Day 9.

Christmas 2012...I asked for Santa and got a nurse.

It may be because the sun was shining but I think I seemed a little better today than yesterday.  No involuntary screams, managed to do some PT and a record number of in-house laps.  Only three days until I get to take a shower.

Rule number 21 of the intertrochanteric hip fracture pamphlet I have says I shouldn't lay on my stomach.  Like I'd be able to lay on my stomach!  I'm getting faint just thinking about it.

An Athens neighbor and the reason Max likes to take a right out of the driveway when we leave for a walk.

Day 8.

Did what I could today.  The laps around the house are getting better/faster.  I'm less anxious getting out of bed.

I tried to do a set of the PT exercises but even at a really wimpy level my hip won't let me.  Like standing and moving my right leg out to the side should be easy enough but it seems like there is something stopping it.  Not the kind of pain that feels like you should be pushing against.  I don't even know what I mean...maybe it's all in my head but I don't think so.

I was reading over some info on intertrochanteric hip fractures and everything tells me a 'no pain, no gain' attitude is likely to cause further damage but that if I don't get up, move around and do the prescribed PT, I'm in really big trouble. Since almost any movement makes me scream, how is that supposed to work?  They talk about working on strength and flexion....I can't even imagine...but and worried about what will happen if I don't. 

I'm babbling.

My first follow up appointment is on Wednesday.  If I wasn't already worried about how I'm going to get from the house, through the snow to the car or how I'm going to be able to move to have x-rays taken, I would be looking forward to it.


Now.  If I don't have anything good to say I shouldn't say anything at all so I'm outta here. 

Day 7.

Looking out to the ski trail through the window by the toilet, I watched a group of skiers laughing and taking each others pictures with our house and view as the backdrop.   Normally I enjoy watching skiers stop to admire our setting but today it just made me feel sorry for myself.  Such a wimp.

When I thought I heard the groomer going by I plugged my ears.

Today when the home physical therapist moved my foot and I involuntarily screamed, she apologized then scolded me for not taking my pain meds.  After repeating herself a couple times, she moved on to plan B which was mostly walking.  With her behind me, arms outstretched as if she could catch me when I lost my balance, I gracefully circled the living room and kitchen.  Waaayyyy better than yesterday.....until by the stove, coming around the last turn, when I unfocused for just a second and out came the involuntary scream.  Shit.  It's no better than day 1!  I'm just better knowing how to avoid aggravating whatever is going on.  My progress is fake.  Hmmm.  Maybe I should be a little less impatient.  The therapist told me how well I was doing and I think she meant it but then I couldn't help but think she is comparing me to her normal home PT broken hip patients who are probably about 20 years older than me.

Home Health came by and changed my dressing today.  Looks good.  Healing well.

My right thigh is swollen swollen (dah) so I almost can't bend the leg.  Doc said there is a lot of blood in there.

Today's therapy:
4 sets of a living room/kitchen lap and isometrics
read
iced lots
1 set of standing PT exercises.
read
cleaned the bathroom sink and toilet
sat in the chair x2
  

WARNING! up to Day 6.

If you don't want to listen to me talk about the progress of my broken leg you many want to ignore the next few posts.  It's an easy way for me to keep track of my progress.

Dec 22.  Day 1.  I looked at my watch.  Thinking, "11:30 am? Already?  How'd that happen? We have to leave at noon to meet Liz and Meg in Hanover".   Two seconds later I was on the ground with what I was sure was a broken hip.  I always thought if I was in trouble somewhere I'd never be able to yell 'HELP' because I would be too embarrassed.   Come to find out it wasn't all that hard.

I'll spare you the details from the previous post and fast forward to some stuff I haven't mentioned.  Ketamine.  In order to take x-rays someone gave me Ketamine in addition to some other things.  I don't remember screaming, or any other part of the x-rays, but Vince tells me I was.  In 8th grade health class we watched some drug education films.  I remember a film with the premise:  'this is what the world looks like if you take LSD'.  It was like I was seeing that movie all over again except in the end I didn't put my hand in the open flame that looked like a flower.  Awful.  Similar to the computer screen hoopla following an online solitaire win if it was followed by  nausea and vomiting.

My mantra in the ambulance...call Liz and Meg to say that we won't make it*...cancel the Arizona airline tickets...cancel the rental car...cancel the bike rental...call Liz and Meg to say that we won't make it...cancel the Ariz.... 

Dec 23.  Day 2.
Still recovering from the anesthesia and pain medication.  Groggy.  Vince came bringing me food and good cheer.  The hospital staff knows me from my knees.  Not sure how that makes me feel.  All morning the staff is telling me physical therapy will be coming to see me....like I'll think that's good news.  The physical therapist comes and, just as I'd feared, makes me get up to walk.  Torture.  I beg her to forget she's ever seen me.  For a while she thought I was kidding.   It's hard to explain but I can't figure out how to move.  I tense up with each step which makes me tense up even more and I scream from surprise and excruciating pain.  Adding the anticipation of repeating that routine with each step makes me crazy.  Sitting in the chair next to my bed, I'm wondering if the catheter should be hanging at shoulder height like it is.  Little appetite. 

Dec 24.  Day 3.
Some of the staff is wearing Dollar Store Santa hats.  Those hats are never very convincing but everyone means well.  I keep expecting someone to look good in them but no one ever does.
With as much dread as yesterday, I walked with PT.   No more nausea and vomiting.   My knee surgeon popped in to assure me my accident was just a blip.  RN removed the catheter.  Using the commode is very dignified.   Vince and I watched 'Breaking Bad' on my laptop.  Awake most of the night again.  A hospital at night feels science fictiony with the beeps, rolling carts and squeaky footsteps.  At midnight it's Christmas.  Weird.  My friend Allison came and brought me some treats.

Dec 25.  Day 4.
Merry Christmas.  I'm going home today.  PT has the day off.  All I can think about is 'how am I going to get into the car?' and  'how am I going to get out of the car?' 
Entering the house I stood, surprised, facing the tree Vince had cut down and decorated.  It's the most beautiful holiday tree I've ever seen.  He waited with some of the ornaments so I could tell him where to hang them.  He put the guest bed in the living room for me.  Linda and Sheldon came over with Christmas cheer and an invitation to dinner.  Tried walking again but (and I'm not kidding) I forgot how.  No sleep.  At this point two new knees were more comfortable and easier than a broken femur.

Dec 26.  Day 5.
Didn't try walking at all today.  Too scared and seems like the payoff for waiting another day will be worthwhile.  Less pain and anxiousness.  Slept tons better.  Allison and Adrian brought over leftovers.   Janet called.  Elinor and George brought over the triangular pillow they loaned to me during my knee recovery.  Sleeping OK. 

Dec 27.  Day 6.
Less groggy.  Walking went pretty well...bending my knee when I bring it through seems to work.   Doing other PT.   Most of the pain is achy pain.  Like I fell really hard on my hip.  I still tense up and scream but much less.  The visiting nurse came to take some blood and a pulse.  He remembers me from my knees too.  Linda came by to feed me, chat and walk Max.  Gina brought me a book and a visit.
Snow storm today.  I love being out skiing in a snowstorm.  (don't worry)  The snow machine just went by packing the ski trail outside the house....now, that really hurts.

*By the time Vince called them they were already at the Dirt Cowboy in Hanover waiting for us, having driven from Saratoga Springs.  So.  Next time you're in Saratoga Springs please go and buy something at Blue Sky Bicycles.  Ask for Liz and tell her I made you stop.

A Blip.

Anyway.
I think I already told you, but we're in Vermont from Ohio for Christmas break.  Vince is in Craftsbury and I'm in Morrisville...in the hospital with a broken leg.  We were doing a ski-orienteering meet on normally snow covered trails that were ice covered on the day of the meet.   You can't imagine how many times I've replayed that downhill corner in my mind since then.  I'd been having such a great time up until the fall.  In orienteering everyone has a map with points printed on it.  These points are markers hidden in the woods.  Each skier follows the map trying to get to these points in the most efficient, fastest way.  Everyone starts at a different time and everyone goes a different way which is great unless you're laying on the ground with a broken leg hoping someone decided to go the same direction as you.  In ten minutes and before I got too cold, someone found me and 35 minutes after that I was in a warm shed waiting for an ambulance.  I make it sound comfortable but it wasn't (and still isn't).  The first responders couldn't have done a better job (other than not letting me ski on the ice in the first place) and if this ever happens again I want the exact same crew.  At the hospital I do (but wish I didn't) remember the nurse taking off my boot! but thankful I don't remember getting the x-rays.  When I started remembering things again, the surgeon said the procedure couldn't have gone better.  He just twisted my foot and everything lined right up for him to nail.  Nail.  Sounds icky.  So now, instead of spending in Christmas in Arizona with my Dad, I'm spending it in the hospital with a walker.

We're having a potluck and showing a couple of our films at the Stardust Bookstore Cafe on January 9.

School.
We got our first semester grades.  Somehow the A minus I was going to complain about doesn't feel quite so important.

This was fun.
Vin and I had four pretty big assignments to get done in the 3 days after we got back to Vermont.  Saving the worst for last, we each had a 2500 word final Film Studies paper due on December 13.  Neither one of us started it until 9:30 that night but figured as long as the Prof had the paper in his inbox by the time he got to his office the next morning we could sneak it by him.  Emailing word counts to each other we kept each other awake.
"183 words"
"200"
"212"
"oh no"
"676"
"a race" 
"now i'm nervous"
"984"
"That's it.  I quit"
"1071"
"1245"
and so on. Vince from his basement office and me from the living room couch, we finished.  For Vin it was 6 am and for me it was 7:20 and sunny.

Our classmate Kelly (not his real name) was an hour late for a 10:30 am class the other day.  Reason was that his power went out so his alarm didn't go off.  Yes, I did say 10:30.  Vince and I were the only ones that realized needing an alarm for a 10:30 class was really funny.

Interesting Arizona trip fact:
The rental car was $5/day (plus I found a coupon for 10% off) and the bike rental was $30/day.

Now what?  Follow-up appointment in a week.  Until then we'll wonder if it would be possible to work on a film shoot or sit in classes or drive to Ohio or get to class.......

As we say in Minnesota, 'It could be worse.'

Now What?

Looking at our Ohio University calendars the other day, Vince noticed that mine was different than his.  His said school starts again January 14 and mine said we start again January 7.  Sounds worth looking into.  My calendar, the one that says they want us back January 7 (and the one we've been using), said we were through with classes December 6 (the day we left) and Vince's said we were done on December 8 when we were already back in Vermont.  Looking more closely we see that the my calendar is the one for Ohio State University which is not even our school.  Vince's calendar is for Ohio University the one we should have been using and weren't but would explain the funny looks we got when we took off two days early.

Max guarding his Ohio domain

It's hard to know for sure whether Max likes it better in Vermont or Ohio.  In Vermont he has the stressful job of guarding a great big field but we reward him with bones.  In Ohio, our fenced-in yard gives him a very defined work area so guarding is pretty straightforward.   We've tried giving him bones in Ohio too but he's convinced that anyone walking by is going to steal them so he stands and growls and barks.  It's scarey .  He's big and his teeth are really big so bones in Ohio don't seem like a good idea.

Knees.
Last Wednesday an appointment with my knee surgeon determined that while the recovery of my left knee is GREAT, I'd lost 15 or 20 degrees of flexion in my right.  A mild scolding for not seeing him before now, another final cortisone shot and plans for an aggressive month long therapy regime to stave off a yet tbd plan B, we made a physical therapy appointment.  Vinny the therapist took some measurements. 135 degrees of flexion on the left (the most he'd ever seen..on anyone) and 110 degrees of flexion on the right after yesterday's cortisone shot.  Working on it for an hour (imagine surrounding the inside of your knee with shards of glass) gave us another measly 2 degrees which means it's going to be pretty stubborn.  In an effort to find the missing 20 degrees, we scheduled four more PT appointments.  I think I heard the surgeon say something about maybe having to go back in...can't let that happen.

A few days ago I was telling Vin that it was weird being in Vermont with no doctor appointments to structure our stay so now it feels more normal.

Exciting News.
I rarely speak of anyone but myself (and once in a while Vince)  but our niece Olivia got into an Italian Master's program at Middlebury College.  A linguist just like Vin's mother, Nel.