Good News

Good News

The good news is that my knee is being done on May 2^nd…..I am ready this time both mentally and physically.  I saw the surgeon on Tuesday, April 10^th and he said it would 5-6 weeks before I was scheduled and then I got the phone call that it was May 2^nd and they will call me on Tuesday, May 1^st to tell me what time I have to be at the hospital.

The other good news is that I’m going to Occupational Therapy twice a week. Scheduling gets a little tricky, now that I have the surgery scheduled, I understand that after surgery I’m going back to Parkwood for rehab. So now I am an outpatient seeing the outpatient OT and after surgery I will be an inpatient and will be seeing the inpatient physios and OT’s……I think! 

On Tuesday, April 24^th I am going back to Toronto Western to see the surgeon.  First time I have seen him since he told me to take my neck brace off in October.

It is a little bit frustrating for me sitting in the bug while Darcy struggles to get the wheelchair in the bug and hmmmmmm, I didn’t know she had such a ‘potty mouth’.  To fix that we have traded the truck……sob, sob…..for a boring white Toyota Matrix.  Darcy has put the wheelchair in the Matrix and it is much easier for her to do it.WHITE…….hmmmmmm

Whew….people ask me what I do all day long. I am busy from the time I get up ‘til I go to bed.  I have a shower every morning at 8 am….probably too much information but I am telling you anyway.  For example, this week Monday I went to have my INR checked at the hospital and then to the optometrist for new glasses.  You have to remember that it takes about 20 minutes to get me and the wheelchair into the car and another 20 to get out.  So on Monday, for those two appointments there’s about an hour and a half loading and unloading me and the chair.  The last unloading is waaaaaaaay slower than the first loading.  Tuesday I had an appointment at Parkwood with Occupational Therapy at 1 pm for an assessment to get into the out-patient program but as mentioned previously, I am going to be an in-patient in a week and a half.  

Wednesday I had a doctor’s appointment.  Thursday I went to OT at Parkwood again for an appointment I didn’t have….we were a week early and then to University Hospital to pick up the disinfecting sponges that I must use in the shower the night before surgery and on my left leg the day of the surgery.  Friday (today) Grandpa and the Sarge(see picture below) came over at 10 to stand me up and the physiotherapist came at 11 and worked my knee.  It’s moving quite well she says.

Sarge, me, Grandpa

The recumbent has arrived and Grandpa and the Sarge put it together for me which was very interesting with me watching but it’s good that Bob wanted to read the instructions while the Sarge did the work.  The big question was whether I could get on or off the bike from my wheelchair.  We tried it once and it was very simple using my slider board from the wheelchair to the bike.  We had to adjust the seat to get the right distance from the pedals but there was a problem.  The cranks on the recumbent were too long, they are 165 mm and bent even my good knee too far so there was no way the bad knee was going to be able to pedal.  I had an exerciser that had short 100 mm cranks and a friend came over and put the 100 mm cranks on the recumbent.  The next day I got on the bike and pedaled for half an hour and rode 5.9 k, burned 65 calories, an average cadence of 42, and an average of 18 watts.  So the machine does give me lots of data that I can play with……..yeehaw. So far I have 14.2 k on the bike.The plan is to ride at least a half an hour a day and start building my left leg up as much as possible before the surgery on May 2^nd.  It won’t be a lot but every little bit helps.

My new bike

I am still getting counseling and a psychiatrist and a psychologist were here to talk to me last Tuesday.  That was great timing because I saw the surgeon in the morning and the psychologist and the psychiatrist in the afternoon so I was able to tell them that I was going to have knee surgery which was an issue for me in the past.

More good news, the psychiatrist lowered some of my medications from 12.5 mg to 10 mg for 30 days and then it goes to 7.5 and then to 5 and then very slowly down to zero which means that it may take up to 6 months to completely get off this one medication.  I hope the others are a little faster.

My next blog will be telling you about the knee surgery and how it went.  What I know now is that I will be going back to Parkwood for rehab.  I know the staples stay in for 12 days.   I don’t know how much rehab I will be doing with the staples still in.   We shall see…….

Thanks for listening.