Friday, November 27, 2009

Post-surgery Knee and Bonus - Part 2

It's good being home. I'd probably have driven the rehab center people nuts, maybe only stayed for up to a week.

Thanksgiving was a buffet at a local hotel. Quite a good buffet dinner. Next year, we grill the turkey. If there's snow, expect melted snow in front of the grill, an outdoor brick thing. It cooks nicely.

I can tolerate the CPM machine for as long as I can lay on my back. I previously couldn't sleep on my back due to the knees, now I can. I just went 3 hours straight. I'm up to 75 degrees flexion, but the tape holding the dressings and the staples are kind of holding me back from doing more. I can briefly do 80 before going back.

Staple count for this surgery: 28. It was 32 last year.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Post-surgery Knee and Bonus

It's been an interesting time since I got here, what with the total knee replacement on the right knee. Let me break this down;

- pre-surgery - I had the same pre-op bed bay, same nurse and anesthesiologist. Same OR as well! Last year, I remember going past the OR room number (7) to the door and that was it. This time, I made it into the OR for a few minutes before I was out.
- recovery room - I don't remember being in it last year, just being in the hall coming from there. I was awake and coherent just long enough to answer a question from Jamie. I was in surgery for 3 hours, compared to 4 last year.
- hospital room - Again, the same people from last year were around including some new people as well as this one nurse nicknamed "the vampire" since she works at night and often draws blood. Wonderful lady... I was only a door or two away from the room I was in last year.

This time, since the muscle contractures weren't as bad on the right knee, I was able to use the CPM (Continuous Pulsing Motion) machine for the first time, going up to 55 degrees. I was able to tolerate it for almost 3 hours. I nearly wore out my physical therapist since the right knee and leg had a bit of strength.

Another big bonus... Since I'm doing much better than last year, I'm not going to a rehab center. I'm heading home and will have some home health care people helping out with things for about a month or two. It took me 3 weeks just to be able to walk from the rehab room to the nurses station nearby and back to the rehab room and walked a little more. This time, I went that far, just a few days after surgery.

This recovery should be a bit easier or a little tougher...

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Surgery on the Right Knee

Just tonight, I got the call I was cleared for my next surgery tomorrow morning. This time it's a total knee replacement on the right knee, just like on the left last year. This time, unlike last year, there were no foul-ups, no misunderstandings. Just a rescheduling of the surgery date when I had a conflict.

This is where things should allow me to improve more. This is where the left can improve even more with the right's going through rehab as well.

Now to have a nice pre-surgical meal...

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Wedding Videos Gone Viral

We've all seen videos that go viral, but it was a matter of time before it was a *WEDDING!*

Jill and Kevin's Wedding

Then I did some checking around and found some students did a spoof (a divorce dance in court!) and the Australians did their version of it. The wedded couple and dancers were even invited to the Today Show in New York City to do a repeat performance!

DWTS doing the 'Forever' wedding entrance dance

Then there's YouTube's Most-Viewed page