The week has flown by. . . yet again

Another busy week. Tuesday, went through another bout of physical therapy. We have moved away from working on my knee now, as anything else that can be done must on my own. I've been having my neck and shoulders worked on through ultrasound and massage. Found out that I have been moving the stress of my knee to my shoulders. I still favor my knee a little, and I compensate through the movement of my body. So, along with the stresses I've had at work for months, accompanied by this, I really messed things up.

For those that don't know, I had knee surgery in early February. Through xrays and a visit with an orthopedic surgeon, found out that I have osteo arthritis in both of my knees. In addition, my knee caps have literally moved to the sides of my knees. It was pretty bad on my left knee, so had it done first. They did the orthoscopic (cleaned up my knees from the bones rubbing together) and did a "lateral release," or the cutting of a tendon so my kneecap could be moved back into place and I'd quit walking with so much permiation in my stride. Although my knee will still hurt on occasion, is still feels better than it did before the surgery. My other knee pretty much has the same thing happening, but that surgery won't happen until next year. This one has pretty much used up all of my current and future flex benefits I have been putting money into, so I'll probably have the other knee done next winter. I know what it will cost now, so I can better plan for it. This will tide me over for about 10 years until I have to have them both replaced. Gee, can't wait for that to happen!

Wednesday I took Dana to the baseball game where we met up with Kirsten. I had been on a winning streak with the team (out of 6 games, they had only lost 1) and the Rockies were in the throws of a 7 game winning streak. Well, this time I was the jinx - they lost in a kinda-sorta ugly way. I hope they do better on June 6th against Houston. I have missed the Cincinnati game this year (happening this weekend) - I usually go, then call my cousin Tammy's husband Jeff. They live in Cincy, and he is a big Red's fan. About half the time I end up in his voicemail, but that's OK. If I call and the Rockies are kickin' butt I'll taunt him; the other times I'll just say "guess where I'm at" and hang up. I'm his favorite sports fan (guess besides a few friends, he has no one else to talk with about sports that actually knows who players are or what's going on). Glad I'm someone's favorite!

Thursday, I was actually home. On Friday, I went in late (cuz I can). I am usually at work between 6:45am-7am. I put in around 2-1/2 hours of unpaid overtime a week, just because I get so much done in that time before 7:30am, when everyone else gets into the office and the phones ring. So when I need (or want) to take off early for any reason, my boss is usually happy to oblige. I rarely do it, so he's pretty accommodating. We've had some challenges going on for a couple of years with one of my co-workers, but it's been really bad these first 5 months. Between all of her sick days, Dr/Dentist appts and just plain being late, plus a few days of vacation, she has been gone 25.5 days this year thus far. This has gone on since she has been with the company, but just recently pretty bad. Skip (my boss) and I talked about it, and he finally brought down the gauntlet with her in the last 2 weeks. The last time they spoke, he said she will now either take vacation time or non-paid time off if she misses any more time. So, I get to keep on tracking her comings and goings. It's a pain, but if it helps keep her in line, so be it. She's not a hard worker, nor a team player; doesn't offer to help anyone, and if she gets bored, she's either on the phone w/personal calls or on the internet. I work very hard at my job, and it really irks me that she doesn't do more to help out. I hate to say this, but if it ends up that she is gone by year end, then we can really get someone in that is willing to help everyone out - I'm looking forward to that day.

So the big item of the week - my nephew, Kiel (pronounced Kyle) went through graduation ceremonies today. He has to do one more class to get his diploma (he flunked history), but still got to go through everything. I'm proud of him and what he has accomplished thus far. His story is long and tedious, so I'm not going to get into it. He is my brother's son. I finally met Kiel's mom, Evelyn, and half-sister, Veronica, today. Veronica is close to my age, and has a daughter that is just a year older (yes, that's right) than Kiel. He also has a couple of brothers and another sister, I believe. He didn't tell anyone abou this graduation until pretty much a week before, so the rest of his family couldn't get it together quick enough to come out. As Kiel is in a Tech School program through the high school as well, when he graduates from that, they will all come out for it. I look forward to meeting the rest of them. Although not the best things have happened to Kiel's advantage for most of his life, his family seems pretty cool so far. My brother, on the other hand, is a putz and didn't even show up to the graduation ceremony. Not going to go into all of that either, but its not a nice or pretty thing that has happened. Kiel has been in good hands with the family that took him in and has taken care of him for the past nearly 2 years. I am very grateful that they are there for him. Just wish I would've taken more initiative to help out. Honestly, I don't know that I would have been a very good "mom" type for him, but with Kim having 4 of her own kids, she's pretty good at figuring out what's going on, helps him understand and deal with the issues he goes through and doesn't abuse him in any way, shape or form. He had enough of that before moving in w/Kim. For a kid who first came here very shy and not knowing what to expect, he's come a long way, despite all of the crap he's had to go through with my brother and his wife. I applaud Kiel for sticking it out.

I took Evelyn and Veronica into downtown Denver for the People's Fair after all was said and done (Kiel went into Boulder with a friend to get his last paycheck from his job). They really enjoyed going downtown. I was pretty beat by the time we got done, so home has been a good place to be tonight. I woke up around 6am this morning (internal clock did that, damn it) and was at Broomfield High School by 9am, so I've had a long, busy day.

Tomorrow should be a "work at home" day, I really have some organizing to get done. I'll probably go to the "Y" and work out as well, gotta keep up with my physical therapy as well as my general well-being. I'll probably write more tomorrow, so hasta mañana!