Monday, December 28, 2009

Post-Surgery Right Knee - Part 4

I just graduated from home health care services to outpatient therapy. I've got my therapy schedule of appointments for the next two months.

I can walk slowly around some in the house without the walker, though limited, as long as I'm near something to hold onto. Steps are slow going as well now that I'm just starting to use the knee to climb steps. With the cane, it's slow going til I get more flexibility in the knee. I can straighten it out to within maybe 5-10 degrees of being straight. I think I've straightened it out a few times. I've used a heating pad on the knee to help it get more extension to around 90-95 degrees. I couldn't use it while on the blood thinner medication, though I'm off it now.

The surgical area does look pretty good and the butterfly strips have fallen off. It's still a bit sensitive, which sometimes gives me trouble sleeping at night. I should be able to sleep through the night in maybe a couple months.

The 16-20 inch snowfall we had kinda made me miss doing the snow shoveling, something I've been doing over the years. One snowfall in Kentucky took me 3 days to shovel the driveway due to the bitter cold and wind chills, thus I wasn't able to stay out long. I did manage to make two 5-6 foot snow piles on both sides of the driveway. Took a bit over a month to melt.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Post-surgery Right Knee - Part 3

I had the staples removed Friday morning by the nurse and Jamie was around. She said it was an interesting experience watching them get removed. All that's left are the butterfly strips, and even then, they're falling off. The incision area looks quite good.

As for the CPM, I'm now up to around 85-90 degrees, letting the knee joint warm up after some flexes. Has anyone fallen asleep after a bit of time on the CPM? I think I'm soon to go from home health care to outpatient therapy. The occupational therapist was around earlier, watched me do things, and said I don't need any extra help.

I'm not yet able to do any cooking, but I can get stuff from the refrigerator to the table via multiple transfers. I place the items on a nearby counter, then I move near the table and then move the items from the counter to the table.

Could be next month when I get to using a cane and maybe another month or two for me to be able to get down the the basement since the steps don't have railings. It's just five steps down, but I'm not going to use the wall to help get up or down.

Looking at the now-healed left knee, it reminds me how far I've come and what's left to be done.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Art Linkletter said it all when they said the darndest things in his live TV show some years ago (no, I never saw it), and the books.

Awhile ago, Sherlock Steve posted something on his blog, tidbitting around, that I passed on to him that killed me laughing when I read it.

Just the other day, I found this, which blew me apart...

Po-tate-o, Po-tat-o

They've always got the ability to bring down the house without trying...