Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Claim your prize

Whoever had "Moving furniture is really dumb" in the leg pool has won a fabulous pair of crutches. Slightly used (and maybe a bit icky).

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Updates

Pants is hating his walking cast. He won't even wear sandals because he doesn't like anything pressing down on the top of his feet and now he has a giant plastic contraption velcroed over the top of it. He's pretty sure he won't make it 4 full weeks.

The Hammer's rash was not a yeast infection as previously believed and after 3 days on the wrong medication, we had to call back and get something else. It's finally clearing up.

I finally got the swelling to go down in my ankle - by cutting salt out of my diet. You can all say, "DUH" now. I'm still having sciatic issues, which I believe is what landed me in the ER a few weeks ago, but I think the culprit this time is my Target flip flops. Love that store, have always hated their shoes. Another DUH is probably in order - I know better than to wear cheap shoes.

On a better front, we had a fabulous weekend in the potty department and we may be mere weeks away from being completely trained in this house. Ah, but then what will the grandparents criticize us for? Oh, right, the whole rest of the list of crappy parenting we've exhibited...

I also got the girls' rooms cleaned out, weeded out the toys, vacuumed, moved furniture, the works. Today I got the bathroom cleaned out, everything except the floor and the tub. I completely reorganized the linen closet, everything in the vanity cabinet and drawers, and the rack next to the toilet. Pants is working through the laundry and we can almost see the (cement) floor in our bedroom. So we now have about 25% of the house actually truly clean - we'll see about the rest, I guess.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Suckage

Pants is on his way home from the Urgent Care. With a pneumatic cast over his broken 5th metatarsal. He busted it clean in half on Saturday falling over a shoe in the entryway and he's been walking on it since (only partially due to manly stupidity). Thankfully it stayed in place and didn't need to be reset. Sadly, he needs to stay off it as much as possible and keep it up at all times.

Which puts me on child duty, something I'm not quite ready for yet. I'm still exhausted when I get home from the simple task of walking during the day. Yesterday I forgot I was injured for a millisecond and tried to break into a jog. I've been popping pills since then, but it didn't keep me from being up for hours early this morning while I waited for my muscles to let stop gnawing on my sciatic nerve.

As an added bonus, a little extra gift, The Hammer has a diaper rash that turned into a yeast infection (the rashy kind, not the feminine itchy kind) and I had to take her into the clinic yesterday. Now we have a medicated cream to slather on three times a day.

On the bright side, I guess, Kitten has been pooping daily for nearly a week and even went in the potty on her own on Sunday. That's a first for her. If we could all just stay off the injured list for a month or two we could get her completely trained in no time.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

P.S. - Let Kanye be

For reasons I won't discuss here (*cough*exclusive New Moon trailer*cough*), I watched the VMAs on MTV on Sunday night and saw Kanye West's jerk-hole move to upstage Taylor Swift when she won an award. And yeah, he was a total ass.

But I have to let the guy off the hook. He did something celebrities rarely do - he went on Leno last night for his scheduled appearance on stage and made an unscheduled one in Jay's chair to apologize publicly. He offered no excuse and fully owned ruining Taylor's moment.

And then the guy cried about his deceased mom and admitted that he's been trying to outrun his pain by touring and recording and that maybe it was time to stop and deal with it if this is what he was turning into.

The boy cried about his mom on national television. And then said it wasn't an excuse, that there was no excuse for what he did.

I'm trying to teach my kids that actions have consequences and that you have to own them and apologize. I applaud Kanye West for standing up to own the consequences of his mistake and apologize without excuses.

Updates

I had PT today and not only did I walk across the room, my LPT told me to walk with my cane as much as I can. So I spent the rest of the day on my cane. And all evening on the couch with my ice machine.

But it wasn't a bad tradeoff. My ankle and foot swelled up like balloons and my whole leg is tired and I'm totally exhausted. But the walking was pretty good. Walking with a cane is nearly unassisted and at this point, I need the cane more mentally than physically. I keep wanting to protect the leg and not put too much weight on it, but I walk better and with less pain when I just walk right. I've developed a bit of a hitch in my walk this week, but it started to go away today with full weight on it. I might make it out of this without a limp.

FAQ

My mom asked me if my legs were still the same length. Yes. They are.

I still have a large numb area on my lower leg. I doubt I will ever regain feeling there.

Someone said today that walking looks really painful. It's not. I look a little awkward right now and I'm uncomfortable and tired, but my slow gait and concentrated face aren't pain, they are there because I am trying really hard to learn to walk right.

I still don't do much around the house because by the time I get home, I'm really, really tired.

Yes, I sometimes skip the PT exercises I'm supposed to be doing at home. But yes, that's also me at my desk with a 5 lb. weight on my ankle and in the conference room fidgeting and stretching under the table.

I try to stretch a bit and bend my knee a bit while sitting so I don't fall over when I try to stand up and walk. No need to make myself look that much more like a cripple.

I have a handicapped parking sticker and I'm not afraid to use it.

I have a plain black cane. I didn't want to wait to order one and all of the "special" canes at the medical supply store were special in a 90-year-old way, not in a cool or fashionable way.

But I am regretting that I refused to get a cane with a foam handle. I think it might have been more comfortable than the plastic felix handle, especially when I get tired and lean on it more.

I like my scars and I'm not afraid to show them off. They're my badge of bravery/cool/stupidity.

People think it's cool that I broke my leg rock-climbing. They don't realize that I would still tell them that, even if I had broken my leg falling out of the bathtub.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

So here's what happened

Ok, so actually I don't know. I was up with the kids and went into their rooms to get them some clothes. I had been up for a little over an hour; I didn't fall, twist my leg, or do anything I wasn't supposed to do.

Suddenly, after I got Kitten's clothes out of her drawer but was still in her room, my leg hurt really bad right behind the knee. I couldn't bend it without pain. I couldn't put weight on it, which was a problem because I was still in Kitten's room. I had to hobble out to the couch on one crutch, by which time I was sobbing.

MIL was taking the kids today anyway, so we got them dressed and in the car so we could drop them off on our way to the ER. I left a message for the on-call doc at Dr. Pittman's clinic but never got a call back. The ER was slow and we were there for almost 4 hours. They did x-rays, and ultrasound to check for a blood clot, and then more x-rays. Nothing came up and they don't know why I'm in pain. I would have put money on a new fracture.

On the bright side, the ER doc came in with a glowing look and told me how good my tibial plateau looked, as if it had never been broken. He said it was amazing for such a traumatic injury. Even people who haven't heard of Dr. Pittman think he's the best.

So here I sit, on the couch again with my leg elevated, back to 0% weight-bearing until I see Dr. Pittman on Tuesday.

A haiku to explain my morning

Horrific leg pain
Back to ER - no damage -
Three more days on couch.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Leg Status

My 10 week appointment today (I feel like I'm gonna give birth to a healthy leg in a few months...).

Anyway, more x-rays and Dr. Pittman is no longer concerned about reinjuring the fractures - he considers them healed. He is impressed with my range of motion - 5-120 degrees. Can't quite get straight and have to really push to get 120, but it's pretty good, I guess. He says I have up to a year to regain my full range, but if I'm making this much progress I should strike while the iron is hot. He assigned me 6 more weeks of physical therapy.

Also, I get to use my leg. Full weight-bearing. I was so excited I picked up a cane today at the medical supply store on my way to work and used it for my full shift. Found out my leg is still really weak and had to return to using a crutch instead. But I can walk comfortably now with just one. So I'll be switching back and forth until I get more strength back and then will work on walking without the cane.

No further restrictions - back to work full time tomorrow (except for time off for PT) and nothing I can't do as long as I'm comfortable. If it hurts, don't do it again for awhile, like kneeling. He did specifically mention that now would be a bad time to pick up marathon training...

And I don't have to go back for 2 months for another check.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Cane talk

I go back to Dr. Pittman tomorrow and I'm hoping to ditch the crutches, even if it means I end up with a cane. In fact, I'm gonna push for the cane. If I have to use one for a long time, I'm going to get a nice one...

The handle is really the most important part, the rest is really aesthetics.
  • Root Knob Handle: considered these, but, um, they just seem so... I don't really want to walk around cradling a testicle all day.
  • Tourist/Hook Handle: traditional, but can cramp fingers together.
  • Derby Handle: More decorative, but comfortable and ergonomic.
  • Fritz Handle: Open-ended design that won't cramp fingers, very comfortable
  • Cosmopolitan Handle: New design, comfortable
  • Left/Right Hand: Ergonomic handle that is ordered for either the left or right hand
  • Palm Grip: As the name suggests, meant to be used with a flatter palm as opposed to gripping it with the fingers. Also ordered for left or right hand.
And then there are those aesthetics - I can get canes in wood, including exotic woods like zebrano or Irish blackthorn, or a metal or plastic (lucite) cane. And accessories! Ice picks, rubber tips, cane holders, hangers and stands.

And then there are these canes...


Oh, and here's what I'll probably end up with.