We interrupt this road trip...........

My mother fell, broke her wrist.

Not a lot of time to plan, but what we decided was that Vicky would stay in Atlanta with the camper, Emily, Sean, and the boys, and I would fly out to Fort Collins to help out.  Means we cancel our camping trip at Disneyworld, which we were looking forward to because it seemed so funky (camping?  At Disneyworld?).

But it wasn't that big of a deal to miss Disneyworld, and we both wanted me to be here with my mother.  Being away from Vicky is very difficult, and something we will never do unless it is an emergency.  That's our plan. 

In this week that I have been in Fort Collins we have gotten a lot done--mostly in finding rehabilitation services for my mother and a new place for her to live.  It may not sound like a lot, but everything requires a lot of trips, forms, decisions, new apparatuses (did you know that the plural of apparatus isn't apparati?  Neither did I) , and so on. 

She fell on her 91st birthday.  What a gift to give to yourself, huh?

Since I needed to return to Fort Collins, I used it as an opportunity to get a couple of shots in my knees.  The cartilage is thin in places in both knees, and totally absent in other places in both knees. This means that if I exert effort with my knees (riding up hills or walking up hills) I have bone rubbing against bone.  I don't need to tell you that this hurts.

There is an amazing discovery though called Synvisc-One.  Most people just call them chicken shots, because the material for them is extracted from the combs on the back of chickens' heads.  Can you believe that?  I mean, who ever thought to try this?  "Hey, I have an idea!  Let's grind up chicken parts and inject them into knees!!!"

Age is only the friend of the very young.  My mother's body is very strong for 91 years, her only real problem being balance.  The Physical Therapist says she can improve on this a lot with exercise.

I was lucky with the roll of the dice regarding my body.  My only real problem is arthritis.  It is everywhere, and I am usually in some kind of pain.  That's the problem with my knees.

I know that within a few years I will need more foot surgery, and probably another rotator cuff surgery.  Eventually probably need both knees will have to be replaced, and bones in my wrist fused.  I have arthritis in my neck and back.  I take anti-inflammatory medications at high doses and steroid shots occasionally.  I use a lot of ice.  That's just my life.

My belief is that the best treatment for arthritis is to continue to move a lot despite it.  I have no data to back that up.  It just seems that once you stop moving, then the body will freeze up more, and make movement even that much more difficult. 

I also think that drinking red wine is good for arthritis.  I have no data to back that up either, but I don't need any, and don't bother trying to tell me otherwise.

My mother exercised regularly all of her life, stretching, walking, and swimming.  She was tap dancing until she was 83.  If I can keep doing what she has always done, then I can get to 91 too, with a little luck, and enjoy my life along the way.

She's my role model.