I think my orthopaedist will now realise I am a klutz, if he hadn't before.

I had an incident Friday after PT where I went to get into the car and instead of getting in like they tell you by sitting down and then swinging your legs in, I did it like i normally do, by putting a leg in and then easing myself in. However, this did not work. My steering wheel was set too low, so when I got in, my right thigh somehow got caught between it and my body and for a moment or two I struggled to free it, and it hurt. I went on for the rest of the afternoon, but since then it's been swelling more, and whereas my pain had fallen to a 0-1, it's been a 2-3, mostly due to the swelling, and a little sharper around the actual kneecap.

So, I did what any patient with anxiety would do. I went on MyChart and sent a message explaining this, asking if I needed to come in before my appointment that is on October 14th and have my x-rays early just to make sure everything is in place. It's probably fine, but I know there's a lot of cement used and there hasn't been enough time for the bone to heal over it much. So someone will read this Monday and go, 'really?' and pass it on to a PA, I'm sure. But I figure it would be better to speak up rather than to say nothing. If I have done something, I don't know what to do. I'm out of FMLA for the year. Hopefully, that is not the case. Sigh. Only me. Can't even get into a car gracefully and without injury.

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

I am such a klutz

So last night I ran into a cinder block with my pinky toe; it is now swollen compared to the other. Today, when the guy came to fix the air conditioning and I was trying to answer the door, I hooked my middle toe on a heavy barred waste paper basket. Now it's bruised, hurting, will most likely turn darker, and it didn't help that a 75-lb dog kept sitting on it under the table at dinner. I am a menace to myself some days. At least the beet juice all came out of my white blouse that I spilled on myself while eating dinner, which is amazing. Thank goodness they didn't name me Grace.

Only I

would:

1. have trouble buttoning a blouse because I kept getting the cloth underneath entangled in the buttonhole,
2. snagged my glasses with my phone case strap, ripping them off my face WHILE DRIVING (fortunately while still in the parking lot, so I was able to stop suddenly, since I can't see anything clearly unless it's about two inches from my face),
3. burned my foot by dropping hot bean & cheese burrito filling on it while trying to eat dinner

all in one day. What can I say, it's been a bit of a Monday. :)

Good news/bad news

Well, the good news is that I contacted the doctor's office today. The x-rays hadn't been reviewed yet, but the office manager checked and there were no acute fractures in my wrist. I didn't think there would be, as I don't remember actually 'hurting' it--it just started hurting on its own. But that was at least ruled out. It does mean that I'm having some ulnar nerve pain for some reason, however, and I asked if they'd made the referral to Dr Favetto yet, and they hadn't, but I got a call a little while later that the appointment was for April 14th, which is three weeks away (the bad news). :( My wrist is doing better since I've been bracing it night and day, though. Instead of sharp pain radiating up to my elbow and shoulder, it's a deep ache radiating just as far, and down into my hand, especially the fourth and fifth fingers It's enough to interfere with sleep and distract me from work. I have the brace off at the moment, giving it some time out of the restraint, and while typing is probably not the best way to 'rest' it, I don't want it weakening by being braced all the time. I'll put the night brace on when I go to sleep.

I went over after work today and helped a friend get his bills ready to send out. Then I came home and found my stamps (we didn't have enough for all of them). I've only got five gingerbread house Forever stamps left over from the holidays--I thought I'd have more. Oh, well. I'll still donate to the cause, as I don't have much need for stamps these days. I pay all my bills online or have them automatically taken out.

Now I'm in my comfy clothes. I've eaten a little cheese, and I'm in bed with the laptop and a soda. My alarm is going off to remind me to take my nightly Lantus insulin. I got some out of the refrigerator a few minutes ago and am waiting for it to warm up (it sometimes hurts a little if it's still cold). I was putting some things away at the same time, and I managed to knock some Humalog insulin off the shelf and onto my toe, causing quite a bit of sudden pain and while it didn't bleed, it must have hit with the corner of the box onto my foot, because it scraped quite a bit of skin off. This was a double box of five pens taped together, but the one box was empty. I'd hate to see what sort of damage I could have done with a full complement. :) I am such a klutz.

I read the news earlier and a lot of it was depressing--terror attacks in Brussels, for instance, and a murder-suicide in Louisville where an ex-army helicopter pilot shot his wife and children (ages 3 and 4), set his house on fire, and then shot himself. I haven't looked since this afternoon. That was sad enough.

I did get some of the notes finished last night, but I probably have another hour or so of work to go. I should work on them tonight, as it's not quite 9:30 pm, but I think I need a little down time that's more fun than that. It shouldn't take too long to finish--the meat of the session is still left, but it doesn't have to be done in great detail, or anything, and part of it was an action scene, and I don't do those blow by blow or anything. My goal is to be thorough without being tedious.

I think I'll do a little reading while the radio is on. I made sure my Kindle, which is a Kindle Keyboard (which I replaced my 2nd generation Kindle with, although really, they're pretty similar), had the latest software on it, because Amazon was saying a critical update needed to be done on older Kindle models or they could not continue to connect to the cloud. I'm pretty zealous about updating my phone, my computer, and my Kindle, so mine was apparently fine. Today was the deadline--after today it can still be done, but it has to be downloaded via USB instead of an over the air update. You can probably Google anything about updating the Kindle and get instructions if you need it.

You know...

Nutella on a toasted bagel seemed such a good idea until I dropped a bagel half face down onto my blouse. I am such a klutz. I had to go wash the shirt out thoroughly as that stuff stains big time, and it was the size of, well a bit bigger than a bagel as it slid down the blouse. Then I changed clothes, tried to gingerly eat the bagel halves, and still managed to get stuff all over me, especially my hands and face, but a tiny bit on the tank top I was wearing. Now I know why I don't normally put a spread that is always a bit messy on something warm with a hole in it. *facepalm*

I somehow

managed to open a small-yet-stubbornly-refusing-to-stop-bleeding gash on my leg by running into a plastic storage bin I'd taken down when looking for that MRI CD. Of course, it was not in those at all, but rather filed with my photographs (I guess it is a form of imaging, after all). It was too long for a Band-Aid so I cleaned it really well with alcohol and put some gauze over it, keeping that in place with an ACE bandage that was loosely wrapped. So I got up in bed, put my leg up, and waited for it to clot. Needless to say, in the meantime, I fell asleep. I still have a lot of my list to do, but I knew it wasn't going to get accomplished in one night. :) I think I'll give up and try to get something done in the morning.

This is so me...

Seen on Facebook:

I'm not clumsy. The floor just hates me, the tables and chairs are bullies, and the walls get in my way.

Okay, that really is it for me tonight. Good night.

I am the only person I know

who can break a nail whilst taking out my contact lenses. Yes, really. Ouch.

Ever have one of those days when you needed a do-over?

We don't usually get them, of course, but today I actually went back to bed for an hour and started my day over. I'd gotten up about 8:30, promptly dropped the toilet paper, which rolled across the floor. Then I had to stick myself six times to get enough blood for a blood sugar read, wasting strips. Then I dropped the peanut butter lid on my phone and got peanut butter all over it. At that point it went downhill from there; I won't give details. But after all was said and done, I just went back to bed. When I got up, granted, this time I dropped the toilet paper behind the commode, but otherwise things are much brighter.

I have

run over the smallest toe on my left foot (the 'good' one) with the wheelchair. As YKWIA puts it, I am a danger to myself, but not others. Fortunately it's just a little sore, I think. This is what I get for driving the chair with my left foot (it's easier than doing it all by hand--works great when you're backing up, not so much when going forward, given that it winds up near the wheel). :)

One casualty of the upgrade is my collection of National Geographic DVDs with all of the issues from the 1800s to 2008 on them. The installer will not work. :( Otherwise, things seem to be. I'm going to stop working on the computer for awhile. I've been up for seven hours and I'm seriously considering a nap.

Believe it or not...

I got up at five this morning and did four loads of laundry, including the bedclothes. In the process I enjoyed the relatively cool weather, with a robin singing merrily and a heron flying overhead as the the rosy fingers of dawn began to spread across the sky. It was in the 50s this morning and just got up to the low 80s. Thursday is projected to be 102 and Friday 101, so we should enjoy it while we can.

I nearly hurt myself getting ready for work. The clothes came out at 7, and I needed to leave by 7:30. I had just told myself that I had to slow down regardless of the time, when I did something I almost never do--I put my foot up on the ledge of the tub so I could dry my leg off. Usually I put it on the toilet lid or go into the bedroom and put it up on the bed, but no, this time I put it up on the tub, and of course it was slippery. My foot slipped out from under me. I did the splits, straddling the tub. Fortunately I didn't fall completely; I would probably have wound up hitting my head. Then there would have been the crawling into the bedroom to call 911 and wait for EMTs to come and get the naked woman who is a danger to herself (but rarely others) off of the floor. But I was a little sore on the way to work.

Work was good. I got a good start on the filing. Lunch was good--tortilla-encrusted tilapia with herbed and wild rice with almonds, grilled vegetables, and macaroni and cheese. Not bad for cafeteria food.

I weighed myself today. I am three pounds from 300. That's scary.

I got a ride home, and I had Simon & Garfunkel in my head, so the first thing after I put my bags down was put Pandora Radio on and now I'm listening to them and to related music (right now it's Simon's 'You Can Call Me Al') and eating pine nut hummus.

Okay, I guess I should go fold the laundry. It's on the bed and I laid a few things out flat that would otherwise wrinkle, but the rest is just sitting there waiting to be folded and put away.

I don't normally post on Sundays

what with the house cleaning, game, and the biweekly shopping we do on that day, but last night I was quite simply incapable of it. In fact, the game, I'm sorry to say, was called for diabetes.

I had not felt well through most of the day; I had not slept well and my allergies were especially bothering me, and my neck, too. But I felt better in the morning and then once my chores were complete, started to feel, well, fading. I hadn't eaten, so I took my blood sugar which was about 250, took my insulin, and ate a peanut butter sandwich. I perked up for awhile

Normally I bring string cheese and crackers to the game, but I really couldn't afford them this time, and I'd told Brenda she might want to get the crackers, as she's fond of them. I didn't mention the cheese because she hasn't been having some issues and hasn't really been eating it, and I didn't see any reason for her to get something she wasn't eating, and the game master sometimes eats them, sometimes doesn't, so I've been the person mainly consuming them.

Brenda brought food, her normal, some very good grapes and blueberries. Grapes, in particular, are fairly high in sugar (the blueberries are kind of low on the glycaemic index), and I ate quite a bit, and didn't have the cheese to anchor it (ideally, when a person, but especially a diabetic, eats, they should have some protein with the carbohydrates, and also some fat. That's why peanut butter and crackers are a good snack). Or so I was told in my diabetes class. It has something with the rate of how each is broken down int the body. Apparently I'd been balancing my intake of fruit with the cheese, so although my blood sugar tended to run a little higher than normal on Monday mornings, it wasn't affecting me to the point of inability to function. Unfortunately, I just had fruit and crackers, without that balance, and my blood sugar shot up to 356. I was having trouble thinking, was falling asleep, couldn't process well and could only approach problems emotionally. I felt physically beaten down and slightly ill. When the others realised what was going on, and the game master asked if I needed to stop, I was actually slurring my words some. I took some insulin, but only had 12 units on me. Brenda took me home, and I took some of the Lantus (I had forgotten the dose the night before, which surely didn't help) while I was waiting for the Novolog to reach room temperature, then in about an hour took some of that. By the time I went to bed, it was back down to 250 or so. YKWIA checked on me a couple of times, and then I went on to bed fairly early.

This morning I felt hung over. My blood sugar was about the same. I took my Lantus this morning and then when I had breakfast (a piece of bread with peanut butter and a bit of spreadable fruit), I took my Novolog. By lunchtime it was 172, definitely better. I expect it will head more towards normal because I started my period today, and it always does then. I asked our dietitian about that. She says it has something to do with the oestrogen levels affecting insulin resistance. I wish we could do that all the time. It's the only time I'm quite normal, although I'm usually better than I was this weekend, that's for sure.

The day was rainy, especially in the morning, and I was rather blah when I dressed, which was rather Goth, all in black with a black onyx pendant. I started out the day stressed because of the sheer amount of work I needed. I took a later bus than normal, making me 15 minutes late, and stayed a half-hour over my normal time as a consequence, getting as much as could be done today finished, and catching up on quite a bit of my work. Despite feeling blah I got a lot done, and tracked down several referrals, got a few more started, and phoned a lot of places, and did a lot of charge sheets.

When I went to go home, one of my co-workers gave me a ride home and asked me if I would like to go to Texas Roadhouse, her treat. Since I wasn't exactly sure what I'd be eating and had just had one more peanut butter sandwich and some pita chips that day, I took her up on it. It was a great meal. I love their grilled salmon, baked potato, and salad combination. We had a nice time, and her daughter, grandson, her daughter's friend showed up a little after we did as well. Then she took me home, and it was the most relaxed I'd felt all day. I really needed that. I came home in a very happy mood, and rested for a bit. Now I'm up and considering washing some dishes. I fixed some oatmeal to eat tomorrow morning that I can just put in the microwave to reheat. I have some packages of tuna I can take tomorrow and some salad makings I can fix tonight. Thank goodness we get paid Wednesday night. I have $3.00 in my bank account, exactly, counting the one cent in savings. :)

I think next week I'll definitely take the cheese and maybe a small thing of vegetables that I can snack on so that I don't eat too much fruit. Kroger has small veggie plates with tomatoes, celery, broccoli, and carrots that would work fine, and the others like that too. Or I may just get some veggies and make my own. We'll see. Maybe I'll start with one of theirs so I have the thing to put the others in later.

PS Yesterday was my day for minor injuries. I got a pretty decent scratch on my hand and wrist from the puppy (whose claws were trimmed later that day) and at some point during the game, I dropped my pencil. It looped in the air, scratched the inside of my middle finger enough to draw blood and require a Band-Aid, and then fell to the floor. I am a danger to myself (not so much to others) through my klutziness.

Well, that was a fairly long post. Maybe I'll read a bit, too. I'm working my way through a collection of Cthulhu Mythos short stories. Good night.

Diabetic klutz

I am the only person I know who could be putting a cap on a lancing device, have it deploy with the cap off, drop it, have it spin in mid-air, catching one of my fingers, then catching it. I have also nicked my finger whilst giving myself a shot in the abdomen with a pen needle. In that case, my breast obstructed my view and I nearly gave myself my shot in my finger.

Sigh. Grace, thy name is not Lisa. I think the insulin gods are laughing at me.

My theme song

'Accident Prone' Lady Gaga parody by Venetian Princess


This woman is incredibly talented. Her celebrity parodies are great, and this one could have been written for me. Thanks to YKWIA for showing it to me.

Okay, I'm not graceful

but is it wrong to wish for just a shred of grace?

I went to leave a friend's a few minutes ago, going out into the storm and the cold rain. The rain has been falling for a couple of days so the gutter above the door was overflowing. I dodged the cascade of rainwater (I had a book in my purse, which doesn't zip, so that was of main concern), then realised the wind had grabbed the screen door. I went back to push the door shut and then stepped back--and off the porch entirely. I think I brushed one step before skipping the other entirely. I careened down the small hill partway into the yard, twisting my ankle as I went, finally coming to rest about a foot from a tree, nearly hitting it. I fished my wallet out of the grass and threw away a couple of things I'd been taking out to the trash. I looked back through the window. My friend was quietly reading, oblivious to the comedy going on in his front lawn. I limped over to the car, got in, and made it back home without incident. I was soaked to my skin and I'll no doubt be sore tomorrow. Fortunately the book made it through without any damage (the important thing when you're a librarian, right?)

Argh.