Adjusting? Why yes, yes I am

Today I have been home from the hospital for a week while tomorrow marks two week since the much anticipated ex fix surgery. It is amazing how time seems to fly one moment, like the last thirteen days post-op, but crawls painfully slowly at other times, like the final weeks leading up to the aforementioned ex fix date. I am quite surprised at how well things are going both physically and psychologically. Due to a long acting pain medication and the occasional dose of Tylenol throughout the day, plus another drug for nerve pain, I experience relatively little pain. There is quite a bit of discomfort and I can feel my muscles stiffening despite the exercises I got from the home physiotherapist, but my pain is rarely above a one or a two on a scale of ten. I have become comfortable living with the fixator, knowing for the most part which positions are comfortable or not. When I look at it, the frame is now just part of my leg (well, except when I see the actual pin sites when the dressings are changed). I look forward to the day it comes off but accept it as a necessary evil, if you will, for now. In fact, it is not so much an evil as a god send because it is re-growing my tibia. How freaking amazing is that?!?! In short, the fixator was much easier to adjust to than I ever imagined it would be. This is not to say that living with it can be called easy or a walk in the park (there is, in fact, no walking going on at all), just that it is easier than I anticipated. Perhaps I will eat my words tomorrow if the tenderness surrounding my incision continues - at the moment just gently running my fingers across the skin elicits pain and discomfort, not to mention how the fabric of my pants brush against it as I move. Or maybe I will feel differently once the novelty and newness of the fixator have worn off in a few weeks, or if (more like when) I get my first pin site infection, or x-ray results are unpromising and therefore discouraging. But for now, things seem to be settling down and it feels almost the same as it did before surgery. The only real difference being the shiny blue scaffolding on my leg and the promise of bone growth every two weeks or so when I head to the hospital in Hamilton for x-rays.

Today was a good day although I was really tired (and by tired I mean falling in and out of sleep while sitting up in my bed, leaning against the wall while reading a blog and doing my physio exercises). I swapped my walker for my trusty crutches. How I missed those angry bird adorned sticks! It felt strange using crutches after two weeks of the walker. While both required my upper body strength, using the one or the other definitely feels different. The crutches definitely felt foreign sticking under my arms. I got used to the rhythm of the walker; the metallic click is made when I set it down in front of me; the weight of it in my hands. I am sure the crutches will feel all too familiar within a few days. I will still be using the walker at times, especially outside in the winter for added support when it snows or becomes icy. The crutches are just too unstable when it is slippery outside, and the last thing I need is to fall and injury my newly forming bone! But the crutches will be great indoors. I am simply more agile and able do more independently with them. The only real downside to the crutches is that they tend to increase how fast I go, and speed is the last thing I need at this time. The faster I move, the greater the risk that I bang my fixator off of something, so I keep reminding myself to go slowly. Also, the walker acted as somewhat of a safe zone around my fixator. It was near impossible to bump it into anything (except the walker itself).

After a bit of a hassle getting new orders from my surgeon to my home care nurses, new instructions finally came through tonight. While my surgeon told me how he wants me to care for my pin sites at last week's post-op appointment, the nurses couldn't do anything unless they had that info in writing (or in this case on a computer screen). So I am relieved that the paper work is all sorted. As a result, the home nurses now have the all clear to remove my staples (all fifty-seven of them) tomorrow. Yay! Cue applause. This is great because they tug at my skin when I do physio and are in general just ready to come out. How do I know this? Today's nurse explained how you can see when surgical staples are ready to be removed - the body starts to reject them as foreign objects so they jut out of the skin a bit. I do not like the actual process of removing them, but it will feel great when they are out! So that is what I am looking forward tomorrow.

Not much else to say right now. I had an appointment with my family doctor this morning for some minor concerns post-surgery. Blood was taken, a new prescription for pain medication written, a script for my walker given so I can claim it under insurance, and questions answered. Today was the first day since I was discharged that I did anything more than sit on my bed with my laptop and cellphone. I finished reading a book, which I take as a sign that I am much recovered from the latest surgery and I am pretty clear headed even given the long acting pain medication I am on. And that makes today a good, albeit tired, day. Maybe tomorrow I will start cross stitching again (not my massive blanket project that is nearing completion, but some fun little Christmas cards). 

In the coming days I will update about the hospital stay/surgery/post-op appointment. I have lots of pictures to share from while in the hospital and some pretty nifty x-rays. Updating on all this has just taken the back burner as I recover and start to feel human again.