June 22, 2009

• A Leg To Stand On

  HOME FOR A WEEK & A HALF

  

  It's been a week and a half since I got out of the hospital. I don't really feel like "doing" much these days. Although the healing of the hip revision is going great, and I'm able to walk down to the clubhouse and back to my own home on the walker without any problems, I'm somewhat bothered by some congestion which showed up during my hospital stay and which doesn't seem to be going away. I'm tired pretty much most of the time.

  A typical day: Awake at around 8am, fix some hot tea and breakfast. My 'bath' is a washdown of my upper body and legs. I haven't been able to locate the clear bandages which were ordered for my wound. (They can be special ordered for 6 bucks apiece through a medical supply house but I haven't ordered any yet) I saw my orthopaedist last Tuesday (the first time I drove since the operation) and he took out my staples, but there is only a series of small bandages over the actual wound, over which I place a pad, which is secured by my "hip wrap", a velcro aided large flexible wrap which I fasten over my left hip, thigh and buttock. I know I'm not supposed to get the wound wet, and won't see the doctor for another three weeks. So far since I'm not spending my days doing much, it doesn't really matter if I shower completely. After tea and breakfast, I take my first "walk" around the mobile home park. I'm probably walking four-five miles a day. At around 10am I watch a movie or TV show on my bigscreen, and then I'm usually taking a nap in the early afternoon. Then a sandwich for lunch, more TV or another movie, another nap, dinner, and at 5pm my antibiotic treatment which I'll be taking for another three weeks. It takes about a half hour to inject the antibiotics, and I'm doing this myself. A nurse comes by on Mondays to change the dressing on my arm where the Picc line is inserted. After my antibiotics, I take my evening walk around the park. At 9 or 10 I go to bed.

  I've ventured outside the confines of the mobile home park three times. First an appointment with the orthopaedist last Tuesday, then a visit to my own doctor, plus a visit to my workplace to say hi to everyone on Wednesday. On Friday, I drove around to two separate medical supply houses and found out I had to have the clear plastic bandages special ordered. Since I don't really think I need them, I didn't order any. I did get "skis" for my walker, which take the place of the rubber tips on the back legs (the front legs have wheels). I wore out the rubber tips pretty quickly. (The technician at the medical supply house told me it was "good" that I wore out the rubber tips so quickly cause this meant I was using the walker a lot.)

  I want to go back to work this week if possible. On Wednesday, my "three week vacation" from work will be over. Depending upon how I feel, I might go back to work mid week, or wait till next Monday. It's not busy at work at all, and by the looks of it during my visit, my presence is not missed all that much. The folks I trained to do some of my tasks while I was gone are doing pretty well. One of the two things that bother me right now is that I'm tired most of the time, and the few times I've attempted driving and going places, I got tired really quickly. While at home, preparing meals and watching TV, I haven't felt all that tired. I am taking lots of naps however.

  I'm still not ready to blog on a regular basis. There's really not much to report. Life is pretty "boring" right now. I wish I could take some of this time and actually "do something" but even the thought of sitting in a theater seat to see a movie at a theater might be too daunting. At home, I sit on a pillow, and move to the bed pretty frequently to alleviate any pain. I'm not taking too many pain pills however, which is a good thing.

  The worst thing right now, and what is bothering me the most is the cough. As I mentioned, I seem to have gotten some congestion in my chest during my hospital stay, and while I'm not "sick" like with a cold, and am not running a fever, the cough is terrible, and I don't seem to be clearing the congestion. (Which seems really weird since I'm pumping antibiotics into my body on a daily basis.) When I saw my regular doctor last week, and complained of this he prescribed proventil, (a 40 dollar inhaler!!) Mucinex, and a cough syrup. Finally, today, for the first time, I don't seem to be coughing as much, although I can still feel the conjestion when I breathe.

  I don't need any additional "help" around the house, but I have the phone numbers of four different friends/neighbors by my side in case of emergency. So far, with the help of the "hip kit", which includes a grabber and long handle scrub brush and shoe horns, and with the walker, I'm "getting around" pretty well.

  I just seem to be too tired to do anything except lounge around and watch movies on my bigscreen and take lots of naps. (If memory serves I spent about three weeks after the first operation 16 years ago doing exactly the same thing.)

  Excuse me that I'm not blogging much, and that this "update" isn't very well written or presented. I'm sure there are at least a dozen folks who will be happy to find out that I'm doing as well as can be expected. Thanks to all who left comments/messages after my last entry. If this damn cough will go away, then I would pretty much say I'm almost fully healed.

  Well, it's time to take a nap.

  • 1:49 pm
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