Another Saturday Night, and something something song lyric...
I'll do current events and then a health wrap-up.
Today was Trick or Treat in Wauwatosa, because our city Fathers/Mothers in their infinite wisdom declared that TT will happen on the last *Sunday* in October, regardless of when the actual holiday is. The rest of the county is doing TT on Halloween Saturday. Doesn't that make good sense? Because of the weird timing, we had less than half of the normal 120 kids we usually get (even though there wasn't a Packer game today), so LOTS of leftovers, including an entire barrel of pretzels.
We have been having gorgeous weather this week, even though they said we were only going to get into the 50's many days, we reached mid-60's or better every day. Just beautiful weather for so late in October.
Friday afternoon, I was home alone, and I had a bit of an emotional breakdown and an epiphany. Depending on where I am within my 4-hour drug cycle, I have different amounts of clarity and emotionality. I'd been struggling with undermedicating for several days (so the chronic pain level has been wearing on me), and I had just finished reading a kids book (A Dog Called Homeless) that involved parental death, and a lot of emotional upheaval within that family. So I was in a 'delicate' emotional state. I started thinking about our current living arrangement, where Baby-Bro & Sil are with us for 5-7 days, gone for 2 wekks and then back again. This has been going on for 2+ years, but they've only been staying with us for the last 14 months. Up until now I've been pretty whiny about the situation, but for whatever reason, I started thinking about it from a new perspective. I think this time we are spending together is actually a blessing, and in the future, we will look back upon this as being a halcyon time for us all. On FaceBook I see posts from my cousins, where they get to visit their sibs for a week and what a wonderful time it is, but always, too short-lived. I think back to my favorite memories of visiting distant relatives from my youth, and many of them are 'small moments' from those visits: sitting around eating in breakfast with everyone in jammies, watching a TV show together, talking a walk after dinner. Simple, small intimacies. Prior to SIL's dad being diagnosed with his incurable cancer, we hadn't been up to MN to visit them in more than 5 years. When they came down it was often for short, uncomfortable stays. There was a lot of tension. Then they got a dog (which has been the single biggest healer of troubles between us all), her dad cancer diagnosis, and lots and lots of close quarters time has been spent. I realize now, that we have all grown closer. We are sharing day-to-day intimacies, we are sharing little moments, instead of only big ones. We have learned not only how to live together, but how to love each other again, as family and as friends.
So I was in the middle of all of that self-realization, when SIL came home and came upstairs to check on me to see if needed anything, and here I was all teary-eyed. I said I needed a bit of company, and then shared a bit with her, and we had big hugs, and a really nice interlude together. She stayed and we chatted for an hour. And it was really good. I think that my family hasn't been in as good and loving a place in many years.
My I have been wordy, and I still have to document the health stuff. Sorry! =)
So, 16 days post-op. I've finished my at home PT. And just because I want to document it, PT Jane is involved with a dog rescue JR Pups & Stuff. They get dogs from down south, and often have more breed variety than Wisconsin Human Society does.
Friday I had my out-patient PT evaluation. I'm back with PT Patti. =)
Cold Bend = 78 degrees, after massage and stretching, with help (i.e. Patti pushing) I was able to bend 95 degrees! I have to go back to look, but I think it was 3-4 weeks before I hit 95 with left knee. 95 is one of the first 'milestone' marks, where things get easier after. The next one is 110 degrees. Overall, Patti said the leg is much less swollen, especially my thigh. In fact the left thigh appears to be more swollen, still, than my right. I notice that the swelling is concentrated at the joint, and under duress will work it's way down the leg from there. This bodes well for some really good therapy goals, now that I am working with 2 good knees! I've got all my PT sessions scheduled, twice a week for 6 weeks. Last sessions will be the first week in December.
On the medication front, I am more frustrated. I am still on Oxycodone 5-325. 2 pills every 4 hours at night, and 1.5 pills the rest of the time. I'd been trying to do 1 pill during the day, and the chronic pain in the 6 level was just too wearing. So Saturday we bought a pill cutter, and I'm doing the 1.5 pills during the day. If I take 2, when I am trying to be away, I get very wooly-headed. Twice this week I tried to drop down to Hydrocodone during the day; the 2nd time I tried the max dose of 2 pils, and utterly failed to handle the pain. It's not like I'm trying to be at 0 or 1 on the smiley face scale either, but I don't want to be crying or clock watching for that last 45 minutes just aching to get relief. Both Doc & PT have said that my body may becoming a bit more tolerant of the drugs, but that I am also being pretty aggressive about downgrading. So I'm trying to back off a bit, and allow myself the time, and the relief to heal a bit more. I'll try again, near the end of this next week.
Well, that was a lot more verbose than I intended. I should have also mentioned that I am not sleeping nearly as much as I did the first time around, but I am still enjoying a good long afternoon nap. Still working my way through the 1st season of Scorpion. I can't believe how much they are using car chases to eat up time, at least 3 episodes in a row now. I FF unless I see dialog. I think my next show will be Elementary, since we have about 20 of those in the queue. I'm also going to work through several season's of McLeod's Daughters now that they are on Hulu.
Today was Trick or Treat in Wauwatosa, because our city Fathers/Mothers in their infinite wisdom declared that TT will happen on the last *Sunday* in October, regardless of when the actual holiday is. The rest of the county is doing TT on Halloween Saturday. Doesn't that make good sense? Because of the weird timing, we had less than half of the normal 120 kids we usually get (even though there wasn't a Packer game today), so LOTS of leftovers, including an entire barrel of pretzels.
We have been having gorgeous weather this week, even though they said we were only going to get into the 50's many days, we reached mid-60's or better every day. Just beautiful weather for so late in October.
Friday afternoon, I was home alone, and I had a bit of an emotional breakdown and an epiphany. Depending on where I am within my 4-hour drug cycle, I have different amounts of clarity and emotionality. I'd been struggling with undermedicating for several days (so the chronic pain level has been wearing on me), and I had just finished reading a kids book (A Dog Called Homeless) that involved parental death, and a lot of emotional upheaval within that family. So I was in a 'delicate' emotional state. I started thinking about our current living arrangement, where Baby-Bro & Sil are with us for 5-7 days, gone for 2 wekks and then back again. This has been going on for 2+ years, but they've only been staying with us for the last 14 months. Up until now I've been pretty whiny about the situation, but for whatever reason, I started thinking about it from a new perspective. I think this time we are spending together is actually a blessing, and in the future, we will look back upon this as being a halcyon time for us all. On FaceBook I see posts from my cousins, where they get to visit their sibs for a week and what a wonderful time it is, but always, too short-lived. I think back to my favorite memories of visiting distant relatives from my youth, and many of them are 'small moments' from those visits: sitting around eating in breakfast with everyone in jammies, watching a TV show together, talking a walk after dinner. Simple, small intimacies. Prior to SIL's dad being diagnosed with his incurable cancer, we hadn't been up to MN to visit them in more than 5 years. When they came down it was often for short, uncomfortable stays. There was a lot of tension. Then they got a dog (which has been the single biggest healer of troubles between us all), her dad cancer diagnosis, and lots and lots of close quarters time has been spent. I realize now, that we have all grown closer. We are sharing day-to-day intimacies, we are sharing little moments, instead of only big ones. We have learned not only how to live together, but how to love each other again, as family and as friends.
So I was in the middle of all of that self-realization, when SIL came home and came upstairs to check on me to see if needed anything, and here I was all teary-eyed. I said I needed a bit of company, and then shared a bit with her, and we had big hugs, and a really nice interlude together. She stayed and we chatted for an hour. And it was really good. I think that my family hasn't been in as good and loving a place in many years.
My I have been wordy, and I still have to document the health stuff. Sorry! =)
So, 16 days post-op. I've finished my at home PT. And just because I want to document it, PT Jane is involved with a dog rescue JR Pups & Stuff. They get dogs from down south, and often have more breed variety than Wisconsin Human Society does.
Friday I had my out-patient PT evaluation. I'm back with PT Patti. =)
Cold Bend = 78 degrees, after massage and stretching, with help (i.e. Patti pushing) I was able to bend 95 degrees! I have to go back to look, but I think it was 3-4 weeks before I hit 95 with left knee. 95 is one of the first 'milestone' marks, where things get easier after. The next one is 110 degrees. Overall, Patti said the leg is much less swollen, especially my thigh. In fact the left thigh appears to be more swollen, still, than my right. I notice that the swelling is concentrated at the joint, and under duress will work it's way down the leg from there. This bodes well for some really good therapy goals, now that I am working with 2 good knees! I've got all my PT sessions scheduled, twice a week for 6 weeks. Last sessions will be the first week in December.
On the medication front, I am more frustrated. I am still on Oxycodone 5-325. 2 pills every 4 hours at night, and 1.5 pills the rest of the time. I'd been trying to do 1 pill during the day, and the chronic pain in the 6 level was just too wearing. So Saturday we bought a pill cutter, and I'm doing the 1.5 pills during the day. If I take 2, when I am trying to be away, I get very wooly-headed. Twice this week I tried to drop down to Hydrocodone during the day; the 2nd time I tried the max dose of 2 pils, and utterly failed to handle the pain. It's not like I'm trying to be at 0 or 1 on the smiley face scale either, but I don't want to be crying or clock watching for that last 45 minutes just aching to get relief. Both Doc & PT have said that my body may becoming a bit more tolerant of the drugs, but that I am also being pretty aggressive about downgrading. So I'm trying to back off a bit, and allow myself the time, and the relief to heal a bit more. I'll try again, near the end of this next week.
Well, that was a lot more verbose than I intended. I should have also mentioned that I am not sleeping nearly as much as I did the first time around, but I am still enjoying a good long afternoon nap. Still working my way through the 1st season of Scorpion. I can't believe how much they are using car chases to eat up time, at least 3 episodes in a row now. I FF unless I see dialog. I think my next show will be Elementary, since we have about 20 of those in the queue. I'm also going to work through several season's of McLeod's Daughters now that they are on Hulu.