Pictures!

Here I am, ensconced in my recliner amidst my personal ecosystem. Samwise is taking advantage of the lap space, I have my laptop, water, books and various other sundries around me. Yup - this is where I'm living at the moment.





My DEAR HUSBAND! has taken pics of my Xrays so I don't need to scan them. Isn't that smart of him? This first pic is straight on the front of the leg. You can see the plate, the 7 screws, and the line of staples where the incision is. Kinda cool, don't you think?

The faint waffling pattern is the dressing and ace bandage that is around the leg.





The second pic is a side view, from inside to outside. You can see the bulge of my calf muscle, and the line of staples again. Note how the patella (knee cap) is way north of where it should rightly be. All I have to say about that is . . . ewww.








Here it all is, wrapped and splinted in the knee imobilizer in my hospital bed. See those blue hose-like things? They are the cooling system! There is a cooler on the floor filled with ice water, and those hoses are hooked up to an ice-pack/bladder thingy around my knee, constantly circulating the cold water around. It's really nifty, and I have to tell ya, the cold helps tremendously with pain relief. Yes, my foot was really poofy for several days after the surgery, and I still have to watch it and keep it as elevated as I can stand it most of the day.

These are some of the flowers I received. The smiley one is from the AIMS PTA, of which I've been President this year. I have stepped down until I can work again, which may not happen before the end of the school year, actually. My friend, Cheryl, who is our Treasurer, works at the hospital where I was, and it was a real treat to see her the morning of my surgery.
The purple flowers are from my staff - isnt' that thoughtful? They're lovely, and are lasting so nicely!
The red tea roses are from my friends, N and J, who very kindly visited me the Friday evening I was there, on their way out to celebrate V-day. It was great to see them, too!

Now that I have the equipment nearby, I will be able to take more pictures and try to make the blog a little more attractive. ;-)

X-Ray Vision

I had my first follow-up appointment with the surgeon this morning. He unwrapped all the dressings and I got to see my gruesomeness in person for the first time. It's actually kinda cool, and healing very well, so all is good.

I have a long scar, about 3-4 inches, down across the front of my knee (a little to the interior side), and 4 smaller incisions around the knee where, assumedly, he used probes and junk. He removed the staples from the smaller incisions and sent us home with a staple remover so Mike can do the rest next week (ew!) It hurts a little, but it feels good, mentally, to get the staples out.

Note to self: take a pain pill about 1/2 hour before letting Mike attack those staples!!!!

I wish we had our scanner set up. I've got copies of my X-rays from today that show the metal plate and 7 screws. Holey moley, Batman! It's surreal to think it's actually in my leg! As soon as I get them digitized, be assured I will share them with my loyal readers!

So I got home from that trip (getting in and out of the house with Mike pushing the chair and navigating our ramp), and was totally exhausted. I had a very light lunch and basically passed out in my recliner for 1.5 hours until the physical therapist came. This new guy is named Tony, and he was very nice and encouraging like the others have been.

My assignments: thigh/bun crunches, straight leg lifts (right leg still too heavy to do this, but I'm working on it), and what I'm calling body lifts (sitting on edge of wheel chair, arms bent back to arms of chair and lifting up butt using shoulders/back), as well as walking with walker a few steps further each day. Tony says to get up and "walk" every 4-5 hours as possible.

I am now able to get in and out of my chair independently again, get to and from the potty alone, and can navigate about 20 steps and turn around to get back with the walker. Not bad, really, just a week after surgery. My goal these next few days is to get the guest bed cleaned off and start trying to sleep in there at night. We'll see. Mike is VERY tired from taking care of me, and cleaning is not his gifting. I think I'm going to have to rely on some of my GF's and my sister for this!

What I'm thankful for:

• First, last and always, I'm thankful for my wonderful, caring, compassionate husband. He is such a great guy and is doing so much to assure my comfort, my quality of life and my peace of mind. He is even dealing with my crying jags with amazing fortitude. I am having fewer and fewer, but when they come they shock us both.
• My dear kiddo, Simon - he has no idea how precious those hugs are, and how much Dad and I both appreciate all that he's doing to help out around here.
  
• Friends and family (especially Mom and Dad and MIL and FIL and sister and brother(well, brother's gf writes and calls -lol)) who check in often, by phone, email, twitter and other means
• People who I know are praying for me - those prayers are working because my mind and soul feel very peaceful most of the time (not really my M.O.)
• Already being able to go longer periods of time between pain pills (and yes, I am staying ahead of the pain - I promise!)
• A great surgeon - I have so much confidence in him, and I feel like he did a great job on my leg so far, and is giving good advice for the knee-fixing to come.
  
• Samwise and Rosie - proof, to me, that it is true that pets can provide healing juju. Sammy has been sleeping on top of me every night I've been home, keeping me warm and letting me know I'm not alone.
  
• God - I know he didn't cause this, but I do believe that he can and will use this to strengthen me and help me grow up again, which is pretty cool.

Sorry I don't have any illustrations, again, today! I will work hard to figure out how to get some for next time . . . and I actually knit a few rounds on the socks I've got going, so a knitting update may be forthcoming.

It's supposed to snow here again tomorrow - be careful on the ice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!