Hiya.  I'm typing on my tablet at Bruegger's.  I hate typing a lot on my tablet so this will be as short add I can make it.

Regarding my knee issues I mentioned last time - it got better.  Rest, ice packs, ibuprofen.  I did all the ladder climbing for the last show myself right on schedule, and took care of my knees so that crippling level of pain has not come back, although from time to time I can still get little twinges that tell me I still have to be careful, and improve my legs.

The play opened last night.  I am in my "two weeks off for self-improvement" I mentioned last time.  Financially I'll-advised but I feel like it's necessary anyway.  The good news is that now, I CAN ENVISION returning to work.  Previously it just seemed beyond me.

At the moment I'm a morning-riser.  Daylight-savings helped with that.  Weirdly, I pass out between 11 and 1 and wake up with the light of day on my face around 7.  Sunday I got up on the chilly morning, meditated, planned my day, walked around the neighborhood for an hour.  Tuesday I got up in the morning and went to the theatre and did most of the Jane Fonda low-impact aerobics (skipping a few high-intensity minutes) and stretch - felt fantastic.  Meanwhile, pain, swelling, flare-up, and drainage from my backside has reduced to neat non-issue status.  It has done so before, tricking me into thinking I'm better and then coming back - a very soul-sucking, debilitating pattern.  But I have a good feeling this time...

Anyway today, this morning, I again woke up early and excited to get a good start on my day.  Excited to go to the theatre and do the exercise video again.  It has little bends and squats in the choreography that I figure will be good for building up my hamstrings and the muscles around my knees, plus a pleasing full range of motion.  So I went and did it for 23 minutes, until right before the cool-down, I got palpitations.  I've had flutings before, randomly and rarely, and been told that I have an arrhythmia that isn't worth getting disturbed about.  Still, this felt a little more like I could have a heart attack, so I'm going to read up on heart-attack symptoms, work out carefully, keep improving my health, and mention it to the doctor when I have my annual physical soon.

Meanwhile, just a note about how I read other people's stories about their post-surgical recuperation...  Well, I guess it's different for everyone.  One friend had a terrible accident and broke his clavicle a month or so ago but he's back on the bike!  Why does his bone heal faster than my soft-tissue??  Grr.  Other friends have had surgeries that have set them back a bit more.  One had an athletic injury that she's going in to physical therapy for.  Another just posted video of herself victoriously walking without a walker (she's a dancer) and she's been mentioning her problem all year - a year of recuperating and she can only now walk!!  So I guess I fall in the middle...

So, a slow start but a definite upward slant on my optimism of returning to normal!!  Yay!  I already know my next goal is to make a bunch of money to eat a chunk out of this debt and get my travel on!!