Catching Up: Saturday the 16th and Sunday the17th

Saturday was another nice day, as I recall. I met with Laurie in the morning for physical therapy, but had no afternoon therapy. I had not realized there would not be two so I was waiting around for a while. I thought about working on daughter Mary's taxes but hey, I had a couple more days and most of it was done anyway.

Laurie is a very determined therapist. After subjecting me to more torture, she had me sit down and she held my leg on top of her legs. She opened the brace enough to get to the knee cap. With her fingers, she deliberately moved the kneecap around. I remembered that when I had seen a physical therapist some months prior to surgery he had tried to move my kneecap around, too. But he was unable to. The knock-kneed leg kept the kneecap imprisoned, would not let it go. He said, in essence,that with that permanent bend in the joint the knee cap can never "rest".  Now it can. It can get around, do other things. (I realize I am not explaining this well technically.)

When the session was over she said she'd see me tomorrow.

But that did not happen. I did see her in passing, not even to say hello, but it turns out I was not scheduled for any PT Sunday. This is the usual, and I did not know it. I gather she was there to deal with special circumstances, like incoming patients or those who are leaving.

I felt a bit dozy Sunday. I read a lot, lay around, took some walks, ate the meals. My actual appetite came back. Initially I was able to eat a meal but I couldn't "connect" with it. I could taste it but the taste didn't mean anything. I guess that is how it is with some people who often have trouble eating. By Sunday I was tasting again. And gaining an understanding of institutional food, even institutional food that has been veganized.

The above meal is a good example of what I mean. That stuff in front is spaghetti. At least I think so. The pasta was cut into short pieces and cooked to within an inch of its life. It was then combined with a whole lot of tomato sauce with peppers and onions and a few other things. The veg is well-cooked green beans and carrots, plus a half tomato, which appears to have been grilled a bit.  In back is a small can of ginger ale and a half glass of cranberry juice, plus a bowl of fruit - grapes and cantaloupe. It would be possible to eat this meal without teeth, I am convinced. I also suspect this is the aim of much institutional cooking, especially when cooking for the elderly.  I ate it all,by the way. I am not picky that way. I just notice some things.