Monday. Sitting here with my husband at the North Clinic Check-in, waiting for his appointment with the orthopedic surgeon to look at his left knee. Again. The appointment, which was scheduled in August, can now be canceled.

Three days ago, my husband stood up from the bed with the aid of his walker and nearly collapsed to the floor. The pain in his left knee was excruciating. Fear filled the room like fog filling the room from a fog machine at a rock concert. Not another infection! You see, once you have MRSA in your system, it lies dormant and can rear its ugly head at any time.

The medical assistant in black scrubs with a long french-braided ponytail cascading down the middle if her back checked my husband in. She happily asked, “Where’s the pain? When did it start? What meds are you on?” He answered each question. She stumbled over a couple of words, which she blamed on the fact she had just returned home last night after spending a month in France for “study abroad” so she was a little tired. That was not something I would have guessed about her. She seemed awake, happy, and her word stumbles were not noticeable. I wanted to talk about her experience in France, but she was quick at doing her job and the next thing I knew, she was headed out the door to let the doctor know his next patient was ready to be seen.

The doctor is easy to talk to and very personable, a bit unusual for most surgeons. Long story short, another surgery is in my husband’s future. In three weeks, he will have his 9th knee removal and/or replacement surgery.

Here we go again. Good thing he is full of determination. Sigh….

Tuesday. Our conversation on the ride home last evening after Joe’s appointment was mostly about what he was feeling about another surgery and we started planning for an upcoming week-long stay that our 7-year-old grandson has with us prior to the surgery.

Our daughter said our grandson is very excited to spend the week with us rather than his other grandparents because he “gets too bored” when he stays with them. And, I thought they were the fun/interesting ones! Now, I am questioning our planned trip to the museum. Guess we better throw in an ice cream cone. 😉

Life goes on…. Make the best of it!