Keep on moving on...

I had my two week follow up appointment with my ortho surgeon yesterday and he was very pleased with how well I am healing and doing over all. He's okayed for me to return to work two days per week starting next week which is good! I never thought I'd say it but I'm looking forward to it. I was getting cabin fever sitting here and there's only so much daytime TV a person can stomach!

My knee continues to get better each day. It's strong! Like a rock! The numbness is slowly leaving and I'm dealing with the tiny bit of pain I have as best I can. Therapy kicks my ass three times a week but it's all good. My PT Cheryl is the bomb. She pushes me to do my limit but listens when I get there and let her know when it hurts too much to go one more. She's really good and I'm really glad I went back to her for outpatient therapy.

My meds got decreased at my doc appointment which is always a good thing. I hate taking pills. In fact today I only took one pain pill before therapy and just rode out the pain afterwards using some yoga breathing to relax and work through it. It worked just fine.

Next week, I'm going to venture out and give driving a try. We shall see how that goes!

A Whole New Knee Part 2....

The second day in the nursing home and beyond got much better. I started therapy and started using the walker again. It was pretty clear that they had not communicated with the hospital as to how well I was already doing in therapy though because I was made to start over again in many ways but rather than argue I decided to go with the flow and just get it done. As they saw how much I could do for myself, and how little pain I was was having, they expressed amazement at my quick progress.

The funniest part was that I had to go to Occupational Therapy. Now, I'm not sure why I had to go to OT except that I think they weren't sure I was able to do anything for myself like toileting or dressing but it was comical as they struggled to find things to show me to do. Putting on my socks became an almost daily routine with the OT as they insisted I use the adaptive aid pulling the sock over my toes with a plastic device and then trying to grasp it with a reacher and pulling it on. I kept telling them it wasn't necessary and they kept telling me that if I was home alone I would need to be able to do this. Finally I just said, "Please, watch this!" and I reached down,  with my hand, and  put on my own socks independently. The OT sat there kind of stunned and we just moved on. She never mentioned the sock thing again! Ha! I spent two mornings loading and unloading a dishwasher which was great except I don't have a dishwasher at home so it was a useless activity. Really, I was doing everything for myself while at the nursing home so there was very little for them to show me how to do. I didn't need OT so my time spent with them was not necessary. But I did it. What the heck, I was there and what else was I going to do?

Physical therapy was entirely different! My therapist, Cheryl, was the bomb! She was gentle but demanding and listened to me but challenged me. She got me moving and let me try even when she thought I might be pushing it a little. She got me on the stairs and it was great! I was actually disappointed when the weekend came because there was no therapy on the weekends. But Cheryl gave me exercises to do on my own and I went for walks on my own to keep my new knee limber and keep working those muscles. My goal was to get home!! Because, at the end of the day, being a nursing home for any reason, is a boring, tedious affair.

Next time  I will talk solely about the food...ugh...

A whole new knee....

Here I am, back home again, after surgery and two weeks of in-patient therapy. I am the proud owner of a new knee. The journey from painful gimp to heroic less painful  gimp was a wild one, to be sure. My original surgery date was supposed to be February 9th but I was in so much pain I called and asked for it to be moved up so it was moved four days earlier. I went in on the 5th.

Now, in Kenosha, depending on who you talk to, you hear so much about the quality or lack of quality in the local medical professionals. I have never found the latter to be true. I have a great GP who is caring and challenges me to take better care of myself and it's been working. And my surgeon, Dr. Slimak, was amazing! I opted to use the old hospital downtown too because I am familiar with it and am comfortable there. Everyone there was so nice and, honestly, I was in and out of surgery in a flash! I woke up and wasn't even aware that I had gone in! And the best part? No pain! Now, of course, at the time I was still under sedation and I had been given a nerve block in my left leg so naturally there was no pain! But it was like heaven. I woke up feeling like a million bucks - and with so much energy! Because I use a C-Pap for sleep apnea the doc wanted me to spend one night in Critical Care - just in case - so off I went.

The care I got in the hospital was stellar. The RN's and the CNA's were so attentive. Anytime I called, they were right there within seconds asking me what I needed and making sure I was well cared for. They got me standing within the first day of my surgery which was amazing. Still no pain! I was using a walker to navigate the room from bed to commode and back again. The PT department came and worked that leg and showed me how to work it on my own. After that one night, I was moved to the regular surgical floor. I had a private room both times. The funny part was in CCU I had a huge flat screen TV and was looking forward to watching the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead on it but in my new surgical floor room I had the tiniest TV ever! Still, it was a nice room and I didn't have to share it. I did have one mishap one night. I called the aides when I had to use the commode and they helped me to stand. When I was finished one of them handed me some toilet paper and I absentmindedly took it in my left hand letting go of the walker and my knee buckled under me and I started to fall. The male aide was fast and he gently guided me to the floor so I didn't actually fall and everything was fine. I was half asleep and not thinking and neither was the aide who handed me the paper. My knee still had some nerve block in it and I didn't have full feeling back in it yet so it just gave out. It was scary but no harm was done.

After that, everything went smoothly. I was up and walking almost daily. I was doing laps around the nurses station and eventually using the regular bathroom and washing up in the bathroom on my own.  I had opted to go to an inpatient rehab for more PT because I had to be able to climb several stairs to get into my apartment and I wasn't sure how I was going to do that. Now that I was healing so well and could see how easily I was taking to therapy I was having second thoughts on that decision but I decided to go ahead to go anyway.

I was admitted to Hospitality Manor on February 9th - ironically, the original surgery date. My first day there did not go well. I was greeted by a kind nurse who checked me in and I was taken to my room and that was pretty much it. I was left in a wheel chair and no one came to answer my call for the next three hours. I was so frustrated. I had to use the bathroom! They did not give me a walker, no way to get there on my own, and when an aide would ask me what I wanted she would tell me she had to get help and never return. Once she came back, after telling me she getting assistance, and she was passing out ice water instead. I blew up. I was pissed! After a time, Alex came in and I just burst into tears. He knew something was wrong. The nurse returned and he went and got a social worker and I filed a complaint on my very first day there. It was horrible and not a good way to start.

But, it got better...and I'll go more into that in the next installment of A Whole New Knee!

Hi Ho Hi Ho To Surgery I Go...

So, the kind people at Comprehensive Orthopedics have x-rayed me and it is determined that the time has come. On February 9th, I will have my left knee replaced. For the last couple of weeks I have been in the most excruciating pain I have ever felt. The x-ray showed that not only do I not have any cartilage in my knees and they are bone on bone, the left side is actually bone overlapping bone causing a sharp knife stabbing burst of pain with the tiniest of movement and a constant throbbing ache. My right knee is holding it's own for now but will eventually have to be replaced as well. The doc gave me some Tramadol for pain and it worked for about the first day but now it does nothing.

I know I'm lucky to work in a place with health insurance but I will have to pay for 20% of the total cost of this procedure and the hospitalization even with the insurance. And because I live in a two story walk up that is tiny and not conducive to in home therapy I will be going to in-patient rehab for physical therapy for a few weeks. Again, insurance will pay but only 80% so this will cost me some dollars. To add insult to injury, I do not have enough paid sick time accrued to cover the lengthy recovery time and I only have four weeks of paid vacation times to use which is half of the shortest recovery time I have been quoted. I've applied for Family Medical Leave but that will be unpaid time. So, this is a real bummer. Physically, I feel like shit yet know I can't live without getting this done but financially - it's a blood sucker.

We'll be okay. We always are. Somehow, Alex and I will get through this and carry on and I'll be healthier and happier for it. He's been a ROCK throughout all of this - putting up with my whiney, crabby ass and taking such good care of me. Even making fun of me when it gets too serious. I love him for that.

So, I will be the proud owner of a new bionic knee very soon. I'm sure recovery will have it's pain but nothing can match with what I'm living with right now. Unbearable. Really.