Monday, April 27, 2009

It's been a while since I posted but recovery from surgery is rarely interesting enough to write about. I've been doing my exercises and walking around the house at least. I had one brief outing to the mall for a cup of coffee. I've had a lot of visitors and many phone calls checking up on me. I had a cold. I had a sore back for ages but today at least it seems to have left. I am tired all the time. I sleep a lot. I can stand and walk on my new knee without pain and don't use crutches around the house.

My biggest adventure was yesterday when I got into my car and drove, first to the chemist and then to the supermarket. Managed both shopping excursions on my own without pain and get home in one piece. We have been having very wild weather: high winds, rain (sometimes heavy, sometimes passing clouds) and more seriously cold than previously. It has prevented me from venturing out to walk much. It has been 4 weeks from surgery and I am very pleased with my knee. I was alarmist in my fear prior to the operation and I hope the other one goes as well whenever I have that one done.

And my favourite dancer won So You Think You Can Dance last night so.all's right with the world.

Saturday, April 18, 2009



I have been grasping for something to post since it's not very exciting here at home. I've watched a lot of DVDs and Foxtel. I am in love with Clive Owen. I am reading Sherri Tepper's The Companions which, as all of her books are, is wonderful even if some of the main characters are dogs. I have almost finished my latest BBBB which is House of Rain by Craig Childs. This is an exceedingly readable description, told in the first person, about "what happened to the Anasazi." I put that in quotes because the book describes where they went and why. He literally walked hundreds of miles across the American Southwest and then northern Mexico following their tracks, some of which had been documented and some that had not. He describes in beautifully written prose what daily life was like between 400 and 1400 A.D. in these areas and his affinity with deserts and knowledge of the interconnection of water and people makes this book a 5 star. I may go back and read his other books. The Southwest is one place I've never been but would like to see.

The photo above is the only recent fibre I can show you. The three white skeins are my production of alpaca from the spinning I was doing pre-surgery. I washed them yesterday and I found it interesting that wet alpaca smells like wet hair: like a beauty salon after several shampoos, and not like wet wool. I am thinking of dyeing one skein red and knitting a Swans scarf out of it. The weaving is a dish towel from Laura Fry. Not that I would ever use it as a dish towel, but I admire her weaving and her knowledge which she freely shares with even novices like me. The towel is a twill in cotton and linen and is what I wish I could weave some day.

Post-surgery update: I am doing very well on the knee rehab. Walked yesterday again and want to make it 2 houses down where there is a footpath (sidewalk) to the next street over. My street has no footpaths and walking in the street or gutter can be a bit nervewracking with cars whizzing by and broken pavement. My back has been killing me but I think it's a result of unusual sleeping positions and soon I will clear out the bed of extra padding and go back to normal. Having one weak knee and a sore back makes moving around the house a bit challenging at times but I am managing.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Not only am I home, but I'm feeling pretty human. I have not used my crutches indoors since I felt no need (no pun intended). I can walk with a normal gate--no stiff leggedness, no limp, bending the knee as I walk. I have continued my exercises and about the only things I have trouble with are the straight leg raises. Some of this is unco-operative fibro muscles and I can only do so much about them. I spoke with my boss (who had a hip replacement in November) and asked her about what physiotherapy she had and she responded (unsurprisingly) that she had done no supervised physio and she is cruising now after lots of walking. I'm inclined to follow her example since I do not want to get into more arguments with well-meaning physios who seem to think that my falling back on fibro is somehow shirking my duty. I passed all their standards for home release without significant effort and I can stand and walk now without pain. In fact it gives me extra incentive to get the other knee done,since it still hurts. The one exercise I could not do was squats and that was the sole fault of the old right knee not the new left knee. I'd show you a photo but there's just a long bandage down my left leg with a waterproof dressing. I washing my hair and showered today and I'm feeling the need to cook. Everyone had showered me with dark chocolate, tis the season in in Oz to give chocolate to everyone: that's all Easter seems to mean.Maybe some oatmeal cookies would be a counter attack. Stock the freezer for return to work. I have 2 more weeks to wander the house and do things like ironing. I also have to find a tradesman to fix my front verandah which is verging on dangerous and I have withheld savings long enough. All I need now is to crash through a broken plank.

Miscrosoft has managed to strike at my heart by refusing to download an update to iTunes.and without iTunes I feel positively cut off. I may have to shift platforms earlier than I want to to but I've gone through all the recommended fixes and nothing worked.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Well, I have a new knee and what looks like a zipper up the front of my leg. I am too tired to go through excruciating detail of the experience, but 10 days in hospital has certainly cured my loneliness. I missed the Imp incredibly and she was overjoyed to see me home. We had a big cuddle where she purred louder than I've ever heard her.

I spent 5 days in surgery recovery, and 5 days in rehab. The pain I found totally bearable except one physiotherapy session when the therapist expected a fibromyalgia leg to do things it won't. I ended up in tears and had to recuperate a day. I fell twice, but then I fall a lot. It scared the nurses and bruised my dignity but did no damage to the physical self. I know there's a lot more work in the future because already it stiffens up if I don't keep moving it. Hard to do when you're asleep or even just blogging. I've already used up all patience with hospital bureaucracy. An example: I brought all my own medicines with me to hospital because I'd been warned about pharmacy bills for medications prescribed inside. The first night, a nurse didn't/couldn't find the box of one of my medications so ordered more from the pharmacy and once that box was open, it was used instead of mine. This happened twice.

I'll write more when I'm up to it. Coming home was very stressful because of a lot of hurry up and wait, having my staples removed while I didn't watch, and then having to manage in the outside world after living inside a ward for 5 days.