close to a year on the hip replacement. The hip seems to just improve constantly without any real work other than exercising, including walking and biking. My goal is to purchase a 5-speed bike this summer and work toward riding the full six miles from here to Ross and back or to highway 3 and back. That should give me a good workout. The key to recovery really seems to be exercise.
Biking brought back so many memories of when our older two children were young. We lived in Hoyt Lakes Minnesota when they were young. Michelle graduated from Aurora-Hoyt Lakes High School; Brian wanted to graduate from Roseau, which turned out to be the same year James started school. This led to our moving permanently to the Haugen family farm in Roseau. Hoyt Lakes really catered to young families back then. It has wonderful bike paths, at that time a life guard at Colby beach, two nice playgrounds; one of which we lived right across the street. Brian fell from the top of the slide while climbing up the slide, not the steps, one day and broke his arm. By the time it was ready to come off, he had gone through 3 casts. Why you may ask, because he hung from the monkey bars by the cast and went swimming with it on (covered but...) several times.
Back to the biking. One of our favorite activities was to bike out to Fisherman's Point, which was about 2-2.5 miles from out house. We usually stopped at the gas station and bought some pop and took some bread to feed the ducks that weren't suppose to be fed. :) We also enjoyed riding to the St. Louis River which was about three miles way. We skipped rocks there. Now we would probably go farther because a paved road goes to the North Shore very close to the river. I was in much better shape then, you can imagine. Good memories!
Two classrooms have materialized, a early 20th century and a modern one. The educators involved in the exhibits have put in many hours, especially on the modern classroom, ensuring that it represents every aspect of what a classroom of today has in it. We even have a set of lockers!
Britt and I have been working hard and furious trying to get the signage ready within this next week for the exhibits. One of the hardest things to work with are the photos we have access to. Many of them come from books, including school yearbooks. The quality is not always good and they are hard to improve. We try to make up for it by improving the signage. Every once in a while, some additional glitches appear, today we found out that the individual we thought was the first principal or superintend was not correct. Ouch! We have no idea where to go from here with that one. Hopefully someone will do some research and the info will turn up, with a photo too.
I have been trying to increase my range of motion on the tkr and yesterday I dropped my stationary bike seat down about 1/4 inch. This may not seem like much but believe me the first time one tries to pedal, you know you have changed something. The interesting thing about pedaling on a stationary bike and rocking in a wooden rocking chair is that they really help not only with the flexibility but also with the pain. I do ice after exercising most days. It helps with inflammation and also pain. I also do a lot of massaging of my knee (and hip) as this seems to improve circulation and helps ease pain. I am past seven months on the total knee replacement and close to a year on the hip replacement. The hip seems to just improve constantly without any real work other than exercising, including walking and biking. My goal is to purchase a 5-speed bike this summer and work toward riding the full six miles from here to Ross and back or to highway 3 and back. That should give me a good workout. The key to recovery really seems to be exercise.
Biking brought back so many memories of when our older two children were young. We lived in Hoyt Lakes Minnesota when they were young. Michelle graduated from Aurora-Hoyt Lakes High School; Brian wanted to graduate from Roseau, which turned out to be the same year James started school. This led to our moving permanently to the Haugen family farm in Roseau. Hoyt Lakes really catered to young families back then. It has wonderful bike paths, at that time a life guard at Colby beach, two nice playgrounds; one of which we lived right across the street. Brian fell from the top of the slide while climbing up the slide, not the steps, one day and broke his arm. By the time it was ready to come off, he had gone through 3 casts. Why you may ask, because he hung from the monkey bars by the cast and went swimming with it on (covered but...) several times.
Back to the biking. One of our favorite activities was to bike out to Fisherman's Point, which was about 2-2.5 miles from out house. We usually stopped at the gas station and bought some pop and took some bread to feed the ducks that weren't suppose to be fed. :) We also enjoyed riding to the St. Louis River which was about three miles way. We skipped rocks there. Now we would probably go farther because a paved road goes to the North Shore very close to the river. I was in much better shape then, you can imagine. Good memories!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
How is the hip and knee?
Perhaps it is time to put some perspective into having hip (THR) and knee (TKR) replacement for those who are contemplating it or are recovering from both or either surgeries.
It has been ten months since I had thr on my right hip. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate my hip at an 8 1/2. It is the best thing I have done for myself in many years. I had suffered with terrible back pain for quite a while and had almost given up on being able to have relief when I had an MRI that gave a diagnosis of severe hip degeneration. Once my hip was replaced, my back pain disappeared! I also didn't realize how out of shape I was. PT was a struggle but it taught me that I needed to get into better physical shape. I began exercising and walking and then decided it was time to have my knee replaced. By the time I had my knee surgery, I was walking about 2 miles and my knee wasn't as bad as it had been even though I knew it needed replacing. I think if I would have known there was going to be so much pain during the recovery and that it was going to take so long, I would not have done the tkr. Would that have been good or bad? I don't know and won't ever know. As it is right now, I can say, it is definitely improving now. my range of motion is still not what I would be happy with but I find I can climb up and down stairs fairly easily, especially after riding the stationary bike. The key to recovery from tkr is riding a stationary bike and rocking in a wooden rocking chair or glider. Bending the foot back as far as can be handled and holding there for as long as possible also increases range of motion. I enjoy walking but lately our weather is just not allowing for that outside, today we had -5F and 15 mile winds bringing the windchill to -29F. Definitely not walking weather. I have gone to Lake Therapy two times this past week and ride the bike daily or at least 5 times a week. Winter is not a good time to have tkr or thr as far as I am concerned. One is too concerned about falling, I have gotten past that point now, and the chances of it happening are greater due to the lack of balance and strength in the leg that you had the surgery in. For my knee, I requested PT for six weeks prior to surgery so I would have an easier recovery. I needed that, the recovery has been difficult. Enough about tkr and thr.
We were able to make some real progress on Friday. STS came in around 1 and spent the rest of the day working. We ran into some road blocks when we called for Masonite, it won't be in until the middle of next week. STS removed several items from exhibits and helped with other things that needed to be done.
Today, I dedicated myself to Primary and designed the calendar and the opening exercise handouts. With that done, I can now focus on work again.I started writing two grants so will try to complete them next.
For pleasure, I am reading The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. It is a poignant story about the death of child and a grieving father's recovery. Even though it is fiction, it reminds one that life it not fair and we live on earth.
I can tell it is cold tonight, the window above my head is cooler than normal. I guess that means it is time to curl under and warm up and sleep.
It has been ten months since I had thr on my right hip. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate my hip at an 8 1/2. It is the best thing I have done for myself in many years. I had suffered with terrible back pain for quite a while and had almost given up on being able to have relief when I had an MRI that gave a diagnosis of severe hip degeneration. Once my hip was replaced, my back pain disappeared! I also didn't realize how out of shape I was. PT was a struggle but it taught me that I needed to get into better physical shape. I began exercising and walking and then decided it was time to have my knee replaced. By the time I had my knee surgery, I was walking about 2 miles and my knee wasn't as bad as it had been even though I knew it needed replacing. I think if I would have known there was going to be so much pain during the recovery and that it was going to take so long, I would not have done the tkr. Would that have been good or bad? I don't know and won't ever know. As it is right now, I can say, it is definitely improving now. my range of motion is still not what I would be happy with but I find I can climb up and down stairs fairly easily, especially after riding the stationary bike. The key to recovery from tkr is riding a stationary bike and rocking in a wooden rocking chair or glider. Bending the foot back as far as can be handled and holding there for as long as possible also increases range of motion. I enjoy walking but lately our weather is just not allowing for that outside, today we had -5F and 15 mile winds bringing the windchill to -29F. Definitely not walking weather. I have gone to Lake Therapy two times this past week and ride the bike daily or at least 5 times a week. Winter is not a good time to have tkr or thr as far as I am concerned. One is too concerned about falling, I have gotten past that point now, and the chances of it happening are greater due to the lack of balance and strength in the leg that you had the surgery in. For my knee, I requested PT for six weeks prior to surgery so I would have an easier recovery. I needed that, the recovery has been difficult. Enough about tkr and thr.
We were able to make some real progress on Friday. STS came in around 1 and spent the rest of the day working. We ran into some road blocks when we called for Masonite, it won't be in until the middle of next week. STS removed several items from exhibits and helped with other things that needed to be done.
Today, I dedicated myself to Primary and designed the calendar and the opening exercise handouts. With that done, I can now focus on work again.I started writing two grants so will try to complete them next.
For pleasure, I am reading The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. It is a poignant story about the death of child and a grieving father's recovery. Even though it is fiction, it reminds one that life it not fair and we live on earth.
I can tell it is cold tonight, the window above my head is cooler than normal. I guess that means it is time to curl under and warm up and sleep.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Museum Trips
Britt and I spent an exciting three days going to Brookings South Dakota for some training on the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Between Fences Monday through Wednesday. We managed to squeeze in three museums and besides the South Dakota Agriculture Museum where the Between Fences was displayed.
About 12 of us met for the workshop which was very enlightening. It will be enjoyable to design exhibits to highlight our area and how fences/borders affect our way of life. Living on the Canadian border gives us a way to expand our exhibit.
Snow fences will be added of course! Monday when we left it was 40 below Fahrenheit. That is cold! We never saw anything below -1 F while gone, and I didn't see snow either although there was ground drifting on the way home most of the way.
For several years, I had been wanting to see the King Tut exhibit but it was always too far away. We were driving in Watertown on Tuesday, after going to the Terry Redlin museum, looking for a place to eat when Britt noticed a sign advertising the King Tut museum. It was on display in Watertown! Needless to say, on Wednesday morning we went to the exhibition. We spent about two hours examining this wonderful collection. I was very disappointed to see we were the only ones there.
The Terry Redlin museum is always an enjoyable experience. They have put a cabin in the lower level now which adds a new dimension. I counted the number of art pieces he did in 1980 and came up with 10. It is amazing to think he could do ten in a year with the wonderful details he places in his work. I purchased a puzzle and will have to set it up tonight.
The thing that pleased me most was the fact that I could be on my feet so much without any back or knee pain. I did get a little stiff and sat in the hot tub on Tuesday night but other than that it was a piece of cake. I can see that both the thr and tkr have made a lot of difference in my quality of life. It was nice to be back in my own bed last night though.
Well today will be spend working on a grant, it needs to be sent off.
About 12 of us met for the workshop which was very enlightening. It will be enjoyable to design exhibits to highlight our area and how fences/borders affect our way of life. Living on the Canadian border gives us a way to expand our exhibit.
Snow fences will be added of course! Monday when we left it was 40 below Fahrenheit. That is cold! We never saw anything below -1 F while gone, and I didn't see snow either although there was ground drifting on the way home most of the way.
For several years, I had been wanting to see the King Tut exhibit but it was always too far away. We were driving in Watertown on Tuesday, after going to the Terry Redlin museum, looking for a place to eat when Britt noticed a sign advertising the King Tut museum. It was on display in Watertown! Needless to say, on Wednesday morning we went to the exhibition. We spent about two hours examining this wonderful collection. I was very disappointed to see we were the only ones there.
The Terry Redlin museum is always an enjoyable experience. They have put a cabin in the lower level now which adds a new dimension. I counted the number of art pieces he did in 1980 and came up with 10. It is amazing to think he could do ten in a year with the wonderful details he places in his work. I purchased a puzzle and will have to set it up tonight.
The thing that pleased me most was the fact that I could be on my feet so much without any back or knee pain. I did get a little stiff and sat in the hot tub on Tuesday night but other than that it was a piece of cake. I can see that both the thr and tkr have made a lot of difference in my quality of life. It was nice to be back in my own bed last night though.
Well today will be spend working on a grant, it needs to be sent off.
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