Busted Knee, on meds - watch out for strange posts...

[Joe13]

Since you are a little incapacitated you might use a swivel chair to help you out a little because it is a 360* game.

I did notice it was a workout on the arms to swivel the phone to shoot things .

Just the 5 min it takes to go down the hall and wizz makes my foot start to swell so I'll have to get to the point where I can sit up first before I can do that

 

[Medic!]

Were lucky Joe.

We get to make a comeback.

 

[Joe13]

Were lucky Joe.

We get to make a comeback.

Yessir!

The hill is a bit steeper then I read in the tour guide but I'm very happy to me headed up hill.

As well as a continued education in humility so I will be more careful with my knees when I get past this.

 

[41Slinger]

Been away Joe13, married off a daughter. Read through your posts, glad your getting up the hill, hang in there, it'll get better. Having a good woman is a huge bonus.

 

[Joe13]

Been away Joe13, married off a daughter. Read through your posts, glad your getting up the hill, hang in there, it'll get better. Having a good woman is a huge bonus.

Thanks guy, and congrats on your daughters wedding.

I haven't done that yet but can only imagine it's bittersweet to some extent.

 

[41Slinger]

Thanks Joe, one of three daughters, only one to have a wedding, wife was full tilt for last few months, I just said ok, whatever you want to do, kept me out of trouble, but it was fun. New son in law likes cars, guns, hunting and works hard so it's good.

 

[Joe13]

Well I'm up still. The pills have kicked in but I've been trying to only take 2 before bed and 1 every 7 hours (script is for 2 every 8 hours), the shorting it one hour seems to really help - as one is wearing off the other is kicking in so I don't have the 2 hours of agony I was dealing with before.

But getting up and down for bathroom runs just make the knee really tender so I have Ice on it and will try to get some sleep after the ice pack is shot.

Had to add in my muscle relaxers as needed - it really makes the difference between feeling like I've been sleeping on a granite slab or a cushioned couch, kinda crazy but with out them there is absolutely no position that is even marginally comfortable.


So much for off the pills in a few days .


I can say that I'm am getting less tender everyday - today I slept more then I have been so that's huge for me and my mood.


I also found a decent video game that is immersive enough to keep me engaged and not so damn complicated with button combinations that I can mostly mash the buttons and do ok until mini bosses at which point I have to pay some more attention. It also has some puzzle type elements so it's perfect for distracting me, especially during the transition from one set of pills to the next (about 6 hours in and I'm getting sore).

Phys Therapy on Monday morning so that will be interesting. I've got to have to make a lot of progress these next three days as I still haven't gone anywhere but from the couch to the bathroom and back; at which point my legs getting sore.

Will continue to wean off the pills as I can but they did a number on my knee and it's way, way worse then my last knee surgury was.

I'm also stuck on the couch so no walking around to start the rehab process - hoping I get something Monday that will let me Limber up some if nothing else.



May need another set of crutches before the month is over, my heavy body is wearing the set I have out fast (thankfully insurance paid for them), or I may resort to duct tape lol.

Noticed after only a week that my forearms are roughly the same size as my upper arms from using the crutches so much and no upper arm excersises. So I'm hoping to be able to sit up long enough to get some bicep and tricep reps in.



Sorry for the rambling message - too tired to play games and typing seems to help a lot suprisingly enough.


Goodnight for now.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Hang in there, Joe! Your manhood isn't related to how many pain meds you can gut not taking!

It's actually related to that itty, bity, thingie in your jammies! Have a good night!

 

[Joe13]

Hang in there, Joe! Your manhood isn't related to how many pain mess you can gut not taking!

It's actually related to that itty, bity, thingie in your jammies! Have a good night!

Shhh, I'm obviously trying to over compensate for something .

Id drive a real hummer and carry a desert eagle if I had the funds - seriously .


I guess staggering pills tonight didn't work as well for getting some sleep as I had hoped (worked great during the day but I woke up with my whole leg throbbing). Back to ice and a handful of different pills (one of them supposedly helps increase the effects of the other drugs - kinda like adding a couple beers to wash down the Percocet without the massive buzz).

1 week down and 3 to go (at the most I hope) on crutches - this is going to be a long month.


Had to bail on my very understanding wife - she has a work dinner she won tickets too ($150 a plate type event) this weekend and we thought Id be on a cane and vastly recovered compared to where I'm at, but as is I can not stay sitting or standing for more then maybe 5-10 min before my knee and foot start to swell so I think she is taking my daughter. I like being arm candy and I am actually a bit disappointed about missing this one.


Off to try and get past this stinking puzzle - been doing ok with them so far but this one has me stumped - and I even know what I'm supposed to do after looking it up on an online walk thru, I just don't have the coordination or something right now to get r done.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

No need for your wife to take your daughter, Joe!

I AM arm candy! Be glad to help out!

 

[etrain16]

Dang Joe, just catching up on this thread after a few days of missing it. Sounds like a rough go of it. Having recovered from a couple of surgeries, one of which was in a particularly sensitive area , I can say that it's amazing how much pain can humble the most stoic person. It's also amazing how ineffective pain medication can be at times.

But I'm glad to hear that you're showing signs of improvement and that you have an angel on earth to keep any eye on you.

 

[Joe13]

Dang Joe, just catching up on this thread after a few days of missing it. Sounds like a rough go of it. Having recovered from a couple of surgeries, one of which was in a particularly sensitive area , I can say that it's amazing how much pain can humble the most stoic person. It's also amazing how ineffective pain medication can be at times.

But I'm glad to hear that you're showing signs of improvement and that you have an angel on earth to keep any eye on you.

It could be argued I may not be as handsome as I once was, but there is no doubt I am truely blessed in my life - when things seem like they are at their lowest there always seems that something I would have never guessed or expected appears.

Especially when I stop looking for it and just deal with what I can in the moment (recovering from this surgery being my only focus - even though I want to get back to work, there isn't any real reason to try until I'm done healing).

One foot infront of the other and it always seems to work out one way or another, often in the most unexpected ways.

 

[Ura-Ki]

See Joe, That is the right attitude! One foot in front of the other, Ever forward!!! A man that knows he is blessed, will continue to be blessed! Me thinks good things are just ahead, keep the positive attitude

 

[Joe13]

I thought I was going to a swanky dinner tonight with my wife but she has convinced me to stay home (she'd rather I not chance having a setback to go to a dinner) and will be taking my daughter with her.


I did just call today for refills on the pain meds I'm on and I got a call back within an hour from the surgeons nurse to tell me they had the refill script at their office and to just have my wife swing by (with ID) and pick it up.

This isn't a guy that writes for extra pills normally and is the "use Tylenol" after the original script is gone type. I couldn't even get a couple of pills from him before the surgery to help with the really bad times and I only ask for 4-5 for emergencies the month before I went in, so if he is acknowledging I need them then I feel like I'm doing everything I am supposed too.

I was proactive so I didn't wait until I was completely out but I didn't have enough for a whole weekend. I keep hoping I'm going to wake up one of these days and it will just be sore, but I still can't be anything but laying down without my foot swelling and the knee and calf starting to get uncomfortable.

No drugs and it's pretty painful still, not delauted painful but it's often tempting to take a second percaset during the day so staying distracted is the next best thing.

By the end of the day I'm needing 2 and even then it's a little hard to find a good position to be in and my kid has taken to re freezing my dead ice packs and returning with fresh ones anytime she sees the warm ones at the end of the TV tray they have set up for me.

She's a great kid and my wife is going over board trying to make sure I have everything I need so that I won't get up except for bathroom runs (run, hahahah).

 

[Goosebrown]

My wife is disabled with a chronic pain problem. I know exactly how you feel and I am really sorry. Pain meds suck almost as much as pain so keep ahead of it and let your body heal.

Good luck.

 

[Medic!]

There is nothing unnatural about pain.
And nothing natural about Opioid pain meds.

There a modern gift to pain sufferers. But you can't dwell there for long.

 

[Joe13]

Well this turned out to be way longer of a post then I thought...

I have heard that the life doesn't give you more then you can handle - or some variation depending of it if your a religious or spiritual person.

I'm sure that is true but dang it I'm a little tired of being "tested".


Woke up just long enough to turn the alarm on my phone off to take my meds at 3 am... And promptly fell instantly back to sleep without taking anything and with the phone still in my hand when I woke up at 4:30 - not typical of me so I blame not taking naps yesterday.

My wife wanted me to try not sleeping during the day to see if I could get more then 2-3 hours at a time last night so I didn't nap at all and did fall to sleep pretty fast.

So, very tired but needing to pee I took my pills first then headed for the bathroom - so far so good.



It was the trip (another pun) back to the couch that did me in...

Got down the hall and was a little wobbly at one point but that's not totally unheard of - especially when I'm tired but pulled it back together and continue on.

Got to the livingroom and honestly am not sure what happened; one min I'm slowly making my way back and the next I'm off balance and went down like a baby giraffe - limbs going every which way plus the crutches .

Wasn't the meds as they hadn't kicked in yet, just me being tired.

Not sure how but I saved my leg - Well at least my knee, I think I hit my ankle on something in the fall but no knee pain - just pain in a whole lotta new places lol.

Landed on my back and left shoulder (still not sure how I saved my left leg) and think I saved my noggin but stressed my neck.


Scarred my wife half to death and having the same distance to get to me, she beat the 19 year old who ran track and cross county for years and still runs 4 days a week at least, but just barely.


Couldn't figure out how to get off the floor once the rubble was cleared (thankfully a friend gave me his old 4.5 foot wood speakers more then a few years ago- that are pretty awesome even if they are old tech; he had just got a new surround sound system and I've never had the right kind of room for that so I just prefer 2 speakers by the TV. Anyway they protected the TV, I'm so thankful for that, and this isn't the time to go without a tv, I can only type on the phone for so long).

Keeping my leg in the air I scooted on my bum to the couch and used a chair to get back up on it.

Thought I'd be up and not able to sleep but got most of this typed up and the pain meds and muscle relaxers started making me nod off - I kept finding my phone screen black from inactivity and feeling super drowsy despite the added pain.

Good times.


At least I'm already on pain meds. Added ankle pain on my bad leg, left wrist - must have got caught in the crutch, left shoulder, back pain, a sore neck and a headache.


Just more reason and aches to remind me to follow through with getting back into the best shape I can be in at 40 (slowly, but it would be real nice to have the funds and a vehicle to go hunting for big and small game next year as well as be in great shape for it).


Until then it's a mix of NWFA, YouTube and video games.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Keep your chin up, as well as your knee, Joe!

 

[WAYNO]

Don't forget your Doc-Q-Lace!

 

[Joe13]

Got an Update and have nothing to do but over share - can't take any more meds till 9...



My one hour or less appointment turned into 3+, as they sent me from department to department. Ultra sound on my leg as most of my pain is in my calf and foot when they are not up constantly.

My foot turned a nice shade of purple by the time I got into the office from being dropped at the front entrance.



End story is DVT, Deep Vein Thrombosis. Something I've never heard of but it sounds like blood clots in the deep muscle veins. I dunno. The docs all seemed concerned and said it would account for the massive pain I'm still in without the narcotics.

So Cummadin? for the next 6 months (so no more free tattoos until spring) and waiting to see if my insurance will cover 10 shots at 2 a day for 5 days to jump start the drug as it takes about 4-5 days to build up and the shots are immediate.



The knee seems to be healing ok though and I start Phys Therapy on Thursday - but I got another 2 weeks added to my 4 weeks of absolutely no weight on my leg sentence... so mid October now.

So an ice pump isn't going to help much for this and they either have or are ordering a compression sock that goes up to my knee as my doctor is pretty cool and wrote a Perscription for it.


So in about 5 days I "may" be off the pain meds but will be on crutches till mid October now at the least, oh yay lol.

That's what I got for now.

Good times & another adventure.