Although it seems like I have been wearing a sling and a leg brace for months, my knee surgery was only a little less than three weeks ago. I had a post-op appointment with the surgeon last Wednesday. He said I would probably be able to ditch the brace in four weeks. It cannot come too soon.

I start physical therapy this coming Wednesday for my shoulder and my knee. The doctor had recommended that I try to bend my knee a little when I’m lying down without the leg brace. I can bend my knee maybe 15 degrees — not very much — before my thigh gets so tight it becomes a little painful. I wonder what the therapy will be like.

The good news is that they pulled the staples from the knee incision, and I can now take a shower without taping a plastic bag over my knee. I can actually walk around the house and feel stable and relatively safe, but only while wearing the brace. I have even taken the dogs out for a very short constitutional. Our driveway is so steep that I can take only little baby steps on the way down. I took Zoe all the way down, but when it came to Sam, I detoured into the front yard instead. So, I got a good look at the green disaster that is our yard. It needs mowing. A lot.

Leah has been taking the dogs out, of course, but she has been having her own problems. So, since I seem to be fairly steady on my feet, even with a peg leg, I have volunteered to take them out in the last few days. They go out one at a time, because they are too hard to control when they’re out there together. I’m not sure what normal is for my surgeries, but I have had essentially no pain over the last couple of weeks. If I’m careful, I think it’s safe. Of maybe safe-ish.

The bad news is that Leah fell again Sunday night. I was in the living room and heard a bang from the kitchen. I found her lying against one of the cabinets. She was hurting, but not injured. I’m not sure why she fell, and neither is she. All we know now is that she is a falling risk, and needs to be a lot more careful than she is. This was the second time she has fallen in the kitchen. She wasn’t injured either time, but we can’t count on that outcome if she falls again.

We saw Leah’s surgeon last week. His conclusion was that she needs spinal fusion surgery, but it was obvious to him that I’m in no condition to take care of her. It has only been within the last few days that I could even slide myself into the back seat of our car without having Leah hold my bad leg up. I can finally get into the car without help, but I can’t straighten my leg, so there is no way I can drive. My shoulder is probably a bigger problem than my leg. When she fell, I couldn’t help her get up, because that really takes two good legs and two good arms. Or at least one good leg and two good arms.

If I can get out of my leg brace in a month, and if I can get my knee to bend far enough to get into the front seat of the car, I might be able to drive. At that point, it might be almost possible that we can start thinking about getting surgery for Leah.

This has driven home to me, at least, the problem of living so far from friends and family. Neither of us has friends or family within less than a full day’s drive we can call on in an emergency. If Leah had been injured and couldn’t get up, I would have had to call for an ambulance. And I wouldn’t even be able to meet her at the hospital. We have a few neighbors that I might could call on, but it’s iffy.

In the meantime, we are two vulnerable people who are going to have to be very careful doing all the things that most people don’t think twice about.