New Knee, New Toad, New Art

 

 Sonja and a bag of frozen peas, giving my surgical knee comfort 

Another month without a blog post, but this time I have a huge reason why:  I had a total knee replacement in late July.  That's the reason we moved to Tucson for the summer, and now most of what I needed to accomplish here has happened, and I'm just about ready to move on.

I spent three nights in the hospital and then two weeks in a rehab facility where I got PT, OT and speech therapy nearly every day.  (I didn't know I needed speech therapy, but I'd been living with chronic pain for years, and that took a toll on my memory and information processing skills.)  I've been back home in my motorhome for three weeks today.

I wish I could say it's been a steady recovery, but realistically there are steps forward and backward.  Fortunately more steps forward than backward.  

The trike I've coveted ever since I left Oregon in the Guppy in 2011!  Now mine!

I've been exercising using my new folding adult tricycle that I bought on sale at Camping World.  I can ride it a couple of times around the RV park, during the cooler parts of the morning or evening.  I'm also doing a lot of exercise in the RV park's pool, where I can flex and extend my knee easily in the water. 

The pool at South 40 RV Ranch in Tucson

I bought a Geo Tracker last fall to use as my tow car, but I have never felt very comfortable in it, so last week I bought a 2006 Chevrolet HHR which I will use as my toad instead.  I have too much arthritis to be comfortable in a really basic car.

My new toad, "Blue"

I am getting to where some days I can do some artwork again.  Here is the last painting I did before my surgery:

 

 Rain Dance, 24 x 24 inches, acrylic on canvas

And here is a work-in-progress that I've been doing since I got home:

Awesome Wonder, 24 x 36 inches, currently an acrylic painting, 

but it will become mixed-media

 

That's pretty much all the news for now.  I'm going to be heading back to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, in a few weeks and will spend the fall and part of the winter there.  I have two art shows coming up in TorC, and it will be fun to get back to where I have more of a social life.