We have been running to the hospital every evening to visit mother in law who had a knee replacement surgery on 01/07/09. She suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, which gave her very severe pain. When medicine and other treatments are not helping her anymore, the doctor recommended knee replacement surgery, with the hope to relieve the pain that she has been experiencing and hopefully allow her to be more active.
She is in a lot of pain and very weak after the surgery. In a knee replacement surgery, the surgeon removes damaged cartilage and bone from the surface of the knee joint and replaces them with a man-made surface of metal and plastic. She will need a few months of physiotherapy sessions to help her to recover and to be able to walk normal again.
We were invited to join T’s parents, his uncle and aunt for dinner. They said it’s traditional pizza and popcorn dinner, but I am not sure it’s their family tradition, midwest tradition or American tradition. 
T’s uncle and aunt live about 25 minutes away from where we live. They run a farm corporation with thousand acres of corn, wheat and soy field. Their home is on the farm. T’s uncle is in his 70s and he still works in the field! It’s harvesting season right now and they have been really busy. When they told us their workers have been working 120+ hours per week, I poked at T who worked about 45 hours a week and complained about over working.:-)
We had two large pizzas with meatball and mushroom toppings. They were very delicious, but pretty greasy and high calories. T somemore brought home the leftover to eat for lunch!
We chit-chatted and played the dice game Farkle after dinner. It ’s a very fun dice game with simple rules. The cover of the container said it’s a game of guts and luck. Really, through the game, it’s so obvious who would take chances and who were the conservatives.
T’s mom was having such good luck with the game, she kept getting three pairs, two triplets and straight. We had a good laugh and the game ended with her reaching 10, 000 points, way ahead of all of us!
My in laws are in their 60s. After battling with cancers and illnesses for the past 10 years, they decided to sell their house and moved into a retirement community. Though they still lead an active life, they could not cope with yard work and maintaining a house anymore.
The retirement center is built on 30 acres of scenic campus with park-like setting. There are two stocked fishing ponds, large community areas, ample parking for residence and guests, garage parking and 24-hour security.
The landscaping, building and residence maintenance are contracted out to professionals. The center is run by full-time activity director and staffs who organize social and recreational activities. The other facilities include game Room, fitness center with personal trainer, library, computer resource center, craft and hobby room, wood working shop, resident Gardens.
It offers choices of apartments, duplexes, independent living, assisted living and nursing home.
The in laws at first moved into a three-bedroom apartment and stayed on the waiting list for duplexes. They later moved into a two-bedroom duplex once it’s available.
The duplexes (what we called semi-D in Malaysia) are really nice, they range in size from 1,300 to 1,700 square feet. These professionally landscaped single-level brick homes feature two to three bedrooms, two baths, and include a fully equipped kitchen, an attached garage with opener, spacious sun room, and a full basement.
All interior and exterior maintenance is done for them, the lawn is mowed for them. The retirement center offers flexible dining plan and serves three meals daily at the cafeteria. The retirees can bring guests and can also reserve private dining rooms for special events.
The in laws usually have breakfast on their own, and if they do not feel like cooking lunch and dinner, they order meals at the cafeteria. Then, they just drive or walk over to the cafeteria during designated meal time.
The food at the cafeteria is prepared by professional cook. The in laws brought me there for brunch yesterday. They have good cooks, I must say. The food not only delicious, they are prepared the healthy way too. The retirement center is pretty well designed to ensure personal independence and quality of living. I really don’t mind living here when we retired in future!!
Most of the people who live here are in their 70s and 80s, the oldest man lives here is 105 years old! He drove a car until recently he decided to surrender his driver licensse and gave his car to his grandson (who must be in his 60s!). Parents in law who are in their 60s are the youngest couples here!!
