So, I'm beginning to get a feel of just how long I'm gonna be stuck in the same place and I'm suddenly wondering if I can get a wheelchair and a pair of binoculars to spy on the neighbors. Of course, you know how well that turns out...
Like Pusher, I also love how refreshingly, brutally honest Dr. Pittman is. He tries to sugar coat occasionally, but it's so laughingly obvious it's just funny. Like when he told me that sometimes injuries like this can result in arthritis. But most certainly for me. But it could be up to 20 years before I feel the effects. No worries.
Because Pants had to run out the door this morning to get to work on time, I let him go and then got up by myself to go to the bathroom. Nothing dangerous or stupid, just the bathroom. And then I hopped into the kitchen and made myself a bowl of cereal, which I ate at the counter. All of this is quite mundane, except it's the first time I've traveled by myself on crutches without a spotter.
Don't get me wrong, I haven't had any issues on the crutches since surgery, but I did take a nasty fall a couple of days before surgery when I was still on my splint. Dear me, it hurt like absolute hell and may have contributed to the eventual severity of the break. It was arrogant and vain to try to get up by myself at that time and I got overconfident after making it to the bathroom and getting myself a snack in the kitchen. I started to get cocky and stupid and fell over.
So, keep it simple, do what I have to, and get my dumb ass back to the couch. Safety in simplicity, I tell you. Kashka, you can bring that lesson to class.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
More Random Thoughts - Busted Up
So, I had a post about how this all happened, but for reasons I'll go into later, I deleted it. Anywho - this is the scoop:
Girls Adventure Weekend (GAW) was a ropes course at the Audubon Center of the North Woods. As a side note, we rented the climbing wall Friday night for those who wanted to do some climbing. After about 2 hours of climbing, I was going to do one more try at bouldering, which is more about endurance and problem solving than strength. It's horizontal, and your feet never go higher than about 3 feet up the rock wall. You also are not on ropes, though, but you have a spotter. Long story short, my foot slipped off a foot hold and I fell off the wall, landing all my (considerable) weight on one leg. The biggest problem is that I misjudged the distance and I was about a foot higher up than I thought I was. If you judge correctly, your body prepares for landing, which is what happened every other time I fell off the wall bouldering. If you judge poorly, your body doesn't know how to prepare and you break stuff.
The ambulance had to come and carry me out of the barn on a backboard. The ride to the hospital was torture. As a side note to AKJ, though, if I was speaking mostly in sentences and able to make snide comments, it hurt less than birth au naturel, which I judged at a 9. Because a girl's gotta have somewhere to go, right?The ambulance ride might have gone up to a 9, though.
Anyway, the greater Sandstone Medical Center, which my husband assures me was two double-wides parked together, splinted the leg, gave me some morphine, and kept me overnight since it was already almost 1 am. Pants came and got me in the morning and drove me to Mercy ER, who told me to call the Ortho clinic on Monday. Over the weekend, SIL called the MD she works for and he told her to make sure we see Dr. Pittman (Oh, Dr. Pittman!).
My MIL has been waiting for me to have a break down, and today was the day. I became convinced I had a blood clot in my calf, which is the biggest danger to me now, and broke down sobbing this morning about what a burden I was. And how bad I stink. I called Dr. Pittman, who happens to be on call this weekend, and he said it was pretty unlikely with the blood thinners I'm on, but I should have it checked out. I went to the ER to have an ultrasound, which was fine of course. He said that it hurt so much because it was a "horrible" break. He actually used that word.
Yes, and an added bonus to all of this is that I get to give myself a shot of blood thinner in the stomach every day for the next 10 days. Yay!
Girls Adventure Weekend (GAW) was a ropes course at the Audubon Center of the North Woods. As a side note, we rented the climbing wall Friday night for those who wanted to do some climbing. After about 2 hours of climbing, I was going to do one more try at bouldering, which is more about endurance and problem solving than strength. It's horizontal, and your feet never go higher than about 3 feet up the rock wall. You also are not on ropes, though, but you have a spotter. Long story short, my foot slipped off a foot hold and I fell off the wall, landing all my (considerable) weight on one leg. The biggest problem is that I misjudged the distance and I was about a foot higher up than I thought I was. If you judge correctly, your body prepares for landing, which is what happened every other time I fell off the wall bouldering. If you judge poorly, your body doesn't know how to prepare and you break stuff.
The ambulance had to come and carry me out of the barn on a backboard. The ride to the hospital was torture. As a side note to AKJ, though, if I was speaking mostly in sentences and able to make snide comments, it hurt less than birth au naturel, which I judged at a 9. Because a girl's gotta have somewhere to go, right?The ambulance ride might have gone up to a 9, though.
Anyway, the greater Sandstone Medical Center, which my husband assures me was two double-wides parked together, splinted the leg, gave me some morphine, and kept me overnight since it was already almost 1 am. Pants came and got me in the morning and drove me to Mercy ER, who told me to call the Ortho clinic on Monday. Over the weekend, SIL called the MD she works for and he told her to make sure we see Dr. Pittman (Oh, Dr. Pittman!).
My MIL has been waiting for me to have a break down, and today was the day. I became convinced I had a blood clot in my calf, which is the biggest danger to me now, and broke down sobbing this morning about what a burden I was. And how bad I stink. I called Dr. Pittman, who happens to be on call this weekend, and he said it was pretty unlikely with the blood thinners I'm on, but I should have it checked out. I went to the ER to have an ultrasound, which was fine of course. He said that it hurt so much because it was a "horrible" break. He actually used that word.
Yes, and an added bonus to all of this is that I get to give myself a shot of blood thinner in the stomach every day for the next 10 days. Yay!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Random Thoughts - Busted Up Edition
So, I'm here on the floor in my home leg-bending machine, and thought I share some items regarding my broken leg.
My leg machine will be my best friend for much of the next three weeks. It's just a machine that I strap my leg into and it slowly bends it up and down to whatever degree I have it set to, which is currently 50. It is not painful and actually feels kinda good. The number one purpose is to keep me from getting a blood clot, but it will also help my mobility later and keep the soft tissue from adhering to the new hardware in my leg.
My orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Pittman, is very young and handsome (and married, sorry ladies). When people asked who did my surgery, they all would say, "Oh, Dr. Pittman!" with an undertone of, How did you get God to do your surgery? Even so, he said this severity of break was something he had never seen before and he had to put in bigger plates than expected and change strategies on the fly.
I had new x-rays done on Monday before surgery and a CT scan. On Tuesday before surgery, we brought him the DVD with the CT scan on it so he could put together a plan. He came into OR prep and told me he was going to stop taking pictures because it just kept getting worse with each new view.
Turns out I didn't just break my tibia and fibula. The knee sits on the tibia in what's called the tibial plateau. Which I crushed. There were dozens of breaks in the base of the plateau, and several in the fibula as well. On the pictures showing the hardware they put in, some areas look cloudy - it's because of the numerous breaks.
I don't have a cast. I have dressings over the incisions and a foam isolator, which velcros around my leg from mid-thigh to ankle and is effectively my cast. I am allowed to have the isolator open and/or off if I'm sleeping or in the leg machine or if there is no possibility of being bumped or knocked into - i.e. when the kids aren't here or are sleeping.
As far as pain, I'm not really in any. It's kinda nice. In the splint, I was constantly afraid of moving the wrong way or even protecting the leg the wrong way and hurting it. I had those dreams a couple of times where you are slipping or falling and you jerk yourself awake trying to stop yourself. Ow. Owie owie ouch ow. But now, not so much. It actually doesn't hurt any more.
Not that I'm not in any pain at all. The muscles in my leg are all very sore, like I worked out really hard and overdid it. They said it was from moving the muscles to get the plate on the bone and then moving the muscles into place. That even sounds painful. That's the real reason for being immobile for two weeks as well - let the muscles and soft tissue calm down and let the bone start healing up around the screws behind the plate.
And yes, I did get cadaver bone put in. The fall crushed my cartilage too, so he plumped up the cartilage and put in some cadaver bone as a scaffolding for more cartilage to build up around it. They said it would work it's way out of my system in about a year, but Kashka assures me if I have a hankering for brains in the mean time, she'll help me corner some bad people. On the Robin Hood theory, you know. And I need help, since I can't really outrun them. In exchange, I promised not to eat Kashka's brains. The rest of you are on your own...
My leg machine will be my best friend for much of the next three weeks. It's just a machine that I strap my leg into and it slowly bends it up and down to whatever degree I have it set to, which is currently 50. It is not painful and actually feels kinda good. The number one purpose is to keep me from getting a blood clot, but it will also help my mobility later and keep the soft tissue from adhering to the new hardware in my leg.
My orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Pittman, is very young and handsome (and married, sorry ladies). When people asked who did my surgery, they all would say, "Oh, Dr. Pittman!" with an undertone of, How did you get God to do your surgery? Even so, he said this severity of break was something he had never seen before and he had to put in bigger plates than expected and change strategies on the fly.
I had new x-rays done on Monday before surgery and a CT scan. On Tuesday before surgery, we brought him the DVD with the CT scan on it so he could put together a plan. He came into OR prep and told me he was going to stop taking pictures because it just kept getting worse with each new view.
Turns out I didn't just break my tibia and fibula. The knee sits on the tibia in what's called the tibial plateau. Which I crushed. There were dozens of breaks in the base of the plateau, and several in the fibula as well. On the pictures showing the hardware they put in, some areas look cloudy - it's because of the numerous breaks.
I don't have a cast. I have dressings over the incisions and a foam isolator, which velcros around my leg from mid-thigh to ankle and is effectively my cast. I am allowed to have the isolator open and/or off if I'm sleeping or in the leg machine or if there is no possibility of being bumped or knocked into - i.e. when the kids aren't here or are sleeping.
As far as pain, I'm not really in any. It's kinda nice. In the splint, I was constantly afraid of moving the wrong way or even protecting the leg the wrong way and hurting it. I had those dreams a couple of times where you are slipping or falling and you jerk yourself awake trying to stop yourself. Ow. Owie owie ouch ow. But now, not so much. It actually doesn't hurt any more.
Not that I'm not in any pain at all. The muscles in my leg are all very sore, like I worked out really hard and overdid it. They said it was from moving the muscles to get the plate on the bone and then moving the muscles into place. That even sounds painful. That's the real reason for being immobile for two weeks as well - let the muscles and soft tissue calm down and let the bone start healing up around the screws behind the plate.
And yes, I did get cadaver bone put in. The fall crushed my cartilage too, so he plumped up the cartilage and put in some cadaver bone as a scaffolding for more cartilage to build up around it. They said it would work it's way out of my system in about a year, but Kashka assures me if I have a hankering for brains in the mean time, she'll help me corner some bad people. On the Robin Hood theory, you know. And I need help, since I can't really outrun them. In exchange, I promised not to eat Kashka's brains. The rest of you are on your own...
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Off to the hospital
I'm off to the hospital in a couple of hours for surgery on my knee. Still trying to decide if I'm going stinky or if I should try to wash my hair in the sink and do the sponge bath thing again. You can not imagine how sweaty one gets while simply sitting their ass on the couch.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Weird
So, watching the Disney Channel this morning, a movie came on and I said to myself, "Self, that looks like Kristen Stewart. That's odd."
And I hit the Info button and it was her. KStew of Twighlight fame. The movie was called Catch That Kid where Kristen's dad has a climbing accident and can't move. They don't have insurance and the operation will cost $250k, but he'll be magically healed. They can't afford it.
But KStew's mom is a security specialist and KStew decides to rob the bank she is upgrading because they turned her down for a loan. Not sure how it ends, we went outside.
But the worst part was Kristen Stewart. She was... a younger version of Bella from Twilight. Not the versatile character actress, Kristin. Pretty much one character. I can't imagine she'll get far with that.
But then, look at Tom Cruise.
And I hit the Info button and it was her. KStew of Twighlight fame. The movie was called Catch That Kid where Kristen's dad has a climbing accident and can't move. They don't have insurance and the operation will cost $250k, but he'll be magically healed. They can't afford it.
But KStew's mom is a security specialist and KStew decides to rob the bank she is upgrading because they turned her down for a loan. Not sure how it ends, we went outside.
But the worst part was Kristen Stewart. She was... a younger version of Bella from Twilight. Not the versatile character actress, Kristin. Pretty much one character. I can't imagine she'll get far with that.
But then, look at Tom Cruise.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Random Thoughts
Kitten decided to potty train herself this weekend. As long as she wasn't wearing pants of any sort, she did pretty well, but seemed to forget herself if we put jeans on her and had three accidents that way. So she ran around in her underwear most of the weekend. But she seems to really have the idea of it, at least peeing. And she's excited about it.
Pants and I went to a graduation party with a large Indian family and it was FABULOUS. I can now claim a minor obsession with all things India. The food was amazing. The family was gorgeous and so hospitable. The dancing was a mix of club and traditional India. The clothes were absolutely opulent. And damn, in addition to the high school graduation we were there for, there was a new MD, a new Masters graduate, and a bioengineering major. I bet that gets him farther than an English degree...
The kids have been staying up late - last night Kitten was up past midnight. In her room, but still. What do I do with a kid who will just sit up in her room for hours and not go to bed? I hear duct tape is frowned upon.
We put up the swing set that MIL and family gave the kids for the summer. Yes, I know we didn't want one. Yes I know we live no more than 100 feet from a park. THAT'S WHY WE BOUGHT THE HOUSE. But oh dear, she was sure we needed one. So now the kids have a swing set. Yep, the same metal swing set you remember from when you were little too, with two swings, a two-person glider, and the attached slide. Great.
Pants and I went to a graduation party with a large Indian family and it was FABULOUS. I can now claim a minor obsession with all things India. The food was amazing. The family was gorgeous and so hospitable. The dancing was a mix of club and traditional India. The clothes were absolutely opulent. And damn, in addition to the high school graduation we were there for, there was a new MD, a new Masters graduate, and a bioengineering major. I bet that gets him farther than an English degree...
The kids have been staying up late - last night Kitten was up past midnight. In her room, but still. What do I do with a kid who will just sit up in her room for hours and not go to bed? I hear duct tape is frowned upon.
We put up the swing set that MIL and family gave the kids for the summer. Yes, I know we didn't want one. Yes I know we live no more than 100 feet from a park. THAT'S WHY WE BOUGHT THE HOUSE. But oh dear, she was sure we needed one. So now the kids have a swing set. Yep, the same metal swing set you remember from when you were little too, with two swings, a two-person glider, and the attached slide. Great.
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