Knee Surgery, recovery, and life after

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After the family left it was full steam ahead for my full knee replacement surgery for my left knee.

I went the next week, for all the testing, blood work and cardio X-ray. All was good, I was scheduled for the following week for surgery.

We rented a nice apartment which was next to the far end of the marina, so only an 8 minute walk away for John. And next thing I knew I was walking into Joya Hospital

The whole surgery took just over an hour, out with the old and in with the new. I do remember being in no pain in recovery. I had a pain blocker in me, an epidural, but I was feeling so totally dopey.

John came to visit around 6:00pm. He left and the next thing I remember it was the morning. I have no recollection of breakfast, very little memory of the whole morning, other than as I came off the pain blocker, the new pain meds didn’t work very well. I do recall being told I was being put on an alternative pain medication, an opioid patch. Dr. Rosa did say he was reluctant to use these patches, but as I was not responding to the others it was the only choice.

We moved me via taxi into our apartment which was very comfortable.

Over the next 10 days in the apartment I practiced moving around, but admittedly spent a good bit of time sitting on the bed with my leg up.

I was so doped up, plus couldn’t bend my knee, so getting around was challenging.

Poor John was my nurse. He really tried hard and without him cheering me up the whole experience would have been very miserable. He even had to do the cooking!

All went very well, so that after 10 days I was ready to move back onto Aeeshah.

Meanwhile I had started physiotherapy with a lovely young woman. Plus I saw Dr. Rosa and he was pleased with my progress.

I was off of the walker within 3 weeks. Going for short daily walks to perfect my “walk”, everyone was very pleased with my progress. I was feeling great! My Dr. Rosa was pleased with how everything was progressing.

At 4 weeks I had my last bit of pain patch removed. Yes, this whole time I had an opioid patch attached to my chest. Admittedly it had been decreased from whole size down to just quarter size for the last week. I did not do well with the “withdrawal”. I felt so incredibly ill. Every part of me felt sick and ached, terrible depression, anxiety, so so bad.

I am writing this as a warning to anyone who reads it. Those opioid patches are dreadful. I will never ever have any attached to me again. 10 days later and I am still not 100% Oh and there is nothing you can take to relieve the symptoms.

Consequently due to my leg etc we did very little exploring during that time. I did wander the marina and resort area normally twice a day, if I didn’t have physiotherapy.

John did so many chores he ran out of things to repair, upgrade or install.

Chico however was delighted to have our constant company.

Off to the Botanical Gardens

After 7 weeks we hired a car for a few days to go on adventures. By then we were dearly needing to get away and enjoy time elsewhere.

Our first trip was to the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens: https://www.vbgardens.org/

The drive there was through the old part of Puerto Vallarta and then up into the mountains on the other side. The scenery was marvelous.

We stopped to look out over the bays and to the islas we had visited with the grandchildren. Across the bay to the other side and along the beaches.

We passed the area where the zip lining was at Verenes. Further up into the mountains we came to the Botanical Gardens entrance.

These Botanical Gardens have the reputation of being one of the best in the world. They are also a research station and they specialize in orchids among other plants. I love orchids.

We entered, paid and followed the lane downhill to the differing gardens. Wandering around through the cactus gardens.

Following a pathway we could see the river down below.

Yes, I was determined to get down and see the river.

Taking the steps slowly I finally made it to the bottom. The river was pretty, but nothing extra special, however making it down was special for me. Back at the top we headed along pathways to the restaurant.

We were guided to the top veranda, which looked out over the whole region and had a nice breeze.

There were humming birds and butterflies visiting the flowers hanging from the roof, so with the scenery too it was a great spot to have lunch.

Lunch was excellent, we both enjoyed it. After we wandered through the adjoining gift shop and then out to visit more of the gardens.

Our next area was the orchid houses.

I enjoyed wandering along admiring the magnificent orchids, they are truly amazing flowers. One of the last orchids was the Vanilla, from which the flavor vanilla is extracted.

Off again along the paths we found the chapel, which was rather unique.

Decorated with bright floral murals the chapel seemed to celebrate life. Next to it was the pet cemetery.

Our return journey was just as enjoyable, it had been a liberating day.

Day two: Chacala

The following day we set off in the opposite direction. We had in mind a coastal drive by heading to Chacala and then following the 200 back. The journey that we were following to get there was a direct route along the 200D.Chacala

This route turned out to be a toll road that didn’t have any pull offs, turn arounds or any option but straight on. It was through the mountains which were beautiful.

The greens of the trees and the orange flowers lining the roadway made it quite a scenic highway. However it also meant we had a rather longer drive to get to the regular 200 roadway.

Finally, back on the regular 200 enroute to Chacala we enjoyed the more country road drive. We passed several memorials along the roadside…..

which must be to those who had died on the road, but then we came to another type of memorial. This one was very large, and had a number of sections to it.

We strolled around, I actually found the whole area rather creepy. It seemed to be of the occult, to me anyway.

Not long after we turned towards Chacala.

This seaside town was one we had stopped in for the night and anchored off the only tenable part of the bay. We hadn’t been able to go ashore and had said we would visit one day.

We had lunch in a beachside pallapa, both of us having a shrimp salad. The whole area is renowned for the shrimping.

Well, the salad was not what we expected. Sliced cucumber, some slice tomato and a dozen unshelled shrimp all swimming in a vinegar based dressing. I ate what shrimp I could and the tomato I could find. It really was most unpleasant.