Tonya and PQBON's WebLog
I figured it was time for an update...
Last week after getting fed up with my crutches I stuck them in the closet to be forgotten. I've driven myself to work and to fast food on occasion. It doesn't feel great but I get where I'm going and the car in under control. I spent my whole weekend without wearing my brace. I'm not sure it was the best thing for my leg but it felt great for me to be free...
Tomorrow, I believe I have an appointment with a physical therapist in Mountain View at 10am.
It also seems like the ski question was answered this weekend. My mother told me she would prefer if I gave up skiing. So it looks like I'm going to become a snow boarder. If you know anyone who wants a pair of 191 Rossignol Bandit X from 2002 I know exactly were they can be had.
At this point my biggest problem is being tired of being injured. I want to be able to run, play softball, stand and walk without having to think about it and you know all the other things that everyone reading this does without thinking about it. ;-)
I'm trying to find a @^&#$%^&*@ physical therapist that is covered by my @&#^*$^@$*&(^*( insurance. My Ortho guy recommend one place, but they don't take my insurance... My insurance couldn't find anyone in Mnt View, Cupertino, or PaloAlto that was a physical therapist. Then they decided to look under Physical Rehabilitation, and then someone came up in Palo Alto, so then they re-ran Mnt View. This was after their phone system dropped me a few times while I was in the hold queue. I guess that is one way to make the time on hold stats look good.
@#$&*(@&$(*#&$)(
The physical therapist my insurance company support's phone was answered by the night answering serves. This doesn't bode well...
OK, so I'm not sure who won the pool, but it was stitches that my body was rejecting.
It turns out that in the surgery they used a very large gauge (numerically small) absorbable stitch material. It also turns out that the area where the large incision is has very little tissue between the bone and the first layers of skin. Some of the stitches are either touching or in the layers of skin, the body identifies it as foreign matter and starts to force it out of the body. The doctor said I may reject one or two more in the next 2 or 3 weeks. The doctor cut and removed the one stitch that was dramatically sticking out of my leg and trimmed the smaller one. Also the reject is the cause of some of the inflammation. It isn't anything to worry about and the doctor said there isn't much to do but cut the stitches as they get rejected.
The other note of interest is I'm scheduled to start PT now. I have to get in touch with the PT people today and make some appointments. Tentatively I'm going to have 6 weeks of PT.
The good news:
Before my friends took my keys and car away, I was able to drive to coffee on Tuesday morning. So I now know it can be done. It isn't the most comfortable thing but it works...
I'm getting a little bit of ankle mobility back, but not much yet.
My knee is a little better, I have about 90% of my range of motion back, just not at any one time. Trying to use the whole range of motion is still painful.
With my brace on I can hobble along with either no crutches or one crutch. It isn't fun, but I can do it.
The bad news:
My energy level is still crazy low. After a day at work I come home and crash for a while because I'm generally pretty tired.
My muscles have definitely started to atrophy my bad leg is visibly smaller then my good one and the lower leg is all one size do to the swelling in my ankle.
If I don't spend enough time with it elevated, my knee and ankle and just the whole leg in general get sore and angry and my foot turns an interesting shade of purple.
Now for the thankyous:
Ken and Amanda, Shane and Alyssa, Randy, Stephen, Shelly, Kathy, and Cathy...