MAKING A MOVE – SACRAMENTO TO SHINGLE SPRINGS, CA

Odel’s last physical therapy session was this morning.  We had lots of questions for the therapist, and I made a short video of a technique I can use on Odel’s knee to help him reach that holy grail: zero degrees of extension (he is around 3 degrees shy of full extension now).  I know he will be able to get there as long as we keep working and stretching his leg.

The flexion, on the other hand, is great – 117 degrees when last measured.  We have been walking a couple miles for the last several days (Odel using a cane, mostly for balance), with no additional swelling of the knee.  Everything seems right on track.

As for me, the steroid ointment I got last week did wonders for my allergy.  I continue to apply a prescription Hydrocortisone cream twice a day, and I suspect my itchy, red, swollen condition would return if I stopped.  We have not been successful in finding a cause, but we have a plan!

I have a follow-up appointment with the dermatologist tomorrow morning.  Odel has his six-week post-surgery appointment a week from tomorrow.  Between the two, we’re moving 40 miles east into the foothills (to the Placerville Elks Lodge).  It probably is not far enough to escape the copious and varied pollens on the loose around here, but even a change of scenery will do us good, I suspect – we’ve been here at Cal Expo for TWO WHOLE MONTHS!

When we come back a week from today, we’ll stay just long enough for Odel’s appointment – then we’re outta here, heading north to wherever the weather is appealing.  If my allergy problem hasn’t cleared up after a couple of weeks out of the Sacramento Valley, we’ll have to face the fact that it may be something IN Scoopy, something related to the renovations – but we’re keeping an optimistic attitude (now possible, thanks to the miraculous recovery wrought by the steroids). 

I can hear the highway calling our names…