Hagrid is in the House!

My leg's condition hasn't changed in the past couple of days -- the left knee and foot still hurts, but I'm hobbling around with a cane, slowly and painfully. Like House, M.D., but without as much attitude.

I've been getting the laundry done at a glacial pace over the past few days. Going up and down the stairs is still a dicey affair for me -- I swear I need to move to a ground floor apartment -- and every load of laundry requires me to walk up and down the stairs, usually laden with a laundry basket. Not fun. So I've been doing the laundry piecemeal over the course of several days, and it's very slowly getting done.

This morning I went down to do a load, and after I walked back up with a basket of clean clothes, I was so exhausted and in so much pain that I knew there was no way I was going to make it to physical therapy this morning... so I called and cancelled. My next appointment is Tuesday.

I've been doing the exercises at home that they have given me, so I'm not shirking, I just don't have the energy and drive this morning, and the pain is too great. That's one of the biggest problems with my physical condition right now -- leaving the apartment has become so much of an ordeal that I can't always do it when I need to.

Wow, I actually have some "get up and go!" Nice for a change.

I showered, took my meds, and answered my messages.

I cooked some food -- simering pinto beans for chili, and am also baking some biscuits.

I vacuumed the kitchen and common area.

I walked down the steps to get the mail (first time I've been able to do it without excruciating pain in days).

I walked down the steps again to take out the trash and recycling.

I emailed DVR to see what's happening -- my counselor hasn't been returning my messages, and I haven't actively job hunted since the start of the year: I've been homebound, with no energy, no drive, and waaaaay too much physical pain.

I called the Whatcom Homeless Service Center and Assumption Church, asking for back rent help, so I don't get evicted. No idea yet what will happen there.


For me... that's a pretty productive day!

I just woke up after having slept 16 hours, all last night and all day today.

Right knee is still a serious problem. The pain has shifted from inside the joint itself to the soft tissue around the knee -- muscle and tendon -- especially the back of the knee. Swelling seems to have subsided, but the pain has not. Hurts to lay on it in certain positions, and painkillers -- Naproxen and Tylenol -- don't seem to help much.

Getting up from bed hurts, anytime I have to exert my knee it hurts. Still hobbling around, using the cane. And my right hip is aching now, too, I suspect because of all of the unnatural positions I am having to put it in to keep weight off the knee.

Was supposed to go to the food bank today, but slept through it. Couldn't bear the pain of carrying bags of groceries. I'm almost out of food, and have no more food stamps. Out of cigarettes, too.

Haven't left the apartment since Faerie Coffee on Saturday morning. All I've done for days is slept and watched Babylon 5.

I feel like I'm falling apart.

I'm now in my third consecutive day of being bedridden with gout in my right knee, barely able even to hobble to the toilet.

This invalid thing is getting old, real fast.

Drinking lots of water. Don't have any ice, so I can't use that on my knee. Wish I had cherry juice.

My legs are so sore from having to distribute my weight in unfamiliar ways. I take Naproxen and Ibuprofin, but it only helps a little.

Sleeping is difficult, because there are only certain ways I can lay pain-free, and if I roll over in my sleep, the pain wakes me up.

I feel like my life has come to a complete stop. I'm ready for this to be over.