(no subject)

[cabbitzilla]

Bits of good news, at long last.

Today was the follow up appointment with the surgeon, Doctor Grosso. He commented that even as battered as I am I still am healing a bit faster than normal. The staples holding the four incisions came out today, and I was given blessings to switch to the cane (instead of the hated crutches) if the knee would hold me... provided that I keep the knee in the brace, locked straight, until the physical therapist tells me I can unlock it. A small sacrifice, and one I can deal with.

You see, starting tomorrow I'm house sitting again for Crys and Kelly, and I was NOT looking forward to hopping up and down the stairs to feed the cats (and myself!). Being able to use the cane is a wonderful thing; although I'm still moving slow, it now gives me one hand free to carry basic subsistance things like a glass of water or a plate of food. I navigated the stairs up into the appartment using only one crutch, with no more pain than is normally there from the healing. That's a marvelous thing, it is.

I've also been told that the strapped on pad for the Iceman widget only needs to be on when I'm actually using it... meaning I no longer have to sleep with the hose tangled in my legs and blankets. Annoying to the extreme.

Doctor Grosso had pictures that were taken during the procedure, and some answers as to why it happened. The ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) was completely torn through. The meniscus, an eight-shaped piece of special cartiledge that works as a shock absorber between the thigh and calf bones, had been torn and pushed completely out of the joint... which is why even after three months of physical therapy I was still regularly throwing the knee out. The ACL itself was shredded by my oddball (read: mutant) skeletal structure; it sits in a notched area at the lower end of the thigh bone... and the notch that I have is only three quarters as big as it should have been. He also commented that because of the extremely heavy musculature in my knee he had to make a forth incision to slip through the muscle that holds the patela (kneecap) in place - the muscles were so developed to either side that he didn't have enough room to work. He seemed worried that I'd be upset by that, but relaxed when my reaction was 'Whatever works. I trust you.'

As twitchy as I am about doctors, if I don't trust them they're simply not getting near me.

And there was another side effect: the nurses at Kernan Hospital took note of my raspy cough, and let Doctor Grosso know. He asked me about it, and I explained about the shattered tooth in the upper left quadrant of my mouth and the resulting sinus infection. He nodded, and had the nurses add a heavy antibiotic to the meds I was getting. And lo, while I'm still blowing my nose a couple times a day, the sinus drainage has stopped and the pressure in my lungs is gone. It's amusing that I had to have surgery on my leg to fix my sinuses, but there you have it.

I'll find out tomorrow morning what exactly I can do on this leg besides walking slowly with it locked into place. I've an 8:30 AM appointment for physical therapy, and the bulk of the do/do not list will come from the therapist. I dearly wish I could go back to the outfit I was working with last time, as Jared was wonderful to work with and everyone was friendly, but they don't take the insurance Megan's got and MediCare only pays 70%. Hopefull the new place will be decent.

That's all I've got for the moment. I need to catch up on my flist, and get my gear packed up for the stay at Crys and Kelly's. I'm feeling a bit more optimistic, now. Hopefully that will hold for a bit.

Comments

[shikyrie.livejournal.com]

Yay for healing... Hope it continues to progress :)