Three Steps Forward - Two Steps Back

I saw the surgeon at 2 weeks post surgery, and he was very happy with the knee.  Healing nicely, great extension and great flexion for this stage of healing.  In fact, I am driving!  I got permission to drive just a little 2 weeks after surgery. Unheard of!  But I was off opioids and my knee function was good.  Just shows what state-of-the-art medical technology and surgical procedures as well as a highly skilled surgeon can do.  I am still icing and using Tylenol and walking with a knee sleeve on. In the condo I do walk without any aids mostly.  But when I go out of the condo - even just for the mail. I have the cane with me. Of, course, I am still in PT.  But I am still in awe of the fact that my new right knee is a perfect match to the left knee I was born with. I thank the Mako company for creating the match - and the Mako robot for helping to make a perfect space during surgery to get that new knee “installed."

But my post surgical progress has not been all sun shine and roses! 

With my anemia, my oxygen-carrying blood cell counts and my iron counts have been below normal since my 2023 kidney surgery.  Just before surgery all those counts had greatly improved - some into the normal range.  I was at the best levels in 2 years.  I was stoked!!  Unfortunately with surgery you bleed!  With this surgery, they dipped rather dramatically again.  In fact they dipped lower than I had been for 2 years.  And my body energy made that evident.  That with a UTI I didn’t catch for a few days and lack of sleep from the nerve regeneration pain taking place in my knee at night, I was pretty much a “walking dead” person! 

My surgeon gave me meds for the night time pain - so that got fixed.  The UTI got antibiotics for 5 days so that got fixed. But the bloods counts still dragged on very low so physically I was dragging myself around as well.  Once it was confirmed by the hematologist that my body wasn’t replacing red blood cells after 3 weeks post surgery - they ordered injections of a hormone that will stimulate the production of red blood cells. That is not a forever medicine - just an intervention to give my body a kick start to handle this process on its own.

So I am moving forward, healing and improving.  The world of possibilities is once again ahead of me.

One of those possibilities is knitting.  You would think with all this rest time that I would be knitting, knitting, knitting.  Nope!  It seemed like too much work to even hold the needles and do garter stitch. (Yes, I was that fatigued. I considered breathing my achievement most days during those very fatigued periods.). But that cloud have begun to clear.  Sunday I knitted a row on a shawl.  It was a very long row and it was just garter - but I did it. Today I started planning a second shawl with yarn I got from Stolen Stitches out of Ireland.  I joined a club
call Seasons.  With each season you got a new pattern and the yarn for that pattern. You also got access to the videos that supported you step by step.  I love, love, love this company.  However, below are the pictures and the tale of the summer season pattern and yarn.

So the pattern was a vest that could transition into a shawl.  A rather ingenious design I thought.
I actually was sort of on the fence if I liked this pattern or not.
But it did have nice drape and it isn’t body hugging which I liked. 
So I cast on.

 

The lace pattern itself was pretty.  But I discovered very soon after leaving the garter insert and
getting into the lace section that this pattern was not going to be for me.  I can fix most simple
mistakes in knitting. But I am not good at fixing mistakes when the lace pattern sits
ontop of itself in every single row.  My brain just doesn’t work like that.
So I pulled out the knitting.

Here is the yarn that I chose for this pattern.  It was one of 3 available to me.  
And it is a beautiful yarn - better than the photos show.  And 
I thought initially that it was a better choice for the
pattern than the one the designer chose - as shown in the pictures above.


And the knitting you see above is actually for the pattern in the next picture.

I decided I would do Holden.  This is a pattern I have done before. And when
I wear it I get a lot of compliments.  I planned to do it one more time, only larger.
And I thought this club yarn would be a good choice for the repeat.  

But I was not inspired doing a repeat this time.  I checked my patterns once again.  Rheinlust
was another pattern I wanted to do and it was not a repeat. I think I have settled on
this pattern for that lovely club yarn.

 So with little to no actual knitting accomplished, the planning for my knitting has begun.  I think that is an indication of energy returned - at least I am not focused on just breathing anymore.  And soon I will frog that small knitted piece and cast on this beautiful pattern that has been in my stack of patterns for years - literally years!

So while there have been some steps backwards in the last month - there has been forward movement - and I think I am gaining ground.