The Cannon Fab 5: January 2026

January 1 - We spent the day getting ready to send Avian back to Savannah after a wonderful break having them home. We baked Ginger Molasses cookies, hemmed pants and got Avian packed.

January 2 - Avian left bright and early so they could be back in Savannah with enough time to get settled with a few days to spare. There was no one in the office and I got a ton done in preparation for the first of the year data chaos.

January 3 - Steve, me, Nick and Val drove the rest of Avian's stuff down to Savannah. Nick had never been to Savannah with us before. He got to meet the roommates, see the bookstore, eat at PJs (Thai food) and toured the campus. Avian had some more art on display, but we were not able to get into the building to see it as the classroom buildings did not open again until after classes start (on Monday). After doing an extensive walking tour of Savannah (11,574 steps), we dropped Avian back off at their dorm and headed home. It was fun having the family together in Savannah.

This book-stack pillar always amazes me.

All three kids exploring Savannah

Avian's art through the window.

More of Avian's art through the window.

Traditional Avian with their art picture.

Throckmorton the penguin welcomes BeeEllZeeBUZZ the bee dachshund .

The roomies decorated their plant and had their belated Christmas celebration that night before D&D.

January 6 - I had my pre-surgery visit with Dr. Kirkus. We are all ready for surgery next week.

January 7 - Steve went to Lowe's for something and came back with 3 new router bits. He was especially excited because he got them for free. They were supposed to have been removed from the shelf and were overlooked. The manager gave them to him.

I worked on making 6 memory bears for a friend at work who lost her father-in-law. She asked me to make bears for each of the sons and grandchildren. It was a fun project.

Physical Therapy sent me some forms to fill out before the surgery to help with a baseline for my treatment. This is getting real.

Avian is loving their classes. The professors are fun and the classes are interesting. Avian told us the greatest story about coming out of class and getting a call from Mags. There was a police chase that ended in the McDonald's parking lot across the street from their building. There were pictures of the scene in the paper and if you zoom in you can see Mags, Sid and Ezra watching from the dorm. Too funny.

The original picture from the news.

Zoomed in to the dorm windows and you can see the roomies watching.

January 10 - I went down to help Nick clean out his apartment. His roommate had already moved out and didn't clean up anything. There was so much left for Nick to do by himself. Steve and Nick moved things and took loads to the dumpster while I cleaned the bathrooms. Nick felt much better about moving day now that things were cleared out and cleaned up.

Before - around the toilet

Before - bathtub scum

After - nice and clean.

Later that afternoon, we were on the phone with Avian filling out the FAFSA paperwork and hearing about their first week of school. They are still loving it and have already turned in some assignments.

Avian's scratchboard project.

In the evening, we went to Nancy and Miguel's for some authentic Peruvian food. Miguel is an amazing cook and we got to sample one of his favorite dishes. It was delicious.

January 13 - My work friend threw me a "farewell for now" lunch before my surgery. I love my coworkers. Steve was given more responsibility at work. Mo stopped by to say 'hi' but Val was out to dinner with friends. Thanks to Life360 we were able to tell Mo exactly where Val was and he surprised her at the restaurant.

January 14 - we were at the hospital by 7:35 am getting prepped for my 11:00 surgery. They wheeled me into the OR and started showing me the different tools they would be using while anesthesia worked on me. The next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery area.

Before surgery

We were not released from the hospital until around 4 pm. I had to wake up enough to walk around, with the help of my walker, and prove to the PT that I could do it. I wasn't in pain, but I did throw up twice because of all the anesthesia in my system. The ride home was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I was exhausted again by the time we got to the house. Steve gave me an Oxycodone and I passed out for most of the night.

The next morning. My leg was very swollen from the surgery. It will take a bit for the swelling to come down.

January 15 - I was up and walking through the pain and getting better at not limping. Rebekah came and visited for a bit. I watched Pitch Perfect 1 and 2 to keep my mind off the pain, but it was really bad by the end of the day. I was in tears. It wasn't my knee that was the most sore. It was my hip! We found that icing my knee while putting a heating pad on my hip helped.

January 16 - I started working on bending my knee and lifting my leg when it was straightened. It was a BIG challenge to lift the leg, it didn't want to work. I had to lift my other leg to reassure myself that my body did remember how to lift my leg.

January 17 - It was time to take the pain pump out. I am glad we were prepared with towels and gauze because it bled A LOT. The pump did it's job, but now that it was out I could take a shower. That was totally worth all the bleeding (which eventually did stop with elevation and pressure). My whole leg was really swollen though.

The pain pump was nice, but I kept forgetting about it and it would fall on the floor which would tug at the tube in my leg. It was nice to have it gone.

Both Dr. Graham and Mr. Carlascio called check in on me. I have the best bosses in the world. I was doing so much better that Steve was comfortable leaving me with Val and going to get some errands run. While he was out, he joined the gym.

My new homebase for the next several days. I was surrounded by everything I needed and could lay down with my leg elevated. The baggy pants were the best because I could not lift my leg on my own. I had to grab the pantleg and lift my leg where I needed it to be.

January 18 - Cindy came and sat with me while Steve went to work. She brought dinner and treats and kept me on my walking and icing schedule. The conversation was so much fun as well. It was so good to catch up with her and see how she had been spending her time during retirement.

Later that day, I Zoomed with Mom and Kathy and that helped me keep my mind off the discomfort.

Nick came for a visit later that day and we all had an Italian dinner together. Cindy is such an amazing cook.

January 19 - Steve went to the gym in the morning and then took me for a car ride just so I could get out of the house.

Avian sent some of their art they have been working on for class.

These four pictures are part of a series where the main character follows their spirit animal through portals and the animal changes in each scene. It is a really cool concept.

Avian also has a props and backgrounds class.

January 20 - Still can't lift my leg straight, but I have PT tomorrow and hopefully it will be better. My sister, Kathy, called and that lifted my spirits.

January 21 - I was terrified to go to PT for the first time post-surgery, but it wasn't that bad. It was more of a question and answer sessions with a little bit of what I can do mixed in. That night Berqui came and had dinner with us. It was nice to have a guest.

January 23 - I had PT in the morning and they gave me some exercises to do. Range of motion is going to be a tough one, but I can do it. I got in a quick shower before Rebekah came to visit. Cindy did a quick drive by with some dinner for us. Steve went to the gym after dinner.

January 24 - It was storm prep day. We were expecting a HUGE snow/ice event so we filled jugs with water, wrapped the gas meter in a blanket and made sure all the flashlights had batteries. Steve went out to get some propane for our propane tank and came back with stories of how long the lines were for propane and generators. To make things extra fun, my knee is a barometer because of all the swelling. I am not a fan of this. Later in the evening we got a surprise visit from the Johnsons selling Girl Scout cookies. We are now really ready to this storm. I took a shower and went to bed completely exhausted.

January 25 - It was a quiet day at home and the storm was not nearly as bad as they thought it would be. We did not lose power!

Val enjoying the blueberry dessert Cindy made

The aftermath of the storm. Don't let it fool you. That is ice out there, not snow.

The grass encased in ice.

The light shining through the ice on the trees.

January 26 - Steve worked all day, I did laundry and then Val and I fixed dinner. I am getting back to some regular activities.

January 27 - I officially graduated from walker to cane. I had been unofficially walking around the house without the walker for a couple of days. It was a good day also. I folded laundry with Val. A lot of good discussions happen while folding laundry.

Avian finally had a chance to get into the display building and take the traditional pictures.

January 28th - my work from home portion of recovery started. It was so nice to have something to occupy my brain. Rebekah came over and we had lunch together. Steve finally finished an emergency project for work that had taken him 2 weeks (including weekends) to get done.

January 29 - I had an appointment with the PA to get the dressing off my knee. I finally got to see what the incision looked like. They used glue to close the wound so the scarring should be minimal. He did tell me that I need to get to 90 degrees of flexion in the next two weeks or they would have to put me under anesthesia and break up the scar tissue. That was motivation. It was also nice to hear that the pulling sensation that had been freaking me out and hindering my leg-bending progress was normal and the incision was not going to bust open. GAME ON!!!

My gnarly scar.

January 30 - I had a PT appointment and pushed really hard to get my range of motion moving. I was SOOO sore afterwards, but it was worth it. I haven't been taking the Oxycodone because I don't like the way it makes my body feel, but I may need to take a half a pill before PT to see if it will help me push harder (spoiler alert - it did not make that big of a difference so I only did it once). I went back home and worked all day. Jill came over that evening and I helped alter a dress for her. She was going to a family wedding a couple of days and needed the dress to be shorter. Easy peasy.

January 31 - we had another snow storm. This time it was really bad. Nick drove up for a hair appointment in the morning which he found out was cancelled when he was almost there. Steve followed him back to his apartment to make sure he got there safely. He was slipping all over the place. By the time Steve got back home, the snow storm was a white out. I am so glad everyone was safely inside again. Avian called and they were getting snow in Savannah as well.