Day Eight Post Surgery- Day One At Home

I finally made it home on day eight post surgery. I couldn't blog from the nursing home/rehab because the Fred Flintstone computer was just too slow. It took me 90 minutes to type something that shouldn't take more than about 20 minutes. My surgical calf blew up like a balloon Popeye style just sitting there.

I spent three much needed days at the facility as I wasn't ready to go home from the hospital. I was there an extra day as it was.Since I arrived on a Sat I got just a basic evaluation but didn't receive any rehab either Sat or Sunday. But the rest was good as the leg felt a little better each day and I got a chance to get up and about on the crutches and walker.

Except for Saturday I stopped  taking the Percocet once I got to the facility. it relieved the moderate pain but didn't want to  continue getting clogged up. It was 5 days since the choo choo train came in to the station. Yesterday I got a good evaluation to see if I was ready to go home. They taught me how to use crutches, get  in an out of chairs, walk on an uneven pavement and refreshed what I shouldn't do to dislocate the hip. I got in about 30 minutes of rehab.  I was taught how to shoot myself up in the stomach with Lovenox which is a blood thinner. Blood clots can form until the device is healed internally.

Each day I got a little better. I can see for the first couple of weeks this is one day at a time Walking short distances with the crutches or is a great excuse for nap time. Much of the walking I got was with walker going from the bed to the bathroom and back. Most of the people prefer the walker, I prefer crutches for longer distances.

It is great to be in the comforts of home. Wonderful. I still have some challenges. My new hip leg is very swollen  below the knee when I  stand or sit in a chair. The only thing that keeps it from blowing up is lying down. While some swelling is normal, my Popeye calf is due, I believe, to a pre existing condition. The left leg has always a little thicker than the right due to constantly getting pounded by baseballs and softballs when I used to catch 15-20 years ago.. Tight socks will make an indentation in the bad leg and not the good one. I hope because of the  surgery it hasn't gotten worse. I also have a very low grade fever between 99.5-99.9. While this is typical in the few days after surgery it should be gone by now. I will call the doctor tomorrow morning.

 I still have moderate pain although not as bad as the fist few days.It is still difficult to move around, like getting up from the bed or down to a couch. I am pretty confident it will continue to get better. Once erect (on crutches), it is reasonably easy to get about. I did my first decent walk outside today going down the block and back. I almost  didn;t make it back as I walked a bit too far. I wound up walking 285 yards at 1.1 mph. Took my Garmin GPS from the bike.

I just want to say "the wife" has been great throughout this. Without April cheering me up  every day at the hospital and nursing facility it would have been almost impossible.I could look forward to seeing her and enjoying the goodies she brought always making sure I always had everything I needed. She always looked great.. At home it has been more, much more of the same. April and Allison went shopping buying the ingredients to make a Yarlsburger and asparagus dinner. Yummy.

After reading this through I can see it was more interesting when written on the pain meds.