Day Forty

Yippee.  Physical therapy tomorrow.  I can't wait and I'm nervous.  Therapist Vinny hasn't seen me walk since I watched the Youtube videos.  I want to surprise him.  The sharp pain in the front left knee still keeps me from being able to bring my knee through smoothly but I may be able to grin a bear it for a few strides.

He sees every step I take from the time I get out of the car and walk across the parking lot until I leave.
"I saw you walking from the car," he says every time.  Then a little later, "I saw you walking down the hall."  I can't take a step without him seeing it.  I guess that's part about being a good physical therapist (actually, I think he's and athletic trainer)

Rode about 15 miles on the Stowe bike path again today.  Nothing is more fun these days.  The first pedal stroke surprised me with a painful protest at the top of it.  I forgot the knees don't bend that well yet.  A short involuntary scream, couple more revolutions and I was warmed up.  It was all good until, at the end, when I got to the car, stopped and couldn't lift my leg over the seat to get off (I probably could have but convinced myself I couldn't) and had to have Vin tilt the bike and pull it out from under me.

For my knee comrades.
Now, about my finger's blood vessel incident that may be related to the surgery...
All I was doing is sponging down the sink.  Suddenly I felt a pop in the inside of the middle section of my right ring finger.  I looked and there was a purple star shaped mass turning purpler .  I felt and it was hard.  My finger was dark red.  It hurt but not as bad as that sharp pain in the front left knee.  More of a tingle.  Half an hour later purple star morphed into a whole purple finger mid section and stayed that way.  I googled 'spontaneous hematoma finger' (sometimes you just don't know what to call things) and there were tons of forums.  Evidently I'm not the only one it's happened to.   Seems like it could have had something to do with taking coumadin (blood thinner/blood clot precaution) after surgery.  Always something.  The tingling stopped almost immediately and now, the purple band is barely visible.  I'm going to make a point of getting more vitamin K (greens...helps with clotting which is usually what you want) and vitamin C to strengthen my blood vessel walls.

Day Twenty-Five

You know yesterday when I said that maybe I was turning the corner?  I'm thinking there may be a few more intersections before I actually make the turn but I am headed in the right direction.

Nurse Tim came to the house and took my blood for the last time today.  Looks like I'm back to normal after my Coumadin overdose.  From now on blood tests will be 2 days a week at the hospital.  They sure don't make it easy.

Going up and down the stairs is really pretty fun especially after I realized I could go up without using the railing.  The thirty trips today felt like a lot but seems like a slow way to build up my invisible right quad.

Lots of PT and icing today combined with making popovers and home made mayonnaise wiped me out.

Day Seven

That's my leg in a contraption that flexes my knee while I just lie there.  You know how I feel about exercise equipment that does the work for you?

Tim, my smart-thorough nurse came and took out my staples.  I think that was the most painful thing about the surgery for which I've been awake and the first time I'd regretted having both knees done at the same time.  One staple wouldn't have been bad but forty seemed to go on forever.  Some stuck and pulled but most of them didn't so that was good.  I tried to keep screaming to a minimum even though Tim said I could scream as much as I wanted. It felt like 200 degrees in the house.  I signaled for Tim to 'hold off for a second' while I scrolled through our CD collection until I found "Run Around" by Blues Traveler, turned it up until the windows rattled and gave him the 'GO' signal.  That worked.
 
Physical therapy came.  She told me to keep my movements slow whether it was exercise or household routine....no problem there.  Added standing-at-the-kitchen-counter exercises and up an down the stairs to my laying-down routine.  My right leg flexed at 96 and my left leg flexed at 95 so I'd progressed when I was positive I hadn't.  I crutched around the outside of the house five times.


I ate more than my maintenance calories.

Pain and fever are still monkeys on my back.

My blood is still too thick (clotting risk) so I increased my Coumadin level again. 

Picked up the neighbor's rocking chair (another knee replacement survivor).  Vin glued it in a few places and now I can work on flexion without thinking about it.

Day Six

'Leg lifter' for when my own muscles aren't enough or I'm feeling wimpy.  It's a little too much like cheating.

I recycled the paperwork for our our new digital thermometer and then accidentally hit some button combination that made all readings Celsius so now I don't know if I have a fever until I convert it to Fahrenheit.  Last night it read 37.9 which doesn't sound high until you convert it and see it's 100.22 which is on the low side of alarm but enough to call the MD.

Tim the nurse stopped by again today to see how I was feeling.   He didn't have to and didn't get paid to do it....he just stopped.  He's still sloppy but I feel like he is smart and thorough.  Someone that likes his job.

I begin the day with gusto and then by late afternoon I feel like crap.  A little nauseous and little dizzy, sore.  The good thing is that the symptoms hold off a little longer everyday.

Today I pretty much ate my maintenance calories which makes me so happy.  I actually felt a little hungry at one point.

I do PT stuff all day and don't feel like I'm progressing but I must be. 

Day Four

Today the Home Health Nurse came.  He seemed thorough but sloppy.  Like putting gloves on, digging through his dirty bags then changing my dressings...the dressings that no one is supposed to touch because there is such an incredibly high risk of infection.  Then he gave me this sticker and told me to be sure to call if I had any questions at all.  

"call this number anytime" said the nurse when he handed me this sticker.

Did exercises all day, that don't feel like they do anything, but what else am I going to do?
My blood is still too thick so I had to increase my Coumadin levels (more pills) in order to avoid blood clots.  Coumadin (aka warfarin) is also used as rat poison.  I am learning so much.

I still can't eat and feel feverish. (rat poison?)
I will never get better.