Continuing to work on my new career as a pre- and post-operating coach. She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed is going to the local hospital for a (right) knee replacement, and is not thrilled at the chance. We'd picked an orthopod in SLC, but unfortunately, Medicare won't pay for out-of-state surgery if the same thing is available in Idaho. However, I know the local guy and he seems pretty capable.
Dawn had been harassing me for years for a treadmill, so we got one , set it up, and she is doing four 20-minute walks daily. We also got a walker and a cane, as well as tub-mats and whatever else for the first two weeks.
So I get to cook all the meals (except for whatever the Ward Sisters bring by), keep the house clean, help her in the bathroom, and do whatever else she can think of, such as a before-bedtime pinot grigio and a half-hour massage.
(I also asked the surgeon to prescribe me a couple hundred milligrams of heroin for after the first week; he refused, saying he was going to take it all himself before the procedure.)
Seriously, it is a great opportunity for both of us. Dawn will try to be a good patient but has an attitude about hospitalization and surgery -- typical of someone who's been an RN for forty years!
But I believe this is a man's job and it's what a man does: take care of his wife and children.