From Volley to Folly and Back

The first few days home weren’t so bad, which happened to be  Memorial Weekend.  I was still taking pain meds which made me too dopey to get worked up about too much, plus my wife was home so I had company and help whenever I needed it.  We rented quite a few movies and just relaxed together.  During the day I didn’t move much from the couch, with pillows elevating my leg.  When I did get up I could feel the blood immediately rush to my leg and it would start pounding - it’s a good thing to keep it elevated (R.I.C.E’d) as much as possible!

Showers suck - a little tip though: a long sock works great to seal up the trash bag and keep the cast dry.  Use a trash bag with a drawstring and tie it up like a shoe snuggly above the knee.  Then, use a long sock to cover the top of the trash bag and pull it really tight (just overlap once, no knot).  Unless you are in the shower for a long time, the water won’t have time to get past the sock - I did this for two weeks, not a drop of water on the cast.

The third night after surgery it occurred to me that I had eaten a lot of good food since surgery but hadn’t taken care of some other normal business, an obvious side effect from the pain pills.  The next morning I spent two hours discovering why - this was way worse than any pain I could be having at this point so I immediately stopped taking the pain killers.

The next week was where things began to get difficult.  My employer graciously allowed me to work from home so I didn’t have to burn through my PTO (I’m a web developer so it’s not difficult to code away on the couch using a laptop), so that kept me fairly occupied during the day.  At home, though, with my wife gone is where I started really getting down.  I’m a very active and independent person.  I work out every day over my lunch break and my wife and I walk our two Huskies religiously, 1.5 miles around our neighborhood walking trail every day, rain or shine, snow or heat.   We had been counting down the days to summer weather all winter long during our frigid and bundled-up walks with the dogs, and here I was, out of commission at the start of the summer for who knows how long.  My wife would have to take the dogs by herself everyday (not an easy thing given her size and theirs) and all I could do was sit here… and sit here…  this is where all the ‘why me’, ‘what if’s’, and ‘not fair’ thoughts are difficult to fight off.

After about the third day of my wife taking the dogs out, I decided it wasn’t acceptable to just sit inside and miss out.  I tracked down a killer deal on an electric scooter (yes, the kind the elderly use in grocery stores with the basket on the front).  My wife and I went and picked it up and I started scooting along beside her and the dogs on our walks.  Plenty of friends and neighbors have gotten a kick out of me riding down the trail on an electric scooter, but my pride can take a hike for awhile.  Being somewhat mobile outside was a godsend - that little scooter was one of the smartest purchasing decisions I have ever made.

My goal at this point is to just make it to the first post-op and get rid of this hard cast!

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