Today's holiday renamed-- Festa della Karen's Ginocchio

Today- June 2- is a national holdiay in Italy- Festa della Repubblica.  I know it's an important day, banks will be closed, etc, but I cannot help it, I must rename the holiday and claim it as my own special day! And I want the world to celebrate with me. I don't know what the cause is-whether there has been some incredible shift in the alignment of planets, or whether I have been so good God has finally decided to give me a reprieve over here (unlikely), but for whatever the reason, my new knee is finally-- 6 1/2 months after surgery-- finally feeling like I have been waiting for it to feel- like normal.   Yahoo!  I want brass bands, balloons, and lots of great Italian fireworks ( they do have the best fireworks, let it be known).

Yesterday, I was having my usual mid-day tea with a lovely couple from Australia, when the conversation turned to our poor knees. Nolene (the wife) had commented that she noticed I'm going down bridges just like her husband is- one step at a time.  Yes, I am not happy to admit that even after my surgery, I have not been going down steps correctly.  It hurts when I attempt going down one step after the other like a normal person, and I find that I am using my hip,not my knee when I try to do it correctly. My therapist screamed at me for doing.this.  So, I resort to something that works easily, doing it one step at a time.

On my way home, I started to feel very guilty that I have not been practicing stairs correctly. So, I decided I would attempt them the right way for the rest of the day.  Gritting my teeth and gearing up for the worst of it, off I went.  And what to you know, on my way down the Ponte dei Carmini, my knees were going down just fine!  Damn, I wanted to start skipping!  On the remaining bridges from there to our apartment, the same thing  - going down just fine, one leg after the other.  On my errand to the Post Office, same thing. Holy crap!

I decided not to jinx anything. I didn't say a word to anyone about this. This morning when I woke up, I noticed that my morning getting out of bed routine was much improved.  Normally, when I first stand up, there is pain. I have go give the knee a minute or two just standing in one place, then I can slowly start moving.  This morning I put my foot on the floor and off I went, like a little bat out of hell. Again, I wanted to skip (I contained myself).

I put my knee through a few tests this morning- I did all the things that normally cause me some pain, and happily noticed that I was able to do them all like it was nothing at all. At that point, I declared my holdiday, posted a status on Facebook, and sat down to write this blog. The world needs to celebrate with me.  This has been a LONG, arduous, painful 6 1/2 months.  I certainly am not 100% there yet, but this is a major milestone!  Just like the day back at FateBeneFratelli when my knee decided it would bend 90 degrees after not doing it at all, and my therapist Blagha screamed "FINALMENTE!"

Blagha, I hope you can hear me this morning ...."FINALMENTE!!!!!".  I think there is some skipping in my future!

Saying goodbye to FateBeneFratelli

For the last month and a half, FateBeneFratelli in Cannaregio has been literally my home away from home. Tomorrow that routine comes to an end. The better part of each day I've been coming here for physical therapy.  It's not the best way I could have thought of to spend the winter, that's for sure!  However, despite how grueling my days have been, the people I met at FateBeneFratelli made every bit of it worthwhile.

Once inside the front door of FateBeneFratelli, my first stop each and every day was at Massimo's bar. Massimo always has a smile on his face, he knows everyone by name. Each morning, I'd be thinking to myself, "Ok, I have about 15 minutes before the agony begins", because I know how painful it was going to be. But Massimo's boisterous "Ciao, Signora!" and big smile jolted me out of my thoughts, and put a smile on my face too.  He knows my morning routine- I have a pineapple juice and cornetto con marmelata, and he has it ready for me by the time I reach the counter.  Somehow he changes my entire perspective and instead of dreading what's coming next, I leave his bar looking forward to the next few hours.

Next stop is La Piscina- the pool. The pool is where I met most of my little FateBeneFratelli "family". You see the same 8 people every day for several weeks, and before you know it, besides knowing what ailment they are suffering that brings them here, you also know where the live, what kind of work they do, and who their favorite soccer team is. When you see them outside on the street, you are getting hugs and kisses from them. It's these people who share each little accomplishment with you, and also share in your aches and pains. I'll miss them, but most of all I'll miss seeing GianCarlo every day. I met GianCarlo during my 3 week residence time here. We both had knee replacements the same week. After being discharged, we discovered  we would both have our outpatient therapy sessions at the same time. This charming man made it his business each and every day to stop and talk with me, in both English and Italian. The Italian was for me to practice,  the English was for him to brush up on his language skills too.

Right after La Piscina comes Palestra time- the gym. In the gym, I had 45 minutes of private time with a physical therapist every day.  I've already mentioned my therapist, Blaga, in a few previous posts. This woman has worked small miracles on me, there is no doubt. I won't even begin to describe how tough my road to recovery has been. I'm not sure I would have ever made as much progress if it weren't for her persistence. She whooped for joy when I would struggle to get my knee to do something for days and finally be successful. I'll remember her yelling "Finalemente!!!!!!" for the rest of my life.  On the very last week of my therapy, Blaga announced  she would only be working with me on Monday. The rest of the week I'd have a different therapist, because Monday was her last day working there. The only thing I was thankful about was that I'd made it to the last week of therapy without losing her earlier.

Heartfelt thanks to each and every person involved with FateBeneFratelli- the doctors, nurses, aides, physical therapists- everyone. This place is truly miraculous.  I am forever grateful for the care and friendship bestowed upon me.

Note- March 29- About a week ago, Blaga was on the same vaporetto I was on, as I was headed to St. Marks. She told me she was returning to work at FateBeneFratelli beginning April 1.  I'm happy. This mean some other lucky people will be able to work with this angel during their rehabilitation.