Physical Activity & A TKR

There will be times when it feels like there is nothing you can do to help your tkr recuperation process. I know, I’ve been there. We’ve all been there. Even when it seems fruitless, you need to exercise. You need to get up and move about. Pain or no pain, move. (And, you will be in pain, sometimes extensive, during the original phases of tkr recuperation).

Your blood circulation will increase, which helps all parts of your body. . It does not matter how strenuous the exercise, or physical activity, is. Immediately after surgery, the simple exercise of tightening your leg muscles will help. As you progress along your tkr recuperation, the act of walking will be fun (and a lot of work at times). Obviously, any movement involves increased circulation to the affected area. You will wake up and feel more alive.

Best part of getting physical activity? It speeds up your recuperation process. You will notice a decrease in your aches and pains. Your overall mood will change to the positive. Your body is meant to move and be used. You will start to look forward to getting your daily dose of exercise. It will be a welcome treat, in fact.

Physical activity is a natural health promoting remedy for a variety of health ailments.

So…go for it! Good luck!

(Waiver: As with any exercise program, check with your medical care provider prior to starting the program. This will help you avoid undue harm.)

Healthy Eating Blog

Hi everyone. I wanted to quickly let you know that I have another blog about healthy eating and living. It’s found on Blogspot. Title: My Unique Cookery. Here’s the link. I’d appreciate it if you’d check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks!

http://myuniquecookery.blogspot.com/

Jane Fonda’s knee replacement

I just read an article about Jane Fonda’s knee replacement and her blog about it. It was interesting. She mentioned during stairs a week after surgery. (I don’t know what type of knee replacement surgery she had..total, partial, etc.) Anyways..Impressive…Kudos!

I was doing stairs a week after my tkr, also. Only…it was with crutches and if a slug was there…it would have won the race.

Knee Exercises & TKR

While searching the web, I found an informative site belonging to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) that I wanted to share. The following link contains a page full of helpful exercises for those recuperating from a tkr. It doesn’t seem that long ago. Ahh…memories…

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00301

Today is the Official Joe Sakic Retirement Day…

Bummer…after playing for 20 years, Joe Sakic officially announced his retirement from the sport of hockey. I much as I loathe the Colorado Avalanche (;) ), he was a treasure to watch play. I will miss him.

Here is the news article from the Hockey News:

Avalanche captain Joe Sakic retires from hockey after 20 NHL season

Canadien Press
July 9, 2009

DENVER - One of the greatest players in NHL history has officially called it quits.

Joe Sakic announced Thursday that after 20 seasons in the NHL he’s played his last game. The 40-year-old Colorado Avalanche captain retires as the eighth-leading scorer in league history with 1,641 career points.

“After having the privilege of playing for 20 years, I’m leaving the game of hockey with nothing but great memories and a sense of accomplishment,” said Sakic in a statement.

“The game has given me more than I ever dreamed of, and for that I am truly grateful.”

Sakic led the Avalanche to two Stanley Cup titles (1996, 2001), and captained the team for 16 consecutive seasons, making him the second-longest serving captain in NHL history.

The Burnaby, B.C., native won league M-V-P honours in 2001, and led Team Canada to an Olympic gold medal in 2002.

But injuries over the last two years began to mount, curtailing his playing time.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/27182-Avalanche-captain-Joe-Sakic-retires-from-hockey-after-20-NHL-season.html

How Negativity Affects A TKR

Recently, I have received comments and emails regarding how frightening my blog is. I have written about this before, but believe something else needs to be said.

MINDSET: Your mindset going into a tkr is what determines how well you will recuperate and how hard you will work. The pain of recuperation is intense. And…that’s a mild description. If you go into a tkr thinking “Oh my god, this is terrible”….it will be terrible. If you go into the tkr thinking “I’m going to make the best of this”….you will.

PAIN LEVEL: Also, if your pain level prior to a tkr is not to the point of you thinking “I don’t want to deal with this pain anymore. It is limiting my life. I can’t do what I want to do physically. Enough is enough!” …maybe you are not ready for a knee replacement. Personally, I was carrying crutches with me everywhere I went for a year prior to my surgery. My knee was locking up whenever it wanted. I didn’t know what to expect or when it would happen. The pain was debilitating. I despised the uncertainty. Even the task of walking caused excruciating pain. And…I absolutely love to walk. I walk when others grab a cab, that’s how much I love it. I wanted to walk painlessly.

Prior to my tkr, I couldn’t move from a sitting or prone position without extreme pain. I needed to adjust my spinal column to lessen the pain.

RECUPERATION: The amount of exercising needed to recuperate from a tkr is immense. It’s extremely easy to get frustrated (and we all do it). The time needed to do these exercises and see results is not a quick fix. It is a long and very arduous process. Everyone is different. Don’t compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to yourself.

Anyways, I hope this helps those thinking about undergoing a knee replacement. At least you’re lucky enough to read about all that is involved regarding the long recuperation process. Many of my readers, and myself, were not that lucky. I went into the surgery thinking I’d be kicking butts within a month. Was I wrong.

Having a knee replacement is the best thing I could have done. I’ve received the same feedback from many of my readers, also. In fact, this blog has turned into a very welcoming support system. For that, I am grateful to everyone who has contributed.

You’ll know when you’re ready. Listen to your intuition. Kindly don’t blame me for providing realistic information. I could write about a tkr negatively, but I don’t. There are far too many positive results involved. Yes, the information can be surprising and eye opening. Don’t tell me I scare or frighten you, I don’t like hearing that since that’s not my intention. It is all in your own mindset and how you interpret information.

Thanks for listening and best of luck to all!

Find this interesting? Kindly share it…

Leg Crossing & A TKR

Something interesting happened the other day that I wanted to share since I’m sure other tkr patients are going through the same thing. Here goes:

For months after my tkr, I could not lift my bionic leg and cross it over my other leg. First, my muscles were not strong enough to lift my leg. Developing my leg muscles was my main concern during recuperation and physical therapy. Then, at about 3-6 months after my surgery, the pain was too intense for me to comfortably sit crossed legged. I could lift my leg but not easily cross it over my other leg. It was a complete struggle.

Now, I am 17 months post tkr. I saw down today and without thinking, crossed my tkr leg over my other leg. Then, it dawned on me…no pain, increased flexibility, and an effortless movement. Wow. It took me off guard. It was a nice kind of surprise, for sure.

I remember at my five months post tkr seeing someone cross their legs at the ankles. She had a bilateral total knee replacement a couple years prior. When I saw that, I was very impressed. I couldn’t come close to doing that. (That movement is what caused my knee to originally “lock up” prior to my surgery). I asked her what time period went by before she could make that movement. She didn’t remember. I’m not going to be like that since I don’t want to take any movements involving my tkr for granted. So, I’m sharing the news here.

We all know the immense pain, frustration, and hard work involved in recuperating from a tkr. Let’s not take anything for granted.

Hope this has helped someone. It does get better, honest!

If you enjoyed it…kindly share it…Thanks..

More NHL Free Agent Signings

From my Twitter account, and the involved teams Twitter accounts, come the following signing updates as of 2:45pm PST 7/6/09:

Vancouver Canucks sign free-agent goaltender Andrew Raycroft
Vancouver Canucks re-sign defenceman Shane O’Brien.
Detroit Red Wings re-sign restricted free agent Ville Leino to a two-year deal
Chicago Blackhawks re-sign RFAs Ben Eager, Troy Brouwer, Colin Fraser, Corey Crawford and Aaron Johnson.

Toronto Maple Leafs sign veteran Beauchemin
San Jose Sharks re-sign forward Ryane Clowe to a four-year contract
St. Louis Blues have reached a new agreement with forward B.J. Crombeen.
Pittsburgh Penguins sign Dallas Stars forward Cooper

Kindly share with…

Post July 4th…

Wanted to send a short message and hope everyone is well and recuperating after a festive July 4th. The 4th is my favorite holiday since it stands for patriotism, independence, freedom, and love of country. Symbols of fireworks and marches can’t be beat..in my opinion.

MUSIC…Thanksgiving celebrations bring out the tradition of Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie..:) July 4th is Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney. It’s the life story of George M. Cohan, the first nonmilitary recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. He authored “Over There”, “Yankee Doodle Boy”, “Grand Old Flag” and thousands more. I only wish he and his music were remembered more during our modern times. It amazes me how difficult finding sheet music of his compositions is. He was a remarkable musical genius.

I had a chance to play in a concert band during festivities yesterday (July 4). No July 4th is complete without Cohan tunes, in my opinion. And, of course, the concert ended with Stars & Stripes Forever. John Phillip Sousa and George M. Cohan….heart be still.

Thanks for reading. Hope everyone is doing well.

Free Agent Frenzy Signings

Here are the signings that occurred on, or around, July 1, 2009. If the signing info as far as salary goes is available, it’s listed. The listings are in no particular order.

Marian Hossa, 12 years, $5.23 million/year signed with Chicago Blackhawks. Apparently, the Blackhawks are looking for a nickname to give Hossa. I have one, but am too much of a lady to use it.

Scott Niedermeyer, ANA, $6M one year contract
Hal Gill, MTL, $4.5M, 2 years
Donald Brashear, NYR, undisclosed, 2 years
Jay Boumeister, CLG, 5 years
Mattias Ohlund, TPA, $24.5M, 7 years
Ty Conklin, STL
Matt Walker, TPA, 3 years
Mike Knuble, WASH, $2.8M, 2 years
Dwayne Roloson, NYI, 2 years
Marian Gaborik, NYR, $7.5M, 5 years
Nicklai Khabulin, EDM, $3,75M, 4 years
Henrik & Daniel Sedin, VAN, $6.1M/year, 5 years ($30.5 each..$62M total)
Brian Giota, MTL, $25M, 5 years
Jaroslav Spacek, MTL, $11.5M, 3 years
Steve Montador, ATL, 2 years
Scott Clemmenson, FLA, 3 years
John Madden, CHI, 1 year
Tomas Kopecky, CHI, 2 years
Steve Sullivan, NSH, 2 years
Joel Ward, NSH, 2 years
Matthew Garon, CBJ, 2 years
Samuel Pahlsson, 3 years
Martin Havlat, MIN, 6 years,
Craig Anderson, COL, 2 years
Adam Pardy, CGY, undiscl.
Andrew Aucoin, PHX, 1 year
Andrew Green, NJ, undiscl.
Brian Boucher, PHI, multi
Erik Coke, CAR, 2 years
David Koci, COL, 1 year
Mike Komisarek, $22.5M, 5 years
Mark Recchi, BOS…??
Matts Sundin, VAN, 10 years
Mike Cammalleri, MTL, $30M, 5 years

Dany Heatley (OTT) wants out of 6 year contract after one year. $4M payout made.
Personally….I hope no one picks him up.

That’s all for now.

NHL Releases Free Agent List

NHL Releases Free Agent List (as of beginning of Free Agent Frenzy Day)…
NHL.com
Jul 1, 2009, 11:57 AM EDT
PRESS RELEASE

NEW YORK (July 1, 2009) — The National Hockey League today released the names of the players, who, effective today, became free agents.

Some players whose names appear on this list may recently have signed with their respective Clubs; however, their contracts had not yet been filed with the League.

FREE AGENTS SUBJECT TO COMPENSATION AND RIGHT TO MATCH – GROUP 2

The players listed below have been tendered a qualifying offer by their respective Clubs and are subject to draft-choice compensation and right to match. The draft choice compensation scale is based on compensation offered by the new Club:

OFFER COMPENSATION

$994,433 or below None
Over $994,433 to $1,506,716 Third-round choice
Over $1,506,716 to $3,013,434 Second-round choice
Over $3,013,434 to $4,520,150 First-round and third-round choice
Over $4,520,150 to $6,026,867 First-round, second-round and third-round choice
Over $6,026,867 to $7,533,584 Two first-round choices, one second- and one third-round choice
Over $7,533,584 Four first-round choices

ANAHEIM

Petri Kontiola, Brian Salcido, Petteri Wirtanen, James Wisniewski.

ATLANTA

Colby Armstrong, Jordan Lavallee, Scott Lehman, Kari Lehtonen, Grant Lewis, Jim Slater, Boris Valabik.

BOSTON

Byron Bitz, Matt Hunwick, Phil Kessel, Kevin Regan.

BUFFALO

Patrick Kaleta, Clarke MacArthur, Mark Mancari, Andrej Sekera, Drew Stafford, Marek Zagrapan.

CALGARY

Dustin Boyd, Kris Chucko.

CAROLINA

Mike Angelidis, Anton Babchuk, Casey Borer, Brett Carson, Justin Peters, Bryan Rodney, Tuomo Ruutu.

CHICAGO

Cam Barker, Bryan Bickell, Troy Brouwer, Corey Crawford, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Aaron Johnson, Kris Versteeg.

COLORADO

Kyle Cumiskey, Philippe Dupuis, David Jones.

COLUMBUS

Michael Blunden, Dan LaCosta, Marc Methot, Alexandre Picard, Jonathan Sigalet, Alexander Svitov.

DALLAS

Mark Fistric.

DETROIT

Jiri Hudler, Ville Leino, Evan McGrath, Ryan Oulahen.

EDMONTON

Gilbert Brule, Devan Dubnyk, Denis Grebeshkov, Colin McDonald, Ryan Potulny, Liam Reddox, Rob Schremp, Ladislav Smid, Ryan Stone.

FLORIDA

David Booth, David Brine.

LOS ANGELES

Drew Bagnall, Brady Murray, Scott Parse, Joe Piskula, Ted Purcell, Kevin Westgarth.

MINNESOTA

Kyle Brodziak, Robbie Earl, Josh Harding, Danny Irmen, Benoit Pouliot, Clayton Stoner.

MONTREAL

Shawn Belle, Kyle Chipchura, Matt D’Agostini, Guillaume Latendresse, Tomas Plekanec, Gregory Stewart.

NASHVILLE

Ryan Jones, Ryan Maki, Cal O’Reilly, Antti Pihlstrom, Kelsey Wilson.

NEW JERSEY

Patrick Davis, Mark Fraser, Petr Vrana, Travis Zajac.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Jeremy Colliton, Blake Comeau, Trevor Smith, Nate Thompson.

NEW YORK RANGERS

Brian Boyle, Dane Byers, Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Chris Higgins, Lauri Korpikoski, Corey Potter, Nikolai Zherdev.

OTTAWA

Brian Elliott, Mattias Karlsson, Derek Smith.

PHILADELPHIA

Ryan Dingle, Jared Ross, Danny Syvret.

PHOENIX

Nigel Dawes, Shaun Heshka, Sami Lepisto, Enver Lisin, Stefan Meyer, Alexander Nikulin, Dave Spina, Sean Sullivan, Josh Tordjman, Scottie Upshall, Daniel Winnik, Keith Yandle.

PITTSBURGH

John Curry, Ben Lovejoy, Tim Wallace.

ST. LOUIS

Brandon Crombeen, Jonathan Filewich, Chris Holt, Roman Polak, Steve Wagner.

SAN JOSE

Ryane Clowe, Thomas Greiss, Brad Staubitz.

TAMPA BAY

Blair Jones, Martins Karsums, Lukas Krajicek, Matt Lashoff, Mike Lundin, Karri Ramo, Matt Smaby, Radek Smolenak, Lauri Tukonen.

TORONTO

Darryl Boyce, Alex Foster, Mikhail Grabovski, Ryan Hamilton, Justin Pogge, Tim Stapleton.

VANCOUVER

Jannik Hansen, Nathan McIver, Shane O’Brien, Kyle Wellwood.

WASHINGTON

Chris Bourque, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon, Milan Jurcina, Shaone Morrisonn, Steven Pinizzotto, Jeff Schultz, Kyle Wilson.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS – GROUP 3

The following players have qualified for Group 3 Free Agency (age 27 or older or with at least seven Accrued Seasons) and are Unrestricted Free Agents.

ANAHEIM

Francois Beauchemin, Eric Boguniecki, Josh Green, Bret Hedican, Jason King, Brad Larsen, Todd Marchant, Bjorn Melin, Rob Niedermayer, Scott Niedermayer.

ATLANTA

Mike Hoffman, Joe Motzko, Eric Perrin, Grant Stevenson.

BOSTON

P.J. Axelsson, Manny Fernandez, Shane Hnidy, Steve Montador, Mark Recchi, Jeremy Reich, Nathan Robinson, Martin Samuelsson, Stephane Yelle.

BUFFALO

Maxim Afinogenov, Tyler Bouck, Mathieu Darche, Matt Ellis, Colton Fretter, Dominic Moore, Colin Murphy, Teppo Numminen, Andrew Peters, Jaroslav Spacek, Mikael Tellqvist.

CALGARY

Adrian Aucoin, Todd Bertuzzi, Mike Cammalleri, Anders Eriksson, Carsen Germyn, Jamie Lundmark, Marcus Nilson, Andre Roy, Rhett Warrener.

CAROLINA

Ryan Bayda, Erik Cole, Trevor Gillies, Dan LaCouture, Chad LaRose, Matt Murley, Michael Ryan, Dennis Seidenberg.

CHICAGO

Martin Havlat, Nikolai Khabibulin, Jonas Nordqvist, Samuel Pahlsson, Pavel Vorobiev, Matt Walker.

COLORADO

Tyler Arnason, Jesse Boulerice, Ben Guite, Ian Laperriere, Per Ledin, Aaron MacKenzie, Lawrence Nycholat, Andrew Raycroft, Joe Sakic, Nathan Smith, Daniel Tjarnqvist.

COLUMBUS

Christian Backman, Wade Dubielewicz, Chris Gratton, Steve Kelly, Craig MacDonald, Manny Malhotra, Michael Peca, Jason Williams, Mike York.

DALLAS

Steve Begin, Joel Lundqvist, Brendan Morrison, Mark Parrish, Darryl Sydor, Landon Wilson, Sergei Zubov.

DETROIT

Chris Chelios, Ty Conklin, Aaron Downey, Darren Haydar, Marian Hossa, Tomas Kopecky, Darren McCarty, Mikael Samuelsson.

EDMONTON

Carl Corazzini, Ales Kotalik, Dwayne Roloson, Dany Sabourin, Jason Strudwick.

FLORIDA

Craig Anderson, Nick Boynton, Jassen Cullimore, Radek Dvorak, Jordan Leopold, Vaclav Nedorost, Ville Peltonen, Karlis Skrastins, Janis Sprukts, Mikhail Yakubov, Richard Zednik.

LOS ANGELES

Derek Armstrong, Kyle Calder, Dan Cloutier, Denis Gauthier.

MINNESOTA

Marc-Andre Bergeron, Kurtis Foster, Marian Gaborik, Krys Kolanos, Bryan Lundbohm, Tomas Mojzis, Nolan Schaefer, Martin Skoula, Stephane Veilleux.

MONTREAL

Chad Anderson, Francis Bouillon, Patrice Brisebois, Mathieu Dandenault, Marc Denis, Ryan Flinn, Mike Glumac, T.J. Kemp, Saku Koivu, Mike Komisarek, Tom Kostopoulos, Alex Kovalev, Robert Lang, Yanick Lehoux, Mathieu Schneider, Alex Tanguay.

NASHVILLE

Radek Bonk, Greg De Vries, Vernon Fiddler, Ville Koistinen, Scott Nichol, Jed Ortmeyer, Denis Platonov, Steve Sullivan, Joel Ward, Nolan Yonkman, Greg Zanon.

NEW JERSEY

Scott Clemmensen, Jon DiSalvatore, Brian Gionta, Niclas Havelid, Bobby Holik, John Madden, Olli Malmivaara, Ryan Murphy, Michael Rupp, Brendan Shanahan, Kevin Weekes, Chad Wiseman.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Yann Danis, Mitch Fritz, Andy Hilbert, Chris Lee, Junior Lessard, Joey MacDonald, Dean McAmmond, Kurtis McLean, Thomas Pock, Mike Sillinger.

NEW YORK RANGERS

Nik Antropov, Mark Bell, Blair Betts, Jarkko Immonen, Doug Janik, Paul Mara, Derek Morris, Colton Orr.

OTTAWA

Mike Comrie, Brad Isbister, Greg Mauldin, Chris Neil.

PHILADELPHIA

Andrew Alberts, J.S. Aubin, Martin Biron, Derian Hatcher, Boyd Kane, Mike Knuble, Lasse Kukkonen, Scott Munroe, Antero Niittymaki.

PHOENIX

Jeff Hoggan, Dmitri Kalinin, Ken Klee, Brian McGrattan, Derek Nesbitt, Wyatt Smith.

PITTSBURGH

Philippe Boucher, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mathieu Garon, Hal Gill, David Gove, Chris Minard, Joey Mormina, Janne Pesonen, Jani Rita, Miroslav Satan, Rob Scuderi, Petr Sykora, Jeff Taffe, Andy Wozniewski, Mike Zigomanis.

ST. LOUIS

Dan Hinote, Manny Legace, Charles Linglet, Trent Whitfield.

SAN JOSE

Rob Blake, Brian Boucher, Brendan Buckley, Tom Cavanagh, Mike Grier, Kent Huskins, Cory Larose, Claude Lemieux, Kyle McLaren, Travis Moen, Jeremy Roenick, Alexei Semenov, Ryan Vesce, Brett Westgarth.

TAMPA BAY

Wade Brookbank, Andreas Holmqvist, David Koci, Marek Malik, Josef Melichar, Cory Murphy, Janne Niskala, Matt Pettinger, Jason Ward.

TORONTO

Bates Battaglia, Josef Boumedienne, Luca Cereda, Boyd Devereaux, Martin Gerber, Jeff Hamilton, Chris Harrington, Jamie Heward, Curtis Joseph, Olaf Kolzig, Brad May, Kris Newbury, Ben Ondrus.

VANCOUVER

Juha Alen, Nolan Baumgartner, Jeff Cowan, Mark Cullen, Rob Davison, Jason Jaffray, Jason Krog, Jason LaBarbera, Mattias Ohlund, Michel Ouellet, Taylor Pyatt, Curtis Sanford, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Mats Sundin, Ossi Vaananen.

WASHINGTON

Donald Brashear, Jakub Cutta, Sergei Fedorov, Alexandre Giroux, Bryan Helmer, Brent Johnson, Viktor Kozlov, Graham Mink.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS – GROUP 6

The following players qualify for unrestricted free agency, having met the requirements for Group 6 free agency. These players, whose contracts have expired, are age 25 or older, have completed three or more professional seasons, and (i) in the case of a player other than a goaltender, have played less than 80 NHL games (regular-season and playoff), or (ii) in the case of a goaltender, have played less than 28 NHL games (regular-season and playoff).

ANAHEIM

David LeNeveu.

ATLANTA

Joey Crabb, Nathan Oystrick, Brett Skinner, Clay Wilson.

BOSTON

Johnny Boychuk, Martin St. Pierre, Ryan Stokes.

BUFFALO

None.

CALGARY

Adam Pardy, Warren Peters.

CAROLINA

Dwight Helminen, Joe Jensen, Daniel Manzato.

CHICAGO

Tim Brent, Pascal Pelletier.

COLORADO

Darcy Campbell.

COLUMBUS

Aaron Rome.

DALLAS

Chris Conner, Tobias Stephan.

DETROIT

Randall Gelech.

EDMONTON

Mathieu Roy.

FLORIDA

None.

LOS ANGELES

Matt Moulson.

MINNESOTA

Corey Locke, Jesse Schultz.

MONTREAL

None.

NASHVILLE

Drew MacIntyre.

NEW JERSEY

Barry Tallackson.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Joe Callahan, Mike Iggulden.

NEW YORK RANGERS

Greg Moore, Pierre Parenteau.

OTTAWA

Danny Bois, Drew Fata.

PHILADELPHIA

Nate Guenin.

PHOENIX

Steven Goertzen, Ryan Lannon.

PITTSBURGH

Adam Henrich, Connor James, Bill Thomas.

ST. LOUIS

Matt Foy.

SAN JOSE

None.

TAMPA BAY

Richard Petiot, Brandon Segal, Noah Welch.

TORONTO

Andre Deveaux, Jay Harrison, Erik Reitz, Jaime Sifers, Jeremy Williams.

VANCOUVER

None.

WASHINGTON

Staffan Kronvall.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS

The following players were not tendered a qualifying offer and are therefore Unrestricted Free Agents not subject to a right to match or draft choice compensation.

ANAHEIM

Michal Birner, Chad Painchaud.

ATLANTA

Chris Thorburn, Dan Turple.

BOSTON

Ned Lukacevic, Wacey Rabbit.

BUFFALO

Jimmy Bonneau, Mike Card, Adam Dennis, Michael Funk, Dylan Hunter.

CALGARY

Adam Cracknell, Aki Seitsonen.

CAROLINA

Noah Babin, Mark Flood, Jakub Petruzalek.

CHICAGO

Adam Berti, Tim Hambly, Adam Pineault, James Sharrow, Logan Stephenson.

COLORADO

Jason Bacashihua, Cody McCormick, Michael Vernace.

COLUMBUS

Trevor Hendrikx, Jon Landry, Jiri Novotny, Petr Pohl, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, John Vigilante, Kyle Wharton.

DALLAS

John Lammers, Alexander Naurov.

DETROIT

None.

EDMONTON

Sebastien Bisaillon, Stephane Goulet, David Rohlfs, Tyler Spurgeon, Bryan Young.

FLORIDA

Steve Eminger, Tanner Glass, Drew Larman, Franklin MacDonald, David Shantz, Anthony Stewart.

LOS ANGELES

Vladimir Dravecky, Daniel Taylor.

MINNESOTA

Paul Albers, Riley Emmerson, Dan Fritsche, Peter Olvecky.

MONTREAL

Mathieu Aubin, Loic Lacasse, Olivier Latendresse.

NASHVILLE

Tim Ramholt.

NEW JERSEY

Stephen Gionta, Andy Greene, Matthew Spiller.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Jamie Fraser, Peter Mannino, Sergei Ogordonikov, Jason Pitton.

NEW YORK RANGERS

Joe Barnes, Vladimir Denisov, Fredrik Sjostrom.

OTTAWA

Brendan Bell, Jeff Glass, Jim McKenzie, Geoff Waugh.

PHILADELPHIA

Josh Gratton, Nate Raduns.

PHOENIX

Alex Bourret, Joakim Lindstrom, Garth Murray.

PITTSBURGH

David Brown.

ST. LOUIS

Steve Regier, Marek Schwarz, Jeff Woywitka.

SAN JOSE

Riley Armstrong, Jonathan Boutin, Taylor Dakers, T.J. Fox, Marcel Goc, Lukas Kaspar, Mike Morris, Tomas Plihal, Ashton Rome.

TAMPA BAY

Justin Keller, Mike McKenna.

TORONTO

Brent Aubin, Ryan Hollweg, Andy Rogers.

VANCOUVER

Patrick Coulombe, Julien Ellis, Zach Fitzgerald.

WASHINGTON

Andrew Joudrey, Daren Machesney, Travis Morin, Sasha Pokulok.

Information from NHL.com press releases dated July 1, 2009. Also found as link on Twitter.
Copied from http://canadiens.nhl.com/team/app?articleid=432953&page=NewsPage&service=page

Exercise Feedback & TKR

Wanted to post a short message encouraging all who go through a tkr. I have been walking faithfully, everyday, for the past three months. It is approximately 3 miles round trip. Nothing fancy, just plain and simple walking. I say it’s plain and simple now that I can do it. We all know that’s not the case upon first recuperating from a total knee replacement. In fact, for 30 years I didn’t have a beneficial gait. Anyways…

The birds are chirping and singing their appealing songs. Yesterday a dear pranced across the road in front of me. A few days earlier I heard small childlike foot steps (or as Curly of the Three Stooges would say “I hear footprints”). As I kept walking, the sound was getting closer. I turned and saw a deer go into the woods on her merry way.

My tkr leg has a “normal” gait. It swings freely, like it has not done in 30 years (when I sustained the initial traumatic injury). My orthopedic shoes fit remarkably well and are unbelievably comfortable. I never thought I’d find such a comfortable pair of shoes and am just thrilled about it. It’s the simple things in life…like comfortable walking shoes. And….

I can fit into my smaller size jeans. Plus, my eating habits have improved.

I partially attribute this success to listening to Tony Robbins. He’s cool..

Hope this helps others going through the same thing. TKR recuperation does get better.

Find this interesting? Kindly share it with others…

NHL Hockey News as of 5p PST 06/30/09

Bill Guerin has signed a one year contract with Pittsburgh Penguins
Craig Adams has signed a two year contrct with Pittsburgh
Troy Brody has signed a two year extension with Anaheim Ducks
Dave Bolland has signed 5 year contract deal with Chicago Blackhawks
Scott Gomez was traded by the New York Rangers to the Montreal Canadiens

FREE AGENCY: (partial list)

GOALIES:
Manny Legace (STL)
Andrew Raycroft (COL)
Danny Sabourin (EDM)
Kevin Weeks (NJ)

DEFENSEMEN:
Jay Boumeister (CGY)
Chris Chelios (DET)
Brandon Cullimore (FLA)
Rob Davison (VAN)
Rob Blake (LA)
Curtis Sanford (VAN)
Brent Hedican (ANA)
Ken Klee (PHX)
Marek Malik (PIT)

RIGHT WINGS:
Mikhael Samuelson (DET)
Peter Sykora (PIT)
Joel Ward (NSH)
Jason Williams (CBJ)

LEFT WINGS:
Mark Bell (NYR)
Daniel Brashear (WASH)
Mike Cammalleri (CGY)
Eric Cole (CAR)

CENTERS:
Chris Gratton (CBJ)
Saku Koivu (MTL)
John Madden (NJ)
Todd Marchant (ANA)
Brendan Morrison (DAL)
Michael Peca (CBJ)
Eric Perrin (ATL)
Joe Sakic (COL)
Henrik Sedin (VAN)
Mats Sundin (VAN)

Information from NHL Network, NHL Live!, and Twitter..individual team tweets…:)

Is This You?

“You’ve got bad eating habits if you use a grocery cart in a 7-11″ Dennis Miller

Montreal Draft Pick

The Montreal Canadiens chose draft pick Louis LeBlanc, a Center. Hometown boy, born in Montreal. Scholastic upbringing: mom=music teacher; dad=chemist. LeBlanc will be attending Harvard in fall.

Chris Pronger Traded

Chris Pronger (Anaheim Ducks) has been traded to the Philadelphia Flyers as part of a multi-player deal. News reported on NHL Network..

Wonder what the Flyers are going to do with Briere? Salary cap considerations…

Michael Jackson quotes

In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream.

If you enter this world knowing U are loved & U leave this world knowing the same, theneverything that happens in between can be dealt with.

My goal in life is to give to the world what I was lucky to receive: the ecstasy of divine union through my music and my dance.
**********

He was an enormous talent irregardless of everything else.

Detroit Red Wings Want New Arena Lease

This news just came through the Associated Press…..taken from the Yahoo! Sports site.

DETROIT (AP)—The Detroit Red Wings want a new deal to play at Joe Louis Arena.

The team says it will not exercise an option to renew its lease at the arena, but wants to continue talks with the city on a new deal. Ilitch Holdings Inc. President and Chief Executive Christopher Ilitch said Friday that the current lease is 30 years old and not competitive to other arena leases in the NHL or professional sports.

He says the team is looking for a new lease that is “fair and equitable for all parties.”

The team had until next Tuesday to notify the city of its intentions before a 20-year option automatically kicked in.

Ilitch said the team will continue evaluating all options for a new arena.

Another Benefit of Upright Bicycles & A TKR

I have written before about how using an upright bicycles helps increase flexibility while recuperating from a tkr. The other day I noticed another benefit after riding…

It makes it easier to go downstairs. After riding my upright exercise bike for about five minutes (I wanted to increase flexibility before going for my daily walk), I had to walk downstairs. I couldn’t believe how much it helped.

Usually when I walk downstairs, there is pain alongside the outer portion of my tkr (due to nerve damage). It didn’t happen this time.

Plus, my flexibility was increased. Nice.

I hope it stays this way.

Now, I’m afraid that since this post is going to published….Murphy’s Law will follow and have me back tracking. ? I’ll take my chances..:)

Find this interesting? Kindly share it with others…

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What’s on Your Food?

Found a great website that lets users check the pesticides on their favorite foods. It’s a great site. Great, but scary…:( My favorite food is broccoli and it has…47..(YIKES!) different pesticides.

I don’t know why my links aren’t working. It’s ticking me right off. Working on it…Anyways, here’s the website address:

http://www.whatsonmyfood.org

My Health Story on President Obama’s Site

As you may be aware, there is a health care reform act in the making. President Obama was asking citizens of the United States to submit their health care stories to his site. After receiving the stories, he would gather them together and present them to Congress as evidence of the dire need for reform.

After submitting my story a few weeks ago, I received an email today stating that it had been put on the website for all to see. Cool…

So, I thought I’d share it with you. If you have your own health care stories, and I’m sure you do you can still submit them online. The more who become involve, the more likely reform will occur.

After being in an auto accident 30 years, I was left with life long injuries including double vision, damaged kidneys, leg length discrepancies, and other issues. I have no health insurance since I cannot afford it. The monthly costs are extremely prohibitive. What is even worse is the pre-existing clause that all policies seem to have. It is truly absurd and disgusting. Last year after having a total knee replacement (when I had insurance), I was prescribed a pain killer. I couldn’t afford it since it was $100 and insurance wouldn’t cover it. I lived without pain killers after a major surgery. I went to get a simple prescribed cream the other day and found out it was $70. For a cream. I am staying with the over-the-counter remedy for $3. Prescription costs are totally out of hand.

For more stories, or to submit your own…go to:
http://stories.barackobama.com/healthcare

Chris Chelios not Resigning with Detroit Red Wings

Chris Chelios will not be returning to the Detroit Red Wings next season. Here is the article, as found on the Detroit Red Wings website….

http://redwings.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=431473

Leg Alignment & A TKR

After reading a couple of comments from readers regarding their leg alignment, I thought it would be a good idea to share something that’s been happening with me. My TKR was 2/2008. So…it’s been awhile.

Within the last month, sometimes when I stand up there is a loud clunking sound alongside my outer ankle on my tkr leg. I’ll walk for a bit and it still clicks. There is no pain whatsoever. I wonder if this has to do with my tkr?

And, I have noticed that my shoe is hitting my foot in different spots than before my tkr. Strange. For instance, my big toe is closer to the shoe’s side than before. Sometimes my middle toe will rub against the front of my shoe. That didn’t happen before.

These occurrences are more of a curiosity than anything. There is no pain. It just didn’t happen any time before my ability to start walking “normally” after my tkr.

Hmm…

Found this piece interesting? Kindly share it with others….thanks..

2009 NHL Award Recipients

The 2009 NHL Awards were handed out yesterday, Thursday, June 19, 2009, at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. It was a good show, except for Chaka Khan (my opinion, anyways). What happened to having The Hockey Song open the show?

Here are the NHL award recipients:

Lady Byng Trophy (sportsmanship and conduct on ice)
Pavel Datsyuk (DET)

Vezina Trophy (goaltending)
Tim Thomas (BOS)

Frank Selke Award (forward)
Pavel Datsyuk (DET) “My English short”

Pearson Trophy (voted on by players)
Alexander Ovechkin (WSH)

(Vladimir Konstantinov was a presenter, using a walker. He was involved in a car accident after winning the Stanley Cup with Detroit in the late 1990’s. It was GREAT to see him standing up and moving around.)

William M. Jennings Trophy (goaltending duo)
Tim Thomas & Manny Fernandez (BOS)

Hart Trophy (MVP)
Alexander Ovechkin (WSH)

Bill Masterton Trophy (perseverance)
Steve Sullivan (NSH)

Jack Adams Trophy (coaching)
Claude Julien (BOS)

James Norris Trophy (defenseman)
Zdeno Chara (BOS)

Calder Trophy (rookie)
Steve Mason (CBJ)

King Clancy Trophy (leadership, humanitarism)
Ethan Morrow (EDM)

Scotiabank Fan Fav (fan favorite)
Roberto Luongo (VAN)

Mark Messier Leadership Award (innaugural season..compassion, skill, focus)
Jarome Iginla (CGY)

Art Ross Trophy (most points)
Evgeni Malkin (PIT)

Maurice Richard Award (top scorer)
Alexander Ovechkin (WSH)

Lifetime Achievement Award
Jean Beliveau (MTL)..10 time Stanley Cup Winner. First Conn Smythe winner.

Find this interesting? Kindly share it with others….

Hire Me Clarification

Hello everyone,
It appears I need to clarify something here. When I say “hire me”….I don’t mean for free. Spare me.

Don’t contact me if you have a great way to make a million bucks in one hour. Or, don’t contact me if you want to pay me $1 for a 500 word article. Spare me.

Also, I am not customer support for WordPress. As much as I like to help my readers, I am not a customer service representative. Any questions you have about WordPress need to be directed to them. They have an excellent customer support center. I know because I have dealt with them. They reply very promptly and provide thoroughly useful information – much better than I could provide.

Thanks for listening and have a great day!

Political Correctness –

Quick commentary:

I just got done writing an article about music training on children’s cognitive development. In my paper I had “nonmusical students” as the control group. The editor said that wasn’t politically correct. Spare me.
I had to change it to “children not receiving musical training”. Give me a break.

Political correctness has gotten out of hand in so many areas. My college mascot was an Indian , but due to political correctness it was changed to an eagle. The Indian was a beautiful logo and mascot. It was not demeaning at all, but no, we had to change it since it offended some. Are the eagles offended, I wonder? Get real.

I’m wondering how the Chicago Blackhawks have been around for so long without any repercussions? I hope that doesn’t change since the logo is a beaut. Plus…Original Six.

Tip: Be sure your writing isn’t politically incorrect. Or, don’t work with editors.

Living With Diplopia

One of the consequences of my car accident, 33 years ago, is the fact I sustained eye damage from my head hitting the dash and then going through the windshield. This resulted in a damaged nerve and weak muscle in my leg eye.

Due to this, I have lived with diplopia (double vision) for this entire time period. Only ten years ago did I find out that there was a prism available for eyeglass lenses. (I wear glasses). The good part about it is, I know what makes the symptoms worse. So, I avoid these triggers.

Upon recuperating from my car accident enough to where I could function in society, I went to an ophthalmologist about what to do regarding correcting my double vision. I was told that there was a surgery available. Good news. However, it consisted of cutting a healthy muscle in order to align my eyes. No so good news. I like to keep my healthy muscles.

This is a chapter excerpt from my upcoming book about living in a body cast for two years.

Badminton & A TKR

The other day a group of us put together a badminton game. People were asked if they wanted to play, and if so, teams were put together. It sounded like fun, so I went for it.

As we were choosing teams and badminton racquets, the thought about my tkr came into my mind. I hadn’t played any sports since my surgery, about 16 months ago (February 2008). I remember before my tkr how I couldn’t play anything like badminton or tennis since my knee would twist and cause extensive pain. I was curious to see how it would go since my new bionic knee and I have developed a very nice friendship.

What a blast! I didn’t turn quickly. Come to think of it, I didn’t move quickly. Sometimes by the time I got to the birdie, I was looking down at the ground at it. What I lacked in speed and agility, I made up for in sound effects. Those came automatically and turns out were the life of the game. (Doesn’t everyone yell “HA!” when scoring? Or, “Loser!” when someone misses the birdie?)

It was a real workout and I was totally pooped afterwards. Badminton was the perfect tension for me. The birdie is so light that there was no forceful returns (when I completed a return instead of watching it whiz by). A nice, easy lob. Tennis would have been too difficult.

Can’t wait to play again.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this. If so, kindly share it with others…

Irony At Its Strangest

We know that the Detroit Red Wings lost the Stanley Cup to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7. We also know that the octopus is a Detroit tradition dating back about 60 years. (For those who don’t know, octopus is thrown on the ice at Detroit’s home games at Joe Louis Arena. Its 8 tentacles signify the 8 games that used to be needed to win the Stanley Cup). So..

Saturday, the day after Game 7, I was still rather down and out about my beloved Wings. I turn on the Food Network show Iron Chef. What’s the secret ingredient of the day? OCTOPUS!!

What gives with that?

It’s bad enough my Wings were defeated, now I had to watch their tradition symbol being cooked.

I wonder if the Food Network execs are Penguin fans….:?

Thanks to my readers

I wanted to take a short moment and thank my readers for all of your support, comments, and online friendship. I just read an article in WebPro News about how 95% of blogs are abandoned within six months. That’s unbelievable to me! It also made me realize how lucky I am to have this one be so popular. It has turned into a nice support community for those involved with a tkr, hockey passion, and/or writing.

It is thanks to you.

Kudos to you all!!