Progress

I moved home on Monday afternoon. Dealing with all of the ups and downs of the stairs isn't too bad as long as I am careful. They're not something that I'd want to trek while heavily medicated. My Mom has moved in with me for the time being. Besides ensuring that I don't fall down the stairs, she seems to be capable of doing more chores in a day than I manage to accomplish in a year. The woman is a whirlwind of cooking, cleaning, fixing, and organizing. It's amazing, and it makes me feel like a worthless slob. But, man, did this place need it, and I surely do appreciate it.

I'm a little less medicated now too. I've been working to stretch my four-to-six hour percocets nearer to the six hour end of the range than the four. I'm managing five or five and a half hours in most instances. Additionally, I've skipped the sleeping pill the past few nights. The main reason I was doing so was because I thought that it may have been playing a role in these restless freak-outs that I've been having in the mornings. They're like a panic attack of some sort mixed with more energy than I can get out of my weakened little body. I end up kicking my good leg about twenty times a second, shaking around, and flapping my arms and hands like some sort of spastic maniac. I'm still not sure what the cause of these morning episodes are, but I don't think it's the sleeping pills. Still, I've slept without the help, so I'm setting them aside for now. I'm still not sleeping great, but it's better.

Last night I did nearly, if not all of, my sleeping on my sides. I only stay asleep that way for an hour or so, but it's a little easier on my back, and I seem to enter a deeper sleep. I'm generally able to fall back to sleep quickly too. Well, at least until 3 AM or so when I often have little, minor freak-outs. Weird. I think they'll pass as my legs get stronger and I have more muscle to utilize the energy that's building up.

I'm starting to see just the slightest definition return to my left thigh. When I flex, it no longer looks like a sickly log of cheese. I'm told I won't get real definition until strength training and weight bearing exercises come into rotation. That won't be until the week before Thanksgiving in all likelihood.

At physical therapy today, the therapist bent my leg to 96 degrees. As I'm sure you read in that standards or care paper I linked to, it is important to get to 90 degrees by the fourth week post-op. I beat that timeframe by five days. I'm much relieved and a little bit proud to be this far. A week ago, I was pretty nervous about hitting this milestone. The therapist continues to think that my progress is excellent and tells me that the joint feels really good from what he can feel. I'm busting by butt and doing my exercises and not cheating hardly at all. Everyone tells me it will payoff, and it looks more and more like you're all right.

I now face the challenge of building my strength and stamina on the crutches. Wednesday, I went downtown for a haircut. Afterwards, I figured I'd walk the three and a half blocks to my office, sit outside and eat a hotdog from the vendor, and let my co-workers come down and say hi. I had to rest two or three times during the walk, and by the end of the few blocks, I was sweaty, out of breath, and sore from where the crutches rub against my ribs. My mother was wondering why so many guys were smiling at me along the walk. She thought at first it was just the really good haircut. It took her a while to realize that it was Stu's cutesy t-shirt that I was wearing that had everyone smirking.

Being home means the loss of the wireless and laptop usage that I had at my brother's house. I'm spending less time on the computer as I can't just surf, blog, and email while I ride the bender. I'll get caught up on the emails and posts soon enough. Now that I'm home, I should be able to start working on getting some pictures up here pretty soon.

Jonathan 9/15/2006 03:51:00 PM