Re: My blog -- an open invitation -- dancing and dogs

[Guest guest]

Hi Janet, I love your blog and look forward to reading it as you set out on your adventure of joint replacement! I had to laugh about at the story about your night of dancing on a pain pill. The Apple Blossom Festival is an annual spring

celebration in Washington, D.C. This year, I was invited by a friend to go on the Apple Blossom Cruise, an evening dinner dance on the Potomac River. I took a few extra of my arthritis meds and thought I would limp my way through the evening. Though everyone at our table were strangers, we immediately clicked. It was serendipitous -- we were all friends before we finished our appetizers. After a few trips to the chocolate fountain and a couple glasses of wine, I was dancing with everyone. I felt like my friend was Fred Astaire and I was Ginger . After the cruise, we and our new best friends went to a bar next to the dock, where we pulled some new friends

into our party. I have no idea how I did it, but the mind took over the body and I continued to danced until the early morning hours. The next morning we discovered my friend has switched his tux with someone else and had to go back to the boat. Since the taxi rides to and from the hotel the night before cost a small fortune, we decided to take the Metro as close to the dock as we could get and hike the rest of the way -- in the rain, yet. My friend used to do triathlons and now does endurance swimming and biking. I was hell bound and determined not to let him know how badly I was beginning to hurt. We switched tuxes, then got back on the Metro rides,

changing trains at two stations to get back to the station where we had left the car. On the way home, we stopped for dinner and then did some shopping. I hung in. When I got home that evening, I fell into bed exhausted but amazed at what I had accomplished. I was even thinking that my knee and hips problems were partly a mental state and that I could do more than I knew. The next morning, I started to get out of bed...and couldn't! I finally pulled myself up and

limped to the coffee maker and medicine cabinet and made it back to bed, where I mostly stayed all of Saturday and Sunday, recuperating with ice and heat. Now I wonder if my new knees will let me dance again. And that gave me an idea. My exercises are boring me to death. The pool is closed until Jan. 2 to be drained and cleaned. So I am going to close the blinds, put on some Motown music and dance a bit and gently in my living room to loosen up these stiff joints and lift my spirits. A bit on Ann's and Lindy's postings on the benefits of a dog's company. I promised old Norm, my son's dog, a walk today. Norm came to live with me last January after he growled

and snapped at my youngest grandson. Norm started out life in a college fraternity house with my son and celebrated his sixteenth birthday on Christmas Day. He is a sweet, social dog that loves people -- but not babies as we found out when my first grandchild was born. Now deaf and partially blind, he couldn't adjust to the third grandchild, Jack aka Bam Bam. Jack is two, rambunctious and thinks Norm is his best friend. Unfortunately, Norm does not return the feelings. When I lost my beloved and gorgeous Boxer in April of 2005, I didn't think life with me and my arthritis would be fair to a new Boxer puppy. But Norm came into my life, and has been a lesson in recovery. He walks with a hilarious sway-backed gait. I have to lift him into the car and sometimes help him up the steps. He insists on shadowing me, even when it means following me downstairs to the laundry room. I imagine the two us make a pretty funny site getting back upstairs

together. But for Norm, the steps are never too steep if he can be with me, and it's never too rainy or too cold to go for a walk or chase a tennis ball. If he can keep going, so can I! Thanks for listening to my ramblings. I needed some inspiration badly this morning and found it, as always, on these pages. Donna Janet K <thenewjoint@...> wrote: Hi folks: I just rejoined this group under a different email. But I'm Janet, who is 45 and going in for a total knee replacement on Jan. 23. I started a blog a few weeks ago, but haven't really told anyone about

it. I had this idea that it might become something of a community forum, just like this group. But I don't really know. Anyhow, if you're interested, please check it out. thenewjoint.blogspot.com I need to note that this is totally MY thing and has absolutely nothing to do with my work. It's just a disclaimer. Anyhow, I'd love your thoughts. This group is incredible. I want to add posts about all sorts of topics. I'm hoping that it can become a resource. Mostly right now, it's all about me. Anyhow, Thanks for being there.Cheers,Janet __________________________________________________