Forty-Four then Forty-Three Days

Yesterday was a pretty pain free day.  No skiing.  8 minutes of one-leg upper-body-only rowing. March 12 is my surgery and after that I'm on my way to taking being pain free for granted. 

Then today.  If my knee felt this good every day until March 12, I'd be psyched.  I did 20 minutes of one-leg, upper-body-only rowing while watching Reno 9-1-1.  Other than that I was perched on the couch.  Took 1/2 meloxicam then went to Highland Lodge to ski with Vince.  For over an hour of uphill I was totally pain free and I might add that it really couldn't have been more breathtaking.  Then the downhill started.  Against my will I snow-plowed as best I could coming off Barr Hill.  I could feel the knee swelling.   Maybe from being on it that long or maybe from the pressure of the snowplow, I'm not sure, but I wasn't nearly as mobile as I was when we started.  Very slowly, side-stepping down a slight decline with more pain then I'd like to admit, I tried not to bend my knee (easy, because it was too swollen to bend) or grimace.  I pretended I was still in my element so Vince wouldn't stress but he was on to me.  Conversationally as not to arouse panic,  I asked how far it was back to the lodge.  His body language indicated that it wasn't right around the corner and got me thinking that we may have a situation here.  There was a house in the distance.  I couldn't see if the driveway was plowed and didn't know how would I get from the trail to their door if it was...but it was something.  On the ski trail, I was trying to figure out a way to appear as though I was moving a lot faster than I actually was, while in reality I was moving more slowly than anyone had ever moved (you can't even imagine).  Still wearing my no-big-deal demeanor, all I could do was keep moving and hope for the best.   It was hard to ignore Vince's sighs and pretend to not hear the under-his-breath, for my 'benefit' comments that were just loud enough for me to know he was saying something and the exact wording wasn't important. 
Wait. Is that a snowmobile?  Thirty seconds later, rounding the corner pulling a track-setter was the Highland Lodge snowmobile (or an angel) with just enough room for me to fit between a lopper and a shovel.  I hadn't been worried a bit.

I can't say I wasn't worried about a knee explosion, and being out of pain meds once I got settled but, it didn't happen.  Once home, I iced and took the other half of the meloxicam.  It's good.

My plan was...if there was an explosion...to tell Vin I wanted to pick up a few things in Morrisville then sneak off to the emergency room somehow.  Luckily I didn't have to think it through all the way because driving would have been impossible.

Sixty Days

I'm not sure I can wait sixty days.

I woke up with half of a vicodon next to the bed and, as planned, I was going to stay ahead of the pain today.  I took the pill and got up.  As it turned out, half of a vicodon was too small of a quantity and too late because within minutes my pain was unbearable AGAIN.  Vin was working in the living room where his concern was surfacing in anger.  I was able to sneak upstairs where I figured I could be out of his way while I waited for the pain meds to kick in.  They weren't kicking in and soon the pain was off the charts.  I didn't know what to do.   The pain was indescribable and there was no way I could make it downstairs and then to the car to get to the ER.  It was 9:30 and I couldn't wait until my 2:30 knee draining appointment with Leah.  I had to have it drained in the ER.  Vince called 911.  An ambulance came.  The lights were flashing as they loaded me onto a chair thing that got me down the stairs.  The meds were starting to kick in and, although barely, the trip to the ER was tolerable.  Yada yada.  I ended up waiting for Leah at 2:30.  She attempted to drain the knee as usual but the blood/fluid was so viscous she was only able to extract 28 ccs.  She pulled on the syringe for about 5 minutes.  Guy helped by 'milking' the fluid toward the needle.  At one point we all jumped because something 'let go' and Guy said a large amount of the fluid shot out.  Usually in a minute and with no apparent effort she is able to extract 75 to 100 ccs.  She band-aided the needle hole.  I didn't experience the relief I normally do.  When I got home the compression sleeve was soaked with blood and the 'wound' was still bleeding.  Surrounding the 'wound' was a bruised swelling the size of an egg.  Leah has drained my knee at least 20 times and nothing like this had ever happened.  I called the office.  Lisa answered and I explained this unusual (for me) series of events.  She said Leah was with a patient but she would have her call me.  A half hour later Lisa called back telling me to 'take two aspirin and call me in the morning' (except 'don't call me in the morning').  I asked Lisa several questions, none of which she was able to answer except when I asked her what her position there was and she told me she was a scheduler.

Anyway, the knee is still embellished with a bruised egg that is bleeding.  What's going on?

My big worry is....since draining offers no relief....what do I do if (and I know it will) the knee does that pain thing again.  I feel like the only thing I can do is be medicated ALL THE TIME.