Ms. Rocky is on her way to California!

Yep, I leave tomorrow morning. I have a noon flight to San Francisco so barring earthquake, fire, tsunami or flood, I am FINALLY on my way to my beloved Pacific Grove. I will spend the first week in the Bay Area with family and then the following week in PG in time for the house's closing on May 30. The final contingency was removed (what I feared - that the house wouldn't appraise for enough - didn't happen) so all moves forward. I continue to get papers to sign (well, all done electronically) but my hard copies make quite a good pile.

Although I am staying across the street with two sets of neighbors, I intend to indulge in my absolute favorite house activity - sipping my morning coffee on the front deck, underneath the redwood tree - each of the mornings while the house is still mine. If it is foggy, even better. I find fog so mysterious as it slips its fingers around everything in sight.* The fence around the deck is just tall enough to hide my head so I inadvertently hear conversations of all the early morning walkers who turn the corner at my house. I get 20-second bits which often leave me wondering, "what happened next?"

Here is the fence that surrounds the deck. The redwood tree is on the far left - of course you can't see it's branches, they are too high up. The fence is just tall enough to hide me from view when sipping my coffee.

For the first time I have not over-scheduled myself. In fact I still have a few days with either nothing or just one thing planned. I need rest, I realize. Although I am so very much better than just a month ago, I still tire easily when I have walked a bit. I want to just laze in the glory of the Monterey Peninsula - and shop at my favorite dress and shoe store in town. After all, I have just sold a house - there should be some reward!

I continue to emulate Rocky - am working hard in the pool each day. I am a little worried about the two-week break but believe I will slip back into my routine when I return. The good news? I returned the wheel chair last week - it is OUT of my life. I walk really well with the walker and am getting better with the cane. Today and yesterday I used the cane almost exclusively. I can actually walk without any support but it is very robot-like and glacially slow but PROGRESS has happened - so much, in fact, that I was dismissed from Physical Therapy. Although Maureen (my wonder Physical Therapist) says I deserve credit for my hard work, I was almost in tears when I thanked her. I wouldn't have known the first thing to do without her guidance.

So, tomorrow I will find out how Alaska Air supports folks who need help. I don't think I have to climb in and out of planes on the tarmac but tomorrow will reveal all. If so, I can do it.

Overall I feel that I have finally turned the corner. I am walking and it is coming naturally. I no longer have to give myself instructions on how to do it. It is slow and still a bit painful but I am upright. I am driving, easily getting in and out of the car with a cane - which is so much easier than hauling the walker around. So, that's it, end of story, not another word about knees and staph infections and walkers and surgeries and infusions  . . . it's over. Finito Benito. I am back.

Love you all.

* You know what could be amusing? I left adirondack chairs on the front deck - I wonder if I can get out of them? I could before but they are low and my knees are still weak. Could be interesting. I should probably warn the neighbors that, if I am not back in an hour, bring a winch to rescue me.

All Good News!

Let's cut right to the chase:

#1. I am walking - sort of.
#2. I have an appointment for a knee replacement - August 12.  Ah, so many problems will end.
#3. My house sold at full price the second day it was on the market and, the following day, I received a second full price offer. Wow!
#4. I think I can get down to Pacific Grove to say goodbye to my house before the May 30 closing.

See, all good news.

Walking
It has been absolutely bizarre to have to learn to walk again. Who knew it wouldn't come back naturally? I had a race with my youngest grandson, Finn, but he beat me by a few weeks. The wee one is now officially walking - and is much cuter than I am when he does it. Thankfully, I don't fall like he does. Bless those diapers and baby fat . . . on him, I mean.

But the walking is still not coming naturally. I find myself muttering as I look down: "Lead with the knee, add weight only after it's extended, use the toe and heel to propel forward." Thankfully my good knee works fine and I try to match it as I walk.

I cannot walk by myself, mind you, I have to use a walker and can only do about 1200 steps a day because it is exhausting and it hurts a bit (sometimes, quite a bit), but initially I could only do about 50 so things are definitely improving. I spend the rest of my time in my wheelchair. At this point, 3 1/2 months after the staph infection occurred, I see signs of progress almost every day. This week alone I learned how to use the steps to move in and out of the pool (I had been using a lift - in reality, much fun), I can now stand long enough to use exercise equipment in our gym, I was able to climb the steps onto our bus and attend an event I didn't want to miss - but yesterday's event topped them all - I took about 30 steps using just a cane. Major advance. Of course, those 30 steps did me in and then I had to rest but I am on my way. Yippee big time.

So, at this point I have a walker, wheel chair and cane in my teeny unit and can move among all three with a degree of grace.

Knee Replacement
Moments of the appointment with the surgeon were quite funny. He is younger than I, of course, and only does knees. He surprised me as he explained that he wants my knee to be in its best possible shape on the day of surgery. Here I thought I could go in with a crappy knee and come out with one that was perfect. "No, no, no," he said, "your new knee starts where your old knee left off. Therefore, you want it as far ahead as possible." I had to fight to keep a straight face as he continued: "You have to be like Rocky, in the movies. Every day, in every way, you have to WORK. You have to push yourself; push yourself hard." On and on went the speech.

Okay, let's stop here and think about this. Do you know ANYONE less Rocky-like than me? Anyone? I would much prefer to watch Rocky run up and down the steps than emulate him. But Dr O'Shea kept it up, explaining how I had to work on aerobics, strength and range of motion (that last one makes me cringe, thinking about how much it hurts to bend my knee).

So what has happened since that appointment 3 weeks ago? Well, you wouldn't recognize me. I throw myself into the pool each day (not true, I slowly go down the steps but I CAN get in by myself) and swim a half mile (aerobics), then strap weights on my ankles to do exercises assigned by my physical therapist (she meets me at the pool once a week - the other meetings are on land) to increase strength and flexibility. I stretch and pull and stand on balance equipment, steps, noodles and buoys - I'm in the pool about 90 minutes each day. Then add my time in the gym pulling and stretching and lifting weights. I am starting small, however, with just 3-pound weights in each hand. I have to laugh while doing the lifting, "And here she is, Rocky incarnate, in her corner pulling a total of . . . .  6 pounds!" What do Olympians lift? Hundreds? Well, you have to start somewhere.

I have not yet downloaded the theme from Rocky but I AM THERE mentally. And you should see my buff arms - the muscles pop. Who knew how much exercise you can get from a manual wheel chair when you live on a 20+ acre site? I have decided that if I run out of money, I can become a stevedore down at the docks - that's how buff my arms are. Wait, I forgot - I'm only lifting 6 pounds - maybe I should wait a bit to apply.

The House Sale

Can you believe it?  The second day it was on the market. Alleluia. Blessed Robin (my realtor and next door neighbor) called and listened to me prattle on about my attempts to walk etc. before she sprung the news - an offer and at full price. Phew. Such an incredible relief. And then, the next day, a second full-price offer. Here are the two couples in the order I received their offers:

Offer #1 - a family from Salinas with grown children (although the youngest may live with them). The wife grew up in PG and they want to move here. He owns a local business; she works in the insurance industry.

Offer #2 - a couple from Los Altos (for those of you out of the area - about 1.5 hours from Pacific Grove) looking for a second home. They have been looking for 2 years and fell in love with the house. He is in finance; she is in education.

They gave identical offers. Which would you choose? Scroll down to the end of the entry and you will see what I did. Did we agree?

Not surprisingly, I have mixed emotions. I love the house and it's hard to see it go but I recognize that I am happy in Portland and it's time to move on. I also did not like being a landlord for the almost three years it was rented.

Robin has been simply wonderful doing all the work to get it ready for market - she chose the interior paint colors; the style and stain of the new hardwood floors (all with my input, of course); planted the window boxes; did minimal staging with her own furniture; fussed and cleaned and made sure that all the workpeople completed their tasks and gently reminded them when they hadn't; figured out the best way to show off the features of the house; saved all the receipts of work done; created beautiful ads for the local newspapers; kept an eye on the house when strangers wandered by (my favorite story was her coming over to find a couple on the deck, peering in the windows, at sunset, supposedly waiting for their realtor to show them the house. Who goes house hunting in the dark?) etc etc etc  - she did everything right.

At this point, things are moving forward; contingencies are eliminated each week (by May 7 the last should be removed); and then, hopefully, smooth sailing until the close on May 30.  Phew, in time to avoid another mortgage payment!

Trip to California
After two attempts to get down there, I am hoping the third time will be a charm. I will need help at the airport to get to the gate (I can't walk that far yet) and into the plane (If I fly into Oakland, as planned, I have to walk out on the tarmac and climb steps into a smaller plane). How do I carry luggage when I can't fully walk? All interesting challenges but hopefully easy to meet. I will figure out how to do it.

So things are going swimmingly (very appropriate given all my hours in the pool). I am getting back into the life I had before everything went south. I have returned to my volunteer work with the homeless in Portland, am participating in more activities here at the OFH, and am playing with my grandchildren. Ah, life is certainly looking up. Thanks for the lovely notes, surprises, and good cheer sent my way. I so appreciate each and every one of you and am grateful that you are all in my life.

* So whom did I choose? Oh come on, you know me - the couple from Salinas. They are local and I wanted a family living in it full time. There are so many second homes in Pacific Grove, we don't need one more. I just hope they are lovely because my wonderful neighbors deserve the best. By the way, the couple who didn't get it made a back-up offer and, if the first offer should fall through, I will be happy for them - as long as it doesn't cost me a lot in time and money!