Long Day
I'm going in for surgery tomorrow (well later today technically), whee!
Today was a long hard day but I have a rented wheelchair and this knee stroller thing that's actually pretty cool except it steers like a cow, so it's hard to use in the house. Also it is pretty tiring to use, though not nearly as bad as the crutches. Carl was an amazing help through all of this, getting me to my appointment so Brad could work (he is of course having work piled on this half week) and through the equipment rental and prescription pickup.
I can't get more than fifteen feet on the crutches without wanting a nice long lie-down so these are going to really improve my mobility. I still need the crutches to get to the bathroom because it's just awkward and won't fit the wheelchair, but it's only about six feet from the corner of the bed to the bathroom so I can cope if I take my time and am careful about every step.
Stairs are still awful and there are no ramps long enough to manage our taller than normal porch, so I have to back up them sitting down, one step at a time. It is *really* hard to get up again from there, especially if I'm tired; tonight I got the scooter over and lurched up onto it. There was some discussion of how to get me home after the surgery. (I may still be silly from anesthesia and unable to walk; apparently I was both floppy and non compos mentis after the wisdom tooth extraction for quite some time.) There was serious discussion of going to a hotel, but hotels around here are mostly kind of awful and I'd rather go hooome. Carl is going to come back so he can simply help carry me up the stairs if that's necessary. :( But I really want to be hooome while I'm recovering.
They don't know if they're doing general anesthesia yet, or just a nerve block plus something that will keep me from caring what's going on. I vote for the latter because I like less risk, even though I'm not thrilled about being awake. But I don't have to look and probably won't be allowed to anyhow. :) I signed consent forms covering both so they have options. He doesn't know yet if he wants to use a pin or a plate on the bone... he's waiting until he sees it to decide, but he's done lots and lots of these so I figure he'll know best; I have exactly the kind of surgeon one wants, someone for whom this is routine and who gets lots of practice at the procedure. I am hoping for a plate because I'll have to go back in to have a pin removed, but really I want him to choose what will make it easiest to heal up well. Just putting a cast on it is not a good option here, even if that's the usual procedure for broken foot bones.
I do not get a walking cast to start with, though that may be an option partway through the healing process. I'm not looking forward to the PT, but I have already promised to do it all.
My foot is purple! My favorite color, except on body parts. :) Still, it didn't look really bad, just lightly bruised over half of it with more acute dark purple bruising over the break itself. And it doesn't feel bad unless I bump it, thanks to the painkillers. It sort of lets me know I should be careful of it, but doesn't actually hurt while the vicodin is active. This is so very fine by me. They have prescribed me a stronger version of that for post-surgery because my foot will be much more unhappy then. I do want to find a better way to elevate it than the ad hoc pillows I'm using, since elevation will be key for reducing swelling.
It was too late to go to our original lunch plan (it was really approaching "dinner") so I looked up what was nearby and open and discovered Le Cigare Volante, the tasting room for Bonny Doon Vineyard. I already have had some of their wines (yay local), and had heard that they were good, but hadn't even found the place, which is tucked oddly away behind their plant by the New Leaf market. They said they were celiac friendly and wheelchair friendly so I gave it a go, and boy was I glad! The owner is celiac so they do *all* of their flatbreads with rice flour, in a dedicated oven, and their pastry chef has a real gift for the dough... I got a pizza with caramelized walnuts, brie, sweet potatoes, and sage leaves on a crust that had the chew and snap of a proper thin pizza crust. I had that with pumpkin soup that had toasted pumpkin seeds and some sort of creamy or cheesy thing in it, yum. They also do verjus spritzers since my surgery-having self was not supposed to be indulging in wine. Carl got an assemble-it-yourself BLT using El Salchichero's bacon, so I knew that was going to be good, and it looked very very tasty indeed. It's also casual enough that I feel like we can just drop in there if we want. I get breakfast tomorrow so it's not my *last* meal before surgery, but it was very nice for making me feel human again after a long hard skipping-lunch day.
I got home and the contractor had cut over the hot water from our system so the upstairs tenants had hot water too, a major relief. We have most of the parts for the actual replacement in, but not all of them, and will make do with this for now and do the replacement next week. He caught the asplosion before it turned into a flood. So grateful we found him!
Chance has seemed pretty concerned about his defective monkey, mostly sleeping near me as well as wanting to snuggle me while I'm struggling to get pants on.