So....THIS didn't go the way I had planned.
I had Achilles tendon/gastroc resection/repair done a little over a week and a half ago. I had the other side done last year, so I knew that the recovery/rehab was going to be fairly awful, but I was prepared this time! I had planned ahead and gathered all the things I thought I might need or remember being useful last go-around. I went to physical therapy BEFORE the surgery to get stronger so that this time, transferring to my scooter wouldn't take all the king's horses to get me from one surface to another this time. I was smug and had this all in hand. I have it together. I would nail it this time.
OOOH. Boy. I won't even lie - the last almost 2 weeks have been BRUTAL. I barely remember the first 2 days home - I had nerve blocks in my leg and was feeling the residual anesthesia and all I could do was sleep. I don't even remember much else. On the third day, the nerve blocks started to wear off.....but not evenly.....so I have areas of complete numbness where my leg doesn't feel like it belongs to my body and areas of painful pins-and-needles sensations- and areas that feel swollen and bruised.....and sadly, none of these areas are in the regions of my incisions and stitches. My toes feel like sausages - the only way i know to describe it is that each one of my toes feels like that poor turtle in the pictures where he has the 6-pack plastic webbing really tight around his neck. Or maybe like someone took rubber bands and put them around each toe then inflated them with helium until they were over-filled. My toes LOOK normal - they have brisk capillary refill - so I know they are fine (mentally) but they don't FEEL fine by any means. They hurt.
The soft postop cast they put on (to accommodate the awful swelling the first few days) is now loose and slides up and down my leg each time I move. The gauze on the inside of the cast is just rough kerlix (did they forget the padding??) and the dang stitches on my calf and heel incisions catch on that gauze every time my cast moves and pulls and stings. Also, because all the stitches are along the back side of my calf/and heel - simply laying with my leg elevated hurts because I'm laying ON the stitches and the pressure is uncomfortable.
And I keep running a fever - not terribly high - just low grade and enough to make me miserable and irritable and grumpy. I'll be cold one minute and sweating the next and nothing suits me for long. I know that my body is expending a tremendous amount of energy to heal and respond to the insult of a major surgical procedure and it will just take time to heal. But, geeze!! Can't it hurry up a little?
My scooter got a good workup the first go-around - I had to hop around on it for 10 weeks and because of my weight and all the abuse I put it though, the brakes on the back shredded the tires and the thing creaked like a haunted house with every step. It was also squirrely and janky and the brakes wouldn't hold well on the shredded tires - so it would slip out from under me. I fell no less than 4 times the first week postop. I am sore and pitiful all over and have terrible ugly blue and purple bruises in various stages of healing from toes to neck. I'm very thankful I did not break any bones! My husband surprised me by ordering a new scooter for me and it arrived 2 days ago and life has been MUCH better (not to mention safer) since that time.
I won't even describe the bedside commode debacles - let's just say I was thankful to have it and I am thankful for a nurse husband who is gracious enough to care for even my most basic needs when I can't do so myself. And that's all I'mma say about THAT. Thankfully, I have recovered enough to move the frame into the guest bathroom and I can actually go there now - using the frame and handles to help safely transfer from scooter to potty and back again. It's these little things that are the most frustrating.
Speaking of my husband - the man should apply for Saint-hood. Seriously. He has waited on me hand and foot - carrying my foam elevator wedge back and forth between my "sitting places" and bed, going to pick up prescriptions, driving me to the hospital and all my appointments, doing all the laundry, cooking, cleaning....even making coffee for me and bringing it to me and then coming back later to refill it for me. He has cooked gourmet meals for me, brought them to me on the couch, and carried my dirty dishes back to the kitchen to wash them. He has fetched a thousand things that I "forgot" that I needed in the other room. There are a gazillion things - large and small - on a daily basis - way too many to mention that he does for me. AND he still makes sure to hug, hold, kiss, and tell me he loves me numerous times a day. He is my ROCK and I am blessed and sooooo thankful for him.
I had prepared this giant bag of "seated activities" such as coloring books, books to read, cross-stitch projects, puzzles, watercolor painting, journals to write in, etc........and I was so sure that I would utilize the extra time as a luxury to do all the things I never find time to do regularly. I was so wrong. I tried to read - but I can't concentrate. I'd read the same page 10 times and still not comprehend/retain a word of what I had just read. I tried to color a few pages - but I just didn't care. I tried to cross stitch- but the counting was tedious and i couldn't concentrate so I gave that activity up after a few futile attempts and soooo many mistakes. I don't really care about looking at social media - politics and conspiracy theories and racism and ugliness has NO appeal to me and I've had to block so many "friends" that I just don't have a heart for it any more. I tried looking at Pinterest ......but the "interest" part was missing for me - and I realized I was scrolling through screens and not even looking at the pictures. TV holds no appeal - simply said, there is NOTHING on worth watching. I have pretty much spent the past 2 weeks staring into space, thinking about nothing and feeling sorry for myself.
But today - today I woke up and decided I was DONE with this mully-grubbing. Today I am going to feel better and shake off these dull-drums and get myself back on track. The anesthesia is out of my system now. The pain is bearable during the day with Tylenol or Motrin - so I am now only taking pain meds at night - so maybe it's just that my mind is clearer and I have a few more brain cells firing so I can concentrate more and follow through on things. I'm getting a little stronger too - transfers are getting easier.
Tuesday, I have my first postop visit with the Ortho Surgeon and I will get this HORRIBLE soft cast off (which has started to feel like an ugly gauze Albatross tied around my leg at this point) and I will transition into my first hard, fiberglass cast. The fiberglass cast offers MUCH more support and protection to the leg and allows me more freedom to move around and it's easier to move with the streamlined cast than the wad of dirty gauze I'm dragging around now. OH! And I get to chose the color for the cast too! I had purple and hot pink last time......I'm thinking of asking for blue for my first one and maybe red or green for my second one (I will have it right up until the Christmas holidays). Once I have the hard cast on, I will be able to go for rides in the car again - at least get out of the house a bit. Between Covid-19 and this leg - I am really suffering a terrible case of cabin fever!
Today, I started with making my coffee - Steve still had to carry it to me in the cup so I didn't slosh it everywhere....but still. I had a good sink bath and washed my hair and even put mousse in it. I got dressed and fixed up.
I sat in the kitchen at the island in a tall chair with my L leg resting on the scooter and i found the recipe for our "Romantic Soup" and sat at the bar and chopped onions, carrots, celery and what-not for the minestrone soup. I was able to cook things in batches - resting on the chair between each step in the recipe - so it worked out great and I was able to cook our lunch! Man, it's amazing how good it feels to contribute to the running of the household again! Haha! I have felt so bad with Steve having to do the cooking and cleaning in addition to everything else he does around the house with his myriad of projects. I even managed to make some garlic bread to go with our soup.
After lunch and a good rest, I was able to wash up the dishes and put them away! I have been a busy girl today! Watch out world, I'm on my way back!!!
