Christmas is done for another year...

So, this is the quiet time after the celebration. I am actually pretty pleased to be sitting by the fire, typing on my new shiny macbook pro! Now Doug will use my macbook and there should be no more antsy times over who gets the laptop. :) Besides, I expect him to spend a lot of time in his workshop with HIS new toys. He already has materials for a train table for Jackson.

Christmas was wonderful...family time, celebrations at church and even a white Christmas here in GA!! As a result of that last feature, we had the "day off" from church today, since the roads were icy. So Sarah stayed over an extra night and that in itself is an unbelievable treat! She's home now and, I imagine, happily putting away her new mixer and stuff, and spending time with Sawyer and Kendra and Steve. I love knowing she is happy! Daniel and Mackenzie left last night for Naples so they could beat the worst of the snow, so they are safely there and spending good time with her family. Ben and Jenn and Jackson have enjoyed the snow and are spending time with Jenn's family, including her grandparents who are in town. Doug and I did see them briefly when we went over there so he could install their new garbage disposal. Maybe the least welcomed gift of all time, but I hope they get good use out of it, at any rate. My bad call, that one, I guess...

Well, I have about one month to wait and get ready for my surgery. I have the most clear and vivid object lesson in how NOT to feel sorry for myself, though: Eddie has to have surgery on Tuesday for a torn retina. He apparently will not be in a lot of pain, which is great, and I guess there is significant pain involved in my procedure. However, his recovery involves having to sit or lie with his head DOWN for 45 minutes out of every hour, round the clock, for 3-4 WEEKS. I would much rather be in pain. I cannot even conceive of having to do this, and Eddie is possibly more ansty even than I can be. It's going to be so hard for him! As he said, the Lord is telling him to SLOW DOWN, and really giving him no choice at this point. Guess that is what is going to happen to me, to some extent. But I will still be able to do stuff... Hopefully, I can help out Eddie and Rene' and the kids over January...

So now, after the new year, I need to get the MRI scheduled on my knee so we know what will happen. Need to pick kids' music next week. Need to get Christmas decorations down, clean up the house really well, and clean out the freezer. I hope I can have the Praise Team over for calzones in January and also have Sarah, Steve, Karyn and Misha and also Kendra and Andrew over, again, for calzones. Maybe we can figure out a way for Ben and Jenn to come and we can have a big rock band party!  That will be hard, though, because they will all be really busy. I just really love spending time with those people!

Here's hoping the after-holiday blahs are done quickly. I am so blessed and it's been wonderful....

Onward!

So, good news, mostly!

Went to the doc today to get info and make some decisions about surgery in a few weeks (after the holidays).

I did let him know that I have begun feeling pain in my R knee that pretty much coincides with the ankle pain. Meaning when I have been doing a lot of walking/standing/etc. X-rays did not indicate any arthritic changes in the joints of both knees (good news). He suggested a shot in the knee to see if it will calm down, which he gave me today.  If it still is painful by the first of the year, I will get an MRI and, if indicated, he can scope the joint at the same time he does that ankle. Kind of a two-fer, at least as far as anesthesia goes! Also, staying off it afterwards.  So, I consider that all good.

The other awesome news is that he does NOT think, at this point, that I need the osteotomy part of the surgery. Meaning he will not be cutting into my bones and putting pins in to bring them back into alignment. Makes the recovery MUCH easier. Brings the "success" percentage down a bit (from around 90% to 80%), but I will take those odds!

So, on Feb 3rd, assuming my knee is good, he will scope out the ankle joint to see if there are any rough places that need to be smoothed out, then he will do a Brostrom procedure, meaning he will cut and then re-attach the ligaments in the ankle so that scar tissue will form and make it all nice and tight again. He moved my foot around again and said it was one of the looser ones he had ever seen. So, I win a prize or something. Adding a possible arthroscopic knee procedure to the above won't make that big of a difference, I don't think. Except in his bill :)

The process after that is around 10 days in the post-surgery "splint" (non weight-bearing and mostly elevated to reduce swelling); then 4 weeks in a cast (about one week non-weight bearing, then slowly can put weight on it!!! This is better than what i thought it would be!!!); then 3-4 weeks in a "walking boot" which I will be able to remove to take showers/baths!!! THEN back to the brace I am currently wearing and begin to do PT to loosen and strengthen the joint back to "normal".

It seems I will only have to miss a couple of Sundays/Wednesdays as long as I can put my foot up and sit when possible. So that is good.

Bad news is that all this time in splint/cast/boot  means I will not be able to drive for about 2 1/2 MONTHS. Blerg. I cannot imagine trying to drive with my left foot only. Seems very, very much a bad idea. So I will be depending upon friends and family for a while for that. It will be humbling, to say the least.

All in all, good news, though. We will see how my knee does with this shot and go from there. I am not too worried about that, though. It would have been bad to ignore the pain and then go through all of this with my ankle and then have to go back and do that same knee.

So, bring on the rest of Christmas and now I can know more of what to expect!! Yay!

A list of things to be thankful for...

So, I am noticing and kind of trying to pay attention to things that I won't be able to do for a while after the surgery. I am doing this for a couple of reasons: to prepare myself and/or figure out a way to do the things I really need to do; and to remind myself now how thankful I am that I can do these small things. And I will again. Just not for a time, and I don't want to be snitty about that when it happens. It's just a part of it.

So here are some of the things I have noticed so far:
-lighting the fire in the fireplace (at least I will have to drastically change the way I do it. I cannot reach the gas thingey and light the logs without kind of sitting on my right leg on the hearth, which I do not think will be a good idea for a while...
-taking a bath- I keep trying to figure out a way I could do this and hang my leg over the side, but getting in and out would surely be interesting to say the least. Fork lifts could be involved.
-Sweeping, vacuuming, general cleaning. I will need to get things really clean right before the surgery and then just hang in there. I will get antsy if Doug has to do a lot of this...and he almost certainly will, with a dog that sheds like ours does...
-walk holding Jackson's hand, or rather with him holding my finger. This one makes me sad, but he might get a kick out of the crutches. Hopefully he can sit with me and cuddle some.
-walk the dog. On crutches this would be a disaster.
-Drive. I have not idea how long this will last. I cannot imagine driving with only my left foot...sounds very unsafe, not to mention impossible with my standard trans mini. This one will be a huge challenge.

So these are things I currently tend to take for granted. I don't want to do that!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, the turkey is in the oven and the only other "person" awake around here is Reese, the dog. She is awesome! Doug is all about the sleeping in! :)

I love being able to get up early and do things that need to be done. When thinking about this surgery, I get a bit anxious considering all the things I will NOT be able to do. Like, if I get up and the wireless internet needs to be reset, i will not be able to do that as it involves climbing a little step stool. Certainly won't be able to clean the house or do any cooking. Or even get my own coffee in the morning (can't carry coffee and use crutches). Well, maybe if I get a really good 'go cup with a tight lid.... :) And I keep thinking I need to train Reese to bring dirty clothes into the wash room so I could at least load the washer....

God's going to give me yet another lesson in patience and humility through this. I am thankful for my doc and for the opportunity to get this fixed. I just need to remember that and to be nice to all those people who are going to be helping me out....

Guess I will go and do some more things for lunch now. It's going to be a great day!

Date is set!

The surgery coordinator called yesterday and we set a date: February 3rd. And since we are doing it this far in advance, I get to be first on the schedule. I really, really hope that stays true because I HATE waiting, NPO, for something that I most certainly will be very nervous about. I know I will just want to get it over with!

I e-mailed my pastor and SPR chair to let them know the date and that after my Dec 6th doctor's appt,  I will be able to hopefully give them a better idea about how long I will be unable to work. I think leading worship will be much more problematic than leading rehearsals since I can sit down with my foot out, if not elevated above my heart, to lead rehearsals. Almost certainly have to stand, at least for a time, to lead worship. I also started gathering music to schedule out, but need the Pastor to post his sermon topics and scriptures so I know what to put where! He may need another gentle nudge! :)

Today is the day before Thanksgiving, so I will spend most of it prepping and cooking, which I love. I wish my daughter could be here to do it together, but she is very, very busy with school and lab. I get to have breakfast a bit later this morning with my son, his wife and my grandson, which will be fantastic!! And no rehearsals tonight!!! I will miss the people, but not the time and worry of getting everything together.  I am very blessed.

Guess this blog is working out more as a journal for now, which is fine. I have wanted to do this for some time! And I am trying to stay motivated to keep active and work out. Yesterday I did a good 30 minute workout on the bike and also cut the grass and worked in the yard some. Not too much more pain as a result, which is good. It's still difficult to wrap my head around the fact that I need surgery on that ankle. It just feels "funky" and annoying as opposed to very painful most of the time. But I gather that is fairly typical. I must figure out how I am going to do things like bathing and letting the dog out in the middle of the night in those weeks after surgery. Haha....that is pretty random.

Fun stuff! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

So this is how I got here...

Hello. I am a 54 year old mom/grandmom, and I have always considered myself to be pretty active. If I have a choice to park close or far in a parking lot, I choose far. I watched my own mom suffer through near immobility with her arthritic knees and severe weight problems, and never, ever wanted to be that way. One of my greatest fears is of being sedentary.

That being said, over the years I guess I have had my share of issues. In my life I have loved dancing, water skiing, snow skiing, and playing tennis, but recent events have conspired to curtail these activities. Over the years I have had both knees "scoped" and two back surgeries, and have "rolled" my right ankle a few times. I had my last major back surgery about 6 years ago and have been doing really well with that. I was actually doing a pretty rigorous "boot camp"-style workout three times per week up until about a year ago when our basement flooded and I re-injured my back trying to deal with that. This started a long series of physical therapy sessions and effectively ended the rigorous workouts. Then I had my second knee scoped last February, and recovered from that rather easily, or so I thought. I was up and mobile, but "favoring" my left knee after the procedure, but, hey, life was proceeding and I was into it! My son and his wife bought a new house and there was painting (lots of ladder time) and other stuff to do. We got a new preacher at church (where I work) and there was more painting to do (climbing again, and jumping off of things, which was a mistake!).

In the course of all this, I began noticing a lot of pain in my right foot. So I went to the doc who had operated on my left knee and he told me that the ligaments that hold up the arch in my foot were essentially disintegrating and that I needed custom orthotics. I started reading up on the condition he thought I had, and it just did not make any sense to me. So I talked to the orthotics guy and he gently and tactfully suggested that I should get a second opinion. So I went to a podiatrist that he respected. This guy did NOT agree with the first doc's diagnosis, and recommended PT.

I really loved the PT I was referred to. This guy was all about getting well and then going BEYOND that! I worked hard but still had no real improvement. The PT noted some swelling in my ankle, and I just explained that my right ankle had always been that way. Still, he had me do strength exercises as well as proprioception. When I went back to the podiatrist after the six or seven weeks of PT with no improvement, I mentioned to the doc that my foot just felt "unstable", somehow. That is what led him to actually look at my ankle. He found the positive "drawer sign" and then did a stress x-ray and found that my ankle is mechanically unstable. All of a sudden the guy is putting me in a brace and saying I need surgery and to make plans to be out of work for weeks.

I was in a bit of shock and began reading up on this type of thing. The really unsettling thing was that my foot/ankle felt SO much better with the brace, and contemplating this kind of surgery was just bizarre. I asked my PT what he thought, and he gave me the names of three orthopedic docs that he has high opinions of so I could get a second opinion. I was able to get in to see Dr. Cullen pretty quickly. He reviewed the charts from the other doc, took some pics of his own, and moved my foot around in ways that made me a little queazy (it should NOT go that way!) but did not actually hurt. He agreed that i need the surgery in order to avoid degradation of the ankle joint and to stabilize it so the pain is not there.

This was back in late August. I work in church music, so going out of commission in the months leading up to Christmas was just not a good idea. PLUS I have a 19 month old grandson who is very active, and I had promised my daughter in law that I would help keep him so she could complete an internship.

So now I have my appointment with the doc in two weeks to actually schedule the surgery, hopefully, for around the first of February. My hope is that this will allow me to be able to be actively involved in Lent and Easter services.

My primary concern now is that my foot/ankle are increasingly uncomfortable and I do not want to damage the joint any further. But I NEED to work out and to be in the best shape possible before the surgery! Motivation is a must. Hopefully this blog will help me with some accountability.

I am going to make a list of questions that I hope will be completely addressed at the doc visit in a couple of weeks. The exact nature of the procedure he expects will be needed; expectations for recovery, etc. He told me in August that he would 'scope the ankle first to look at the joint and then proceed with the reconstruction of the ligaments. He also mentioned needing to do something with the alignment of the bones. That is where I need clarification. I may see if my husband Doug can go with me to this visit. I am really concerned about how much my recovery will put on him. He went through this when I had my back surgery, but we had kids at home then who could help out. Now, it's just us two. But we have great friends and family nearby. I just don't want Doug to be blind sided by all of this.

Well, that is enough for now. Maybe this will be of use to someone. It certainly makes me feel better to just get it out!