New Perspective
Not being quite up to par healthwise offers a new perspective. My bad knees have limited me for years and years, so I have often viewed the world with a notice that there are just some things I cannot do--like running, jumping, and mounting my horse from the ground.
With my surgery, I am now even more limited as I cannot pick up so called "heavy" objects. Ten pounds is the limit and, as all of you with horses know, the world of horses is full of things weighing more than ten pounds.
A bag of grain here in the US is 50 pounds. The bales of hay I get weigh in anywhere from about 30-40 pounds apiece. My saddles, treeless so they are much lighter than a treed saddle, still weigh it at, I think, around 15 pounds. Of course, I can't ride anyhow, so it doesn't matter, but it is an observation. And what about horse blankets? Not sure, but a wet one is probably pretty heavy. One gallon of water is 8.8 pounds, so a 2 gallon bucket is too heavy too and forget about a bag of wood shavings or a wheelbarrow even partially filled with manure.
All of my cats are over 10 pounds, for good or ill. My big concern about that is should any one of them have need of a trip to the vet during my lay up, I can't carry them. So far, so good, but it does not rest easy on my mind.
Should I go grocery shopping, I need to be careful how many things I put in a bag.
All in all, it puts a different perspective on the world. I will just have to see things with new eyes for a few more weeks.
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I am very curious to see if your knees feel significantly better with your enforced inactivity.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to think of things in terms of more or less than ten pounds. But in four weeks that will lift. So glad that the pathology report is good and no more treatment is needed! That knowledge alone will speed your recovery.
It's snowing here!
I've pretty much had a 15-pound limit for years - years of back trouble, and I've developed all sorts of work-arounds to get things done. I empty water buckets by using a small bucket to ladle them into a manure bucket that's in a rolling cart, which I can roll out and dump. I pick poo into buckets but only fill them part way, using the rolling cart to get more elevation so I don't have to lift them far.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to do some work with my horses in Western saddles, but they're all too heavy for me to lift.
Thinking about it before I do it, instead of just bending (the wrong way) or lifting too much, is key for me. That said, there are some things I just can't do and have to have help with, such as hay bales and stacking feed bags.
After breaking my back I learned to be very conscious of my technique when lifting. I can't lift very much weight anymore, and pushing a wheelbarrow is murder on my back. Gone are the days of just throwing bales of hay and bags of feed around. It does make you painfully aware of your weaknesses. I have a little wagon with a dump mechanism that I pull around with me to carry heavy things. I find it much easier to pull than to lift and carry.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're doing pretty well, all things considered. Just warn the kitties that they'd better not get sick!
This to shall pass. It may be frustrating for now, but little by little you'll get back to doing what you used to. It's not really that long since your surgery, and I think you're doing great and healing really quickly.
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