Listening to the Voices in My Head

He had surgery on his hock/ankle. I had surgery on my knee. Two weeks later, he's walking around and the only evidence of surgery is the very short furred area that had to be shaved.

Me? 7 weeks on and I still have to use a cane around the house, and crutches.

Yes, there are some days I wish I was a cat.

And typing about Loki, I showed his histopathology report to someone. She said there were a lot of mights, maybes, could bes in it. IOWs they had no idea what the growth is. Just wait to see if it comes back.

On July 7th, I had a total left knee replacement. The surgery went ok, but as usual, I had a bad reaction to the medication. Instead of the surgical meds, the post-op medications threw me for a loop. It made me pass out face first into a cup of apple juice, thereby inhaling some. Apple juice induced pneumonia! Two days of strong antibiotics set me to right.

Came home on July 13th. Brain still felt as if it had been packed in some sort of fog. Have been told this is normal.
The left leg was swollen from mid-thigh to the foot. Been told this is normal. My left foot was almost twice the size of my right foot. Also normal. Pretty much stayed seated in bedroom, on the chair with small table, Wing and Alan keeping me company via card table and two chairs. Gave the place less of a 'sick room' feel.

Loki has pretty much stayed by my side for the entire 3 weeks I've been home. He's discovered the 'body sized' pillow is soft and comfy, so we time share it.

I only had one mishap. My left ankle rolled, and the new knee parts slammed together. The pain was blinding, and I tried not to scream. Wasn't successful. Good news is after two days of 'babying' the leg (Alan noticed if my leg was kept aligned with my hip, there was no pain) it was back to what it had been prior to the mishap.

Home visiting nurse came over, took off the original bandage, and examined the incision. No sign of infection, was healing nicely. Put some Steri-Strips across it, and one larger water proof dressing back over it. She told me I could take it off after a week, and just let the Strips fall off as they will. As of today, I have only two left.

So, have been toddling around with a Zimmer frame, and have graduated to using a cane some parts of the day. My left foot is back to normal size. I can actually take a shower without assistance now, although I prefer to have Wing when I am going to wash my hair. I get a bit of vertigo tipping my head back. I would rather have him there just in case I start tipping over.

Called my GP today to discuss medications and refills, or resuming. Have that all straightened out now. He said he saw no reason to play tough guy and NOT get pain relief. In actuality, if there is a lot of pain, that can slow down recovery.

So, that's everything in a nutshell.

One week after the surgery for compartment syndrome.  It hasn't been all sunshine and flowers.  Leg hurts, but hurts in a different way.  Seeing as to how Mr S described what needed to be done, it's not too much of a surprise it's going to hurt, but it's causing sleeping issues again.  Mostly because I can't sleep on my right side, as it's the outer leg/calf that had the surgery.  Tomorrow, I get to see the practice nurse, and my first visit with a new physio, Simon.  Oh joy.

Keito, Mister Old Cranky it seems, has taken to biting me really hard to wake me up around 4am. He came >.< this close to getting a reflexive backhand. Wing  put Loki in the back yard, think he was the one that bit me.  No, it was Keito. So, Wing put him in the back yard with Loki.

Queen sized, lower than the double. I thought I would have difficulty sleeping in a new bed, but nope. It was so comfortable. I went to bed, pulled the blanket up, and next thing I knew, it was morning. I did have a brief wake up when Wing came back from his gaming session, but I slept almost 9 hours in total.

Wing and I went for a few short walks yesterday, which probably accounted for my good resting last night. Headed to City Farmers to get cat food for our 4 purr kids. They had a great sale going on, so we stocked up. I really like that they paid attention to what their customers were saying. I had been asked why I hadn't been around for a long time, and I told them honestly that it was less expensive to go to grocery stores, as one or more of what we used was on sale. I was told that was one of the reasons they brought the prices down. And because of that, we go there now, instead of the grocery store.

Then we headed to Coles, and walked around there for about a half hour. It's slow going on crutches, but at least it's going. When we got back, I was rather surprised at how tired I was. Had a light supper, and went to bed before 9.

The knee is still stiff, but the pain level is being managed with proper medications. I understand what Dr S said that the majority of the rehab is pain management, because if you can't do the bends/stretches/exercises because of pain, it would take even longer to recover. But I have learned to not over do it, and I learned the hard way by over doing it. So, this patient must be patient.

Took antiseptic shower with the pre-op soap. Needed a bit of help reaching around my back, so called Wing for assistance. He obliged. Skin feels a bit tight now.

Necklace my grandmother gave me, rings, earrings, bracelet, and citrine in a box to keep them safe at home. Have my overnight bag packed.

My stomach is churning with stress/anxiety right now. I should go to bed now, and try to get some sleep, as I will be getting up around 4am to get to the hospital by 6:30am.