Surgery Minus Two Weeks

I went to the pre-op knee and hip surgery class this past Monday. I met some women who will be on the same unit with me recovering: Barb, Margaret, and Phyllis. Barb and Margaret (knees) are having surgery the 31st, Phyllis (hip) and I on the 1st... the same surgeon. Her surgery is first, so I told her not to wear out the surgeon.

I asked about pre-op exercises. The nurse nixed that, saying we use our leg muscles enough doing our activities of daily living. Um .. hello? I don't do much daily living right now. I think (from a fellow nurse's perspective) that she was just answering off the fly. If you don't know the answer, make one up.

I've stopped exercising my legs. Not because of the nurse, but because I was in so much pain last week. I don't know if working my legs to exhaustion caused the flares or if it just made the pain worse, but I couldn't stand it. I don't have enough pain meds to get me through to the end of the month, so I'm taking it easy.

All rooms on the unit are private, thank you very much. They will be getting our happy asses out of bed the same day as surgery. We start rehab the next morning, bright and early. Plan A: ask for lots of drugs. Plan B: ask for more drugs.

Our nurses will have telephones. We will call them instead of "hitting the buzzer." I've been in other hospitals that used this method. I can't see that it is any better than the old call button method. Certainly, it isn't any quicker.

We can also order our meals whenever we want off of a menu. That works well for the patients. I'm not so sure about the nursing staff.

I got to hold a knee replacement and a hip replacement dohickey. They are heavy. The knee weighs 2 ounces more than the hip. Go figure. I like the feel of how smoothly the joints move. No more snap, crackle, pop, and creak.

Home health and home occupational therapy will visit for up to 4 weeks. I hope I get the same crew as I've had before. We are becoming quite familiar with each other -- enough so that the visiting nurse can tell if I've lost weight, if I'm feeling poorly, etc.

We are finally doing taxes. I was the holdup, getting all of the medical deductions together. I have most everything added up for last year - a bit over $12,000. No wonder we are always broke. That is a big chunk of our income to be flying out the door. More than our mortgage.

I've been cooking and freezing things. I have fried catfish, vegetable beef stew, chili, corned beef, and a casserole I made up consisting of chopped broccoli, cream cheese, cream of mushroom soup, crab meat, crumbled Ritz crackers with butter, and lots of pepper. I also have some favorite frozen dinners. That should cover me for awhile after I get home.

My plans for next week include packing for the hospital and making sure the house is walker-friendly. And paying bills. There is no internet access at the hospital, so I'll need to make sure everything is taken care of before I go in. I'll miss the world while I am cut off from my computer. I have books on CD. I'll probably take a player so I can at least relax with some reading/listening.