Update on Jackie

Uh-oh. I'm referring to myself in the third-person. That can't be a good thing. I want to thank Sydney and all of the commenters for this week's posts and all the activity. Tremendous! But me? Argh, I've been so out of it that I didn't realize last night was the Lost finale and I missed it. Grrr.

I apologize for my absence This is a hard recovery and it's tough to get through. It's definitely a major surgery. It's hard to explain how every little thing I do tires me so even though I still can't sleep more than three or four hours at a time.

For example, my home health care physical therapy visits ended yesterday. So, today I had to arrange for my out-patient physical therapy, dealing with both my insurance company and the PT place. It wiped me out. I promptly fell asleep for three hours.

Yesterday I had my last PT at home visit, had to organize all of my leave of absence and short term disability papers to bring to the doctor's office for my early evening post-op appointment. My friend Barbara brought me to and from the appointment. I managed to sit in the front seat of the car, something I couldn't do when she picked me up from the hospital. We also stopped at a store so I could refresh the juice, beverage, and bread department in my kitchen. I was up and at 'em and on the go from 8:30 in the morning until I gt home around 8:30 at night. I collapsed and fell asleep before 9. I was awake again before Letterman ended.

The knee itself is coming along well even if my energy levels are depleted. The staples came out yesterday and the doctor took x-rays. Both the doctor and my in-home physical therapist are thrilled with my progress. Before the staples came out yesterday, I could bend the knee 75 degrees. Upon leaving the hospital last week, it was only up to 60. I'm more pleased with the strength aspect -- I can see that improving daily. I do exercises three times a day which work on both strength and range of motion. (Then I conk out.)

Good news is that I don't have to pay $20 co-pay for my doctor visits anymore as I'm post-op. I go back in three weeks. The bad news is I have to pay a $20 co-pay each time at the physical therapist and that's three times a week. I know I need it and they have equipment I need to improve, but that co-pay wasn't that much the last time I went through PT. Sigh. My first PT appointment is Monday.

Then there's the Coumadin thing. That's for the blood clot and to prevent more from forming. Like Charlton Heston in Soylent Green yelling, "It's people! Soylent green is people!" -- I want to yell, "It's rat poison! They're making me take rat poison!" Until recent years, the drug (Warfarin) was indeed rat poison. It was the one which used to make the rats bleed internally and die. That's why I have to have blood drawn each week to test in case they need to modify mt dosage levels. I will be on the drug until mid-August.

So I can't get cut or bleed (or have to rush to the hospital) due to the Coumadin. I also have to let them know I'm on the drug. Possible side effects besides bleeding to death include gangrene and something called "purple toes syndrome." I don't dare have any infection or fever because the knee surgery can easily be infected. If that happens, they take out the knee, give you a spacer, then put another knee in within six months or so.

I've had an open scabbed sore on the back of my calf since the surgery. It was starting to look infected over the weekend. I thought of going to the ER, but instead bandaged it and put some Neosporin on it for a couple of days. While I know the Coumadin is slowing my healing, the therapists, visiting nurse, and doctor all thought it looked acceptable, so I guess I did the right thing.

My cat Scherzo (Skirts) has been a blessing through all of this. While she might not have liked being boarded, I couldn't have boarded my cat Teaser (who died in November). Teaser's health was too iffy and he stressed out too much. Skirts wasn't happy, but was physically fine upon returning home. Teaser also always was leaping on me and I don't think I could have handled that. Skirts has definitely grown closer to me since his death, but she still isn't a lap cat. She loves to curl up next to me, perhaps put her chin or her paw on my lap. That is comforting, but not painful.

Well, right now I know I've been in one position too long since my knee is screaming at me. I'm still on the walker although I can do crutches, too. I tried to use a cane in the apartment, but found it a bit unstable. I don't dare fall. But if I'm in one position too long, it definitely makes me get up and move. And ice it down.

I hope I caught all my typos in this and thank everyone once again! Below is my knee without its staples -- I gained a good half-inch of skin space!