So, things were looking up. Early in the summer, I heard that several of my favorite powwows were going to be held in late summer, and with the covid numbers going down thanks to the vaccinations, I started thinking I might soon get my life back. After I was fully vaccinated, I had cataract surgery in both eyes in May and June, which meant that I was basically blind for a month between surgeries since I couldn’t get new glasses until after my second surgery, and I have pretty bad eyes, with or without cataracts. But I got through all that and got new glasses, and now I can see as well as I ever could. I signed up for those four powwows, really looking forward to life getting back to normal. I even went on to have knee replacement surgery in mid-July, confident I’d be able to attend those powwows starting in late August. After all, I was very physically fit and healthy, and I intended to do all the work necessary to recover quickly.
Then the vaccinations in my state just stopped, stalling at 51% of the eligible population. People stopped wearing masks, and covid numbers started climbing again. Okay, but I wore a mask and I was careful, and my knee surgery proceeded without a hitch. It hurt WAY more than I was expecting, but I was still determined to get through it and attend my first powwow in a year and a half in late August. By August 11, I was doing okay, but my leg still felt awfully wobbly. That evening, my cat jumped up on my bed where I was lying, landed right on my new knee, and I have NEVER felt pain like that in my life. I screamed and screamed, but it was 10 pm, and I just couldn’t see calling an ambulance. I decided to ice the knee up and wait through the night to see if the cat just hit me wrong or what.
I sat immobile on my bed all night, too terrified to move. In the morning I spent four hours trying to contact my doctor before his assistant finally called me back. He urged me to just keep icing it over the weekend and see if it would improve. I said I HAD to have someone look at it, and he agreed I could come to the office to have it x-rayed.
The replacement had broken. Just “snap”, and I was screwed. They had to go right back in through the five-inch scar that had just healed. After the repair surgery, I got the last bed in the hospital because all the rest were filled with covid patients. Nurses were so busy that the only people available to help me get to the bathroom were med students who seemed to be suffering even more than I was.
Needless to say, I missed my first scheduled powwow, and my second one is probably out of the question, too. My best hope at this point is the one over Labor Day weekend in Tipton, Indiana, but I’m not even sure about that, because the covid numbers continue to soar, and I don’t need to get sick on top of everything else I’ve been through. I gotta be honest–I’m not sure if I’m EVER going to trust this stupid thing in my leg, and I’m not sure I’m ever gonna trust other people enough to attend a powwow again. I don’t know if my knee problem was avoidable, but I know for damned sure that covid is avoidable, if only everyone would get the vaccine and wear masks until we reduce the cases to zero. Believe me, you don’t want to end up in an over-filled hospital like I did, pressing the call button for two hours before someone comes to help you to the bathroom, wondering if you’ve woken up in an episode of The Walking Dead . . .
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