Well…things are pretty slow around mostly…but it I summer in Florida and it’s hot and humid and we have thunderstorms just about every day.

Neil is finishing up his preps for a photo workshop in Botswana…got his stuff mostly packed and he’s trained Connie on all the stuff that she might have to do if we have a hurricane in the next few weeks. However…with the persistent high offshore of Jacksonville and the repeated dust storms from Africa heading across the tropics to the west of the continent…those cut way down on the development of storms. Anyway…he’s not all that worried and she’s got people who will help her with the storm shutters if needed so all is pretty well there.

On her breast cancer diagnosis…she’s had her pre-surgery appointment and all the pre-op tests and things are looking pretty good. Sure…it’s the big C…but it’s isolated, no mass, and she should be just fine according to the surgeon, cancer guy, and radiation guy.

Then there’s the knee thing…and this story is a bit interesting.

A few weeks back Neil had his normal routine annual visit with Doctor R who is his primary care guy. He’s a really good doctor…a cuban refugee that used to be a surgeon but reverted to being a primary care guy after escaping the island…but he (in Neil’s opinion) tends to try to solve problems that aren’t really problems.

Anyway…he decided there was some fluid behind Neil’s right knee and so sent him over for an X-ray and after that came back with a diagnosis of osteophytes and mild osteoarthritis he sent Neil to the orthopedic guy. Now…to be fair…Neil has no issue with the knee at all…no pain, nothing. So…he was really wondering what the heck he needed to see the ortho guy for.

So Neil has his appointment with ortho doc yesterday…and naturally they can’t get into the system to see his original X-rays…so they took more. Obviously this is just a ploy to get to charge Medicare more instead of just getting the original X-rays…but I digress. 

Then the doctor comes in and Neil tells him the whole story. He asks questions about pain, clicking in the joint and that sort of thing…and Neil says no, no, and no. Then he looks at the X-ray and Neil wonders why he was referred to ortho guy in the first place. Ortho guy responds that the ‘mild osteoarthritis’ was the reason but then he looked for about 30 seconds at each of the 4 X-rays they took that day and says “you know…that osteoarthritis statement is just a way, way over read of the actual situation. Then he looks at Neil and says two different things…”you have perfect knees for a 71 year old guy that was a runner for 40 years”…and “you have the knees of a 20 year old”.

Neil said thank you…they left…and headed off to date night. After all…it was Friday and we were down south of our normal stomping grounds a bit so Connie got all date night dressed up and we stopped at one of our favorite seafood places on the way home. A few glasses of wine…some steamed oysters…and then some New England Clam Chowder for her and some Shrimp Tacos for him and they headed home.

So…there you have it. Neil has 20 year old knees, a 12 year old attitude about life…and the rest of him is just old feeling. A quite spritely old mind you…and the floor keeps getting farther and farther away…but ortho guy congratulated him on his 2,000 miles a year on the bike, said that’s the best exercise for your knees, and to come see him if there is ever a problem.

Sorry…no images today…but by the next post he’ll be back from Botswana and probably have some for me.

Cyas.