Wounded Knee: November 2022 Newsletter

Sometime in August, I wounded my right knee, perhaps by twisting it inwards too fast during an exercise routine. Regardless, this simple little injury has pretty much dominated my life ever since. How did it do that? Let me count the ways.

Appointments have taken away considerable time from the thing I love to do—write. These include a visit with a nurse practitioner; a visit to the hospital for x-rays on my newly injured knee and my chronically achy left foot; a trip to the drug store for a prescription grade pain-killer; a visit to an orthopedist; and two visits to a psychologist to talk about my depression about no longer being able to exercise by dancing with my daughter Jess four times a week, take long walks, and do yard work. Even dealing with the doctors’ office phone system was frustrating and time-consuming.

But like many things in life, this experience had its lessons. For one thing, I learned to deal with the nurse practitioner via the patient portal instead of the phone. For another, I learned to be patient with myself and listen to the experts when they tell me to wear a brace on my knee so it won’t buckle out from under me and to ice the knee up after I’ve been active.

(It was a bit of a shock when the NP and the joint specialist disagreed on what pain-killer I should take. After some research, I discovered all pain-killers can kill you via your kidneys or your liver, or your mind through depression and suicide, and I backed off on all of them. But recently, I went back on the pain med with the fewest lethal side effects.)

Also, I’ve made adjustments to my life. For example, for a while, I backed off of most exercise including my morning yoga routine that I’ve faithfully done for at least fifty years. Since I no longer can put pressure on that knee, when I get down on the floor, I often can’t get back up again without dragging myself across the living room to the closest chair, placing my hands on the seat of the chair, pushing my butt into the air to get my feet under me, and then slowly straightening up.

And my poor wounded knee has improved. I’ve worked my way back up to taking 7,000 steps a day. Sometimes I shuffle around the family room behind Jess during a streamed dance-exercise routine. And instead of getting down on the floor to exercise my core, I sit on a chair. Also I try to warm up to my day with some exercises I learned from the tai chi class I joined a few weeks ago. (Millions of old Chinese people can’t be wrong.)

I’m so not trying to walk to the park right now, but a trip around a block or two or three, preferably hand in hand with Jess, is quite feasible. When I can’t kneel to reach around in the back of a cabinet, I ask my daughter for help. Ditto when I need to climb on a chair to reach something high up in a cabinet.

So, my life goes on, slightly revised. And still, in spite of all this trouble from my wounded knee, I am VERY HAPPY to report that I’ve finished the most recent draft of Death in Shining Armor, my current WiP, in exactly two months from my birthday on 9/11 until November 11. And the book looks good. But I’ve temporarily set it aside to mellow while I deal with all the seasonal stuff. This year, the stuff includes a holiday giveaway I’m participating in. Here’s the deal.

You need gifts and we’ve got books.

The Kansas City authors who make up Of Books and Nooks are giving you a chance to win eight amazing books to enjoy for yourself or give as gifts! Just enter our holiday book giveaway for a multi-author, multi-genre book collection!
The winner will be selected at random on Dec. 11, 2022. Enter by Dec. 10, 2022. Your entry automatically puts you on each author’s email list for future giveaways, newsletters and release announcements! You will also receive updates on new posts on Of Books and Nooks. Winner must have a valid mailing address in the United States. No books will be shipped outside the U.S.
Good luck, and happy holidays to all!