WTF-Beta

@AndyD I feel like lighting has gone over the top these days. Like, with an interesting light fixture, a little goes a long way. You don't need an unusual shade or statement light fixture in every room!

@jon-nyc said:

As someone who is involved in several of them, let me remind you that online support groups have a built in sample bias. Most people find them because they’re having issues. That can make it seem like everyone has horrible issues with the surgery, when in reality most people who don’t have issues never find or post much in the group.

I know, and I totally get that.

But I do feel like there's a lot the doctors don't focus on, and it's frustrating to feel like you can only find about some of those things from random strangers online.

For example, the stuff I mentioned above about "prehab" (exercises, strength training I could/should be doing in advance of the surgery). And all the logistics. I received a big packet of info, and no where does it talk about renting a wheelchair or knee scooter, that kind of thing.

The doctors are only thinking about the spot they are going to operate on, but that spot is connected to the rest of me....

Wow, very pretty, @andyd !

@Bernard said:

I think that's the germ I need for this piece. An aria! Chopin loved bel canto opera.

Awesome! I suspect that image will be all you need to give is the shape you felt it was lacking.

@Bernard said:
Yeah, you definitely would not want to hold tension in your hand for the duration of the arpeggios.

Exactly. I worked on this (score below) in one lesson with my teacher a bit and it’s better in terms of less tension, but not great. I’ve found spots/ways to release the tension, but it seems to me there shouldn’t be tension in the first place. So I want to take it back to my lesson, but we’ve been busy with my jury piece, so I’ve put it on hold until that’s finished.

But in this one (score below, which is octaves) and the other score I posted (which are the arps), I think my problem, or whatever it is I’m doing, is the same. My hand isn’t that small, I think one problem is that I might be stretching more than I need to. And then another problem is not releasing that stretch, so the tension builds. And then I think I need to use my arm, wrist, move my elbow etc., in ways that I’m not doing ….

Thanks for listening everyone!

@Bernard said:

I'm now on the 3rd and final op post Nocturne by Chopin in class: Nocturne No. 21 in C Minor, KK IVb/8.

Oooh this is such a lovely and compelling piece!

It's a challenge because it's very repetitive, the first half page is almost all I chord alternating with V7. I can't find the climax of the piece--I'm not even sure there is one! It's almost a meditative piece. In this regard, it's just as hard as any of the others, but in a different way.

I can imagine! Chopin is always devilishly hard in any case, but there’s something about this…maybe it’s what you said, the meditativeness, lack of obvious climax…

Have you tried recording yourself and listening to the story you’re telling, or trying to find the story you should be telling, but aren’t?

Ok I watched the video. that was super interesting. But now I need to watch it when I’m in front of my piano

I wish she had talked more about releasing tension during octave playing.

Does she have large hands? Probably? I need to go to the keyboard bride so think more about it…

I have a piano jury coming up in about two weeks. This will be the “final exam” for my piano class this semester. Since my biggest challenge now is perfomance anxiety, I’ve been trying to record myself as a way to add some pressure to my practice.

So here’s my recording from yesterday. I kind of fell apart at the end, but it’s otherwise not too bad.

Miracles, by Alexis Ffrench

Btw here’s that passage.

I play stuff like this all the time, but for some reason, this one is giving me problems….

@Bernard ooh, thanks for this, I’ll listen later today.

I don’t know if she talks about this, but there’s a piece I used to play (like, 20+ years ago) that I recently returned to. It’s mostly easy, but at the end there are several measures of arpeggios where the right hand is stretched out the whole time. I find myself having a lot of tension and feeling like my technique is making it harder for me. I’ve been planning to talk to my teacher about it, but we’re working on prep for my jury so I have put it away until that’s done….

@wtg wow!! That’s great!

@wtg that’s interesting.

Book clubs are not a common activity for most Americans, according to the recent survey

Were they ever common??

@Daniel physical therapy, with a good PTist, can be truly amazing. I highly recommend it.

If your PCP doesnt give you a referral, you contact your insurance to see if you can self-refer to PT, some plans allow that, esp. for knees, which is such a common problem.

Good luck!

When are they coming out with a way to regrow tendons?

@Mik said:

But she made it upstairs the first night and was the poster girl for active rehab. She exceeded their milestones at every turn.

That's great!

hopefully all the weightlifting and cardio I've been doing for a few years will help me if it comes to that

I am sure it will! I have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both knees, and I did get a shot in one knee last June. But the big thing that has helped me is all the PT and strength building I've been doing. It's been quite slow, but I've noticed a real change, esp. recently.

That's why I'm holding out hope that I can avoid this foot surgery!

@Mik And I bet any surgeon, if asked about prehabbing, would say "oh absolutely, do that."

So, it should be something they tell you about....

I understand hip replacements are quite difficult, was she working at the time?

@Mik said:

I still have a little nerve pain at the incision site from time to time.... the odd thing is ever since then I've had a slight limp

I'm sorry you're still dealing with it, although thankfully it was benign and sounds like the removal went well.

Here's another thing I wanted to vent about..... sorry!

So, I asked both foot surgeons if there was anything I should be doing in preparation for the surgery. Both said no.

Well, reading that FB support group, a lot of people talk about how hard it is to be non-weight-bearing on one leg and having to rely completely on the other leg. One lady was talking about how she has a very hard time getting up and down to go to the toilet.

And another person pointed out that this should have been mentioned as part of "prehab" -- that anything you can do in advance to strengthen the non-surgical leg will be incredibly helpful.

In most cases, this surgery is elective -- which is not to say that it's not medically necessary, but just that there's some flexibility in the timing and most people have the surgery after months (or years) of trying other treatments which didn't work.

Given that, having patients do prehab exercises as part of their pre-op preparation seems like a no brainer. But no one has mentioned it to me.

As it happens, I can't do a single leg sit-stand without using one of my arms. But I'm trying to build up my muscles to get there.

I would be a lot less cranky if an actual doctor discussed this with me, rather than me having to hear about it on Facebook!

/vent

But I should add that I feel like I'm getting a lot better and I'm wondering if I can stick with my "wait and see" approach. The problem with that is, I can't really do the surgery any time except in the summer, so not doing it this summer means I won't do it until next summer....

@Mik said:

did the surgeon say whether or not he'd have to detach the achilles tendon? Apparently, that will determine whether you will have the very long recovery or a much shorter one.

Yes, the surgery that has been proposed (same by two different doctors) is to detach the achilles, remove the haglund's deformity that's at the top (ish) of the heel and also remove the enthesophyte (bone spur) that has formed right where the achilles attaches to the heel.

Which is why I'm suspicious of their recovery estimates and directives about length of time totally NWB -- IOW, I think they're underestimating it. And I'm worried about the cascading health ramifications of prolonged NWB, and I think they are underestimating that as well, and it's super frustrating.

@Mik said:

some are not above selling it.

Well that, and also, the further out a patient gets post-op, the less the doc sees them, and I suspect that influences even the most conscientious of surgeons (i.e., those who don't push surgery when not necessary just because they'll make a buck). Also the definition of a "successful surgery" is not necessarily the same for doctors and patients, and maybe to some extent that's inevitable.... but it's still frustrating on the patient side.

"You may experience some discomfort" is a euphemism for "It will be a sneak preview of the fires of Hell.".

Ugh! That reminds me of when covid first started and the reporting about "mild" cases would mention that a doc might describe it as mild (e.g., because the patient isn't in ICU), but the patient would not (e.g., because they are so sick they can't function)