So the magic days have arrived. Yesterday I went to the pool down the street from our house during lap-swim time in the morning. (What an amazing place is that?!) I discovered they have one of those cool accessibility chairs that can lower you into the 3' deep section of the pool. In I went and started trying to figure out how to move forward again. My sweet mother came along to get me there and to act as a human crutch as needed, but I found I only really needed to lean for the first bit of time. Before long I figured out that I could still sort of propel myself forward on either foot. Very very odd feeling. And most of the time I was reminded of the Ministry of Silly Walks (mouse over the bits in that second link for the full effect).
In the evening I gave a go to a stationary bike for about 10 minutes and that felt pretty good too. No residual misery today aside from feeling like it's all been gently used. This morning I hit the pool again. Things are looking up!
And the next patient in the extended family is now just post-surgery. K came through her shoulder surgery with flying colors. (A will hopefully get a date for his knee surgery tomorrow.) She's now home being well cared for and spending hours sitting in her 'continuous passive motion' chair where I'm sure she'll grow bored, but at least the Vicodin is doing its job!
Anybody else out there scheduled for a knife? How can there be so many at once?
Thursday, July 26, 2007
why I love designers
“…it’s an incurable, if not mortal disease. I can’t explain it. I just like looking at type. I get a total kick out of it. They are my friends. Other people look at bottles of wine or girls' bottoms, I get kicks out of looking at type.” --Erik Spiekermann (via Subtraction)
Friday, July 20, 2007
moonscapes
So I've been a little slow about getting my xray of my hip screws scanned in, but in the meantime I have other entertaining pictures for you!
Yesterday we had the ducts cleaned in our house. I was sitting at the dining room table finishing breakfast when I saw the truck pull up outside. I said peaceably to A, "They're here, and they're backing into your car." Adam went to the front door to let him in and then I saw him bolt outside - turned out the fellow really was backing into his car, or at least the back corner of it. I didn't think I was serious!
Once that was all sorted out (and with everyone still in good humor, though the man was looking a little undone by the whole thing) he got to work on the cleaning. They essentially attach an enormous vacuum to your vents in the basement, and then go room to room cleaning things out manually. About 3 hours later after running tubes all over the house and saran-wrapping a few vents here and there to help things along he was finished and came up to the living room where I was crashed out with my book and laptop. He handed me these before & afters:
That one on the bottom really is what it looks like - a wooden duct. We have one of those in the basement from way back when. The rest are happily metal. These are scary though, aren't they?
When was the last time you had your ducts cleaned? Worried now?
Yesterday we had the ducts cleaned in our house. I was sitting at the dining room table finishing breakfast when I saw the truck pull up outside. I said peaceably to A, "They're here, and they're backing into your car." Adam went to the front door to let him in and then I saw him bolt outside - turned out the fellow really was backing into his car, or at least the back corner of it. I didn't think I was serious!
Once that was all sorted out (and with everyone still in good humor, though the man was looking a little undone by the whole thing) he got to work on the cleaning. They essentially attach an enormous vacuum to your vents in the basement, and then go room to room cleaning things out manually. About 3 hours later after running tubes all over the house and saran-wrapping a few vents here and there to help things along he was finished and came up to the living room where I was crashed out with my book and laptop. He handed me these before & afters:
That one on the bottom really is what it looks like - a wooden duct. We have one of those in the basement from way back when. The rest are happily metal. These are scary though, aren't they?
When was the last time you had your ducts cleaned? Worried now?
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
4 weeks out
Yep, 4 weeks today. Two more to go with the sticks which are getting nastier since I'm now up for trying to go greater distances. Like to the Art Fair on the Square last Saturday, which was great for making me feel like I'm back in the world, but rough on the body. As a result I spent Sunday on the couch and have been nursing my hands ever since. But they made me a balloon animal snail to attach to my crutch (unfortunately it only lasted about half a block before it popped), and a sweet volunteer couple watching a small table with some leaflets told me to come sit down for a minute and pointed to their three knee scars between the two of them from joint replacements. "We know what that feels like" - and they looked like they did.
And also traveling farther like back to work. I haven't gotten as far as busing in both directions yet, but I've done bus one way and a lift the other. I have to say that even with a bus route that goes directly from half a block up my street to the road right in front of the hospital it's still a rough trip. If I had to transfer I'd probably tell them I'd be another 2 weeks before returning!
Yay for University sick leave allotments though.
And also traveling farther like back to work. I haven't gotten as far as busing in both directions yet, but I've done bus one way and a lift the other. I have to say that even with a bus route that goes directly from half a block up my street to the road right in front of the hospital it's still a rough trip. If I had to transfer I'd probably tell them I'd be another 2 weeks before returning!
Yay for University sick leave allotments though.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Why Man Creates (nope, not getting all philosophical just yet)
Brilliant.
Somehow the name Saul Bass never stuck with me, or I never even heard it go by. He's done close to 60 title sequences for films (lots of Hitchcock), movie posters, logos (one of the old really well known AT&T 'bells', the first AT&T globe logo years later, Girl Scouts of America). In short I should have figured out who he was a long time ago.
More samples of his work at the ever-present if somewhat untrustworthy wikipedia.
This is a 5 minute preview of a half hour short from the late 60s. I'd love to see the full length piece, but alas, Netflix hasn't copped on yet.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
moitié/moitié!
3 weeks down, 3 weeks to go (well, on the crutches anyway). After that I can start working my way back to normal activity!
The thing about being out for surgery is that just about the time you're starting to feel better you get ideas about little things you could do to pass the time, but once you actually feel up to doing them it's time to admit that you should be thinking about getting back to work. I've still been crashing out mid-way through the day, and as often as not, dozing off during an evening movie, but I think I'll start trying a few short days at work again. You'd think a hospital would be good with all the accessibility, but it turns out that working in a city unto itself has some drawbacks. The main one is that you can travel an easy half mile just to get from one place to another in the building (door to office for example). Maybe there are more advantages to a 20 person office than I realized!
I've been working up to it though... took a crutch around the block the other evening, and getting back to playing my flute again (that didn't used to feel aerobic!).
For today it's Edward Scissorhands (I'm amazed that's been out for 17 years and I still haven't seen it), a shower, a nap, and then maybe going in to clear out the inbox at work this afternoon...
The thing about being out for surgery is that just about the time you're starting to feel better you get ideas about little things you could do to pass the time, but once you actually feel up to doing them it's time to admit that you should be thinking about getting back to work. I've still been crashing out mid-way through the day, and as often as not, dozing off during an evening movie, but I think I'll start trying a few short days at work again. You'd think a hospital would be good with all the accessibility, but it turns out that working in a city unto itself has some drawbacks. The main one is that you can travel an easy half mile just to get from one place to another in the building (door to office for example). Maybe there are more advantages to a 20 person office than I realized!
I've been working up to it though... took a crutch around the block the other evening, and getting back to playing my flute again (that didn't used to feel aerobic!).
For today it's Edward Scissorhands (I'm amazed that's been out for 17 years and I still haven't seen it), a shower, a nap, and then maybe going in to clear out the inbox at work this afternoon...
Saturday, July 07, 2007
17 days post-op
Aside from getting generally exhausted when I try to do too much (like travel further than half a block or so) things are still going really well. I'm dreaming of things like a yoga class, or even just a short go on a stationary bike, but it's another 2 and a half weeks before I get to think about anything more than keeping my weight off the leg.
My latest good news is that the incision apparently looks great - really clean work. My nurse was all impressed when she took off the steri-strips this week. No staples, no external stitches. A longer scar than I expected but if the hip is better I'm all good with that. And I'm down to a Tylenol just now and again when I need it - not even every day.
At 5 weeks I get to start on a stationary bike with no added resistance, and water walking, and I can start putting about 50% of my weight on the leg when I use my crutches. At 6 weeks I get to start real PT and can ditch the crutches as soon as I feel safe.
I'm thinking I might try a half day of work toward the end of next week, and keep it up if it goes ok.
In non-me-related news (personal blogs are narcissistic anyway, but it feels especially so when all I'm doing is typing about how the aches and pains are going!): It turns out A's knee is well and truly toasted. He had his MRI this week and the ACL isn't even remotely still attached. He's still getting around fine for now as long as he doesn't look over his shoulder when he's walking but he's going in for a surgical consultation this week. At least the UW ACL repair docs are highly respected! We're hoping maybe for sometime in August so that I'm able to drive again before he's unable to...
Zoiks.
My latest good news is that the incision apparently looks great - really clean work. My nurse was all impressed when she took off the steri-strips this week. No staples, no external stitches. A longer scar than I expected but if the hip is better I'm all good with that. And I'm down to a Tylenol just now and again when I need it - not even every day.
At 5 weeks I get to start on a stationary bike with no added resistance, and water walking, and I can start putting about 50% of my weight on the leg when I use my crutches. At 6 weeks I get to start real PT and can ditch the crutches as soon as I feel safe.
I'm thinking I might try a half day of work toward the end of next week, and keep it up if it goes ok.
In non-me-related news (personal blogs are narcissistic anyway, but it feels especially so when all I'm doing is typing about how the aches and pains are going!): It turns out A's knee is well and truly toasted. He had his MRI this week and the ACL isn't even remotely still attached. He's still getting around fine for now as long as he doesn't look over his shoulder when he's walking but he's going in for a surgical consultation this week. At least the UW ACL repair docs are highly respected! We're hoping maybe for sometime in August so that I'm able to drive again before he's unable to...
Zoiks.
Monday, July 02, 2007
the ability to follow a thought from one end to the other
Sorry for the delay in posting - I was finally able to be up and out of the house and it's been brilliant. And exhausting! One of those odd situations for anyone reading though where you wouldn't know if the lack of communication was a total lack of ability due to a downturn, or if I just wasn't at the computer. I'm happy to report that for the most part I just wasn't at the computer.
Our good friends A & E were married on Saturday with great celebrations all weekend, just a few short blocks from our house in their newly acquired very long and treed back yard. It was a beautiful wedding and the food was great which is good news since it's the same folks A and I are planning to use for our own festivities.
This weekend I saw State St for a short while (and looked longingly up at the Kanopy windows). I went to Brennans (lovely fruit wine cheese fish market) where a sweet older woman asked me what happened and looked like she knew from experience how good it feels those first few days up and around again. And I completely wore myself out, but that's alright because it gave me the chance to feed my newly acquired addiction to the Canadian tv show 'Slings & Arrows.' I've now burned through all the shows from 2 seasons (12 episodes total). There's a third season which gets released on DVD tomorrow as far as I can tell from Netflix. Thanks, P, for the loan of the first two seasons!
Now that I'm clear of the drugs I can even read again. And keep track of the storyline between paragraphs. I knew my brain was fighting for it last week Monday when I tried the Washington Post crossword and it was hopeless. On a Monday! I'd hate to think the depression that might have set in if I'd tried a Friday puzzle. Today was much better for that so I think the neurons are firing again. Would I be scared if I went back and read my posts from last week? I'm just about finished reading The Dante Club, but I haven't seen it since before the surgery. If I can find that around the house today maybe I'll polish it off. I'm dreaming of the new Haruki Murakami novel After Dark. Right now I'm 34 on the library's list for it. If I could handle reading it in either Japanese or Korean I'd only be 4th or 5th on the list! In the meantime a copy of Anne Rice's The Witching Hour is sitting on our dining room table and I wandered a good way into the start of that over breakfast this morning.
As for a short medical update, it occurs to me that I haven't had a pain killer since getting up today, and I'm doing alright. After the misery of the narcotics I dropped down to a single extra strength Tylenol every 5 or 6 hours. The incision is longer than I'd expected, but it looks like it was very well put back together. I've been gently massaging it, and the nerve endings are still a little confused but not too bad.
It's been great to get to see those of you who have stopped by or who I ran into this weekend. I like solitude and miss it when I don't get any, but of course enforced solitude is something else altogether. So, thank you!
Our good friends A & E were married on Saturday with great celebrations all weekend, just a few short blocks from our house in their newly acquired very long and treed back yard. It was a beautiful wedding and the food was great which is good news since it's the same folks A and I are planning to use for our own festivities.
This weekend I saw State St for a short while (and looked longingly up at the Kanopy windows). I went to Brennans (lovely fruit wine cheese fish market) where a sweet older woman asked me what happened and looked like she knew from experience how good it feels those first few days up and around again. And I completely wore myself out, but that's alright because it gave me the chance to feed my newly acquired addiction to the Canadian tv show 'Slings & Arrows.' I've now burned through all the shows from 2 seasons (12 episodes total). There's a third season which gets released on DVD tomorrow as far as I can tell from Netflix. Thanks, P, for the loan of the first two seasons!
Now that I'm clear of the drugs I can even read again. And keep track of the storyline between paragraphs. I knew my brain was fighting for it last week Monday when I tried the Washington Post crossword and it was hopeless. On a Monday! I'd hate to think the depression that might have set in if I'd tried a Friday puzzle. Today was much better for that so I think the neurons are firing again. Would I be scared if I went back and read my posts from last week? I'm just about finished reading The Dante Club, but I haven't seen it since before the surgery. If I can find that around the house today maybe I'll polish it off. I'm dreaming of the new Haruki Murakami novel After Dark. Right now I'm 34 on the library's list for it. If I could handle reading it in either Japanese or Korean I'd only be 4th or 5th on the list! In the meantime a copy of Anne Rice's The Witching Hour is sitting on our dining room table and I wandered a good way into the start of that over breakfast this morning.
As for a short medical update, it occurs to me that I haven't had a pain killer since getting up today, and I'm doing alright. After the misery of the narcotics I dropped down to a single extra strength Tylenol every 5 or 6 hours. The incision is longer than I'd expected, but it looks like it was very well put back together. I've been gently massaging it, and the nerve endings are still a little confused but not too bad.
It's been great to get to see those of you who have stopped by or who I ran into this weekend. I like solitude and miss it when I don't get any, but of course enforced solitude is something else altogether. So, thank you!
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