On Sunday morning the office “liar” claimed it was 5F. The forecast was for 10F during the night. The house was around 60F as my son was gone and hadn’t been there to do stoves.
Between coughing bouts, I spent most of the day trying to raise the house temp into the 70’s. The office finally made it by 3PM, the masonry heater around noontime.
I’d gotten a load in the dishwasher and mostly rested and read all day. My left knee was a little sore, especially when I got into bed. But I was far more concerned about the coughing and my sore stomach muscles.
The temps were to rise during the night and we were to have an ice storm by morning.
On Monday morning I was up at 6AM, coughing, and at 7AM went to go outside, only to discover everything had ¼” of ice on it. It seemed sort of loose so I tried to sweep it but that didn’t work. So that meant I had to get to the sand bucket without mishap and start heavy sanding.
I managed to do that just fine, using lots of sand. Then I got the birds fed as they had emptied the feeders.
Of course, once inside, I was coughing so I went and sat in my chair until it calmed down. That’s when I discovered I couldn’t bend my knee without a good deal of pain. Plus it was swollen to twice the size of the other one.
So I called my new doctor’s office and got an appointment with him mid morning. My #1 intern agreed to drive me over. The doctor couldn’t figure out what had happened, so he sent me to the ortho office that’s on my way home for a walk in appointment to get an X-ray.
The wait was to be 1½ hours. Once I finally got in, they X-rayed the knee and the ankle and determined I am starting arthritis. But that didn’t seem to explain the swelling.
My #1 intern left to tend the stoves and she kindly brought in more wood while waiting for them to burn.
So I was sent home at 2PM in a brace to keep from bending the knee until the swelling reduced. No other treatment or meds.
Well, let me tell you, it does stop the pain, but trying to get onto and off the couch or my chair, or just get around was a much bigger PIA. By 7PM I was fed up and took it off.
I got the house ready for the night and as I went to take my night time supplements, I got to thinking if it’s pain and swelling, maybe ibuprofen might help. So I took some and went to bed.
I woke in the night coughing and it was better when I got up, though still some pain. So I took more ibuprophen.
I’m hoping I can control it for a while with as needed ibuprophen. We’ll see. Just what I need, something else to keep me immobile just when I’m starting to try to lose weight. Sigh….
On Tuesday I hope to get all the stuff I planned to do on Monday done: clean the kitchen, laundry, pay bills/budget, etc. My helper friend will be here mid morning and he has errands and chores to do. It’s to be a cold cloudy day so lots of stove tending.