The Orthopedics visit

June 6, 2025

The day begins with Rachael and me sitting next to each other on the couch, staring at the image of ourselves minimized in the lower right corner of a Zoom screen, with the message "waiting for the conference host to arrive" displayed across the top.

8 AM comes, 8 AM goes, and then there's a phone call. It's our conference host, informing us that he's experiencing technical difficulties at his end and wants to know if a phone visit will work. Sure. It's a visit we've been waiting eagerly for, so let's get on with it. Our conference host is an orthopedic surgeon, and this is our opportunity to find out if I can be scheduled for knee replacement surgery for either or both knees, and how soon.

The phone conference doesn't last long. Dr Madden is clearly in a hurry and feeling pressured if not overwhelmed by his caseload, and in any case there's not too much to talk about. Yes, I can have both knees replaced, and I can get added to the waiting list after a few preliminaries. They'll be scheduled in series, probably about four months apart, and he leaves it to me to decide on the order based on which knee is the most problematic.

So that's the good news. The bad news is that I've got 250 others already queued up waiting for knee replacements ahead of me, and the estimate is that I won't make it to the top for 9 or 10 months. In the meantime he doesn't have much to offer beyond sympathy and the recommendation to get steroid shots periodically for some potential relief.

Well, at least we know now. This was the information we needed so we could start planning for what to do with our lives in the months ahead. It wasn't what we hoped for, but it's clarifying. For now we just drop a work request into the inbox of the TA Planning Committee, and get on with our plans for the day.

Plans for the day consist of a bike ride together out to the Columbia River, followed later with dinner at Serrato. We have all day and the weather looks fine, so before we go I bike over to Caffe Umbria for quiche and a cup. While I'm there Rachael calls to let me know that there are technical difficulties with the plan to go riding, her first time on the bike in over two weeks. She has two problems: first, she can't find her wrist brace, the one that gives her some relief from the arthritis in her right wrist; and second, she's missing a bike glove - three of them actually since she has three gloves, but they're all for the left hand. How did that happen?

There's probably a good reason for why Rocky is missing three right-hand gloves.

So the day gets redefined as an errand day, and we'll bike out to the river together tomorrow. We leave the apartment together and bike over to the Fred Meyers on Burnside where Rachael picks up a new brace. From there we bike over to the Trek shop on 21st, the spot I took the Rodriguez in to get unflattened a few days ago. We each pick up new gloves and I also get a couple of spare tubes for the Rodriguez because I was surprised to find that our stash of tubes at home includes six that fit the Bike Fridays and two that fit the Straggler (which we no longer have, of course), and zero that fit the Rodriguez.

Back in the saddle again! Rocky scores her first bike miles since the ride from Annecy to Chambery over two weeks ago.

Afterwards I escort Rachael back to the apartment, leaving her to plan out a leisurely walk for the afternoon while I continue on to Keizer Interstate. I have two errands there - one is to have another set of blood tests (I'm on a weekly schedule temporarily), and the other is to check their lost and found to see if my missing Pendleton is there.

On the way, I decide to head to the waterfront to see if the fleet is in, as of course it is. It's Fleet Week, the week when a few warships are moored on the waterfront and open for visitors as part of the Rose Festival. I cross the river on the upper deck of the Steel Bridge, which gives me a fine view down on the two that are moored here today.

Looking down on America's finest come through. Who says America can't run a passenger rail system? We've got Amtrak!

Fleet Week only comes once a year, and we're seldom here in the right season. Might as well take a second look.

Bleeding happens, but there's no sign of the Pendleton. That was my last hope, so I guess it's gone for good. Rats. I hope whoever walked off with it takes good care of it. As long as I'm this far north already I decide to just keep biking that direction and put a few miles in (and did anyone notice I turned my first thousand miles on this journal? That's worth a small celebration at dinner). I cross the freeway at the Failing Street pedestrian overpass and then turn north up the Michigan Avenue bike boulevard until I come to Ainsworth where I divert to check out the rose garden at Peninsula Park. Andrea reminded me of this spot and said it should be really spectacular right now, and it is.

I don't know what this building is on the corner of Michigan and Failing - a community center maybe - but it has some outstanding wall art.

Andrea suggested that I should check out Peninsula Park for some reason. Good idea!

From there I continue on back up to The Columbia Slough and Force Lake again, curious to see if I can build a 20 bird list again. I'm close, but don't quite get there - I'm one shy, needing only a song sparrow or heron to push me over the line. Not only is midsummer a poor time for birding, but midday on a hot summer day is the worst time of all. I can see rows of ducks far off at the margins of the water on Force Lake, all sensibly napping in the shade and waiting for the day to cool down. Occasionally a bird or two will venture out on the water, but at such a distance that any shots I get are pretty marginal.

It's hard to spot the eagle's nest in summer when the foliage is full. This is the only spot it's visible from the bike path.

I puzzled over the bird on the left, which didn't really match any candidate I could think of. Once a second bird alit nearby though I figured it out: it's an immature robin.

A better look at the redheads than we got yesterday, but they're still too far out.

Oh, wait! I did get my twentieth bird after all. It's a female wood duck, something I wasn't aware of until dumping the photos.

After that I head home, pick up Rachael, and we drive together over to Serrato. Over a dinner that includes a split kale salad, scallops for her and rigatoni bolognese for me we discuss the day's news and start framing out a new plan for the coming months. All of a sudden there's a lot to talk about and consider.

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Today's list: Bald eagle, Eurasian starling, Red-winged blackbird, American robin, Rock pigeon, Great egret, Double-crested cormorant, California scrub-jay, House sparrow, Mallard, Redhead, Canada goose, Tree swallow, Cliff swallow, American crow, American robin, Gadwall, Pied-billed grebe, Northern flicker, Wood duck (20)

Today's ride: 25 miles (40 km)
Total: 1,034 miles (1,664 km)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesWell, boo on your long waitlist. Almost as bad as mine was 7 years ago. Fortunately, once you get to the top of the list for knee 1 the wait for knee 2 seems to be much shorter. Our offer of a place to stay, especially from mid August to late October is still on. At least it sounds like rehab in Tucson may be possible. Hoping for the best for you both. Dodie
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1 week ago

Patrick O'HaraGlad to hear you've got some timeline to work with. Interested to see how you decide to spend this time.
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1 week ago

Genny FoxDown here in CA, people sometimes will go to a different Kaiser if they can get a procedure done faster. For example, I had an associate who needed a knee surgery and the wait was several months at Marin Kaiser but only a month at Sacramento Kaiser. Is that an option for you?
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1 week ago

Genny FoxAnother thought occurred to me; you may already be aware that surgeries by their very nature cause inflammation and so can cause flaring of immune-mediated disorders. Be sure your rheumatologists and surgeons are communicating and in agreement about your continuing treatments.
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1 week ago

Scott AndersonTo Genny FoxThanks, Genny. That's. A good suggestion. It didn't occur to me to ask. And yes, I spoke with them about my prednisone diet.
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1 week ago

Suzanne GibsonSorry to hear that you will have such a long wait, Scott!
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1 week ago

Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonThat was our first reaction too of course, but we're busy making lemonade.
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1 week ago

Michael HutchingHope you find that Pendleton Scott. If not, we have a reputable brand here called Swandri, much favoured by farmers and backblocks voyagers over the decades. Who knows you might be converted!
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1 week ago

Bob KoreisCould you hear the Rose Parade from your accommodation?
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1 week ago

Scott AndersonTo Michael HutchingIt's not inconceivable that it's in the apartment somewhere and we just can't see it, but other than that I'm out of ideas. I've got a second one, so I'll just live with that until it falls to a similar fate.

It has to be Pendleton though. This is one of the times I miss my mother the most. For many years she bought me a new one for my birthday each year, and on a good year that was enough.
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1 week ago

Scott AndersonTo Bob KoreisOh! That was yesterday too! Amazingly, I've never watched the Rose Parade and it's not really in my consciousness but this would have been the time - it's been returned to its traditional route through the heart of town after a three year absence. And yes, if I'd thought of it we probably could have heard it from our deck.

That reminds me of when I was in high school and we lived south of the UW, not far from Lake Washington and Husky Stadium. When the hydroplane races were still a thing we'd go out on the deck and listen to the Miss Thriftway and the Wahoo roar in the distance; and when the Huskies were playing at home we'd go out and listen to the crowds cheer after a Husky touchdown.
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1 week ago