Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Day 11

Welcome to day 11. So I'm doing pretty well today. I woke up around 4:30am to go to the bathroom. I got in and out by myself again...it's a bit easier but still not perfect yet. I have to use both hands to grab my thigh and move my leg onto the bed/pillow since my muscles aren't back. Kevin has been helping with my PT exercises so I'm getting stronger each day.

So I woke up around 8:30am and Mom went right into the shower. I stayed in bed and jumped in the shower right after her to get it over with. Our next trip was to the grocery store. We left just before 1pm and ended up spending 2 hours at the grocery store!! I used the motorized cart at Stop & Shop...Mom thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread....I get a bit embarrassed. At least I'm in CT and no one knows me around here! So between maneuvering around the store and figuring out my coupons...it was a LONG trip. One lady asked me if I needed help to reach a box of pasta and the shopping cart man in the parking lot helped us load the bags into the car. So we've had some nice people during this trip. We came home, unpacked (mom used my wheelchair to carry the groceries to the condo!) and relaxed on the couch.

Kevin came home shortly after and now him and Mom are cooking dinner. I feel so lazy.

I know I promised some pictures but that may not be until tomorrow. I need someone to help me take a pic. So...more to come later.

I should probably talk a little about my hips since that's what this blog is about. My LPAO is doing good. Still painful to bend over and I can't put a sock on. Trouble getting in and out of bed on my own. Getting in and out of chairs is pretty good. As long as this nerve pain doesn't flare up again I should be on the road to a great recovery. I sit in my recliner with my leg up and pillow under my leg.

Monday, June 13, 2011 Day 10

So this is a day late...but I wanted to make sure I updated each day.

It was my first day home alone while Kevin went off to work. I slept pretty well. Got up once in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and was able to manage myself in and out of bed. I eventually got up around 9am and came downstairs to get some breakfast and sat in my recliner to watch some TV.

I took a shower by myself which took a while but felt so good. However, I had a super headache for some reason. I came back to my recliner, ate my lunch and stayed here the rest of the day.

My nerve pain is really starting to bother me. It is SO painful I can't even deal with it. I emailed Jaime and no reply so I emailed Dr. Millis, we responded quickly...I wrote back and he ended up calling me right back. He was asking what the pain was like and trying to figure out if it was muscular or nerve. He said to take Valium and see how it feels. I said the Valium made me CRAZY and I stopped taking it in the hospital so he suggested trying half a pill. So he asked a couple other questions and tell him how I feel tomorrow.

My mom came to visit tonight and will stay until Thursday morning. So she will help grocery shop and get this place back to normal.

Also, last night I slept on my stomach for almost 2 hours...Millis said to be careful not to cross my legs and not to hurt myself. He asked how the side was, but I said that was still a bit painful so I can't do that.

Tomorrow I plan on posting pics of my "diaper"...that's the bandages. I call them my diaper cuz they are huge and white and sound like a diaper when I move. I will also post some pictures of my screws! They are SO big.

Sunday, June 12, 2011 Day 9

Today was such a long day. I went to bed last night around 11pm which was great and woke up around 1:45am with Kevin talking in his sleep telling me I needed to get into my wheelchair! haha Whatever he was dreaming, it must have been very important. So I fell asleep again until around 3am, went to the bathroom and took my medicine then fell back asleep until around 9am! We had to check out by 10am so I pushed Kevin out of bed and he started to pack up.

We Pulled out of the parking lot around 10:15am and off to Rhode Island we went. We stopped at Kevin's Dad's house for a few minutes. I didn't even get out of the car as it is too difficult to get in and out. We then went to his grandparents house for a few minutes and then off to his Mom's house, grabbed a quick lunch and back on the road we went. We figured it would be easier to stop and see everyone since we don't know the next time we'll be back in town. I slept the whole way back to CT which felt nice. I sat in my recliner and have been here ever since. Tomorrow is Kevin's first day back to work and I'll be here alone all day. Then my Mom comes at night and will stay until Thursday morning.

Pain wise I'm doing ok. Hip is fine, but this nerve pain is killing me! It is so painful, if that could go away I'd be so thankful. I emailed Jaime (PT) if there's anything I can do to help it. I also emailed Dr. Millis a few days ago to find out if I can sleep on the side or anything. He said I can sleep on my side AND my stomach already. But to be careful. So I will keep trying it, but the side is still a bit uncomfortable.

One day at a time. Just get this nerve pain out of the way and I'll be SO happy!

It's only day 9....got a long road ahead.

Saturday, June 11, 2011 Day 8

I slept pretty crappy last night. Kevin went out with his friends from the wedding party last night. By the time I got into bed, I realized I had the wrong remote to turn the TV off, or even turn the volume down (it only changed channels) so I was stuck in bed with a loud TV until Kevin came back. So I fell asleep, it woke me up around 11:30pm, Kevin came back and turned everything off for me, then he left again and rolled back around 1:30am, I had to pee and that ruined my nights sleep. I also took my meds at that point because I was sore. I think I also tried sleeping on my side to relieve the tailbone pain. I woke up again around 8am…..we spent the next 5 hours or so in bed! It was a cold, windy, rainy day so we just laid in bed the entire day until 1:30pm!

We took showers and then got into the car (in the rain) and drove next door to the restaurant for some lunch (in the rain). Why is everything more difficult with crutches!! At this point I started to have some pain running through my left butt cheek. I am blaming this on my sciatic nerve. I think I had this feeling a bit last time but I can’t remember. I hope it goes away because it’s really painful!

The wedding today was outside, it was SO cold and windy on the Cape! Who would have thought. I sat outside under the tent, and between the sciatic pain and shivering, my pains got a bit worse. We came back to our room and hung out under the blanket. We leave tomorrow by 10am and finally head home to my own bed!

I realized that I hadn’t mentioned anything about my right hip, which the screws have been removed. When I came out of surgery, my PAO was completely  numb, my right hip, hardware removal was not numb at all! Which was fine with me because that was less invasive. I felt the incision and the rest of the area a bit. Obviously, screws were just removed from my bone so it’s not going to feel great. The first few days when I moved it felt like the incision was tearing/ripping SO bad, but it wasn’t even near the cut! After moving it a few days it felt much better. Today is day 8 and I can move it perfectly fine. I can pull it to my chest easier and there’s no pain or anything! The screws were definitely restricting some of my movement. I am so happy with that surgery now! YAY! It is in the process of getting strong, so that’s the only thing holding me back now is the muscle getting stronger.

So, I hope to wake up tomorrow and this nerve pain is gone because I can’t take it much longer!

Friday, June 10, 2011 Day 7 – 1 week.

I took MUCH needed shower. My commode barely fits in the shower but we didn’t want to cart the short seat all the way here for no reason. I did the shower basically all by myself, except Kevin helped shave my op leg. Got dressed and drove down the road to get a few things. Came back, sat on some benches by the beach….then came back to the cottage and ate some breakfast/lunch. I took a nap, Kevin ended up meeting up with his friends and I went over a bit later. We came back around 3pm or so, I took some more medicine and lay down. Kevin and I played cards and ate dinner around 5:3/6pm. We played more cards and now I’m catching up on my blog. Kevin will go out later and meet up with everyone while I rest.

I’ve been reading my blog from last time seeing where I am compared to that. I’m pretty even. I can get in and out of bed by myself if I have to (otherwise I’m lazy and make someone else move my leg for me). The bed at the suite was SO comfortable I could sleep all day! The bed here, not so much. But they both feel better than my mattress at home. I can’t wait to be in our spare room again. The only other difference is I feel less bloated than last time, but I do feel like I’m in a bit more pain. My right leg (hardware removal hip) is doing great. The incision is sore and the muscles running up along my butt are sure too as they are working hard to cart my body around. I can’t wait until I can sleep on my side…even if it’s for a few minutes. I tried last night with Kevin’s help but I got stuck. Couple more days until that I think.

So my medicine intake is as follows: ~3am-2 Oxycodone and 1 Tylenol, ~8am-2 Oxycodone, 1 Tylenol, ~3pm- 2 Oxycodone, 1 Tylenol, ~10pm 1 Oxycontin, 2 Oxycodone and 1 Tylenol. I also try to take one Colace every day, or every other day to help with the bowel movements. But so far so good.

I’ve been taking the extended relief once a day at night, but Kevin suggested I take it during the day since the Oxycodone works pretty well at night. So maybe I will try that tonight/tomorrow.

Going to be another long night and a rainy day tomorrow, the ceremony is at 330pm a couple miles away and the reception is at the cottages where we’re staying so I can come and go as I need to rest or anything.

All for now. I just had a pretty normal BM…so all is well! G-night. 

Kevin and I in the Cape.

Thursday, June 9, 2011, Day 6

So today is the day we check out of the Crescent Suites and head to Cape Cod for the wedding on Saturday.  During the night I woke up around 3am and again around 8 or so. The second time I shimmied myself out of bed and Mom heard me come back to bed so she helped me back in. I took my meds both times since they were all 5 hours apart and got back into bed. I watched some of the morning news and talk shows then ended up falling asleep again. It wasn’t until noon that I crawled out of bed! Sometimes the medication makes me really sleepy and sometimes I have a lot of energy. 

Mike had made his way to the suite by way of the T and then we waited for Kevin to come back to Waltham so we could check out, get some lunch, then be on our way to the Cape and my parents could head time. Kevin got there a little after 1pm and we started to pack up. I got a little sad again since things just aren’t easy and you do get down about things. It’s a major, major surgery and is a hard pill to swallow, especially less than a week later and already out of the hospital and on my own. After checking out we went to Shopper’s Café which is where we ordered dinner from last night and the food was great. I wasn’t very hungry, plus I was waiting to take my medicine with food so I was pretty sore and I was really hot. We sat down and I was real uncomfortable. I ordered a wrap and wasn’t even hungry at all. Finally our food came and I couldn’t wait for everyone to finish so we could go. I went to the bathroom before we left which was a bad idea. The “handicap” stall was not handicap at all. It was a larger stall, yeah, but the toilet was SO low I could barely get off it! I tried and it hurt so bad on my hip, but I finally got up. Then I was upset and really mad. We got the heck out of there, got into the Tahoe (which we’re borrowing from my Dad), Kevin put on my beautiful stockings, we said our goodbyes and off we went.

The car ride was OK. It took about an hour and a half to an hour and 45 minutes but it was fine. My butt/tailbone was getting sore. We arrived and you can’t drive up to your cottage, so we parked across the street in a large parking lot and walked over. I used the wheel chair so I could help carry stuff on my lap and because it was a long walk for me. Kevin did the rest of the trips with the large wheel barrow they offer.

We ate torpedos for dinner then lounged around and I ended up falling asleep on the bed pretty early which is what I don’t want to do because I really want to sleep at night.  Kevin woke me up around 9pm and I got ready, took my meds and got into bed. I woke up around 3am and had Kevin help me to the bathroom, took medicine and woke up again around 630am, got up again, then slept off and on the rest of the morning until about 8am.

Less than thrilled to not be in my own home!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 Day 5

I slept pretty good…got up twice with the help of my Mom, even though I HATE having to wake someone up just to lift my leg in and out of bed! At least when I called my nurse she was already awake. It is painful and sore when I get up in the night since I haven’t moved in a few hours and my meds are pretty worn off by then, but it’s manageable until I take the next dose and get back into bed. I’m sharing the King sized with my Mom and Kevin is in on the pull out couch.

I feel as though I’m sleeping a lot since I am going to bed about 10pm, waking up around 8 (with a few bathroom trips in the night) but then I am falling asleep until 10 or 11am! I slept a lot last time as well and I think a lot has to do with the medicine.

I had a little meltdown again today, but after that Mom and I took a trip down to the laundry room to do a small load. She wheeled my in the wheelchair…I was nervous since the night before she rammed my leg into the elevator wall! She ran herself into the door jam and I was cracking up I needed the cough pillow! We went back to the room, I walked around a little, then back to bed I went. Kevin is helping with my exercises but we aren’t doing them as much as we did last time which is not good! A lot of the pain I have is of my insides since I know they really dig around a lot when they’re in there. The visual incision is about 6 inches or so, but the cut they make inside is WAY bigger. So that’s where most of the pain comes from. Also, my tailbone when I sit.

My Dad came to Waltham this afternoon and Kevin went to RI for a bachelor party. When I woke up again Mom took me for a stroll in the parking lot (in my wheelchair) and it was nice to have the fresh air into my lungs, but boy was it hot! We sat outside for a little bit then headed in to decide what we would have for dinner. We ordered some food and Dad went to pick it up. I had some steak tips and rice and some salad. I went to the bathroom twice (BM) and went to bed about 10:30pm and Dad slept on the couch this time.