I really believe in this cause--it's a great niche and really needed

I am off the cane, by the way, and I'm glad I can drive again for a slew of reasons, but I've been looking forward to this and was hoping I could go in time; I'd contacted their secretary a month-and-a-half ago about when it would be. I had some bottles ready for the last time in June, and that's when I fell off the porch into a rosebush, so I was in the ER during the dropoff. Hopefully, this time it'll be less eventful this time, as I've got quite a lot saved now. You can drop clean pill bottles and lids off at the Beaumont, Eastside, and Northside Branches of the Lexington Public Library, or the Scott County Public Library in Georgetown, from 1-2 PM on October 4th.  They're usually in a spot in the back parking lot so that you can just line up and hand over the bags/containers. Thank you to the ladies of the University of Kentucky Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and their Alumnae association.

Odd

It feels really weird to weird to wear pants today rather than (one of three pairs of) shorts I have, all of which are in the laundry to be washed, so I'm wearing my wide-legged pants that allow you to push up the fabric all the way up the thigh to get to the incision to massage the patella and incision or check for flexion, etc. The only problem they make for PT is the hurdles. I have to lift my knees a little more and concentrate a bit to make sure I don't knock them over, but that's actually good. But considering it's been 21 days since I've worn pants, it just feels odd. It doesn't hurt or anything; they're healed enough not to be an issue, it's just kind of strange. Funny how we get out of the habit of things. Like when I was first driving after two months. It took the first errand we ran to really get a feel for it again. But it's all good.

Speaking of driving, it's time to go to PT. I did the ROMTech bike after taking my morning meds and some insulin since I'd been high on my blood glucose, and then lay down to put some heat on that pulled muscle, which was tight. My roommate woke me up two hours later, at 12:30, which startled me that I slept that late. I hadn't expected that and hadn't set an alarm. My appointment is at 2 pm. My blood sugar was 43. I chewed quite a of glucose tablets. It's finally 141, so I can drive. But it had been so low it took a while to come back up. I'm hoping I'll get the okay to ditch the cane in the house (to be honest, I've mostly not been using it, to my roommate's dismay). I'm using it out of the house, and of course, on the steps still.

Okay, I'd better go. It's 1:23.

 

Huzzah!

Well, I:

• Drove to the UK area to pick up my friend's jacket, which he accidentally left at a friend's house while celebrating the new year
  
  
• Drove to the grocery store to pick up food, especially as we were out of coffee, so things were dire
  
  
• Drove to Captain D's through the drive-through to pick up dinner
  
  

It was odd to drive after eight weeks, but it felt nice to get some independence back. Yay, I'm back on the road!

Today I cancelled the Chandler Pharmacy's standing order to mail me my prescriptions, so I'll have to pick up a couple after PT tomorrow. So now I can go to my appointments by myself.

To everyone who drove me to my appointments, though, thank you so much for helping me! I really appreciate it.

Yay!!!

I got my bandages off, get to drive (starting small, anyway), and have a return date, right on schedule. Woo-hoo!!! See you all in October!

Here's post bandages being taken off:

The only thing he was concerned about is on my other leg, where the robot incision is, there is some redness around it, but there's no drainage, so he said to just keep an eye on it, and if it looks worse at all, call and get some antibiotics sent over to the pharmacy. Otherwise, not only was he pleased, but he was practically amazed by how well I was doing on it and commented to that effect.

Excited

I have my post-op appointment here in a couple of hours. Wish me luck and fingers crossed! I hope to get an idea of 1) when I can drive and 2) my return-to-work date. Plus, I'm getting my bandages off, regardless. Woo-hoo!

As far as the fusion bandage, it's all but ready to come off itself:

Jim Henson would have been 89 years old today

This is how the Muppets learned he died while planning a tribute for him. It was a lovely tribute, indeed. We need more Jim Hensons in the world. I wish we hadn't lost him so soon. So here on the anniversary of his birth, I thought I'd leave this here..

Happy Birthday in Heaven, Jim.

Sigh

I was curious as to when I joined Facebook. Apparently, this is no longer displaying in the 'about' section like it used to on my profile page, nor is it buried in the settings like it's supposed to be, even according to numerous instructions on the internet, YouTube videos, and the actually helpful Meta AI program. I finally found it by searching my activity log by filtering by year, as it only presents the years you actually post, and the first year was 2008, and my first post was on March 25th. Considering Facebook, or 'TheFacebook' started out as a college thing and was created in 2004, only being opened up to everyone in 2006, I'd consider myself a fairly early adopter. That means I've been on it for 19 years. Wow. I feel old. Considering it's taken me 45 minutes to find this date, I feel even older. I'm going to go get on that ROMTech bike and do something useful. 

I love this song

But the video makes me cry. It's hard being Superman.

Just as a reminder

We're heading into that time of the year. No, I'm not talking about Autumn, although happy Mabon. I'm talking about Banned Books Week, which this year is October 5th through 11th. George Takei has been named Honorary Chair this year.

So...

I have the t-shirt that says this that I bought from the ALA. Also, the bumper sticker. Always good to remind people. So take up a banned book this year and read or re-read it. Better yet, fight for the rights of others to read them. So many libraries, schools, librarians, and teachers are facing challenges across the nation right now. I'm really interested in seeing The Librarians for that reason, although I may wait till it streams somewhere if I can.

#10

Divergent Mind: Thriving in A World that Wasn't Designed for You, by Jenara Nerenberg. New York: HarperCollins, 2021.

The book itself isn't bad, it's actually pretty decent. I hate how it's exclusively geared towards women but you don't get that until you start reading it--there's nothing in the title or subtitle indicating that, and I think if I were a guy I'd feel like there was a bait and switch, because 1) male experiences matter, too, and 2) with the exception of a few cases, most of what she wrote would also apply to men, but it is written through a feminist, women-only lens. I'm saying this as a woman myself. I'm not saying we can't focus on our issues, but just be up front about it and don't alienate half the population, especially in a group that's already been alienated for being different from neurotypicals.

Good news, bad news

Good news: I've been released by my physical therapist to only use the cane. I'm off the walker both inside and outside, unless I'm in a busy environment where I feel I need it to keep from being trampled. Bad news: I got on one of those boards where you slide and do leg presses today at physical therapy. The mount/dismount is somewhat tricky, and I wasn't quite ready for it, because I pulled a part of my quadriceps muscle up on the upper part of my right (operant) thigh, and it really hurt. My therapist did massage it, and it helped quite a bit, but I'm limping a bit, and it hurts to stand up. It's almost exactly the spot I hurt on my left leg earlier this month when I stood up from the dinner table. My quads are always weak, but especially now, after surgery, and they're just not cooperating with me, even though we've worked a lot on strengthening both. But this, too, shall pass, I'm sure.

In the meantime, I've already transferred all the basic items I had in my walker bag (things like my handicapped placard, lip balm, house keys, and a small planner) to my smaller sling backpack. Time to put the walker away for now. Yay!

#9

The Mindful Guide for Adults Living with Autism: Empowering Adults with Autism, Thrive in Work, Love, and Self-Discovery by Steven Fain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a good overview of what an autistic person needs to know about dealing with adult life, and while helpful for anyone, it would make a good gift for a young adult going into the world or someone who struggles to find mindful balance in life. It doesn't overwhelm with detail, but rather gives practical advice for a wide-range of areas of life in terms of balancing relationships, learning, work, personal interests, and online life in a way that is meaningful while drawing boundaries and being assertive, advocating for oneself, and looking out for one's own mental and physical wellbeing. It is a worthwhile look at all ways to improve all aspects of life that can be challenging to those on the spectrum, without being preachy or pedantic.

View all my reviews

*Note I did receive this book free in return for the request to review it.

And so of course I did a thing...

Well, I somehow managed to do a klutzy thing with my bandage last night. I've been having trouble with swelling, especially at night before bed, so I'd iced and elevated my leg, which felt like an overripe tomato. I had used an ice pack that velcroed onto the leg, so when I went to take it off, I just reached under to cover, and somehow grabbed the fusion bandage along with it. I heard it rip a bit and stopped, but about 2-3 inches came off the top, to my horror. I got up, looked at it under the light. Everything under it looked good. It was closed and healing well. I asked my roommate (since he was a certified nursing assistant back in the day) what he thought I should do, and until I could ask the clinicians the next day, he put a Band-Aid over the edge of the end to keep it flush for the night. That didn't stay all night, but it got through most of it. This morning, I took a couple of pictures, uploaded them to MyChart, and sent a message asking if I should just trim it back or if I needed to do anything else to protect the incision. A couple of hours later, they said to trim it back, and that it looked good, so I did that. Three hours after that, I managed to hit the incision against the table, and it bled like the dickens. Only me. But with pressure, it did better. I've only ridden the bike once, though, today. I've been a little wary since I whacked my leg on the underside of the table, since it scraped the incision. Pictures below to illustrate what I'm talking about. Keep in mind, I'm two weeks post-status surgery.

 

Peeling

Peeled back

Trimmed off

Trimmed back -  from the top

Trimmed back - the whole view

A little do-it-yourself was in order

Since there was one night I accidentally stepped in dog hack-up (fortunately I did not slide, given the walker has wheels in the front, and the brakes in the back would have only done so much), and I am a klutz (which I think we have long established), but I don't want to wake up my roommate by turning on the hall light either, I rigged up my old cane light onto my walker. I had to change the batteries and clean the contacts. I will probably be released from the walker, at least for indoors, on Friday, but it'll help until then, and I can just move it to the cane after that.

I've been having enough pain to have trouble sleeping lately, so

I went back on the Journavx [suzetrigine], which is neither a traditional pain medicine (i.e. opioid) nor an NSAID, so it avoids a lot of the issues with either of those. It's a sodium channel blocker. The only issue I'm having is, like my thyroid medicine, you take it on an empty stomach and can't eat for an hour afterwards, so since I took it at midnight last night, and you take it every 12 hours, it runs right into lunchtime. So timing can be tricky, especially as we eat late, and so if I take it anytime in the morning, we run into the problem of dinner. But it's workable. It's brand new, apparently. But it really helped last night and today. I wasn't sure about right after the surgery because I had that nerve block on anyway.

[UPDATE: I am totally wrong about how to take this. The food matters for the first dose only. It should be taken one hour before eating and at least two hours after eating, then 12 hours after the first dose. But the subsequent doses can be taken with or without food. Well, that makes my life much easier.]

I don't want to give into the tech overlords just yet; give me a real person anytime

I recently went into a fast food restaurant [cough, cough, Taco Bell on Harrodsburg Road here in Lexington], waited patiently, was finally told someone would be with me after 5 minutes, then was told by the cashier to use the kiosk. When I said no, I wanted to order in person, she gestured there and made it clear that's where she wanted me to order. I said no, she shrugged and gestured again. I left. As I got into my car, she went out for her smoke break, the apparent reason she didn't want to serve me. I complained through the rewards app with details, but never heard from corporate. I will not step foot in that store. I haven't given up on the company, but I am still not happy with the outcome. And I will not use a kiosk. For one, I don't want to deal with what sort of germs before I eat it. I usually go through the drive-through, so I hadn't encountered this before.

The deep down sense of rage may have sparked my need to be a librarian

Or maybe it was the kind school librarian who let me be her assistant in junior high.

Still, I mostly annoyed the Kern County librarian in the same locale, the Mojave Desert, who wasn't prepared for a college-level reader in an 11-year-old. 🙂 I'm still annoyed she wouldn't let me read John Jakes' 'The Bastard', which was a miniseries on TV at the time, but given the subject matter, I guess I understand. But I don't know why she wouldn't let me read anything in the adult section, period. That seems extreme. She made me stay in the children's section. Harumpf.

Ah, the eternal question

Do we take a nap now, messing up the newly made bed, or do we stick it out even though our lids are heavy and we got almost no sleep last night?

[And yes, I know it's not really 'made'. I don't have my duvet on right now. I just tucked the wedge pillow into it's normal configuration, put it in the centre, straightened up the pillows, and put the blankets on those so they wouldn't interfere with the handrail.]


It's not like it's not easy to put back...

So sleepy

Fortunately, I haven't had this experience much with these surgeries, but last night it took me FOUR hours to fall asleep, then it was disordered, light sleep, and I woke up at 8 AM feeling nowhere near rested. My leg was incredibly swollen, tight, and hurting. I tried ice, elevation on the wedge pillow, Tylenol, stronger meds--nothing was doing it. I finally tried side sleeping with a pillow between my knees and my operant knee on top, and that sort of worked (it's my normal sleeping position), but it still took a while longer, and it wasn't good sleep. I had to meet someone at 10 AM, and we saw each other a little early. It is now a quarter after 1,0 and I am fighting the urge to go back to bed.

Memories

These came up in my OneDrive memories from 9 years ago. Oh, how I miss this place (the old Shriners library, for those who don't know. I spent 20 years of my life there). I actually started crying. In some ways, my heart has never moved on. (I did win that Ray Harm indigo bunting print in an auction 2 years later, though, as well as the old card catalogue that was in the attic).

Cats are silly

Got the cat high on catnip since the dogs were still gated in the bedroom (they eat it out from under him for no reason), and a few minutes later my walker started moving across the room. He was playing with the wheels. 🤣

Slow it down, Lisa

Got back on the bike today and took it really easy, and there was no bleeding and the pain only increased a little. I think I got used to being able to do more with the other leg and forgot how it was when I first had my surgery, and since it was going so swimmingly, I overdid it. So I'm going to take it slower. PT says I'm on the walker for at least for another week, and I agree, given the circumstances. I can do dishes and laundry. Getting up from sitting is a little hard right now, but not as bad as it was. Here's to going slower.

Listening to Ella Fitzgerald

Resting with my legs elevated after PT and taking it easy, as for some reason my leg is super swollen today. I tried the bike today and started bleeding just a bit from my incision, so the surgery coordinator said to take it easy and dial back activity. At PT, Peter (my therapist) agreed, and he massaged that part of the quadriceps muscle that got pulled on Sunday, and it feels better. He also worked some vitamin E oil into the scar from the first surgery. I was surprisingly at 86° flexion given all the swelling. The extension had worsened to 1°, which wasn't surprising. I did have some spotting through my sleeve when I did my flexion test, so I bled just slightly. It was a good session with my therapist and two students following him on Wednesdays.

Afterwards, I dropped off the nerve block pump at the post office and returned some library books as well, thanks to Brenda, and came home, got some water, and elevated that leg on a wedge pillow for a couple of hours to see if it'll help. It did earlier.

Slight setback

I went to get up last night and of all things pulled a muscle in my left (non-operant) thigh, which is fairly painful. It's making it more difficult to walk independently from the walker or cane. The pain on both sides has been about equal, a 4 at the most, and that's during certain stressful movements. I've only been taking one 8-hour Tylenol for pain for the  last 24 hours. I haven't taken any opioids all,l since I had the surgery. That Journavx did really help, but I haven't needed it, either, and it's meant for short-term use. So it's not super painful, but I'm resting the muscle so when I go out it'll be okay. I don't want to fall due to it being weak. Next appointment is Wednesday, so hopefully it will recover by then. 

It's a beautiful day

It is 73°F, the high for today, and with the house's windows open, I'm actually a bit cold. We haven't had air conditioning (except in my room) all summer, and it's been hot most of the time and unbearable at times, even with fans. Welcome to the American South.

But today is pleasant. It's headed towards autumn, it's sunny. The sun is dappling the trees. There's a gentle breeze. It's nice. Here is the view from my window...

I'm free!!!

Okay, so I was awoken this morning at 3:42 by an alarm telling me the pain pump was low and that we were down to the wire in terms of doses left. So I stayed up, figuring it would just go off again when it was ready to be taken apart.

Which happened about 7:20 AM.

Anyway, the bandage came off, the little wire came out with the bandage and no real tugging on my part, which is nice. Last time I tugged just a bit. This time, I was dealing with more of a biohazard situation; there had been bleeding and fluid leakage from the solution, and it was a bit of a mess, plus I had the wire, and it was all attached to an IV bag that had to be cut off from the pump, then tossed into the trash.  Then the box had extra batteries you removed, you took everything out of it, turned off the pump, put its pouch in a plastic bag, and then chucked it into a box, placed two stickers and voilà, you have a postage-paid return box ready to go.

I am so glad to be free. Not only do I not have to worry about:

1. walking away from the pouch.
2. trying to get to the bathroom in time and get my pants down.
3. making sure the cat doesn't play with it.
4. making sure a dog doesn't chomp it.
5. rolling over it while getting into bed.
6. having it fall over while placing it down.
7. having it move while biking.
8. or, just randomly anything that will jerk that wire, it is a relief.

Plus, as a bonus, I can now take a shower!!! I just have to make sure I put cling wrap around my incision. Yep. It's generally waterproof but just needs a bit of help. The pump...that was not waterproof. I so feel like I need a shower. Even that stuff you disinfect with, that you shower with every day for five days, then wipe down twice before surgery? It makes you feel tacky, like tacky to the skin. Not clean. I want to feel clean.

Twinsies

The left leg is at 5 weeks of healing, the right leg is fresh, with a bandage, but they have matching incisions now. It may look bad at the moment, but I'm sure at some point they'll fade to such a point I won't even think about them, but what I will think about is how I'm not hurting like I was--already. Yes, three days post-op and granted, I have a nerve block (seen on the upper right thigh), but even once that came off on the other one (and that should happen sometime in the next 12 hours or so), there was less pain than before. I'm so glad this happened that I was able to lose the weight. That I had insurance to do this with. For a bunch of things. I hope this one goes as well as the other, and I'm going to do everything I can to make that happen. 

I've actually been binge-watching a show, which is amazing because

I do not, as a rule, binge-watch. I have a limit of about three hours in me at any given time. The show in question is the American version of 'Ghosts', which is based on the British series, but I find it lighter and more delightful. In other words, more fun. It's not that I don't get the humour of the British series, it just seems that the characters are more relatable in this one, which may be a cultural thing, I don't know, but also I can't even begin to understand Robin in the British one (point of fact, he is a Caveman of sorts, so there's that, whereas the American has a Viking). I'm also not quite so fond of Georgian architecture, so I prefer the house in the American version.

The nicest thing about them, though, is that they are tight little stories. Running time is about 20 minutes on streaming.  Yep, that's it. Both are classified as sitcoms, but they aren't the type we had when I was growing up, forced with a laugh track; I really just have fun watching. And this one is easy for me to binge; I feel like I'm progressing without getting bogged down, you know how other people must feel with regular shows. :)

Anyway, I'm really enjoying it. I like it as each character's backstory is being expanded. My friend just put me through a quiz, and of all things, I came out as the Robber-Baron Era Lady of the House Hetty, which surprised me.  He did too, which did not surprise me, so I guess he trained me well.  But my answers were all over the place, so I expected a different outcome.

I so love the British

You'd never see this on American television.

Today

So this time I started 'cruising' around the furniture a little earlier, meaning if I have something to hold on to, I feel pretty good about not having the walker, at least in my bedroom, where the bookshelves are three feet from the bedrail or desk, for example. I am being careful otherwise, particularly of the dog gates. I wouldn't go across the kitchen or living room in the more open areas. But the house is fairly small, so there aren't spacious areas, anyway. The bathroom is too narrow for the walker, so I keep my normal collapsible cane there as it is light and won't hurt the tile if it knocks over. It easily fits between the sinks, which fit together and are on pedestals, not with vanities. The steel cane is reserved for the stairs, which I'm taking it easy on as I've switched 'good' vs. 'bad' legs and muscle memory changes hard, but so far, so good.

I'm doing pretty well. The pain with the nerve block hasn't been over a 4, maybe a 5, for a minute or two.. My flexion is down from what it was right after surgery, but that's because of swelling, although there is nowhere near the swelling there was last time. The extension is 1° [they want 0°] and flexion 74° [90° at 3 weeks, so not bad] (both a little better than the same time with the left knee). While I've always considered my left knee my 'worst' knee, and yes, it was, Dr. Talwalkar said that with the exception of the grooved patella they had to put the button behind, both were in terrible shape, and the right was about as bad. The surgery was definitely needed. if not overdue.

The only issue I'm having is with the nerve block. I didn't have any issue before, but this one may have been tugged slightly and bled. With me being on aspirin, it probably looks worse than it is. It may have mixed with some fluid that wasn't absorbed by the nerve, so we've shut the machine off for an hour to see if that'll give it a chance to take up the bolus of rhindrocaine. I've only got a few hours left, maybe 10? of the solution, I'd like to not have to take it out, as it's really helpful, especially in terms of moving around and doing the ROMTech bike, or for that matter this afternoon I straightened up my room on my own, which gave me the feeling of a little independence and gave my roommate a little break. After all the stuff going around the surgery, etc., and taking care of me, I think he needs and deserves one.

I'm not up to doing chores yet, probably, but I can get my own water (I have a cupholder on the bag on my walker) or ice. And the dogs seem to be doing pretty well. I had to go outside my room without notifying him, and they were fine, so we tested them at dinner, and they did well. They just have to be reminded to not sniff me or get too near occasionally, but generally, they leave me alone, and they're very wary of the walker, so I mainly keep my leg surrounded by that. It seems to be working. They'd pretty much been trained to stay off me with the left leg already. But I'm still keeping track of where they are at all times, just in case.

Home at last

Had to do a few errands while we had a driver, but home at last. Good to be in my own bed again. Thanks, Brenda, for getting me home!!! Now I'm resting with ice and the nerve block. My pain is a 4. All from getting in and out of the car, etc. Definitely going to take something before going on the bike tonight. I have a new pain medicine, Dr. Talwalkar prescribed that isn't a narcotic, called Journavx. It's so new that the nurses had to look it up. He gave me the other one, too, in case I did need it, but we'll try this first.

 

Ride is here, ready to go!

Tired

I spent two hours in the chair after PT put me there, which got a little uncomfortable. Part was fine. I ate both lunch and dinner there. The aide was overworked though, and it took the better part of an hour to get me to the bathroom and into the bed. I was, for the most part, understanding. I wasn't in dire need of the bathroom like earlier. But, they must be short staffed.

I did manage to get her to get my bag which allowed me to use my phone charging bank and my headband headphones, so now I can listen to some sort of music (such as Cian Ducrot), or the sixth chapter of Pox Romana by Colin Elliott. Currently it is the former.

I will say it takes a lot to move me. Take the ice off my right leg. Disconnect the two pads for the deep vein thrombosis therapy machine from my legs. Disconnect the oxygen reader. Make sure I transfer the nerve block pouch to the walker. Move the IV around the bed. Stand me to and turn me. Scooch up the bed. Sit me down. Get me in and positioned. Reattach everything. Put a sheet and blanket over me and tuck me in. My CPAP is on the table next to me, set up already. She gave my my backpack, which is also on the bed, on one side.


A few items are on the sliding table, such as the spirometer. After she leaves, a nurse comes in to give me my medicine including insulin, and I don't have enough water and the pitcher is empty. She goes to get some and I move the sliding table closer only to knock some out of my cup. It's shift change, and so she comes back with her replacement along with the replacement for the other aide and the introduce themselves and help me with the spill. So everything is good now. It's quiet (they almost all automatically close the door.) It's not quite dark. But everything's where it's supposed to be, I feel good, my DVT machine is squeezing my calves, the ice is just cool now and feels nice, and there's almost no real pain, maybe 2 at the absolute worst. Earlier today it was an 8. I'm interested in what the post-block pain will be, but still. This surgery has already made a huge difference.

I will say, Baptist has wonderful meals.

I'm in my room

I spent from 10 am till about maybe 1:30 pm recovering from the surgery, but mostly waiting for a room, because I came through everything very well. 😁 I just finished eating for the first time since last night. They gave me ice water and ice chips in the PACU, and I'd been directed to drink 20 oz. of Gatorade an hour before the procedure, and even though I went upon arriving, I didn't go to the bathroom until I was in the room where they had a walker for me. I suppose I could have asked, but I didn't. Anyway, it all worked out. My roommate and I visited for a bit. He said I was much more with it this time. That's for sure. I don't remember PACU at all from last time. I thought maybe it was a shorter time. But he said it was the same time it lasted even longer.

PT arrived just as my lunch did. I deferred my sandwich and chips with peaches to walk and do some testing. I was a little conservative in my walk; I didn't go as far as last time--all around the whole area unit. But I felt like my knee might buckle a little, like when it feels like it's going to go the wrong way--more than it did last time. But I was still walking heel to toe and was very natural in my gait with the walker. So that was good. Also, when they did the testing, my extension was, I think, four degrees, which was very good for right after a surgery when it should be zero, and my flexion was 84 degrees (and he wants 90 degrees in 3 weeks). Now, granted that was the netted knee and I am on a nerve block again--the little one that I carry around with me for 5 days that has a lidocaine-like drug on it.

Great. I finished my meal. My roommate left to take care of the animals, calling our ride. I don't have a smart bed this time to charge my phone, so I may have to have someone plug it in across the room for me.

Dr Talwalkar did speak to my friend very briefly and indicated that it was really, really bad in there, but didn't give specifics. I'm hoping to get some tomorrow.

I'm getting sleepy. I need to get someone to help with setting up my CPAP.

Hi from pre-op

 

Today's the day

Waiting on my ride. I never actually got a chance to go to bed last night due to some last minute issues, of course. My feet are a little swollen as a result. But I'm packed and ready to go. My roommate is bit, but he's at least chugging coffee and trying.

Well, I finally have an arrival time

 5:30 AM

Aghh! I didn't get a call because they were so slammed today after the holiday (I'm assuming everyone was breaking bones over the holiday; that is usually the case with us.) I called as per directions after 1 pm but couldn't get the scheduler, then was on hold for 25 minutes on the main line before asking to be called. I tried the scheduler, Cheryl, again and got her, and she apologised and gave me the time and apologised for the delay. A few minutes later I got a cal from the general phone bank following up on my other call.

I have to take a shower tonight and use the wipes, then do the wipes in the morning. And I'm going to get up early, make coffee so we can put it in a thermos for my roommate so he can function somewhat there. He plans to sleep in the waiting room. He is not happy, but I am one of a handful of people he would get up in the middle of what he would consider the night to this for.

I suspect I was added onto the beginning of the day's schedule, on a day that the surgeon was not going to be there, as I know that I'm the only case of his that day's, so I'm thinking given that it was a holiday weekend he may be coming back from  vacation a little early to do that or something like that, which I appreciate.

Our ride is coming at 5 am [Thank you, Brenda!] I have to drink 20 oz. of Gatorade at 4:30 am, but the surgery scheduler said it was so early that it was fine if I did it before bed. I figure between the wipes and the coffee I'll be getting up by 3:30 am anyway so it's no issue. 

The only things I have to do now other than that are finish my laundry, both clothes and bed clothes, pack my backpack,  make sure things are charged, and I think that's it. Everything else is ready. I know what I'm wearing. I have all the paperwork anyone might need ready. I think I'm good to go. I also think that while the first load  of clothes are drying that I am going to take a nap. :)

My Dexcom sensor just finished its grace period

And they don't want me to put on another till after surgery. This one like to never came off, which I guess is good, because I had trouble when they first came out with the adhesive not holding and had to use third-party overpatches.

I am having an issue at the moment because I have a new phone [it was free with credits through T-mobile, with a lot more storage if you pre-ordered, and it's three steps up from my old one], and it's running the lastest Samsung version of Android UI 8, which hasn't been tested by Dexcom, so it isn't compatible with the application yet, so I can't get my readings through my phone, and since I can't get them through my phone, I can't get them through my watch. I do have a receiver, thankfully.

Anyway, for the next few days, I'll just have to rely on my old meter to tell me how I'm doing, pricking my fingers, and since I couldn't be on Monjauro for a period around the surgery, my sugar levels have been fluctuating more than usual. I'm not used to having to do that anymore.

Don't worry, I'll put another one the first chance I get once I get home from the hospital.

Unfortunately, yes

 

Okay

The ROMTech rep came mostly without a hitch [although she did accidentally bring another bike], with the excption of the escape artist dog, who managed to get through a mostly closed door (which goes in, so in theory, barricaded them in), plus a dog gate, just as she was coming through the door to greet her, but fortunately she was nonplussed by him, as he is very friendly and I kept him from jumping up more than the one attempt. She reset the program, and we talked a bit, and then she left. The nice thing is that now I don't have to get on the bike again until Friday.

I'd already made coffee and fed the animals, made my bed,  made my to-do list, gotten dressed, etc. I was hurting a bit, so I took my morning meds, including the Tylenol. I've already attempted to wake my roommate once, but it looks like I'll have to do it again. We need to do some bills before I go tomorrow. I need to do some laundry today: my clothes, my bedclothes, and anything he might have. I have PT as well. I'll need to water the plants. I didn't manage to do that last time, and they languished another week and a half while I recovered to the point I could. I need to get the walker out to a more accessible place. I called about a debt, and I need to update that file and print it for my friend so he has all the necessary contact numbers and information in case anything happens to me. Again, just being practical. Then that'll be done.

I'm feeling pretty rested. I'm not experiencing many tics. I don't feel very anxious, as confirmed by my watch. I think I've got this.

#8

Finished my eighth book for the year...

The Lifelong Gardener: Garden with Ease and Joy at Any Age by Toni Gattoni. Timber Press, 2019. ISBN: 978-1604698534.

This one is print, but I'm working through an audiobook, and I'm about 4/5 through. I changed my goal to 15 books to be more reasonable, so I think I'll make it, hopefully, given that I have time to do so. When I went to Amazon, I found out that this book, which I have out from the library, is actually one I own on Kindle, too, which is nice because it's all about doing things to make gardening more accessible to you, and I need that. I'd all but given up on that, and I love gardening. Of course, the knee surgeries should help a lot, I would think.

That was serendipitous

The ROMTech rep called to make an appointment tomorrow to drop off a device since the surgery is Wednesday, and I explained I had one and just needed a new patient number and program downloaded. She couldn't do it today, of course, due to the holiday, but we settled on 8 am, because I can get up early, close my roommate's door (he sleeps with all the animals), and let her in, and he's fine with not waking up so early, and it won't interfere with my afternoon PT. So I've have that taken care of that. I think we're mostly ready for surgery, then. I just have to practice on the stairs some more. 😊 Mischief managed. 

Staying busy, although I slept in today

Two days till surgery and two days from five weeks since the last. I've officially shed all the water weight I had from swelling after the surgery... I'm down to 213 lbs from an original 328 3-4 years ago, so I've lost a total of 115 lbs. The incision is healing really well. Halfway through my leave, and I am not bored but am rested. Yesterday, I made time to study Latin both from my Wheelock text and from Mango via my library card. I am very rusty, and I used to be pretty proficient. I've done things I never make the time for, like that. A lot has been appointments and that range of motion bike, and we watch 'Desperate Housewives' at dinner every night but Friday (there's always some show; this is just the current one, because we'd been watching another Marc Cherry show prior, and I really enjoyed it, so I said I'd give it a try). Last night I was up to 3 AM updating the 'what to do if anything happens to me' document, not to be morbid, but to be practical, and I didn't manage to before the first surgery. With the exception of one piece of information I need to call on tomorrow, I'm finished. I'm also going to call the ROMTech rep back who left me a message during PT on Friday, as she thought she was delivering a device and I just need a new patient number and know how to put it in, since I already have one, from what I've been told. I did call Saturday and left a message, but I want to make sure she got it since the surgery is the next day. Not being able to do business today is making it harder... I had no clue about the holiday until it was mentioned at PT. My days all run together. But for those of you who have been working hard, enjoy your time off!!!