I'm Baaack, With New Hardware

I know, I've been AWOL for the past two months.  December was, as usual, crazy. But the good news is that my jewelry sales from the Hillsborough Gallery and Sofia's were especially good.  I like the idea that women in many places and in various walks of life are wearing my creations. 

Then came the new year, and I started 2010 by getting a new right knee.  Yup, total knee replacement - a procedure not for the faint of heart or for the impatient.  I went into the hospital on January 5th and placed my life and future mobility in the competent hands of my trusted orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Phillip Clifford.

The hospital stay was not uneventful. The pain narcotics I was getting somehow danced a jig in my brain and loosened my grasp on reality.  It was about 3 a.m. on the second night of my hospital stay when I looked at the clock, decided it was 3 p.m. and that I needed to get going.  So, I proceeded to rip out my IV, hobble into the bathroom on my walker (mind you, it's a premier no-no to get out of bed without a nurse by your side), strip, and "hop" into the shower.  That's when the pain hit me and I must have been complaining loudly, because the nurses burst into the room and when they saw me, said, "what do you think you're doing?"  I don't remember this, but I'm told that I replied, "I'm getting a shower so I can go and see my sister."  That's when the nurses moved me to a room beside the nursing station so they could keep an eye on me.


It took another 24 hours for the stuff (hydrocodone I think) to work its way out of my system.  Trying to eat under the influence was an adventure.  I'd get the fork full of eggs, or whatever the tasty morsel of the moment was, to my mouth and then would doze off only to awake and find the fork still sitting at the entrance, not even having gotten past my teeth.  At lunch, I managed to get food into my mouth but would forget to chew. My husband was there by that time and made it his job to remind me to put fork to mouth, put food in mouth, chew, and swallow.  This was not an automatic response on my part. He had to stay vigilant.


Now, it's been three weeks since my surgery and I'm just getting back to my studio for brief periods of time.  I have turned out a few pairs of resin earrings and have plans for some totally new work.  I'm in out-patient physical therapy and am working diligently to get back strength and flexibility.  This rehab stuff is like having a full time job.  Six weeks of PT should get me back to walking the dog and spending long hours in my studio.

For the time being, I'm designing and making a few pieces.  I've been juried in as a consignor at the new Franklin Street Arts Collaborative, called FRANK (with an upside-down "A") for short.  So, I want to have some new work to take to this new gallery by the end of February.