Off the Meds and Feeling Stiff

So now I am totally off the narcotis and feeling a lot better. I have no more of the hot and cold spells, headaches or other awful feelings. My only problem is that my toes are very sore, my knees are quite stiff and my feet vary in feelings - sometimes numb and tingly, sometimes pins and needles and sometimes fine.

I went to work today without my cane and felt quite stable and actually found myself walking straighter rather than limping. My right knee still has a kink in it on the right outer side. If I don't see improvement in the next 3 weeks, I will contact the surgeon. My right knee still has a tightness in the back of the knee which only bothers me when I go down stairs.

So only time will tell. I am getting somewhat impatient.

Tonight rather than taking my tylenol arthritis every 8 hours and waking up in the middle of the night needing more, I have pushed my 7:00 dose off to 9:30 and hopefully will get through the night and take two before work to get me through the day thus reducing it to twice daily rather than three times daily. I hope I can cope well with this.

As you can see I am really anxious to be totally mended and out of the woods, but I fear that when I am finally comfortable with my knees another site will cause enough discomfort to push me to another procedure. Today it is my toes and my right hip that are quite sore. I hope this is just because I am newly off the stronger meds. Only time will tell.

Until next time.

Marilyn

Getting off Pain Meds

It is certainly not easy. Everything seems to hurt. My toes, my hips, my fingers, my thumb joints, and of course my knees which actually hurt less than the other places, but just feel tight and give me sudden jolts of pain if I twist or move suddenly.

I hardly slept last night - maybe for 4 hours if that. I was either hot or cold, felt stuffed up like I had a cold or felt bloated and just plan could not find a comfortable position.

It is now 6:11. I think I will get up, shower, and prepare for work. Maybe I will drive to Finch to get an early start instead of waking Chris up so early. I have been going to and from work by subway and Chris has been my chauffeur. Twice a week he takes me to physio first thing in the morning, waits for me and then drops me off at the subway. I found that driving with the stop and go rush hour traffic, my right knee became more painful.

Right now, since I have been off the drugs and just taking tylenol, the right side of the front of my right knee is painful and the back of my left knee is painful. I really hope this improves and that it is not an indication that something is wrong.

I felt soooooo good on the drugs. I wish I could live on them. But I know that is not a viable option so I will continue to plug away. On Friday I will go to my GP and see what she suggests.

Until then,

Marilyn

Back to Reality

Hi Everyone,

We returned home from New York and New Jersey on Monday night and had a wonderful weekend with our friends Judy and Ted in Manhatten. Thanks so much for your hospitalityJudy and Ted, and for welcoming us into your 4th of July celebrations. Seeing the spectacular fireworks right from your living room window was something I will never forget. Getting to know your friends and family was lots of fun. The evening to the Jersey Boys and out for dinner was so much fun. We had a wonderful time. Onwards to the wedding in New Jersey. The rented car worked out just fine thanks to our GPS which got us there without a hitch 2 hours before the wedding allowing us ample to to relax, iron our clothing and get dolled up for the event. It was a beautiful wedding, more traditional than I had ever seen so a definately a learning experience. It was a lovely evening and the trip back to JFK and back to Buffalo and then back to Toronto worked out without a hitch. Jess took great care of our poochies and we got ready to get back to reality - laundry, tidying up and preparing for the week.

It was so nice to see all the children, staff and parents on my first day back to work. I am working 4 hours daily, early on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and after physio on Tuesday and Thursday. The driving is the worst part. I decided to drive to and fro rather than take the subway because I thought that the traffic would be less demanding on me as opposed to the walking, stairs and crowds in the subway. So far it is going fine, but I am going to bed early and trying to make sure to rest and do my excersizes each afternoon. I feel some pain in my right knee today so I will have to evaluate whether the stop and go traffic in the car is causing this. If so I may try the subway next week on some of the days.

I am still not ready to reduce my pain meds by very much. I am extending the time between doses from 6 to 7 hours. I have made an appt. at the doctor to see if there is a better way to get off them. But for now, this is the best I can do. I not only feel significantly more knee pain when I spread them out too much, but I also feel hot and cold, headachey and shivery and lose my appetite completely. I hope the doctor can help me find a better solution. I personally think it is just too early to get off the medication. Maybe I need another month or so. It is only 7 weeks today since my surgery and most people I have talked to who went through this surgery say 3 to 6 months of pain medication is not uncommon. I will see what the doctor says. I definately notice that I am not as mobile now that I am trying to get back to reality. I still need to go slowly and carefully and not over exert myself. I am feeling a little bit impatient at this time, but will take it day by day.

Until next time.

Marilyn

Back on Track

Hi Everyone,

Well yesterday was a very eventful day. I saw the surgeon for my 6 week check up and she was amazed at how well I am able to bend and stretch my knees. I guess all those excersizes really paid off. She measured zero degrees when I stretch my knees straight which is perfect and she measured 122 degrees on the left leg and 130 degrees on the right leg which she says is close to the maximum expected and after only 6 weeks she was quite amazed.

After discussing my typical work responsibilities she determined that I was ready to go back to work for 4 hours daily for the next 6 weeks and build it up if I feel well enough. She said that she wants me off those nasty pain meds so I should gradually wean off them until I am able to use only tylenol arthritis and hopefully eventually nothing. After talking to the pharmacist, who gave me a more specific way of getting off the pain meds, I feel more confident that this is possible.

Ice is my best friend so she said to continue excersizing and use ice often to help with pain management. No lifting anything over 20 lbs., walk carefully and slowly as during the next year I am more prone to falls, and take antibiotics for the next two years whenever I have dental work and lastly come back in 6 weeks to see how I am doing.

I am hoping that in 6 weeks I will be able to go down stairs with one leg after the other. Right now, my left leg does not like going down, so I am depending on my right leg. Going up is no problem, one leg after the other.

I think that is pretty good after only 6 weeks post surgery. She thinks I will get over the pain more quickly if I get back to my typical schedule.

So here I am writing in my blog at 7:20 in the morning. I haven't had my morphine since 7:00 last night and am feeling it. My knees are very tight but not too painful, but of course I haven't attempted walking, stairs, or excersize yet. I have been sleeping in until 9:00 so getting up early is another side affect of not being on the morphine and I am feeling a little shakey, hot and cold and slightly nauseated.

The pharmacist suggested that instead of taking the hyrdormorphone every six hours start reducing it to moring and night for one week and then only morning for the next week and then eliminate it and start elminating the tramacet from two pills every six yours to one pill every six hours and then one pill moring and night and then one pill mornings and then stop it or replace it with tylenol arthritis. I am determined to make this work.

So we now feel more confident to go off on a trip to New York and New Jersey. My cousin's son is getting married on Sunday in New Jersey and our good friends from Buffalo, Judy and Ted, invited us to their annual 4th of July bash at their Manhatten Apt. on Friday so we finalized our plans and off we go on Friday for a busy weekend. We will drive to Buffalo on Friday morning, hop a plane to JFK International Airport at 11:50 and be in Manhatten just after 1:00 p.m. Friday night should be lots of fun as their apt. overlooks Central Park so we will see all of the fireworks from their window. Thanks so much to Judy and Ted for the offer to stay with them and for bearing with us as we procrastinated on this decision. Saturday we will spend some time testing my walking abilities checking out the city and hopefully seeing a last minute broadway play and Sunday morning we will rent a car and drive to Somerset N.J. to the wedding which begins at 4:00 p.m. On Monday morning we will head off to JFK and back home. Hopefully I will manage this fine.

I am looking forward to getting back to normal and actually being able to walk without pain and put the past year behind me. I actually didn't realize how stressful living with constant pain really is. I didn't realize how handicapped I actually was. Everyone I see cannot believe how much better I am walking now and how much straighter I am standing. I actually feel like I am taller. Back to normal sounds really good.

I don't know how much longer this blog will continue. I think it is time to wind down so be prepared for a farewell blog coming up soon. I will keep you posted until I am weaned off the drugs and back on track.

Until then,

Marilyn

An update of the weekend

Hello Everyone,

Well we were in Montreal for the weekend, firstly to assist my Dad in going to the notary to take care of the transfer of the house from my mom's name to his and then to go to St. Jean, Que. for my husband's high school reunion.

After going to the lawyer and notary, we met up with my Dad and son Brian to take a drive to see Brian's new apt. and new location of his new business. We then went out for dinner and got back to the house not too late.

Poor Chris had to do all the driving and we were quite tired, but we had promised Marlene and Charles that we would see them sometime during the weekend so off to La Belle Province for some much needed late night snacks of steamy hot dogs and fries. There is nothing like a Montreal steamy and of course the fries. I am sure they cannot be trans fat free, but we were good and shared two orders between the four of us. I was even better and passed on the hot dog and had a cup of tea. I don't want to ruin my recently new leaner look.

I don't even want to tell you how many years since Chris graduated from high school, but it was really amazing to see the bond between these people who lived in a small town and went to a very small school. Most of the students spent their elemenatary and high school years together. There were only 250 children in the entire school so compared to the school I went to which had 2500 students, it was a lot of fun to hear all the stories and memories of the past. Of course we ate too much but a good time was had by all.

On the way back to Toronto, Iro and Patrick invited us up for lamb kabobs and roasted vegetables. We couldn't resist, as if we were hungry, but as it was on our way we took a detour and enjoyed seeing them and catching up and were on the road home at 2:30. The ride home seemed long and tedious and we go hit my a rain storm around Kingston, but we made good time and arrived home at 8:00 p.m.

Our friend Michael had invited us for a BBQ and although we were quite tired by that time, we didn't want to disappoint him and went over there at 8:30. Thanks Michael, it was yummy and we enjoyed our visit.

I suppose you are all wondering how my knees are doing. Well, although I feel quite able to move around and manage quite fine with one cane, I am feeling a little impatient because I tried to wean off the pain meds again by reducing each medication by a half from Saturday night until this morning. I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to do my physio excersizes today, so in the middle of the night I upt the meds to the full dose again. I have joined a knee surgery forum on line and sent in a question to the other members asking them how long it takes to get off the meds and they replied between 4 and 6 months. That is really too bad. I guess I was anticipating the rehab to continue on a positive course as quickly as it did in the first few weeks. But I guess that is not a practical expectation. I am looking foreward to speaking to the surgeon on Wednesday. I have my six week appt. at 2:15 on Wednesday and am anxious to hear what she has to say about my progress and what I can expect in the future. I also have some numbness and tingling in my feet so I am concerned about this. I have an apt. with a neurologist to see what could be causing this problem. Fortunately it is not painful, but it is certainly annoying so I am anxious to get to the bottom of this.

When I am on the full dose of pain meds, I think I get a false confidence that I am doing great, but when I reduce them, my knees get very tight and sore and I am an accident waiting to happen. Going up and down the stairs and standing from a sitting position becomes really painful and the pain changes from minute to minute. I realize that if I lie around and rest too much, it gets worse so I am trying to keep moving and keep active as much as possible. The pain killers also make me feel more tired and cause constipation so I was really hopeful that I could get off them as soon as possible. I will have to see what the doctor says. I think she will probably say that if I need the meds to do you excersizes and to move around safely, I should continue to take them. Getting full mobility is of utmost imporatance at this time so I am thinking that I will need to rely on the meds a little longer, hopefully not too long.

I will update again after my 6 week check up.

Until then.

Marilyn

Back to Physio and off to Montreal

Today was a run of the mill day. I got up, had breakfast, did my excersize, rested, had lunch, rested and then went downtown to visit Jess for dinner.

On our way we stopped off at the daycare as Natasha had let me know that there was something my daughter could pick up for me , but since I was right there, I picked it up and was happy to see Ashley, Shanna and Danielle and a few of the parents. The teachers put together a beautiful basket full of chocolates, candies, cookies, crackers, soups, etc. etc. etc. What a lovely idea. So much for my diet, but I definately saw a trend towards whole grain and a healthy effort. Thanks so much to all of the Life-Bridge staff. That was really so thoughtful and I will think of you all as I much my way through all the yummy treats. I just enjoyed a yummy score bar.

After that we strolled over to Jess's place and she served us a lovely dinner of chilli and salad and fruit for dessert. We had a lovely time, chatting, sitting on the porch, watching TV and finally got tired and were on our way.

Tomorrow it is off to physio in the morning, the hair dresser at noon and then packing to get ready for our trip to Montreal on Friday. We were not supposed to go last weekend, but due to the funeral it turns out we are in Montreal two week ends in a row. We will be going with my father to the notary to finalize my mother's transfer of property and then on Saturday we are going to Chris's high school reunion in St Jean, Quebec. We will have to leave early as we do not have Jess to share the driving so we will have to stop to let Chris have a snooze half way there.

Next Wednesday I see my surgeon and will find out when and how to wean off the pain meds.

Until next time. How about some comments from all of my viewers. I am wondering if anyone other than Jess, Chris and Iro are reading my blog. Look foward to hearing from you.

Marilyn

Since back in Toronto

We got home from Montreal on Saturday afternoon just on time to pick up the dogs at the kennel. I was so tired that I slept from 4:00 to 8:00 pm. and then got up for supper.

I decided that it is time to begin weaning myself off the pain medication as I felt that I should do this gradually between now and the six week mark so that I am able to begin driving a week from this coming Thursday. So on Saturday night I eliminated the hydormorphone and and on Sunday morning I took my usual two tramacets and did not bother with the gravol because I assumed it was the hydormorphone that caused the nausia. I began to feel nautious so I took a half a gravol on Sunday afternoon. This morning I took only one tramacet but by noon my knees were so stiff and sore that I could not manage and I was also feeling hot and cold and quite tired and nautious. I was not feeling well at all today. This afternoon I took two tramacets and a half a gravol, but still did not feel much better. Tomorrow being my first physio day, I felt I really needed to get back to feeling flexible and more energetic so I took the usual one hydromorphone, two tramacets and a half a gravol at 6:00 pm. and will do the same at midnight and at 6:00 a.m.. I should feel ship shape by the morning by 10:30 when I go for physio.
I will call the doctor tomorrow to see when and how I should be coming off the drugs. It will be five weeks by Thursday and I thought I should be able to manage by then. Ugh. I hope I am not becoming addicted to these drugs. It is quite amazing how well they work. We shall see.

Until tomorrow.

Marilyn

A Rough Day

The knees did fine but the heart was in pain. Coming to Montreal was my first road trip with my new knees. We stopped frequently to be sure I didn't get too stiff and my circulation was in good order. Jess came with us and thankfully shared the drivng with Chris as I am not yet able to drive - only two more weeks of this nonsense.

Sadly the purpose of this trip was for the funeral of my mother's sister Ethel , who passed away only three months after my mother. She was the elder of the two sisters but the healthy one in their later years. Ethel called my parents every night and as my Mom became frail she continued to check up on her every night and was the strength of the family. She always made everyone feel special and was always happy and supportive about everyone's accomplishments. After my mother died, she continued to check in on my father and he, being sometimes meloncholy and not interested in people, actually looked forward to her phone calls. We knew her health was waning when the phone calls stopped. In less than a week the cancer that burdened her body over the last several months took its toll. No one could believe how suddenly she became frail and quckly passed away. What a loss. I feel like I have lost my fan club. My mom and my aunt both so close together. Two of my strongest supporters, the ones who know me forever and who genuinely cared about me, my life and my family. That 9:00 phone call is sorely missed. She leaves behind her a large and loving family of a husband (of 68 years - their anniversary celebrated the day before she died), sons, daugher-in-laws, grandchildren and great grand children full of tears and sorrow. Hopefully her cheerful laugh and her kind and caring sentiments will soon erase the tears and turn into fond memeories of a women so much loved by everyone she knew.

It was a rough day and today we are heading back to Toronto as life must go on. Good bye Auntie Ethel. Hopefully you and my Mom are now reunited and in a better place.

Until tomorrow.

Marilyn
The above photo is of my aunt, my parents, and my mother outside our first house in Dollard.

Stiff and Sore

The last two days have my knees have been stiffer and sorer than they have been in a while. I am not sure whether it is because I am more able to do the stretches and the bends when I do my excersizes, thus causing more stress on the muscles, joints and surrounding area of the knees. I called the surgeon today as I felt like I was experiencing more pain than I have had in the last two weeks and the only thing she could offer was that if I felt it was caused by a blood clot, it was best to go straight to an emergency ward where they can quickly do a doppler ultrasound test. As my pain was not in my calves or in my chest I ruled out a blood clot and decided that I need to continue moving. When I sit or lie down for an extended period of time, my legs get very stiff and hot so today I made sure to get up and down regularly and did not take a nap. Indeed I do feel better tonight.

Tomorrow I finally have my appt. at the St. John's rehab for my first official physio which I have been waiting for and have more confidence in than the physio I found on the net. After that Chris has a meeting and we, Chris, Jess and I, are then on our way to Montreal unfortunately for an unexpected funeral. My very special Aunt Ethel who I have admired and adored for many many years since I was a young child (my mom's sister) passed away after a short but aggressive illness which took her life so quickly that I regret I did not have a chance to see her one more time. Fortunately, we spent lots of time with her when my Mom passed away and she was feeling quite fine at that time. We had planned a visit to Montreal for next weekend to see my father and as well my aunt, friends and family and then to go to St. Jean, Que. for Chris's High School Reunion. Unfortunately we are on our way tomorrow for the funeral which will be on Friday. This has certainly been a challenging year in more ways than one.

So off to pack and get the dogs ready for the vet. Tomorrow will be a very long day as I we will have to stop every hour to be sure that I walk around and keep the circulation going in my legs.

Until next time.

Marilyn

Father's Day

Hi Everyone,

Finally I am taking the time to tell you all about yesterday, Father's Day. I don't know where the time goes, but yesterday just zipped by. We had made arrangements to have a Father's Day BBQ for Carina's family and ours so we started off the day by first getting my excersizes out of the way as I knew it would be a busy afternoon with everyone arriving at 5:00 p.m.

Jess, Carina and Rick arrived early to help out with the preparation, getting the house tidied up and setting up for the BBQ. They were a great help and Carina was my physiotherapist for my second set of excersizes by pushing my legs in as far as I could tolerate ten times on each leg and then helping me stretch them straight also ten times each. Chris, Rick and Jess went out shopping and Carina and I took the opportunity to nap while they were out. When they returned we had one hour to get all the food ready and the table set and we certainly were a great team. I could not have done it without them.

We had a lovely BBQ and enjoyed some delicious cakes for dessert and chatted away after having to come in due to heavy rain and wind that started just as we were about to have dessert.

It was a very nice Father's Day. Thanks Rick, Carina and Jess for helping out so much and thanks Emilio, Alex and Marcela for joining us. We had a great time.

More about today later.

Marilyn

A Very Busy Day

Yesterday was a very busy day. While Chris went to fitness, I did my excersizes.

Although I had decided to cut out some of my pain medication, we thought we would try to do some shopping for our Father's Day BBQ happening today.
We also needed a new umbrella for our deck as ours is very old and torn.

So off we went to the cleaners, bank, Gracious Living for the umbrella and off to Loblaws for groceries. I was amazed at how well I was able to walk and get in and out of the car, even with less pain medication. As the day progressed I definately felt more pain but it was not unbearable. We got home at about 3:00 and I was ready to crash. I iced my knees and had a little nap. We had a dinner date with our friends Marion and Emile and one distinct side effect of less pain med was probably the increased pain affected my appetite. I could barely eat any of my meal which is one thing I did noticed in the hospital. Nothing lost. I took home my meal and have a yummy pasta lunch waiting from me in the fridge.

Today, Emilio, Carina's dad, her brother and sister, Carina, Rick, and Jess are coming over for a Father's Day BBQ. I think I will take my usual pain med so I don't run into the same problem as yesterday. It is clear that if I want to do my excersize, I must continue my pain meds. As I cannot drive for six weeks after surgery (3 1/2 more weeks), it seems appropriate to continue the narcotics. After the six week period, I will want to drive and will probably then find it more important to wean off the meds. Hopefully I am able to. We shall see.

Time for my excersize.

Until tomorrow.

Marilyn

Friday, June 13,2008

Hello Everyone,

Sorry about posting the heading and omitting the content. Here it is.

Friday was another lovely day. Jess made banana, strawberry smoothies for breakfast after which I did my excersize and Jess swept the deck of all the twirlies whcih fell from the trees. Jess went off to the gym while I waited for a repair man to come. By the time Jess got back we were ready for lunch and off to the hairdresser. Chris returned home shortly after we did and I did my second set of excersizes and got ready to meet Lynda and Nathan for dinner and a movie. Sitting in the movie was long and my legs became very stiff. I guess I have to remember to get up once every hour to walk around a bit. I actually got a third set of excersizes in when we returned and felt quite accomplished.

Now it is probably time to cut back on the narcotics to see how I can manage. This morning I took only one tramacet and one hydoromorphone but now I am putting ice on my knees in preparation for excersize and I took a second tramacet because I can feel the stiffness in my knees and I know it will be difficult to do the excersizes. I will try to eliminate the hydormorphone at noon and see howI feel.

Until later today.

Marilyn

Friday, June 13,2008

A few more pictures...

Maybe you'll find these offensive but you'll live.



These are the scars only three weeks after surgery. While some doctors use staples, Mom's used dissolvable stitches. I say they are healing very nicely! Hopefully she'll be able to stop wearing those crazy-tight stockings soon enough so she can get some moisture back into those suckers!

A lovely day!

Today I had a lovely day. I spent the morning on my own doing excersize, chatting with Natasha at the daycare getting caught up and helping her out with some enrollment planning, sat on the deck and read and had lunch, had a nap and woke up to Jess who came to mamasit until Chris returns tomorrow.

Jess and I spent some quality time together chatting and then while I did my second round of excersize she did some much needed house cleaning and then we went out to the Promenade for Thai Express which I had a craving for. We met Carina and Rick and enjoyed a casual supper. Jess and I then went off to Loblaws to pick up a few groceries. This was my first time in a grocery store in three weeks. I feel like I am walking quite well at home, but when I am out in the public I envy people who take their mobility for granted as each step presents a challenge.

We got home and enjoyed some cherries and cupcakes and 100 cal. May Wests which Jess discovered and then Jess got busy posting some photos and a video of my progress. I hope you enjoy them.

We are now getting ready for bed.

Until tomorrow.

Marilyn

Three weeks later - pictures and walking video!

First things first - ice those new knees for twenty minutes both before and after doing physio.


Second - enjoy some therapeutic time with Oliver. Or, get in a workout letting him in and out the door.

Next - use the stairs for some serious lunges.

Watch the video below to see her walking three weeks after bilateral knee replacement surgery. Then post your amazed and encouraging comments below!

A quiet day.

Today I decided that I was better off going through the book of excersizes that the hospital gave me rather than go to the physio who reduced the number of excersizes and eliminated the pressure to bend as much as possible and stretch as straight as possible. I think I am accomplishing much more on my own and have the St. John's Rehab appt. in one week where I know I will get a good work out.

I started off the day with a hot breakfast, for a change of egg and toast, took my meds and got ready for a good work out. That as usual knocked me out and by 1:00 p.m. I was sleeping like a baby until about 4:00 p.m. with various phone call interuptions.

My doctor finally called me and we reviewed all the necessary medications and appt. required in the next little while. Chris picked up the medication at the pharmacy and got ready for his conference in Niagara so I am on my own tonight with, of course, the company of my two furry friends. Jess is coming for a sleep over tomorrow and will escort me to the hair dresser and do some shopping in preparation for a Father's Day BBQ on Sunday.

I am feeling very frustratred with my left leg as it is quite stiff and achey compared to the right one. I expected that the excersizes would loosen up the stiffness and that I would be seeing more improvement day to day. After I do the excersize and then sleep I wake up with totally sore and hot legs with numbness in my feet. I really hope that this passes soon. I am having a very hard time doing more than one good workout per day. The second one is usually lame and I rarely get to the third. Hopefully this will ease up soon.

Tomorrow it will be 3 weeks since my surgery and I honestly do not feel much better than I did after two weeks. Let's hope I see more improvement soon.

Until tomorrow.

Marilyn

Monday& Tues. June 9th & 10th, 2008

Hello Again,

I seem to be getting behind in my blogging. One would think that staying at home would allow for lots of time to do all kinds of things, but I am finding that managing my time is quite challenging.

Yesterday I was scheduled for my second physiotherapy session at 9:00. Getting up, taking a shower and having breakfast takes double the time it usually would take to get going in the morning. Each time I do physio it begins with a 20 minute application of ice and ends with another 20 minute application of ice so I have to allow myself time to schedule the pain meds for one hour before physio and then include 40 minutes of ice and 40 minutes of excersize. The goal is to do this three times per day which has rarely actually happened. So as you can see my time is being well used.

After physio I went to the doctor for a blood test and was supposed to get the results today with a new perscription for blood thinners, but no phone call today. My gp is back from maternity leave and on her first day back she was not in and was not available today either. When I called her to get the results of the blood test and to ask for a repeat order of the pain meds the concern was that I had to come in to the office as I do not pay the annual fee for special orders. I offered to pay the annual fee figuring I may need additional last minute orders now, but rather than take care of my needs the receptionst told me to call in my order to the pharmacy and have them fax the order to my doctor. Still no phone call about the blood test or the repeat drug order. Next she will want me to come in and as I cannot drive, this is not so simple. Ugh! Our health system!

Today, I had a lovely visit from a physio from the Arthritis Society of Ontario. I had met her at a workshop I attended a few months ago and called the Society to search for a physio and she volunteered to come up and see how I was doing. She had more suggestions and information than the physio I have been going to and I am now wondering if I am wasting my time and money with them. I might just follow all the excersizes in the book the surgeon gave me as well as the tips this woman Bev suggested. The rule of thumb after knee replacement surgery is, as early as possible, to work on getting as much range of motion as possible, even if it is painful. The physio I am going to, has limited the excersizes to only a few and insists that I should not push. If there is pain I should stop. This is contrary to what I learned in the hospital. So I will have to make some decisions about this . My appt. at St. John's rehab is actually coming up in just over a week and they are supposed to be the guru's of post operative knee physio.

So today I did two rounds of excersizes so far and hope to do another on tonight before bed.

I had lovely news from my friend Lynda today. She is the proud grandmother of a second grandchild. A big welcome to baby Ariel Samuel. Can't wait to see little critter # 2 who apparently looks just like his big brother Josh. The fun begins.

So you are probably wondering how I am walking at this point. Jess will be here on Thursday so I will ask her to include a video of my progress. The worst part of walking is the getting up and sitting down as there is pressure on the joint at this time. When walking, I am not in pain, but I have to remind myself to bend my knees and to walk normally without compensating or protecting myself from pain. My left knee is stiffer than my right knee. I was hoping to be able to wean off the pain meds by now, but realize that that is not possible at this time. I tried to ignore my middle of the night meds and found myself not being able to sleep well. My goal now is to continue working hard to regain my mobility without pain. I have an appt. with the surgeon on July 2nd at the 6 week mark and will know more at that time. I have to keep reminding myself that it is only short of 3 weeks since the surgery so based on that, I am doing remarkably well.

Until Tomorrow,

Marilyn

Sunday not much better than Saturday

Another off day. I was so enthusiastic about doing my physio three times daily. I had made that committment to myself last Friday and unfortunately the weekend put me right off schedule. Although yesterday started off nicely with breakfast, meds and my first round of excersizes, it finished off with a massive headache and a long sleep from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. I am feeling much better this morning, thank goodness.

I am not sure if it is the medication or my change in diet that brings on evening headaches periodically, but it certainly hit me hard yesterday and did not enable me to do my last two rounds of excersize.

We had a lovely lunch date with Lydia and Arnold yesterday, went to Moxies just north of Hwy 7, which is very lovely by the way. On our way home, Chris and I decided we needed a little change of scenery so we went off to the Pacific Mall and walked around a bit. When we got home we had a lovely visit from Anne, Shari's mom and then, with all good intentions I started icing my knees to prepare for my second round a excersizes but ended up falling asleep and waking up with a headache which led to more sleep and a worse headache and no appetite at all. I went up to bed at 9:00 and slept until this morning.

How do my knees feel, you are probably wondering. Like there are two cement blocks stuck in the middle of each leg. My feet still are numb and tingly and although I am pleased with my mobility, I wish my knees would lighten up and that I could bend them more. I am feeling frustrated and wish I could walk normally. I will have to be patient and hope that the physio does help. I am now off to my first set of excersizes and it is 7:15 a.m. At 9:00 I will go to physio when I will do my second set of physio. I am then off to the doctor for a blood test to ensure that the blood thinners are doing their job adequately. So today, I am hopeful that I will do 3 sets of excersizes and eat properly. Hopefully it will be a better day.

Until tonight,

Marilyn

A busy Saturday

Today, being Saturday, put me off my regular schedule.

We were honoured by the Rabbi to come up for an aliya in honour of our 33rd Wedding Anniversary. We had to be there by 9:00 so that I could practise what had to be said as Chris has no training whatsoever and no desire to read from the Torah. I had never been called up to the Torah as when I was growing up I went to an Orthodox synagogue so women were not given equal priviledges to men, which I actually did not mind at all at the time. Rick and Carina came at around 10:00 just before we were called up. We somehow fumbled through the short lines required and the Rabbi then made a special get well announcement about my two new knees, just implanted two weeks ago. He actually forgot to mention the Anniversary at all. Oh well. It was all very nice and everyone was very supportive of my bravery and my progress.

We went home for lunch and got ready for Chris to go to fitness. I decided to join him as I had not seen Carol, our personal trainer, in several weeks and thought it would be nice to catch up and watch Chris do his routine. While Chris did his thing, we chatted until I finally fell asleep. Once again, I had missed my morning nap and was drained.

We got back home at 4:30 and I went directly to bed. Chris did the laundry and grocery routine and I did not wake up until 7:30. Boy I hope I sleep tonight.

We got ready to go out for an Anniversary Dinner. We went to the Keg and totally enjoyed the outing. The surprising thing is that we brought home half of what we ordered. It is amazing how our appetites are not the way the used to be. We now have lunch for tomorrow awaiting us.

We watched a bit of TV. I did some of my excersizes while Chris did some work and now it is time to hit the sack.

I would consider today a typical weekend day, not to mention the exhaustion and the total knee stiffness. Tomorrow I must go back to doing my excersizes 3 times again or on Monday, I will be tortured at physio. Today I eliminated one of the pain killers. It seems that the pain is moving more towards a heavy, stiff feeling and hopefully I will no longer need so much heavy pain medication. I will see how it goes tomorrow doing the excersizes without the pain meds.

Until Tomorrow.

Marilyn

On the Mend

Today was a day of progress. I felt more in control of my pain and was able to tidy up the house a little bit and proceed with 3 times daily home physio.

It started out as a planned mother and daughter day. As Chris had an all day meeting Jess was coming up to Thornhill for lunch and to chauffeur me to the hair dresser, the grocery store and then to the spa for a pedicure. I planned my medication and physio for 8:00, 1:00 and 8:00. I also, for the first time since my surgery had the patience to start a book. So I had breakfast, did my physio, tidied up the kitchen, began reading The Time Traveller's Wife, prepared lunch. Jess arrived at about noon, we ate, I did my physio and we prepared to go to my 3:00 p.m. hair appt. We then went to Longos and while Jess shopped in Longos, I bought a bread in Bagel Nash. We went home and Jess brought in the groceries and then off to the spa. We enjoyed relaxing pedicures and then went home. One of the parents and her child from the daycare came for a visit so we had a pleasant chit chat, ate MacMillan's Cookies and had a very nice visit. Thanks Karine and Nicole. It was very nice to see you both.

We prepared supper and then I did my last routine of physio. By then I was bushed. I dozed on the couch and watched a little TV. I am now waiting for the 11:00 p.m. news and then off to bed.

All in all, my knees feel like two frozen blocks of cement stuck in the middle of my legs. My feet go from being numb and tingly to normal. Only time will tell as to when these knees will begin to feel normal again. I am able to go upstairs with one cane and the bannister one foot after the other, but unfortunately coming down, I am unable to bend the left leg. I am not sure why because when I do the physio excersizes, my left leg does bend so why I am unable to bend it going down the stairs concerns me. I will ask the physiotherapist about this on Monday.

That's all for Friday, June 6th.

Until tomoorrow.

Marilyn

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday was a typical day. Howerver, I did find that I was becoming more independant and was able to make my own meals and participate in the clean up as Chris had a meeting in the morning and my friend Lydia, couldn't make it after all.

I still hadn't arranged for a physiotherapist so I decided that today was the day. I went back to my list of physios in the area from the Ontario Assoc. of Physiotherapists and called the second one on the list. This time I got a real voice and was able to make a 3:00 appt. for that day so that was very satisfying.

I did my excersizes in the morning, rested, had lunch, rested in anticipation of doing more excersizes in the afternoon. This would be the first day that I do two sets of excersize in one day. Hopefully it won't be too challenging.

Chris got home at 2:00 giving us more than enough time to get to the physio on Highway 7 between Bayview and Leslie - perfect - not too far and not too close. The physio was very thorough and did a total assessment and was very complementary of the neat job my surgeon had done. He said he can get started immediately and suggested 3 x weekly for the first few weeks until I am more mobile and then more excersize at home than at the rehab. He has an assistant and a kinesth......., not sure of the spelling. But they worked well as a team and broke down the excersizes into smaller groups. They suggested that I do not do anything that hurts, but that I stretch as much as possible to challenge the muscles and stop when it hurts. This makes a lot more sense that exhausting yourself so that you are unable to move for the rest of the day. She sent me home with four excersizes to do between Friday and Monday and set me up with three appts. for next week - M, W and F. She said that I should be doing three sets of the four excersizes each day so I have my work cut out for me for the weekend. Finally a goal that is achievable.

We got home, Chris made a BBQ and fortunately my appetite is still not where it was so I ate small portions and am not gaining back my weight, relaxed a bit and got ready for bed.

I now feel motivated to get into my reading regimn. I will start with the book that Jess and Wendy recommended and continue from there. Any good book suggestions?

Today Jess is coming up to spend the afternoon with me. We may go for a pedicure and to the hairdresser. I can't reach my toes so a pedicure seems appropriate.

On Sunday Chris and I will be celebrating our 33rd wedding anniversary so we plan to go out for dinner tomorrow to celebrate. Sometime over the weekend, it will be time to put all the stuff back in the dining room breakfront and hand up all the pictures in the livingroom and diningroom.

Only 3 more months to Carina and Rick's Wedding. I guess it will soon be time to get the invitations going. My how time toes by. I really hope I will be up to dancing at the wedding. We shall see.

Until later,

Marilyn

A Long, Slow Day!

Hello again my friends.

Today was a long, slow day. I think I must plan an outing each day to get me motivated and prevent headaches.

Once again I was up early, took my pills, had breakfast and did my excersizes. Needless to say that caused extreme stiffness in my knees, but I decided I wasn't going to sleep the day away so I did some reading and started to look for private physio as the OHIP physio first appt. is not until June 19th. I think that is too long to wait for physio. So I contacted the Ontario Physio Assoc. and they helped me find a listing of physios in my neighbourhood. She said that OHIP phsios are paid $12 hrly and are far too busy and rushed to do a good job. That is really too bad. So I will keep the 19th appt. but hopefully hear back from the private physio who I left a message for to get started on the right foot or should I say both feet. I am feeling a little impatient right now as I am sensing that the left leg is not bending as well as the right and I do not yet see the benefits of the excersizes excpet that I can function like a stick man. Although the excersizes are supposed to help, they seem to cause more stiffness and I feel like I am starting all over the next day. Only time will tell.

By 3:00 I was exhausted and really felt like I needed to sleep so I guess cutting out the morning siesta was probably not the best idea. I decided to have an afternoon nap and asked Chris to hold all phone calls. But of course the phone did not stop ringing thus causing a very restless sleep. Ugh! When I woke up at 6:00 I was very stiff and had a headache. I think I will go back to the morning nap tomorrow.

The doctor called back with the results of my blood test and said that I have to have 1 additional mg. of blood thinner and come back for another test on Monday.

The good and not so good news is that my appetite is better so now I will have to go back to using will power to lose weight and not and not depend on loss of appetite.

Does anyone know where one can purchase 12 " long sterile bandages and TED stockings? I am having trouble find a supplier.

Tomorrow my friend Lydia is coming to babysit for me as Chris has a meetng to go to. Perhaps we will go out for a pedicure. I am having trouble reaching my toes. Thanks Lydia. Looking forward to seeing you.

We are now off to the pharmacy to get the additional mg of Warfarin and maybe off to the closest Rexall Pharmacy. They are quite fancy and might carry the bandages and stockings which I need.

Until tomorrow.

Marilyn

Tuesday Night Out

I actually feel somewhat back to normal tonight, but am getting used to being treated as a handicapped person. After a brief afternoon rest, I changed and we headed out to see Jess in the Reeces Pieces Band. We got comfortable seats right at the back so I didn't have to go down too many stairs. The theatre was full of families, children, husbands, wives, grandchildren and friends of the musicians. The average age of the musicians was 70 so Jessica was the baby in the band. They played a variety of lovely music includinga March by Johann Strauss, highlights of Fiddler on the Roof, a selection of Queen music, William Tell Overture, Disco, highlights from Exodus, a selection of Star Wars songs, songs from the 20's which brought tears to my eyes as my Mom used to sing these to me when I was a child. She would have loved the show with all the small children dancing and clapping in the isles. There was also a small klezmir band who did a rendition of wedding songs from Eastern Europe in the early 1900's. I was surprised to see one of our old friends of friends playing in the band. Linda and Rob, if you are reading this blog, let Jules know we really enjoyed his KlezKonnection Band. It was a lovely show and we were very proud of Jessica. Her partner trumpiter is an 86 year man wh0 depends on Jess to repeat what the conductor says as he is very hard of hearing. It was so nice to see the young and old enjoying music together. My Mom was also very involved in creating intergenerational programs at the Golden Age Assoc. many years ago and here was a sample of what she strived for. In the middle of the show all of the children in the audience came up on stage and were given shakers and the band serenaded them to the William Tell Overture. I felt like I was at the Winter Festival at the daycare. The childen took it very seriously and did a wonderfull job without any rehearsal.

After the show we went out for a light bite with Carina, Rick and Jess and for the first time in a while I actually did have an appetite and enjoyed a variety of salads, a few of Chris's postatoes and shared a small pizza with the gang. Oh by the way I was the Biggest Loser this week. I lost 5 lbs. while in the hospital. Hopefully I can keep this off and continue losing.

So despite the fact that it was a somewhat tough day, it ended on a very nice note and I feel fine tonight - no headache.

I have just swallowed several pills and am hopefully going to be able to watch the first Canadian Idol show at midnight as we missed it at 8:00 p.m.

Until tomorrow,

Marilyn

Hope you are enjoying my blog. It appears that there are several of you who are having trouble posting your comments. If you cannot comment on the blog, please send me your comments at marilyn.neuman@rogers.com. I will try to help you figure out what the problem is. I would love to hear from you.

My Third Day at Home

I'm back. I took a little break yesterday as I was not feeling too well last night, headache, weak and tired. I went to bed by 10:00 and slept well again and woke up feeling much better in the morning. So I took advantage of getting an early start to the day, took my pain meds and was ready for hard core physio at 7:30 a.m. I am clearly paying for it now. I fell asleep at 10:00 and woke up at about noon feeling awful, tight, hot legs and aching in my left knee. I thought nothing of it as this is how I felt after the physio put me through the ringer in the hospital so I rested and drank lots of water. When Chris came back from a meeting, he made me a yummy bowl of chicken noodle soup which is all I really could stomach.

At two we went off to the doctor to have my ira (blood consistency) taken. I shared some of my other concerns with the doctor ie numb tingling feet and toes and she is sending me to a neurologist. After leaving the doctor, Chris picked up some strawberries, cherries and grapes at a local fruit stand next to the doctor's office. Fruit is one of the few things I can eat right now. On our way home from the doctor I started to feel a tightness in my left calf and some risidual pain in the inner side of my left knee probably from the excersize. Of course I immediately think of the worse case senario (blood clot). The doctor had told me that if I get extremem chest pain or calf pain I should go immediately to the hospital as this is a common serious occurence after bilateral knee replacement. The question is "Is this severe or not?" I really do not know. I called back the doctor and am still waiting for her to call me back. Clearly she does not take these phone calls too seriously.

Just arriving home, I got a sick feeling in my stomach and I won't tell you the rest of that. I will leave it up to your imagination, but will tell you I now feel much better. I trekked up the stairs to my personal raised toilet and decided to write in my blog before going back down as I do feel a lot better right now.

Tonight Jess is playing in the band at the Leah Poslun's Theatre at 7:30. We are meeting Carina and Rick there so hopefully I will do fine and enjoy the show. It is now time for some cherries and a rest to get ready for my first official outing. I hope it works out o.k.

Until tomorrow and hopefully a better day.

Marilyn

My first day at home

was busy but wonerful. I had the best sleep I have had in two weeks. At 9:00 I got up, washed and started getting used to getting around the house. I realized that I do not need someone right beside me when going up and down the stairs. I realized that I could get around without the walker and or canes as long as I am close to the counter, wall etc. My balance isn't really the problem. It is the pain of getting up and sitting down that is the most stressful.

After breakfast, I figured out a medication schedule so that I know what I need to take in the am and what I need to take in the pm and what needs four hour intervals as needed and what needs six hour intervals as needed.

I then started my half hour of morning exersizes torchuring myself to bend my knees in as far as possible and then stretching them as straight as possible. Just lifting up my legs towards my buttocks is so strained. I can barely lift the legs off the ground. Somewhat discouraging but it is only the first day home.

Then off to my favourite hairdresser Ozzie. Fortunately she is open on Sundays in her home so I was able to make a 12:15 appt. and then we picked up Jess at the subway station and went home for lunch. Jess was so helpful in sorting out stuff in the family room and purging old stuff that we just got accustomed to looking at but really were old, faded and ready for the garbage.

It looks like for the next 6 wks. I will have to depend on Chris to chauffeur me around to appt. physio etc. After knee replacement surgery car insurance does not cover you for six weeks. On July 2nd I will see my doctor and she will be able to vouch for my abilities to drive and assess my progress. It still feels like I have quite a way to go.
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This afternoon Jess's delightful friends D'Arcy and Wendy came for a visit and they totally cheered me up. D'Arcy was the best foot warmer and Wendy brought delightful flowers. Later Glenda and Clive came by for nice conversation and brought a yummy chocolate cake. Everything in moderation, I say. The good news is that I lost 5 lbs. during the time I was in the hospital so watch out Biggest Loser Neuman Edition. I am about to win this weigh in tomorrow.

Chris cooked a yummy potroast for supper and then we relaxed, watched some TV, chatted with friends on MSN and prepared for bed. So that brings us to now. Time for bed. Hope I sleep well again tonight. That certainly cannot hurt the healing process.

Until tomorrow,

Marilyn

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home! It is so nice to be home. Thanks to my wonderful husband and kids, Jess, Carina and Rick, the furniture is back in place and the new floor in the livingroom and diningroom looks amazing. It feels like a new house.

There is so much I would like to do now that I am home, but the most important thing is becoming more comfortable with my new knees. Every chair, the couch and the deck are all so much more comfortable than the hospital bed and any chair I sat on in the hospital. It is great to be home.

Tomorrow I will begin working on my book of excersizes because I know that the only way I will be able to cook, clean and put things back together will depend on my increased ability to walk and manage without a walker or cane.

Right now I can, with pain, go up and down stairs. I can use two canes around the house for short walks, but if I want to walk a little farther, I need a walker.

I am feeling quite impatient right now. I just want to be able to stretch and bend the way I would normally, but with swelling and bruising of the legs this will take some time. I managed to stretch my legs straight with a 2 - 5 inch distance to the bed which should be 0. I was able to bend my knees in with a 105 degree angle which is wonderful, but the pain was excrutiating so this needs a lot of work.

The pharmacy is now preparing my medications which are an array of pain killers, antibiotics, blood thinners,etc. I am hoping that I will be able to cut back on these significantly over the next few weeks, but I am told that it is better to stay on the pain killers in order to tolerate the excersize and thus become more mobile. What a drag!

The good news after all of this surgery business, is that befoe the surgery my blood pressure was creeping up, but since the surgery is over, my blood pressure is on the low side. I guess the pain and stress of arthritis and upcoming surgery is much more stressful than the pain associated with recuperation.

I received a lovely package in the mail today. Thanks so much to Yvette, Sheila and Roz for the beautiful nigthty and cover. It is exactly to my taste. I love it.

Thanks also to Debbie for coming to the hospital and packing me all up as I waited for Chris. We were all ready to go as soon as Chris and Jess arrived.

Thanks for the lovely blog messages from Sonia and Jane from Life-Bridge and from the Cauchi family. It was so nice to hear from you. I hope everyone else at Life-Bridge is doing well. I miss you all.

Until next time.

Marilyn
The first day home is awsome. Thanks

Yeah! Time to go home.

What a waste of time, The physio merely tested my ability on the stairs and measured the degree of my bend and then said I can go home todqy. I stayed for the extra day of physio but could have probably gone home yesterday as there was no actual excersize period today.

So I had my last hospital lunch and am waiting for Chris to pick me up.

I can't wait to see our newly renovated livingroom and diningroom, snuggle up with the doogies and relax in my own surroundings. No more schlepping down town for Chris.

Hopefully on Monday the St.John's Rehab will call to book my appt. and the recovery will begin. I can't wait.

Until tonight.

Marilyn

Home today?

Good Morning
It was another long night. It seems I sleep better in the daytime than in the night. So after getting ready for bed and all tucked in at 10:30 at 1:30 I was wide awake. Sleeping off and on from 1:30 until 5:00 was very frustrating. I could not find a comfortable position and my back was killing me as my doctor emphasized that it is best to sleep on my back with straight legs.

So this morning I asked if I could go home today. But they informed me it will depend on what the physio says.

Until next time.

Marilyn

Feeling much better - Yeah!

It is Friday night and I am feeling so much better. It took me about 5 hours to recuperate after physio today, but now I am washed, changed and ready for bed and feeling so much better. Thanks to Debbie's blankets and socks, I was able to ride over the awful feelings of cold and soar feet and legs. The cozy socks were a big help and the fleece blanket kept me feeling as well as could be expected.

I got two cards from Yvette today and one from Sheila and Arnie and a lovely phone call from Rozzie in New York and a call from my dear friends Lydia and Glenda today. Thanks so much for all of the kind thoughts. They are really helping me over the tough times.

So now that I know I am allergic to excersize I will not be so afraid to take pain killers.


Hopefully I will sleep past 3;30 p.m.

Until tomorrow.

Marilyn

Could you believe it is day 8?

Today is Friday and I had my third intensive physio therapy session. I feel worse today than I did a week ago. It appears that the side effects I am experiencing are not of the meds but are of the excersize. After each physio session my legs get extremely tight, tired and feel feversih and exhausted. Today I was able to bend my knees to 104 derees, I hope I am a able to contnr to. Only time wil tell. Have a wondrful week-end.

Until tomorrow.

Marilyn

Pain, pain pain!

It appears that the pain meds I have been taking are either no longer strong enough or the physio has caused lots of strain. Wichever it is, I am ready to try dilodin again (1 mg) along with a half of a gravol. Hopefully this will reduce the pain. During the night I could hardly turn over or get up to go to the washoom without acute pain. Not fun! At 5:45 I tried the additional drug. Let's see, I hope it helps. Stay tuned.
Physio at 11:30 again and I must be able to move.
Until later,
Marilyn

A Very Long Day 7

Only one week after surgery and I am suffering through torcherous physio. The worst is the bending in. You would think they would lubricate these things before installing them.

Once again I woke up far to early, 3;30 am, and counted the hours until breakfast and my scheduled 11:30 am physio. Once again, the first bending excersize brought tears to my eyes. Fortunately the latter lunges, balancing and stairs were not half as painful.

A visit from Jess and Deb brought up my spirits and a yummy lunch kept my energies high. Thanks for the lovely warm socks and fleece from Deb, I did not get the uncomfortable chills that I had last night.

As I did not take the pain meds that cause me dizziness, I enjoyed dinner and a visit from Chris. We cleared up some of the stuff needing to go home as a visit from the doctor indicated the following:

1. I can go home as soon as I feel safe.
2. I should make an appt. for next Tues. to check how the blood thinners are managing - no clots.
3. If I have any chest or leg pain, I must go to emergency immediately to ensure no lung or leg clots as these are common on day 17 of bilateral knee surgery.
4. I should, once again reassess my pain meds and even take the ones I am allergic to with gravol, to ensure good mobility.
5. I should ask my doctor to refer me to a neurologist re the tingling/numbness on the balls of my feet.
6. Continue doing my excersizes at home but do not go to outpatient rehab as infection spreads at rehabs. She thinks I can do the excersizes fine on my own.
7. Wear my ped stockings for 6 weeks, day and night.
8. Come back and see her in six weeks to assess my progress.

So tonight Chris and I decided that three more days with my physio here would prepare me for returning safely to home care - means that I have all day Friday and all day Saturday to be pampered and to push forward.

So Sunday morning I will be packing up and returning home. I am really looking forward to seeing how our new livingroom and diningroom look after the rugs have come up, the floors stained and varnished and the rooms painted. Apparently it looks great.

Until tomorrow.

Marilyn

Video Update Wow!

Progress one week later

Last week at this time she was sitting in bed numb from the waist down and feeling no pain. It's hard to believe a whole week has gone by!

Check out today's progress...

Look at those crazy bruises on the backs of her knees!

Please keep writing quick comments - they're really motivational and now that she has her new toy she's checking frequently to see if YOU'VE messaged. :)

The new toy...

Look at the present her lovely husband gave her! It's an internet machine!

It's really cool. It weighs essentially nothing and it has all kinds of features like a webcam and messenger and all the other things she might need.

As you can see it's very small, and it doesn't hold as much as other machines do, but it has USB connections for any external storage she might need. Amazing!

Think she'll notice if I 'borrow' it for a while??

Not the best day (day 6)

I'm expected to go home on Saturday or Sunday but can't imagine how that will happen. I slept fairly well during the night but once again woke up early - around 3 - and watched the hours go by. Hour after hour.

Fortunately the headache and the dizziness was gone and I felt up to taking a shower.

Physio was scheduled for 11:30 and I was feeling ready and confident. Didn't take long before I felt discouraged. The physiotherapist has the nerve to manipulate my knee, bending it to where she thought it should be! I think she got a clear message that I was not impressed when tears came pouring down my face. It was a pain that's hardly explainable. Each exercise requires ten repetitions and the first few are always the toughest. So it would have appeared logical to help me out by pushing me farther after the first five repetitions and not the very first one.

It turns out I am allergic to all the painkillers. Tomorrow a pain specialist will be meeting with me to hopefully come up with some new ideas. They tell me the only way to proceed with my physio and get things moving is to have good ain control. I hope we come up with a solution quickly.

A big thank you to Life-Bridge Child Care staff, parents, and children for the WONDERFUL fresh fruit basket. I can't even describe how huge the oranges are and how delicious it all looks. Definitely the highest quality fruit I've tasted, or so it seems after all this hospital food.

Another big thank you to the gang at Pangea for the chocolate, chocolate, chocolate galore! When I get my appetite back I'll be sure to try it. But the magazines and crosswords are perfect.

Also a big surprise.. I am typing on my new little ASUS portable computer from Chris. It's amazing! Now I don't have to borrow Jess' or his while I'm here. I can do all kinds of things on it.

I also had a lovely visit from Ewa our music teacher which was a total pick me up. She was so encouraging. Thanks Ewa!

And lastly but not leastly Carina, Rick, Debbie, Chris, and Jess all spent some part of the evening with me and for that I say, "thanks guys".

Several phone calls from Bri were also nice. If only Kwinter and Oli would show a bit of love and come by for a snuggle.

Until tomorrow I remain your friendly in pain blogger,

Marilyn (with some edits from Jess - my resident secretary, masseuse, and cheerer upper)

Day 6 - update from Jess

I know my mom has already posted today but I thought I'd give you an update from my perspective.

She's seeing real improvement from a few days ago. She can now get out of bed and use the short walker to get to the washroom without any assistance. She can kind of reposition her legs in various ways so that she can lie on her sides, and she can sit in a raised chair for short periods of time with her knees bent-ish.

She is still suffering from quite a bit of pain. As she mentioned, she was experiencing dizzyness earlier so she switched to some different pain killer and this new one doesn't seem to be hacking it.

I think today it was pretty clear that the novelty of the hospital stay was wearing thin on everyone. She's tired of lousy sleeps and of being away from home, and we're tired too.

Happily, it's expected that she'll be able to go home this weekend sometime, Saturday the earliest I suspect. While she's been away my father has been busy supervising some renovations that have basically messed up the entire main floor of the house. There is certainly no room for a safe walker route, so that's going to need clearing up sometime soon. Gah!

Guess that's it for now. Hope everyone's well out there!

Know anyone who is going through or has been through knee replacement surgery? Share the blog! Might as well let these bionic folk help each other out.

Jess

Another Busy Day.

Hello again, I definately had a better night than last night but after waking up at about 1:30 pm. (slept from 9;30 to 1:30), I had trouble falling back to sleep for any exteded period of time. When morning finally came, I had a pleasant chat with my room mate Sybil who has since left, went for a chest xray, had some physio, enjoyed a visit from Betty and John from Ottawa, went for a Doppler Untrasoud on my legs, ate the delicious veggies and dip and fruit from B & J and had some more physio. I really do not know what happened to the day. Tonight Jess and Rick came and Chris is on his way as we speak.

The new pain killers definately helped with the pain but caused dizziness. We have therefroe decded on a difference pain killer which I will take every six hours. Hopefully this will do the trick withough causing dizziness.

Until next time.

Love, Marilyn

What a Day!

Hello Everyone, Thanks for all of the lovely comments and phone calls. It has really helped me push forward. Last night was a very stressful night. After Jess, Chris, Deb, Celia and Norm left, I got ready for bed and as I had done two sets of excersizes I was feeling very tired and ready for a good night sleep. So I was all tucked in at 9:30 and sleeping like a baby when at 1:30 pm I woke up to a night nurse's flashlight glaring at me and the nurse calling out "Oh my God, she's bleeding to death". Very unprofessional, I would say. I felt perfectly fine and wondered what was going on. The IV needle had gotten dislodged and poked me thus the combinaion of blood and IV fluid was leaking onto the floor, the linens and the cushion. Not a pleasant sight. He called for support staff, asked me to raise up my arm and proceeded to clean things up and assess the situation. Fortunately all was fine and I was not dying and all was fine. But of course falling back to sleep was difficult so I dozed off for an hour hear and an hour there and was finally wide awake with a headache to boot at 5:oo pm. The morning was rough. I felt weak and headachey and my knees were sooooo sore.

At noon, things started rolling. I was packed up and taken to the 7th floor, the rehab floor, offered a delicious lunch, sent for exrays, both standing up and lying down xrays and learned to use the low regular walker. When I returned to the room the physiotherapist was waiting form me and took be off to the gym immediately. By 4:00 I was wiped. Supper came at 5:00 and I wasn't very hungry at all. It seems that I can only stomach fruits and vegetables. I am bound to win the Biggest Loser Neuman Edition. Unfortunately I could not participate in today's weigh in. Mayb next week. I should be going home on Saturday or Sunday depending on how this week goes.

I am dreading the night. I hope I have a much less eventful night that last night and do not have exhasution and a head ache tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Until next time.

Love, Marilyn

Progress on Day 5!

Photos!!

She had a rough night again but is doing well today. I'll let her tell you about last night's adventures when she's back from having xrays. Dad brought his old laptop for her so she can write her own updates.

Day 4 some more - update from Jess

When I last left you I had just talked to her on the telephone in the morning and she wasn't doing so hot.

I stopped by the hospital at around noon and she was sleeping on and off and feeling terribly. The physiotherapist had just come by and wanted her to do her exercises but she felt like she just couldn't manage it. Her legs felt so painful - something she attributed to the previous day's exertion.

I had to leave around 1 and when I returned at 6 she had completely reversed in her attitude and energy. She was feeling perky and happy, having received some visitors during the day and heard from a few of you out there in blogland.

She was so energetic that she was able to do her exercises and to use the walker to get out of bed and head to the bathroom - her first time up all day. The night nurse was firm and insistent that she get up on her feet which I found to be a real help in enouraging mom to push herself forward. She did great.
We hung out in the evening and she seemed to think that she'd have an easier time sleeping tonight so hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow morning than she did today.

The other interesting thing to note is there her appetite is very much affected by either the surgery or the medications or something. She has no desire at all for things that she usually quite likes, like two bite brownies and eclairs. She seems only able to eat every other meal; the other meals she skips due to nausea or disinterest.

Tomorrow she is scheduled to move up from the 3rd floor to the 7th, which they call the "FIT" floor. I'm not sure what that stands for but it's where they work on rehab more intensely and prepare the patients for returning home. She should be able to handle stairs and walking around on her own by the time she leaves in one week. That seems pretty har to imagine at this point but we'll see how it goes.

Thanks so much for all your words of support! They really mean a lot!



Jess

Day 4 - update from Jess

My poor mom isn't too happy this morning. I just got off the phone with her and it sounds like she had a rough night of sleeping on and off. The fever and the pain and the stiffness and the total dependence on others is starting to really get to her.

I can't imagine how it must be to be constantly stuck in your house or in bed day in and day out. She's only on day four and yet it seems she's really had enough!

We're trying to do what we can to keep her spirits high and one thing YOU can do is leave a comment here on the blog or send an email of support. You can write a comment by clicking on the bottom right link of this post that says "comments" and you needn't register for an account or anything else. Just a quick hello will make her happy!!

Thanks for all the support you have already been sending - it certainly does make a difference to know people are rooting for you and thinking about you! I can't wait, and I'm sure she can't either, until she's able to get up and get around by herself. That will really make all the difference.

Take care!

Jess

Day three physiotherapy - update from Jess

The physiotherapist is here right now and she is doing straightening exercises with mum. She is counting to five while she flexes her hamstrings. It doesn't look painful or anything.

The therapist just got out a thing to measure the degree of straightness in her leg and it is two degrees which is negligible and great on the right leg. The left is actually less straight at seven degrees. She's saying that either people have trouble with flexation or they don't so it looks like mum's not going to have any trouble with this which is great.

The physiotherapist just said she's going to try to stand her up and walk her right now. Ahh! I'm a little nervous for her but the physio seems to think it's fine. She's gone now to look for the walker... She's back.

Now she's got her leg in a pulley that's hooked to a bar above the bed. Mum is to tug the pulley which bends her leg at the knee so she can practice bending. She says it's very sore and has just pressed the button for more meds. Her bend looks to be, oh, maybe 75 degrees.

"How does it feel, mum?"

"It hurts." [laughs] "But I want to bend it."

She's going for ten on the right side, smiling all the way, and while the physio is out of the room I sneak a measure with the measuring thing and it said 80 degrees. Not bad, not bad!

She's back now and measuring the bend herself and it's 69 degrees on the left leg and 80 on the right. Wow, I should be a physiotherapist with no training and such accurate bendy thing reading.

Okay, we're now at the moment of truth: her first walk. The physiotherapist is arranging the bed and all the clutter around it for the big event.

"Are you nervous?"

"No, I'm excited. I can use my arms on that so it's not that bad. It's really quite a good walker."

They strap the brace to her left leg, the one will less mobility, and lower the bed rail and the bed itself. Mom seems calm but I must admit my heart is beating faster...

She's asked to shimmy her bum to the edge but she can't really so the phsyio helps her swing her feet over the edge. No vomiting - an improvement from yesterday!

She pushes her bum forward and puts her feet on the step stool.

"Doesn't feel like there's a whole lot of strength in my legs," she says, laughing.

Still sitting on the bed, the physio asks mum to take a few deep breaths.

"So your goal is to use the bathroom, you say?"

"Yeah. I'd really like to be independent."

I was recruited to help with pushing the chair behind her as she walked.

She got up!! She held onto the walker and could support herself. She slid her feet across the floor and walked from her bed to the door of her room before getting tired and sitting back into the char. The chair, by the way, is one suited for toilet use so she was wheeled over and reached her goal! Yay!!!

The way back to the bed was kind of rough - she was very dizzy and tired out and just wanted to be back on her bed. But now she's there and glad.

"Thank you very much! I feel like I achieved a lot!" She said to the physio.

She's to try the exercises again this afternoon and the phsyio will back again tomorrow.

Great success!!!

Morning of Day 3

It's 9 o'clock in the morning on day 3 and things are going downhill daily.

Yesterday was nausea and today is fever. So, to make sure the fever's not serious, they are doing urine samples, blood samples, and chest x-ray.

My knees are not painful when I just lie still but when I try to move.... well, let's just say they are not comfortable.

Yesterday afternoon my doctor came and took off the bandages because she was too busy to come today. Usually it's on day three when they do that. It was very stingy when they swabbed it with alcohol. Then she put a long bandage on the top of my legs. Then the nurse came and with a less than gentle touch she pulled some tight socks up over my knees.

Nothing much else happened yesterday afternoon. I had a visit from Carina and Chris stayed until... oh wait... I have no idea. I lost track of time. I just called him and he left at 7:30 and then I watched TV and went on the computer until I went to sleep probably around 9.

I woke up at about 3 and stayed up for a little while before falling asleep again until around 6. The night nurse wasn't smiley or pleasant at all. You could see she was going through motions without really caring. My day nurse is much better.

Today the physio will come and hopefully I will actually walk. Jess is here now, Chris is coming around lunch and I think Rick is coming in the afternoon. Visitors are always nice to have and are a good distraction.

Today they're also going to take out the epidural and the oxygen and yesterday they took out the catheter... so slowly but surely I'll be on my own in this. Let's hope bed pans aren't as bad as they sound. I am determined to walk today so that I can make their use unnecessary.

That's all for now! Until next time...

Marilyn

Day 2

Hi everyone,

Last night I slept like a baby from about 9:30 with several interruptions from the nurse who came in to check my vital signs.

Today I woke up at 6:00 and my legs felt like stones. My feet feel like they're wrapped up, or like there's an elastic around each foot. This, I have been told, is the beginning of swelling.

At 8:00 I ate some breakfast of half of a muffin and some skim milk and then when I tried to sit up my blood pressure dropped and I got sick. :( Soon after the physiotherapist and her assistant came by with a high walker but because I got sick sitting up, we only got as far as hanging my legs over the side of the bed. It was very painful.

They've been asking me to rate my pain on a scale of 1 to 10 and it's been 5 or 6 so far today.

I then got extremely sleepy and slept through most of my visit from Shari and Jess, and by the time Debbie and Chris arrived I was feeling more alert.

I did manage to keep down a small chocolate and a freezie, at least for now, and I'm no longer dictating this post to Jess because I've fallen asleep...

Until next time,

Marilyn

Pre-surgery Images

Here are the old knees, pre-surgery:



And this is her pre-surgery walking:




For the curious, they're in the process of pulling out the carpet in the living room/dining room and staining the lovely hardwood underneath. Wow!

Surgery Day Recap!

It's nighttime and we've left mum to rest and hopefully get a good night's sleep. She has been alert and happy all day long thanks to a lovely pain pump that kept her completely pain free!

Every few hours a nurse would come by to check her blood pressure and to see how much feeling she was regaining in her legs. They would test with ice from hip down to toes. By about 8 this evening she wasn't necessarily feeling the ice too low down but she was able to wiggle her toes and flex her feet, which is good. The surgeon came by and said that everything went very well and to expect the worst still to come.

Apparently tomorrow they will have her already up with a high walker so we'll see how that goes.

Another thing: she is restricted to clear fluids only for the next few days and the hospital food services got it wrong and brought her solids. When they realized the error they took the food away but never brought anything in its place. Can you believe that?! We asked the RN and she said they had nothing but juice in their fridge so we ended up going out to get soup, but man, I thought that was pretty terrible.

Word on the street is that the food is terrible at this hospital and that instead of flowers, friends and family really should send food. :) Food food food!

That's all for now. We'll be sure to let you know how day one goes tomorrow!

Jess

It's over!!!

Hi everybody!

The surgery was over at 11:30 and I feel perfectly wonderful, I can hardly believe it!

We arrived at the hospital at 6:15am. I was feeling very anxious. After changing, talking to the nurse, and reviewing my present health my surgeon arrived with some disappointing news. She had promised me the new and improved prosthesis which she had applied for and this morning she told me it was rejected. She informed me that in three months it would become available and though it's being used at other hospitals, this hospital doesn't use it as of yet. She said she had to tell me this for legal purposes but could not give me her personal opinion. I think that's really unprofessional to tell someone this when they're sitting ready for the surgery, but what could I do? I was mentally ready to do it now, and I want to be healthy for the wedding, so I decided to go ahead with it.

I was then escorted into the epidural room where they started with an IV in a very painless fashion.. first they froze it which was nice. I've had rough experiences with IV in the past so this was nice. They asked me to sit up and lean over with my shoulders relaxed and they proceeded to give me an epidural in the lower back. They had to do three tries to get it perfect... once was on the left, once on the right, and the third try was perfect.

The epidural worked instantaneously. I was then wheeled into the operating room where they transfered me onto a bed and began surgery.

I must have slept for a little while because when I woke up it was probably closer to the middle of the operation. I couldn't feel anything in my lower half, but I was aware and listened to the casual chit chat of the doctors as well as the hammering and sawing of the procedure. I felt perfectly relaxed with no pain and kind of happy that I wasn't out of it. There was a screen in front of me so I couldn't see anything, but I could see the lights and things around me. Nobody really realized I was awake, I don't think.

I was then wheeled into the recovery room where I was treated like a queen! Everybody hovered around me checking to see whether I had any sensation in my lower half using a bag of ice. And, I definitely feel nothing from the hips down. They warn you about all these things like getting my lungs working, the possibility of having a blood transfusions, etc. I needed none of it. My surgeon came by and said, "you really needed it!" And that it was fine.

After an hour in recovery I was wheeled to my room and soon after Chris and Jess arrived. The nurse came by to check my vitals. I have automatic pain relief and a little pump to give myself a top up if I need it. But so far so good. The nurse informed me that my particular doctor prescribes clear fluids only for the first few days so I'm bound to win the biggest loser contest this week!! Watch out family - I'm a force to be reckoned with!

Right now, a little twinge of pain in my left knee has just begun. The lovely yellow button has just been pressed. Who knows what I'm up for, but I have a feeling the worst is yet to come.

Send me your comments! I love comments!

Until next time!

Marilyn