Well, hi,
@JusticeRider - thanks for de-lurking and saying hello! I'm so glad my posts are providing entertainment for someone other than myself! Much respect to a...knee-ee? Knee-y? Not quite as easy as "hippy," is it? My mom and one of my brothers had knee replacements, so I know "knee people" are a tough breed.
I suspect you're not alone in wanting to know what our zombie stagger hero Chase has been up to, so....
Well, first off, a comment about the new opening credits for Season 6. Somebody decided to get really creative with the transition button or something because now, instead of the title just appearing, it swoops in, fades to the back, loops around with a flourish and then settles in the middle of the screen. Remember when PowerPoint added a whole bunch of fancy dancy transitions and slide titles and points were suddenly swooping/wiping/zapping/dissolving/car crashing in and out? Wheee! And then, opening shot is of two wine glasses clinking together and then the transitions to the actor credits are....this is going to be really wild....bubbles/liquid dissolving. It's like watching the opening underwater. Cool! Except I thought I'd had way too much wine or had taken pain meds I didn't remember, so....the eighties. Nothing was subtle.
But, Chase's wife got her memory back. How? Well, she said it was stressful living with Chase when she didn't remember him, so she moved out and then Chase gave her space and respect and....just kidding...he kept showing up to tell her he loved her and finally convinced her to go on a date and they went to a fair and, while sitting at the very tippy top of the Ferris Wheel eating cotton candy, his wife says, "I know I love you...it's in my heart, even without the memories..."
Erm. OK. That may be sugar burn in your heart, Maggie, but whatever....by next ep, she's fully regained her memory. The miracles of heights and cotton candy. Remember those if your spouse ever needs a hasty jog of memory.
Bad Seed survived the explosion BUT has a "spine injury." So, Bad Seed is shown slumped on a treadmill with some kind of Ace bandage around his middle, hanging on for dear life as he cranks the speed up because "I am going to beat this thing." Pretty sure back then they oiled up actors to show sweating, so Bad Seed is a glistening, grunting studmuffin who walks with a cane for a few eps and then, poof, what spine injury? Bad Seed didn't even need Dr. TeeVee to give him a pep talk. Which is good because Dr. TeeVee died in the plane crash because Bad Seed had the "cartel" after him.
Meanwhile, there was a subplot involving Morgan Fairchild whose character had split personalities. I only wish the transition people had gotten involved so that when she changed from her responsible lawyer personality into her sleazebucket personality there would have been some kind of blurring or other imaginative effect to really hit me over the head that SYBIL is coming out to play! This did send me down a rabbit hole looking up whether split personality is a legit psychiatric disorder. Shocker, it's a little more...subtle....than as portrayed by Morgan Fairchild.
So, everyone *was* healthy (physically...emotionally is another kettle of fish) until....Chase's wife becomes a famous writer. see, while she had amnesia, she wrote a book. Now she doesn't remember writing it, but it's famous anyway. (I simply must try this technique the next time I have writer's block). Anyway, she travels to exotics places like Chicago and Los Angeles and her assistant makes a pass at her. She summarily tells him that it's not going to happen and he says, OK, OK, no harm no foul, but....dum dum dum....he's no ordinary assistant. Oh, no, we see he's built a shrine to Maggie and has a picture of her taped to his mirror and he's convinced that she loves him and wants to help him write his own novel if he could just get her to UNDERSTAND. So he stalks her and kidnaps her and drags her to a remote cabin.
Incidentally, I don't know if Falcon Crest was inadvertently setting a trend, but this psycho stalker storyline was on TV a year before the movie "Fatal Attraction" was released. In fact, one of the episode titles is "Fatal Attraction," and, Anne Archer, who was nominated for an Oscar for that movie, also had a guest role/romance with Bad Seed. So wow, Falcon Crest, way to prelude one of the most popular movies of the eighties. Thank you for not having Stalker harm any animals in your storyline.
When the police figure out where Stalker is keeping Maggie, Chase, of course, just hops into the squad car to go along. This is a trend on this show - all men are required to invite themselves along on FBI or police busts and dangerous situations and all police are required to simply say, "OK, get in the front. And be careful!" Thanks heaps, Officer Safety!
So, they get to the Cottage of Doom just as Maggie escapes and she runs into Chase's arms and Stalker comes to the door, gun drawn, screaming MAGGIE I LOVE YOU!! I'M SORRY! and then the police officer fires and Stalker fires and Chase pushes Maggie out of the way and....Betcha can't guess what happens next?
Well, of course, Chase gets shot again. That's two gunshots and one plane crash. The actor must have really had some intense contract negotiations going on in between seasons. But don't worry, folks, this time Chase can walk. He does have random hemorrhaging, however, which is portrayed by him lifting his arms and staring blankly at the ceiling and saying, "I...I....feel strange..." No Doctor TeeVee to smack him and tell him only HE can prevent internal bleeding, so into surgery he goes for the cliffhanger.
Meanwhile, Morgan Fairchild's Bad Personality is on the loose, driving recklessly along the road and she crashes into the police car transporting Stalker, so Stalker escapes! Oh nooooo!! And, to make matters worse, ballistics are back and it wasn't Stalker's gun that hit Chase. No, there was apparently another random sharpshooter at the scene trying to kill Chase and using the kidnapping as cover. And the prime suspect is....Bad Seed! Because of course by now Bad Seed has done enough slumped over walking on the treadmill to trek up to a remote area with a rifle and lie in wait for Maggie's rescue. I wonder if he told his PT what his goals were?
Chase, of course, lives to save another day.
Bad Seed figures out it's his assistant who framed him for trying to kill Chase, so he engineers a double cross by tricking her into planning how to kill Chase. She decides that Chase drives the same route every day and that route includes a bridge that she could blow up and then run away to Tahiti and live on what Bad Seed will pay her for the deed. So, she sets up an explosive device on the bridge and lies in wait.
But meanwhile, Stalker breaks into Chase and Maggie's house to kidnap her again. Fisticuffs ensue. Chase lands a punch, Stalker lands a blow and then Stalker grabs a vase and whacks Chase over the head with it and Chase falls down and passes out as Maggie runs upstairs. Hope Chase does not have any more mysterious internal bleeding. Stalker drags Maggie out of the house again and Chase regains consciousness and grabs a rifle from the gun cabinet (which is conveniently not locked). Chase fires a shot and that gets Stalker to shove Maggie away from him and get into somebody's random car and drive off. As the police arrive, Chase, rifle in hand, tells the police to follow him and he hops in his own car and tears off after Stalker. The police follow - yes, follow, because who needs professional law enforcement when a stalker with a gun is involved? Maggie is left behind, having been thrown into the bushes in her pajamas, so I guess she'll just have to go wait by the phone and make herself a cup of coffee and she's probably hoping the writers give her amnesia again because who wants to remember their husband being a complete moron?
Fast forward through really bad car chase scenes until we see Stalker is driving over....yep...the bridge with the explosives! How convenient! So Bad Seed's assistant pushes a button on a detonator the size of a cinderblock and KABOOM! Bye bye, Stalker. Chase and the police pull up and Chase gets out of the car and WALKS ONTO THE BRIDGE that has just exploded to peer down at the Stalker's vehicle in flames with a pensive look on his face. Dude, seriously, I don't want another hospital storyline where you end up in the ICU because your idiotic self walked on to an unstable bridge and fell, OK?
Meanwhile, Bad Seed catches up to his turncoat assistant as she's waiting to set sail for Tahiti and reveals that she's been double crossed and is heading to Bora Bora instead of Tahiti where headhunters will enjoy her company.
So, fear not, Chase is alive and well, as is Bad Seed and the wine and drama will continue for a few more seasons. I am up to season 6 and there are 9 seasons. Whatever will I do when this actually wraps up? Well, there's always Dynasty or Knot's Landing or....
But enough about all that. Back in the real world of recovery....things are still going very well. I am just over ten weeks out and have the following developments to share:
- I turn into a pumpkin in two weeks and return to work. It's a desk job with a hybrid arrangement of work from home 3 days and show my face at the office 2 days. I'm not concerned about being able to avoid sitting for long periods, but the mental drain of constant office politics is not something I look forward to. Plus, there are people on my team who seem to think my leave is actually a vacation and since I can walk now, why haven't I at least checked email? I like the work, though, so I'll focus on that.
- This time has been such a gift for me to concentrate on rehab and I'll need to adjust to fit rehab around work. I'm quite spoiled now and my days go something like this:
- Get up, do some household chores, PT exercises, walking track or pool, ice, Falcon Crest, dinner prep, feed purramedics, bed. I've gotten rather attached to this!
- Am up to 2 miles (with one rest) at the walking track. The walking is getting easier with mild complaints from the drama queen quad and sometimes the IT band.
- Up to 30 minutes swimming and have added a few laps of breaststroke and butterfly. First time felt too weird, so I gave it a bit more time and now they don't feel weird.
- The initial hitch/zombie steps after getting up from sitting for a while are getting better.
- My wife and I went for our first outdoor walk! It was glorious! Op leg had a few complaints about uneven surfaces/inclines, etc., but nothing serious.
- The anxiety still likes to rear its head from time to time. I did a dumb and read the last radiograph report. Yes, I apparently am like Chase and sometimes just can't seem to help but do dumb things. Anyway, the report (8 weeks post op) included a little detail that now comes back to haunt me. "Cup is slightly vertical." Has the implant moved? No, not at all. If this was something the OS was worried about, would he have told me? Yes. Do I worry? Of course I do! But I remind myself of when I read my MRI report years ago when I had a diskectomy surgery on my lumbar spine and how I marched into that OS's office and demanded to know what to do about the "Schmorl's nodes" and degenerated this and that and he said, "I don't treat the MRI. I treat the patient and their symptoms." Point taken.
- Also, shout out to the courage it takes to go through rehabbing a joint replacement. It takes SO MUCH strength and patience and bravery to recover from this surgery and I sometimes imagine I've got the BoneSmart community right there at the pool with me when I start freaking out about dislocating or another fracture or [insert joint replacement boogeyman here]
- The thing that's still scary to me is trying to kneel and then get up without holding onto anything. On a walk the other day, I found a baby turtle and I picked it up to put it back in the water and let's just say the Sacha Cohen wasn't the most efficient way. I also don't feel right about returning to one of my volunteer shifts without being able to confidently get up and down without needing to hold on to something. I am going to find the thread by the poster who has a photography job and has to do a lot of kneeling/squatting for work and ask about her experience. So, once again, so glad to have this forums as a resource.
- Have returned to the volunteer shift that doesn't involve kneeling/getting back up and that is going really well. I even managed to squeegee and mop wet floors without too much worry. Am feeling much more confident on all surfaces.
- My mother in law is also doing really well. She was able to stand at the sink long enough for a proper hair wash (instead of shampoo caps), has been outside to walk up and down her driveway with a walker, and has been able to help bake and prep meals. Father in law installed a railing for the scary steps in the garage, so she's been out there, too. Even better - my father in law and my wife are so much more relaxed and happy because they can see how the surgery has changed our lives for the better and our lives are centered on rehab and healing and possibility instead of around what we can't do because of a crappy joint.
So, that's my blather for week 10! I will be back to report a next installment!
Take care and happy spring!
United States
Actually, this sounds genius and I'll have to try this at some point, without going for any style points, of course.
I’m mostly on the knee side, but I’m coming out of the shadows to beg you to post again soon! I need to know what happens with the dashing but two-timing Chase and his poor amnesiac wife. Also, what happened to the bad seed? Did he die in the explosion? Maybe he faked his death and will reappear to commit some terrible act when everyone is least expecting it? I must know. Please post at your earliest convenience!
I sense your excitement. 
