T-minus 7 months (and counting)

Yes indeedy, 7 months from this moment I will likely still be unconcious on an operating table at Beth Israel. Oh, how time flies when one is anxiously counting down to highly-invasive surgery! haha That said, I am feeling (to quote Larry David) prettttty... prettttttty... pretty good! I've been off the cane for over a week now, have reduced my ibuprofen intake by half (to a paltry 1200mg/day!) and worked my Saturday shift at the store like a normal employee. My legs were definitely tired by the end of the day, but I didn't have the shooting hip pain I've grown accustomed to - it really just was muscle fatigue, which is actually quite pleasant when you've been mostly unable to use your muscles for some time.

I feel so good I keep having to remind myself to slow down, but thankfully my body reminds me pretty quickly regardless. But I don't stop and hesitate at stairs or curbs like I've been doing for months now - I just focus on the muscles I know DO work to get me up (down's not really a problem). The proof is really in the pudding in the pool (nice image there), where I keep having moments of "Whoa! That doesn't hurt!", mostly about my lower back while I'm doing balance and midsection-strengthening things. Getting my lower back sorted has been an incredible boost in my endurance doing those exercises, such that I've increased reps steadily over the past couple weeks. Being strong is pretty cool! And I finally understand the phenomenon of exercise junkies... not that I suspect I'll be turning into one of them for real anytime soon.

Sadly for me (and much of Vermont), I'm more of a cheese junkie, something I need to work on in my new low-cholesterol lifestyle. Can I get a sarcastic WOOHOO?! :) Janice, my trusty nutritionist, and I had a nice long visit last week where she outlined my best plan of attack for diminishing my nasty LDL levels and praised my progress thus far. It was nice to get that unabashed reinforcement (unlike the reinforcement I give myself, which has all sorts of caveats - why do we do that to ourselves?!) and I don't feel like lowering my cholesterol will have too negative an impact on my diet. Aside from my beloved cheese. :(

I also sent in my form today for Dr. Crose to recommend me for a temporary handicapped parking permit. With snow (and Montpelier's absurd automatic winter night parking ban) fast approaching, I need all the parking help I can get. Otherwise, though, I'm chugging right along, drizzle and drear aside. This afternoon, to the pool!