Good-ish News

[ladysprite]

First things first - my orthopedist is excellent. Slow and overbooked, but excellent. He listens, he pays attention, and he explains things pretty darn well.

On the up side, best guess is that I won't need surgery. He doesn't think I have a torn meniscus, based on the history, the type of pain, and a few other details.

His best interpretation of what happened is that I dislocated my kneecap, then popped it back in, pinching a bunch of stuff and leading to a lot of swelling and inflammation. Not a surgical problem, since the kneecap itself is back in place right now (yay), but also not one that will heal quickly (boo).

So now I'm in a splint, and I'm supposed to wear it "until it stops hurting." Best guess is that this will take somewhere from a week to three weeks. It'll make getting to work interesting, since my right leg is now splinted in full extension, making driving a challenge, and it means no yoga and no dance, but if it'll make me heal faster, I'll do it.

(As a side note, I find it highly amusing that they had to put me in a children's splint. And cut it down.)

So. No surgery is good news. Better within weeks is goodish news, I guess. And I managed to go shopping with a friend this morning, which was more fun than I had anticipated. On the other hand, I now lurch like a drunken robot when I walk, I had to cancel another outing with a friend because I can't get anywhere on my own, and it's grey and rainy and I'm having a really hard time keeping a positive outlook.

I'm tired of being grumpy and frustrated and blue. I want to be cheerful. I want to be in a good mood. I want to laugh and look forward to stuff and be happy. I just need to figure out a way to jump-start the process, because I know once I'm there it'll be able to carry.

My husband has promised to help, tonight - we have a bunch of artwork that needs to get up onto the walls, and hanging that should make the house look more cheery and homey. I don't want to start baking, though; the last thing we need going into Thanksgiving is more dirty dishes. And my two main mood-boosters, socializing and dancing, are off the menu for the next little while.

So - any suggestions? What's your sure-fire mood booster?

Comments

[qarylla.livejournal.com]

Well, if you had any baking you were planning on doing for Thanksgiving, that would be OK. You could do it today instead of tomorrow.

Otherwise, I would pick a cheesy, insanely cheerful movie and the most interesting (but not intellectually challenging) craft project I had and go to it.

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

Music always helps me, even if I can only do upper body couch dancing. That and watching Madagascar.

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Huh. Different strokes for different folks - music makes things worse for me, since it just kind of feels like the world rubbing my nose in the fact that I can't *actually* dance.

Funny movies might be a win, though....

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

Also HURRAY for better within weeks!

[wcg.livejournal.com]

What's your sure-fire mood booster?

Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons.

[aries-walker.livejournal.com]

I dare you to stay grumpy.

I double dog dare you.

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

ooh, you play dirty....

:)

[metaphysick.livejournal.com]

While I'm bummed that we don't get to hang out today, I'm still happy to know that you won't need surgery.

As to stuff to do, I often enjoy reading when I get laid-up with some manner of mandatory stay-at-home-ness. Also, as was already sagely pointed out, there's nothing quite like an overly cheery movie to pass the time. (My preference is for "wonderful awful" movies, personally, but not everyone gets the same mileage out of The Last Dragon that I do.)

[citabria]

Hey, I hear that lurching, drunken robots are really hot! ;)

Seriously, yeah, dislocated kneecap does make sense -- I hope your ortho is right! (I have to wait an extra week to see mine -- he has some sort of emergency surgery tomorrow morning. I didn't know there *was* emergency ortho surgery, at least not that gets scheduled!)

As for mood bosters ... the right, good book can always do it for me. Mary Janice Davidson's vampire queen books are a sure-fire win, as are some of my cozier mystery authors (M.C. Beaton, Joanne Fluke, Nancy Atherton, Emilie Richards). There are other authors who I love as much if not more, but they're not necessarily mood boosters.

Scent -- some cinammon sticks, an orange, some apple cider, maybe some cloves put in a mini crock pot to make the house smell wonderful. (Or you could put enough in a large crock pot to be able to drink spiced apple cider.) Okay, forget about the "or" -- make enough to drink some, darn it!

Socks -- fuzzy, warm socks! They're good to wear while sipping the spiced cider and reading a heart-lifting book. ;)

Pooh Bear, Winnie-The-Pooh Bear....

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

SO glad you're not gonna need surgery. :)

As you might guess, my mood busters are musical. Some of the videos I've posted lately are among them, such as the anime vid for "Accidentally In Love". Certain Disney songs, e.g., the theme to the Winnie-The-Pooh TV show, "Belle", things like that. Avenue Q and Spamalot. Stuff by Great Big Sea. The Dr. Horrible soundtrack. Thing is, they really work best if you sing 'em -- bellow 'em, in fact. Listening is not enough.

Singin' In The Rain is also darn near guaranteed to get me out of a funk.

Re: Pooh Bear, Winnie-The-Pooh Bear....

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

The first time I ever watched 'Singin' in the Rain,' I was in just about the worst mood ever. Arnis put it on, in spite of my grumpy protests that I had absolutely no desire to watch it. Within half an hour I was delighted in spite of myself.

I tend to try to save it for dire emotional emergencies, but... tonight I think it might be just the thing. :)

(By the way, I saw your last comment. I'd *love* to call you... but I don't think I still have your number. Otherwise I would have called when you were going through your most recent set of woes....

[bess.livejournal.com]

Yoga might not be completely out, at least not for the whole recovery time. Many hospitals have Yoga In A Chair classes specifically for people either recovering from injuries or with disabilities. It won't be what you're used to, but it will be moving and using your body as you are able until you can get back to the real thing. At the very least, it will be stretching your upper body, which can't hurt. You can find some examples of the stretches on line.

Very glad you don't need surgery. :-)

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

That's a really good point, actually. I usually go to my studio's Advanced Beginner classes, but she has other lower-impact classes that I've done when I was recovering from back trouble. I should check those out.... thank you!

[mermaidlady]

What's your sure-fire mood booster?

Hot chocolate -- the real kind made with milk -- with a drop of peppermint extract.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Did you ask your ortho how soon massage might be allowable? While you're inflamed is bad, but after ... :)

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

I've actually never had a massage, so no....

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm still happy over having seen the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Then again, I've also gotten to see all of the first season and part of the second season of Star Blazers.

On the other hand, I'm also semi-delirious because of a sinus infection, so reality is all swirly right now. And I'm telling people who to fix their multi-million dollar servers! Whee!

"So you dropped your master database, the one that runs, well, everything. Good. We now know precisely why your server isn't running. Admittedly, turning the server off does the same thing and is quicker to recover from, but, hey, why take half measures?"

[flaviarassen.livejournal.com]

Gigi is one of those movies that always makes me smile.

And if you want another laugh, think about me at the dentists'
- no, normally that isn't funny, but your mentioning the fact
that you have to have children's splints reminded me: when I
get tooth molds/pictures, I have to have child's plates. And
you know how tall I am....

[kitanzi.livejournal.com]

For me, one is comfort reading. Some books will do it every time, and I'm sure they aren't the same ones as for you but I'm just as sure that you have some.

Another is music - Arrogant Worms are pretty good for that for me (loud, funny, raucous singalongs. I know you're not into singing, but if you like loud and funny they're still good for knocking you out of a funk.) Johnathan Coulton is also pretty good for much of the same reasons - I was singing along to Last Sascatchewan Pirate last night, and Re: Your Brains (aka middle management zombies song) tonight. Again, your particular type may vary but I bet there's something.

[98.livejournal.com]

Puppy cam?

Glad that surgery is not required. Did you get any recommendations for stretches or exercises to prevent recurrence once this episode is over?

[jadasc.livejournal.com]

Spicy food, actually. Typically chili or barbecue or something like that.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Bujold always works for me...

Sorry for your pain but glad it should be short-term, hope it heals quickly!

[gmkieran.livejournal.com]

happy hopes for hastened healing!!! and talking to you is generally a wonderful mood booster for me! *g*

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