The crip can settle!
This morning Nathan and I got to sleep in! I listened to NPR while Nathan snoozed. He went to manball (basketball with men) from 11 to 1 while I sat on my couch. When he came home I had what I termed the "Ellisfield blues". I have been home for only a week and I am tired of being at home all the time. I am tired of not being me. I consider myself very independent, but I can't do much for myself and this is really frustrating. Nathan let me cry a little and then he was loving enough to suggest a thousand things for us to do until I decided what I wanted. We went for some coffee and then out to eat. Afterwards, Erin and Keith were kind enough to invite us over to play some games.
For dinner we went to Rockwood Filling Station, a new pizzaria in Durham. (side note: I love Durham and all the great places to eat!) We had the antipasta plate which features a great deviled egg, a yummy cheese, a roasted garlic head (delicious but bad for the breath), and other Italian specialty meats and salads. We also had the eggplant pizza. Then we headed over to Carrboro to be the first visitors to Erin and Keith's apartment. We talked for a while, catching up on the happenings of the new teachers and then we moved to the dinning room table to settle into our favorite game of Settlers of Catan. At first it looked like Erin may be taking a lead. Then it was Keith and Nathan's turn to lead. No one was keeping an eye out for me and I came from behind and won! Go gimp!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
ACL surgery - day 10 Friday
I've been meaning to write a blog post ever day out of surgery, but the pain pills have made me a little loopy and I find that when I spend more than five minutes in front of the computer I start to fall asleep. I'm going to try to work backwards: first tackle today and then go backwards with many days as I can before my eyelids drop.
Today has been like many of the other days this week. Nathan got up and got ready for work, then he spent 15 minutes helping me get ready to live on the couch for the day. We moved my leg-wrap-cooler, pillows, covers, computer, socks, and pills. He filled my leg-wrap-cooler up with ice for the day, and set the cooler up so that I could empty the melted water into a bowl and fill it up with ice from a mini cooler where I stored my breakfast and my protein shake. It is so heavy that I can't carry it from the kitchen to the living room by myself.
Today no one is visiting me for lunch so Nathan planned on coming home at lunch, however around 11 I started noticing that Pancake was itching his left ear. His ears are usually perky, but his left ear was droopy and he kept itching it. I had him come over towards the couch and it was really red. I think he has an ear infection. I called his doctor and they said he could come in at 3. So instead of eating lunch with me, Nathan has to take Pancake to the doctor. He was not excited to add this task on top of all the other things he has to do.
While sitting on the couch I started to notice that the outside underneath of my knee was killing me. I twisted myself so that I could see it, and realized I have a GIANT bruise there. Nathan has been seeing my leg while helping me shower and doing PT, but he thought I knew this was there. It was shocking! Here is a picture. To orient yourself: the blue thing on the right is my sock, the round undefined thing on the top middle is my knee, the blinding white thing on the left is my ghostly thigh, and the yellow-purple thing in the bottom middle is the nasty bruise.
I do have something to look forward to. Tonight Sarah and Ben are coming over bringing dinner! We are having Shepard's pie - yumm.
We have to think of something to do this weekend. Maybe I can go to the mall and ride a jazzy! Michelle mentioned doing some sewing. It would also be nice to something outside if it's not too hot. We'll see.
Today has been like many of the other days this week. Nathan got up and got ready for work, then he spent 15 minutes helping me get ready to live on the couch for the day. We moved my leg-wrap-cooler, pillows, covers, computer, socks, and pills. He filled my leg-wrap-cooler up with ice for the day, and set the cooler up so that I could empty the melted water into a bowl and fill it up with ice from a mini cooler where I stored my breakfast and my protein shake. It is so heavy that I can't carry it from the kitchen to the living room by myself.
Today no one is visiting me for lunch so Nathan planned on coming home at lunch, however around 11 I started noticing that Pancake was itching his left ear. His ears are usually perky, but his left ear was droopy and he kept itching it. I had him come over towards the couch and it was really red. I think he has an ear infection. I called his doctor and they said he could come in at 3. So instead of eating lunch with me, Nathan has to take Pancake to the doctor. He was not excited to add this task on top of all the other things he has to do.
While sitting on the couch I started to notice that the outside underneath of my knee was killing me. I twisted myself so that I could see it, and realized I have a GIANT bruise there. Nathan has been seeing my leg while helping me shower and doing PT, but he thought I knew this was there. It was shocking! Here is a picture. To orient yourself: the blue thing on the right is my sock, the round undefined thing on the top middle is my knee, the blinding white thing on the left is my ghostly thigh, and the yellow-purple thing in the bottom middle is the nasty bruise.
I do have something to look forward to. Tonight Sarah and Ben are coming over bringing dinner! We are having Shepard's pie - yumm.
We have to think of something to do this weekend. Maybe I can go to the mall and ride a jazzy! Michelle mentioned doing some sewing. It would also be nice to something outside if it's not too hot. We'll see.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
ACL surgery - day 5 Sunday
Today was my first whole day home. Nathan and mom got to sleep in while I was still on the hospital schedule and woke up at 7am. I listened to my ipod while they slept. When mom got up I used the walkie talkies and had her come to help me out of bed. She assisted my move to the couch and fixed me breakfast of steel cut oats and coffee; my appetite was slowly getting back to normal. My pain was under control, and I was quite comfortable.
Around 10, I made mom wake up Nathan. I was really in the mood to take a real shower! As the last time my hair had been washed was Wednesday morning. Needless to say it was looking gross! Mom had brought all her paraphernalia from when she had her total knee replacement so we made good use of these products. We arranged my leg so it was propped out of the shower on the shower stool. We used the uplifted toilet in the shower because it had handles and was more like a chair. Nathan had installed a hand held shower nozzle which was perfect! He got in the shower and helped me. I ended up washing my hair twice because it felt so dirty. After this I felt 100% better! I lounged on the bed napping while catching up on some NPR.
Later that afternoon Michelle, Mark, and Camden came over for a visit. I was feeling some Camden withdrawal and my mom had never met him. He was so good! and entertained himself on the play mat that my sister gave us as a hand-me-down.
Big smile!
We had banana peppers stuffed with a mix of cream cheese, spinach, and mushrooms in addition to salmon for dinner. My mom brought us tons of banana peppers and this is a good way to consume them. I ended the evening by watching the Olympic closing ceremony. I became a little loopy by 9ish and my mom and Nathan sent me to bed. Loopy consisted of me thinking thoughts clearly in my head, but nothing coherent coming out of my mouth.
Around 10, I made mom wake up Nathan. I was really in the mood to take a real shower! As the last time my hair had been washed was Wednesday morning. Needless to say it was looking gross! Mom had brought all her paraphernalia from when she had her total knee replacement so we made good use of these products. We arranged my leg so it was propped out of the shower on the shower stool. We used the uplifted toilet in the shower because it had handles and was more like a chair. Nathan had installed a hand held shower nozzle which was perfect! He got in the shower and helped me. I ended up washing my hair twice because it felt so dirty. After this I felt 100% better! I lounged on the bed napping while catching up on some NPR.
Later that afternoon Michelle, Mark, and Camden came over for a visit. I was feeling some Camden withdrawal and my mom had never met him. He was so good! and entertained himself on the play mat that my sister gave us as a hand-me-down.
Big smile!
We had banana peppers stuffed with a mix of cream cheese, spinach, and mushrooms in addition to salmon for dinner. My mom brought us tons of banana peppers and this is a good way to consume them. I ended the evening by watching the Olympic closing ceremony. I became a little loopy by 9ish and my mom and Nathan sent me to bed. Loopy consisted of me thinking thoughts clearly in my head, but nothing coherent coming out of my mouth.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
ACL surgery - day 1
This morning I had to arrive at UNC's Memorial Hospital at 6:30am. Nathan and my mom accompanied me. They deserve a shout out for getting up that early to just sit around and wait. I checked in, which included signing some papers and getting my blue identification bracelet. And then I went to the PCS (post care stay)B where I had to take off my clothes and don a lovely Carolina blue gown, booties, and hairnet. 
After that, things moved pretty fast. I was bombarded by nurses, doctors, and anesthesiologists who were asking me questions about my history and poking me getting BP and other baseline measurements.
Around 7:30, which seemed to come really fast, I was ushered to a curtained "room" to get my nerve block. I was given the "I don't care" medicine and remember very little of what happened after. I gleaned from Nathan and my mom and from the marks on my body that they marked up the right side of my body and stuck with me with two needles aimed at my femoral nerves. Making me not be able to feel my right leg, butt, and foot. While this sounds inconvenient it was the best thing that happened all day! Nathan and mom tell me they took some pictures (see above with me laying in the bed), I talked to the doctors, and we just hung out until it was time for my surgery. At 8:15 I was wheeled into the surgical room. I do remember a few things from this. I remember that it was really cold in the room and they strapped me onto the table like I was going to go crazy. They wrapped a belt around my waist and put my arms out wide like I was flying and strapped those down to. I evidently did not go under general anesthesia, which seems so bizarre to me! I know I was not fully under, but I have no idea exactly what that entailed. I do not remember anything, which is good.
I choose to do the patellar ligament as my new ACL graft. There are generally three options for the ACL reconstruction all of which have their drawbacks.
If I get bored I might describe all of them at some point and find a good description on the web, but I'm going to try to keep describing the day's events.
The surgery went well and I went to the recovery room where I slept. Nathan came and sat with me until I woke up when I was moved
After that, things moved pretty fast. I was bombarded by nurses, doctors, and anesthesiologists who were asking me questions about my history and poking me getting BP and other baseline measurements.
Around 7:30, which seemed to come really fast, I was ushered to a curtained "room" to get my nerve block. I was given the "I don't care" medicine and remember very little of what happened after. I gleaned from Nathan and my mom and from the marks on my body that they marked up the right side of my body and stuck with me with two needles aimed at my femoral nerves. Making me not be able to feel my right leg, butt, and foot. While this sounds inconvenient it was the best thing that happened all day! Nathan and mom tell me they took some pictures (see above with me laying in the bed), I talked to the doctors, and we just hung out until it was time for my surgery. At 8:15 I was wheeled into the surgical room. I do remember a few things from this. I remember that it was really cold in the room and they strapped me onto the table like I was going to go crazy. They wrapped a belt around my waist and put my arms out wide like I was flying and strapped those down to. I evidently did not go under general anesthesia, which seems so bizarre to me! I know I was not fully under, but I have no idea exactly what that entailed. I do not remember anything, which is good.I choose to do the patellar ligament as my new ACL graft. There are generally three options for the ACL reconstruction all of which have their drawbacks.
- Patellar Ligament
- Hamstring Tendons
- Allograft (Donor Tissue)
If I get bored I might describe all of them at some point and find a good description on the web, but I'm going to try to keep describing the day's events.
The surgery went well and I went to the recovery room where I slept. Nathan came and sat with me until I woke up when I was moved
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
ACL surgery - Before
Here are two pictures of my legs before surgery. The right leg is the one going under the knife! As you can tell, obviously there are no scars and the legs are the same shape and size (albeit they are quite white and ghostly looking). The top one is me laying on our bed - a place where I anticipate spending many many hours the next few weeks. The bottom one is me standing; this is something I anticipate NOT doing alot of for the next few months.
To note: I am wearing shorts - I'm not naked.
To note: I am wearing shorts - I'm not naked.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Pictures have been uploaded!
We uploaded 150 pictures from our Galapagos trip onto our photo website. Currently we posted just the "best of" and they are in chronological order. I will try to make day by day albums and also hope to post on here a day by day itinerary with some pictures.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
We're Back!
We've returned from the Galapagos. Needless to say we had a wonderful time! Above is a picture of the group that traveled with us on our boat. We will post pictures on our photo website soon!
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