Do You Remember "Groudhog Day"?

We are hoping to schedule Jo's next knee surgery for February 2nd, Groundhog Day. Do you remember the Bill Murray movie? Maybe some you remember Andie MacDowell more than you do Bill Murray? It sometimes feels like we are living the same day over and over again.

Jo's surgery had a slight weather delay. We left the house at 5:45am and snow was falling. Anna was in her Christmas dress ready to take a picture with Santa at school today. Jo and I felt a bit like reindeer with Baby Santa perched in her seat in the back. Everybody at the hospital was talking about how long it took to get to work. Dr. Kelly seemed a little flustered from the 3 to 5 mph average commute speed.

Jo did see her shadow and we are expecting a very short winter...I mean the surgery went as expected. Dr. Kelly says her cartilage looks great and she did inject some stem cells into one area of necrosis. The knee is a more complicated joint than the hip or the shoulder and getting to certain areas would require doing damage to other areas.

Okay, the truth is that I was pretty tired this morning and I didn't understand some of the things Dr. Kelly told me and what I did understand, I have already forgotten. Jo will have a follow-up with Dr. Kelly within the next 10 days and I'll make sure that better notes are taken!

For now, just think of a football player on the sidelines with his knee wrapped in ice. That's pretty much what we have going on here today.

On Track for Wednesday

Anna has now finished her third Thanksgiving weekend, but this one was special because she took on many of the cooking duties. She seemed to be inspired by her new hat!

We are on track for an early morning show-time with Dr. Kelly on Wednesday morning for Jo's first knee surgery. We are hoping that the knees are similar to the shoulders and Jo is allowed to come home without staying overnight.

Our plan is to get Jo through two weeks in Denver and then send her and Anna down to Texas through Christmas and New Year's. Right now, Jo is being told that she will need to be on crutches for 4 to 6 weeks, but she was also expected to be on pain medication for more than 24 hours after each shoulder...

Shoulder Progress

Jo's shoulder is coming along nicely. The pain is slowly going away and she says that her range of motion is up to about 75% of normal. She went Salsa dancing with the girls two nights ago and that was a good test. She was able to get through the night pretty good. There are a lot of Salsa moves that take both hands over your head, so she definitely put her shoulder through some paces.

Jo's first knee surgery has tentatively been set for Wednesday, November 28th.