“Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” – Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26^th President

We had a taste of winter-like weather during the beginning of October.  Snow before our Canadian Thanksgiving does not happen that often.  Hopefully, this is not a taste of what our upcoming winter will be like.

The September 15th weekend was a nightmare.  The bone spurs and chondrocalcinosis in my right knee decided it was a good time to see how much pain I could tolerate. I should be thanking my lucky stars that the excruciating pain only hung on for five days; apparently, this pain can last as long as a month.  Patches, one of our dogs, sat beside my bed all night and cried along with me.  I am a tough old broad and rarely cry so was rather shocked that the pain in my knee got the better of me that weekend.   On Monday morning my first call was to my Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Kayler.   His receptionist got me an appointment later that week on September 20th.  Dr. Kayler will be scheduling me for knee surgery in the New Year.

A common cause of chondrocalcinosis is calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystal deposition disease (CPPD). Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystal deposition disease (CPPD) occurs when these crystals form deposits in the joint and surrounding tissues. The crystal deposits provoke inflammation in the joint, which can cause the joint cartilage to break down.  The disease may take a few different arthritis-related forms: osteoarthritis, a chronic rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-like inflammatory arthritis, or an acutely painful inflammatory condition called pseudogout.

Bone Spur in Knee. You can have bone spurs in knee joints for years without experiencing any symptoms. But when they do cause symptoms, they can be painful and interfere with the movement of your knee. Bone spurs are bony growths that can develop anywhere on the bones, but most commonly developed in joints.

Thanksgiving 2018. Once again we, including grandson Benjamin and Danika, celebrated Thanksgiving at Natasha and Mike’s house and had a wonderful time. Natasha cooked an amazing dinner. Her pumpkin pie was “to die for”. Her homemade pumpkin ice cream was incredibly delicious. Much love and thanks to Natasha and Mike for the most enjoyable afternoon and evening and for the amazing meal. We, as a family, have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving, especially the fact that Peter has fully recovered from the heart attack he experienced Thanksgiving 2017.

Tomorrow we celebrate Peter’s 72nd birthday.  We decided to keep the celebrations low key; we will go out for supper and then have grandson Benjamin and Danika join us for birthday cake at home.  Peter and I got hit with a flu type illness two weeks ago and we cannot seem to shake it.   Enough already with the dizziness, intermittent nausea and extreme fatigue (napping for two hours in the morning, two to three hours again in the afternoon and often another two hours in the early evening).