Month: August 2013

Tonight we travel into San Francisco to see the fabled Beach Blanket Babylon with Karen and George. We have been here in California over 20 years and we are finally going to see it! John and I look semi-presentable for the occasion.

John is doing the driving and it seems that we have left way too much time to get to the city. Hah! It takes an hour and a half to go about 40 miles. Why is everyone going into the city tonight?! We reach our destination, Capp’s Corner Tavern, and search about for a parking space. Hilariously we mistakenly pull into a mortuary parking lot. A fellow, whom we assumed was the parking attendant, moves the traffic cones so we can get in. John is curious as to why he hasn’t been charge upfront for the parking. So everyone has a good laugh and John and George go off to find a different parking space while Karen and I commandeer the table.

Capp’s Corner Tavern is right next door to the theater and has been in business for a long time serving traditional Italian-American food. Karen and George have chicken parmigiano, John has sausages and polenta and I have calamari steak. It is all good.

Then it’s time for the show! The storyline is that Snow White is looking for love and travels around the world looking for her prince. She meets lots of outlandish characters wearing amazing hair or hats in her search. The singing is fabulous and the dialogue is really funny. We have a great time. It was definitely worth the wait.

It has been much too long since we have see Sam and Nathan! We went on our anniversary trip and then they went with their Gram and Gramps to Disneyland and then I had my knee surgery… it seems like life conspired to keep us from grandchildren hugs.

I am a little nervous about my knee. I know that it is possible that an overexuberant little boy could accidently bump into it. I sit down with them right away and show them my knee arthroscopy booklet. They seem quite interested in the picture of the knee and the idea of a tiny camera looking around inside my knee. I show them my knee which really looks like nothing except two little slits. It is a little anticlimactic.

We play some stuff. I show Nathan my new “pipes” game and my jigsaw puzzle game on my iPad. He quickly starts playing and winning. John and Sam are in the other room busily making things with Legos.

At lunch time we head over to Main St. Brewery. There are some baseball games on. We have a big discussion about baseball and the terms used, like bullpen and dugout. It’s fun. Then we go to Toys R Us for some shopping.

Sam chooses a Duplo set, Rescue Helicopter.

Nathan opts for the Lego’s Hero Factory, Furno.

We spend the rest of the afternoon playing with the new sets. Sam and I put together his rescue station and he enjoys saving the lady. He also enjoys saving a small house.

Nathan’s Furno has more than 100 small pieces. He and John sit together at the dining room table while Nathan puts his figure together. He needs no help from John who busies himself making a Star Wars scenario out of Legos.

We have a really nice day. It has been so good to see them again.

On my first foray out since my knee surgery, we visit Eileen and Jim who are housesitting for Ali and Van. They have also gotten in some excellent grandparenting time. Eli is one of the cutest babies ever.

Ali and Van live in the Presidio. It is really beautiful there. They have great vistas of the bay and Golden Gate Bridge. Our first order of business is getting me from the car and into the house. Who knew that stepping over the threshold could be so difficult? Then we have a nice lunch and catch up on all that’s going on with them. And of course it wouldn’t be a visit with the Kendalls without Jim breaking out his portable guitar for a few tunes. Seems like we’ve already forgotten most of the words to “I Am a Apeman” that we learned to sing in Hawaii!

After a while we head down towards Crissy Field by the water. We have lucked in on seeing the America’s Cup boats practicing. They really go fast. I wonder if Captain Larry is aboard the Oracle boat.

What I nice day we have. Hopefully we shall meet up again while they are here in the Bay Area.

I go to see the ortho guy in Walnut Creek and he decides that I need my knee scoped. After that things happen quickly. There is a cancellation and I am scheduled for August 5. Okay, let’s get this over with.

I am given booklets of happy people after their surgery. It looks like a piece of cake. Just do some exercises. You can go back to work in a couple of days. It won’t be long until you are skiing again. (Many of the “after” pictures show people skiing.)

We go to Walnut Creek for the surgery. It is quite busy. People are telling me stuff. I keep reminding them that I am allergic to a lot of things. I get a general anesthetic. I wake up. It’s done. It doesn’t hurt at all! I stand. I walk. This is just like the booklet!

They give me some crutches to take home but really I don’t need them. The next morning I am still fine. We go food shopping. A little ibuprofen is all I need. Wait, what’s this? Pain? Around 5 PM my knee starts hurting like crazy. What happened? I find out that after surgery they flood the area with numbing stuff and they give me a percocet. It has all worn off. Now I am in for several days of knee hell. The crutches or the first set of pain killers give me a rash. Finally I go with the percocet. That makes me sick to my stomach. My digestive system is screwed up. I am not a happy patient anymore.

I am writing this 11 days post-op. Things are better than they were. I am managing again on ibuprofen. But my knee hurts all the time. I limp around the house. The bandages are off and it doesn’t look like much. But the whole area has been traumatized. I am worried that I might not recover enough to ever play tennis again. Or walk up stairs. I am definitely not skiing.