Another Week for Jackie's Knee

Today marks three weeks since Jackie went in to get her surgery. If it seems like it was much longer than that to me, how must it feel to her???  But three weeks is good.  REALLY good, because it's no longer one or two weeks, lol. Carnak says: Four will be much better, and by six weeks she should be just great.  Using that scale, today marks the the half-way point, and I believe that's something to celebrate!!!  Until then, Zoetawny came up with my favorite graphic so far, with the message of the moment.  ((((Thank you Z!))))

(I hope you can appreciate that I changed the color to match her frame. *cough*)

Tonight is So You Think You Can Dance and Top Chef.  

Thursday the new season of Last Comic Standing starts, though I don't know if there are many fans of it on Jackie's blog.  We are subsisting on the Bachelorette and now The Mole, Netflicks, and filling in the gaps with eps of the favorite shows we missed last season online... Ugly Betty, Greys, etc... until Big Brother starts.

I heard Rescue Me is not going to be summer fare, as usual.  Instead they are filming now for a double long season to begin next February (24 eps). In it's place this summer, they are doing ten  5-10 minute shorts once a week on FX starting June 24th, to keep the audience and get them through... cable really can do whatever it wants can't it? It's the new Wild West.

But that doesn't help us right now. If there's something else you're watching tonight and tomorrow that I missed, don't hold out on us. Please let us know in the comment area.   

The Mole and other stchuff

Many thanks to Zoetawny for another of her custom made graphics for Jackie... You Rock Z.

The much anticipated return of The Mole is also on tap tonight, at 10/9 central time on ABC.

For those who never saw it, it's being brought back after a few years off the air. I believe it had two seasons with regular people, then two with celebrities and it tanked. A shame because it has the potential to be smart and adrenaline filled. We are hoping they hit it this time and we have a little sumpin sumpin to keep our TAR/Survivor cravings fed. Both fingers crossed.

The Premise: 12 people embark on an international mission but one person, whose identity is unknown to all, tries to sabotage it. There will be clues to follow but you can't believe anything you hear or see... The whole show is centered around one burning question: WHO IS THE MOLE????

In other news:

*Universal Studios had a huge fire yesterday, buring many of the famous movie sets and up to 50,000 of the studios videos and movie reels.
* Yves St. Laurent passed away today. Bo Diddly did as well. Rest in Peace.
* Senator Kennedy's brain cancer was operated on today and it's said to be a success
* Yesterday Hillary Clinton won Puerto Rico... but is rumored to really be wrapping up the campaign.
* Jackie is hopefully feeling better by the day.
* What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Put your comments here about the Mole, whatever else you may be watching tonight (Bachelorette has it's own, exclusive post just below) or whatever's on your mind.

The Bachelorette

Here is a place for your comments about the third installment of Deanna and her remaining men. She's down to 11 suitors and so far, we're still interested.

Tonight, Deanna visits the Ellen DeGeneres Show with the guys, who will find a new way to answer that age-old question: Boxers or Briefs?

And the father we all like (is it Jason?) will get what looked in the previews like a one-on-one dinner date with Deanna. Will he finally reveal that he has a little boy? And what will her reaction be? We think we know, but what we don't know is if one of the other guys will tell her about it first, which would throw quite a different light on the evening.

A few of us will be live blogging as well.... it's a party at Jackie's every Monday night.

Update on Jackie

Uh-oh. I'm referring to myself in the third-person. That can't be a good thing. I want to thank Sydney and all of the commenters for this week's posts and all the activity. Tremendous! But me? Argh, I've been so out of it that I didn't realize last night was the Lost finale and I missed it. Grrr.

I apologize for my absence This is a hard recovery and it's tough to get through. It's definitely a major surgery. It's hard to explain how every little thing I do tires me so even though I still can't sleep more than three or four hours at a time.

For example, my home health care physical therapy visits ended yesterday. So, today I had to arrange for my out-patient physical therapy, dealing with both my insurance company and the PT place. It wiped me out. I promptly fell asleep for three hours.

Yesterday I had my last PT at home visit, had to organize all of my leave of absence and short term disability papers to bring to the doctor's office for my early evening post-op appointment. My friend Barbara brought me to and from the appointment. I managed to sit in the front seat of the car, something I couldn't do when she picked me up from the hospital. We also stopped at a store so I could refresh the juice, beverage, and bread department in my kitchen. I was up and at 'em and on the go from 8:30 in the morning until I gt home around 8:30 at night. I collapsed and fell asleep before 9. I was awake again before Letterman ended.

The knee itself is coming along well even if my energy levels are depleted. The staples came out yesterday and the doctor took x-rays. Both the doctor and my in-home physical therapist are thrilled with my progress. Before the staples came out yesterday, I could bend the knee 75 degrees. Upon leaving the hospital last week, it was only up to 60. I'm more pleased with the strength aspect -- I can see that improving daily. I do exercises three times a day which work on both strength and range of motion. (Then I conk out.)

Good news is that I don't have to pay $20 co-pay for my doctor visits anymore as I'm post-op. I go back in three weeks. The bad news is I have to pay a $20 co-pay each time at the physical therapist and that's three times a week. I know I need it and they have equipment I need to improve, but that co-pay wasn't that much the last time I went through PT. Sigh. My first PT appointment is Monday.

Then there's the Coumadin thing. That's for the blood clot and to prevent more from forming. Like Charlton Heston in Soylent Green yelling, "It's people! Soylent green is people!" -- I want to yell, "It's rat poison! They're making me take rat poison!" Until recent years, the drug (Warfarin) was indeed rat poison. It was the one which used to make the rats bleed internally and die. That's why I have to have blood drawn each week to test in case they need to modify mt dosage levels. I will be on the drug until mid-August.

So I can't get cut or bleed (or have to rush to the hospital) due to the Coumadin. I also have to let them know I'm on the drug. Possible side effects besides bleeding to death include gangrene and something called "purple toes syndrome." I don't dare have any infection or fever because the knee surgery can easily be infected. If that happens, they take out the knee, give you a spacer, then put another knee in within six months or so.

I've had an open scabbed sore on the back of my calf since the surgery. It was starting to look infected over the weekend. I thought of going to the ER, but instead bandaged it and put some Neosporin on it for a couple of days. While I know the Coumadin is slowing my healing, the therapists, visiting nurse, and doctor all thought it looked acceptable, so I guess I did the right thing.

My cat Scherzo (Skirts) has been a blessing through all of this. While she might not have liked being boarded, I couldn't have boarded my cat Teaser (who died in November). Teaser's health was too iffy and he stressed out too much. Skirts wasn't happy, but was physically fine upon returning home. Teaser also always was leaping on me and I don't think I could have handled that. Skirts has definitely grown closer to me since his death, but she still isn't a lap cat. She loves to curl up next to me, perhaps put her chin or her paw on my lap. That is comforting, but not painful.

Well, right now I know I've been in one position too long since my knee is screaming at me. I'm still on the walker although I can do crutches, too. I tried to use a cane in the apartment, but found it a bit unstable. I don't dare fall. But if I'm in one position too long, it definitely makes me get up and move. And ice it down.

I hope I caught all my typos in this and thank everyone once again! Below is my knee without its staples -- I gained a good half-inch of skin space!

LOST FINALE!!!

Tonight is the night... though not for me because I got too Lost waaaay back. For everyone who has no clue what's going on, but still watches, putting their faith in that there IS indeed a greater scheme/meaning/plan/order to it all, I have one question for you: Will things get clearer or will you be left with even more confusion and loose ends?

The word in TV Land is that there are many revelations that will come this evening, so you'll have to let us know if indeed you fans get some satisfaction on that front. So get settled in with your popcorn or cookies and your favorite libation and feel free to live blog during the hopefully amazing two hours.

Maybe Jackie will be peeking in!