The PA came in and said that THIS is Day One -- yesterday, the day of surgery is really Day Zero. Hm-m-m-m, okay!
Gosh! I'm thrilled to report that our pt is doing ever so well! If I didn't know better, I'd say this is Day Five! He's up and out of bed to walk with a walker to go potty and to sit up at the side of his bed and eat his meals. PT folks are impressed with his progress. Alan still wants to go to rehab on Saturday, however, because he wants all the PT he can get so he can get better faster. And he wants to stay for as long as our insurance allows. He's afraid I won't push him hard enough! (That's pretty smart, now that I think about it.)
Big gun drugs are sure making him itch, poor guy. I'm about out of lotion to calm him down -- guess I'll go beg some from a nurse.
We just finished watching a great movie . . .
Friends and family have been dropping by all day with flowers and good wishes . . .
Lovely personal emails to cheer him up . . .
Even the food is good around here!
What more could a nice guy ask for?
Thank you so much for your prayers and good thoughts. Alan's across the room telling me to tell you he loves you all and will soon be back in action dancing a tango all the way down Sycamore to show our neighbors how well he's recovering. (Which is strange, because I've never seen him dance a tango before!)
I apologize for not replying promptly to all your nice emails. Will do so tomorrow!
Nitey-nite!
Lindy-Lou
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
You Found Us!
A LITTLE HISTORY:
Back in 1995 about three months into our courtship, Alan put his arm across m shoulders one evening and told me it was time I learned about his birth anomaly.
(I held my breath)
“I was born with both knock knees and bowlegs.”
(Exhale)
“What?! You can’t have both! That’s weird, Petersen!
Nevertheless it was true. When I first saw Alan in swim trunks I could see that his thighs were jammed together like those of a knock kneed (genu valgus) person and below the knees – shure ‘nuff, he was bow-legged (genu vargus). (Does that make him a genu-valgus-vargus?)
At any rate, a few army docs tried to fix those strange knees as did a couple of civilian podiatrists – “from the feet up” they approached the problem. To no avail. Tall people weigh more, and everyone knows that poundage is the enemy of all weight-bearing joints. And of course, Alan’s weight gain over the years just added insult to injury – literally. Surprisingly, x-rays show no arthritis (unlike my own knee x-rays) – just bone-on-bone – causing groan-on-groan -- in the medial (inside) portion of both knees. Ouch, ouch, OUCH!
JANUARY 2009
Alan’s knee pain wasn’t quite this bad last September when the original surgery date was set. He postponed because he didn’t want to be laid up over the holidays. But it’s gotten so much worse that he finally became convinced of the necessity of joint replacements. And this past week, off his pain drugs per surgeon’s orders, he was barely able to get around.
Alan was pretty grouchy yesterday – understandably from being nervous, he finally confessed to me. I truly empathized with what he was facing this morning.
SURGERY REPORT:
In a little over an hour, one old knee was gone and a new one took its place. Dr. Rosenberg reported to me promptly and showed me some lovely photos. Alan’s knee had both bone destruction and inflammation and his bones are very very hard. That’s good. No danger of osteoperosis for this guy!
He’s had a miserable day of pain, of course. Hard to get the meds just right:
We sure lucked out with this room. It’s a PRIVATE! There are eight privates and 28 semi-privates. All beds full. We didn’t ask for this room with its lovely view of the snow-covered Wasatch front, but gosh, it’s nice. I have a sofa here and who knows? I just may spend the night!
Back in 1995 about three months into our courtship, Alan put his arm across m shoulders one evening and told me it was time I learned about his birth anomaly.
(I held my breath)
“I was born with both knock knees and bowlegs.”
(Exhale)
“What?! You can’t have both! That’s weird, Petersen!
Nevertheless it was true. When I first saw Alan in swim trunks I could see that his thighs were jammed together like those of a knock kneed (genu valgus) person and below the knees – shure ‘nuff, he was bow-legged (genu vargus). (Does that make him a genu-valgus-vargus?)
At any rate, a few army docs tried to fix those strange knees as did a couple of civilian podiatrists – “from the feet up” they approached the problem. To no avail. Tall people weigh more, and everyone knows that poundage is the enemy of all weight-bearing joints. And of course, Alan’s weight gain over the years just added insult to injury – literally. Surprisingly, x-rays show no arthritis (unlike my own knee x-rays) – just bone-on-bone – causing groan-on-groan -- in the medial (inside) portion of both knees. Ouch, ouch, OUCH!
JANUARY 2009
Alan’s knee pain wasn’t quite this bad last September when the original surgery date was set. He postponed because he didn’t want to be laid up over the holidays. But it’s gotten so much worse that he finally became convinced of the necessity of joint replacements. And this past week, off his pain drugs per surgeon’s orders, he was barely able to get around.
Alan was pretty grouchy yesterday – understandably from being nervous, he finally confessed to me. I truly empathized with what he was facing this morning.
SURGERY REPORT:
In a little over an hour, one old knee was gone and a new one took its place. Dr. Rosenberg reported to me promptly and showed me some lovely photos. Alan’s knee had both bone destruction and inflammation and his bones are very very hard. That’s good. No danger of osteoperosis for this guy!
He’s had a miserable day of pain, of course. Hard to get the meds just right:
We sure lucked out with this room. It’s a PRIVATE! There are eight privates and 28 semi-privates. All beds full. We didn’t ask for this room with its lovely view of the snow-covered Wasatch front, but gosh, it’s nice. I have a sofa here and who knows? I just may spend the night!
6 PM
Alan ate a good meal awhile ago then the PT guy came and made him get out of bed and walk to the toilet. He did so well! Alan has been on the constant passive motion (CPM) machine all day. His doc is different than most orthopods. He insists on 8-10 hours a day vs. the 3-4 hours that the other docs require. Pretty aggressive guy! We really like him. More about him on a later blog.
Th-th-th-that's all folks!
Tune in tomorrow for some more STUFF!
Lindy-Lou
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