The Good News

I got my new brace yesterday and a cortisone shot in my knee. My knee was actually pain free last night, the brace really holds my knee in place and I can do leg extensions with it as well. They say the cortisone will take a couple of days to really work but it’s great not having a sore knee all the time. The only problem I am having with it is, it’s been on since 10am this morning and my leg is getting a bit sore – and it may not come off till 10am tomorrow morning unless the nurses can figure out how to put it on and off (have time to take it on and off). 

I am on pain pills, I take a time release at 8am, and another at 8pm at night. Then I am allowed to have a ‘breakthru’ pain pill every two hours as needed. I had one last night at 10pm and I had another this afternoon at 3pm because I had a hard OT session. Hopefully that is all I’ll need and I’ll stop taking them every two hours and hopefully start reducing the amount in the time release. We’ll see. I don’t like taking them, but they really help when needed.

I have been moved, I am now in room A487, which is just next door to where I was. Thank God it’s not a ward, as I would not be able to handle that (4 ppl to a room). However I can’t worry about that now. I have met my new roommate, he seems like a good guy. He has had knee problems in the past so I think they put us together because of a common interest!!

I told you I was going to tell you what it was like being here. Here is the things that really bother me: since I can’t get in and out of my chair myself and I need a lift I have to be in my bed by 6:30pm otherwise the nurses are way too busy and don’t have the time to get me in. So I get into my chair at 10:30am for physio and stay in my chair until 6:30pm now. Which is probably a bit too long, but that’s the way the schedule works(Will be nice when I can get in and out of my chair myself).  I stay awake until about 11:30pm flicking through the channels, when I take my sleeping pills at 11:30 and I’m usually asleep by midnight. Wake up at 6 or 6:30 in the morning, then I wait for breakfast at about 8:30 and then I am in my chair by shortly after 10, In time for physio. So I guess the problem is once I am in bed, I am sort of stuck there – but I am getting use to it, and I’m sure they wont change the schedule just for me. Tonight is shower night and bowel care, so I should be out of my chair for a half hour around 8 or 8:30 tonight. It’s good that the world series play offs are on now, that gives me some sports to watch, sometimes up until midnight.

Thanks for all the visits, today Kelly and Vickie brought the dogs. It was good to see the little puppy again, even though I didn’t really want her on my lap, it was good to see her. Don’t know if she remembers me, but she was trying to get up on the chair to say hello.

My physio remains at an hour and a half a day, my OT has been upped too 1 ½ or 2 hours a day, depending on what I can take, or how tired I get. They really want to start working on my left hand which is slowly starting to move. I’ve had some major gains in finger movement this week - by major gains I mean I can now move my thumb about a half an inch to an inch and all my fingers on my left hand move a little.  On my right hand they are now starting to do fine motor skills, such as rolling things over in my hand, taking a chip rolling it over in my hand and changing sides and putting it down again. Using plasticine stuff to squeeze and make different shapes out of -All sorts of fun stuff. It’s surprising how hard it is to focus on fine motor skills, when your starting from nothing. I actually started sweating during the excercises. But that just shows that I am working.

Talk at you later, thanks.