First Week Home

I've been back at home for four days now. The routine is really one of keeping me comfortable, clean, and as pain-free as possible. I would not say I have been progressing in leaps and bounds.

The pain is variable. At times it is quite bad and I am unable to focus on anything else until the medication kicks in; at other times it is more manageable. Sometimes the variation seems to be related to movement (crutching around, showering, etc.) but sometimes not. I suppose that is how it is these first weeks when things are shifting and mending and moving about in there.

When I was first taught to crutch by the PT tech at the hospital, the instruction was to put all weight on the left (non-op-side) foot, move the crutches forward a foot or so, slide my right (op-side) foot forward (toes slightly up so as not to snag on the carpet) until it is even with the crutches, then lean almost all my body weight on the crutches (only bearing 1/6th of my body weight on my op leg -- basically the weight of the leg itself) and follow by bringing my non-op-side foot even with my op-side foot and the crutches.

At first I couldn't slide my op-side foot forward at all. The muscle just wasn't there. I would stare at the foot and try to THINK it forward but I just couldn't get any muscles to respond to slide it forward. I had to get the foot where it was going by leaning forward so the weight momentum would swing it forward to meet the crutches, or by creeping forward along the floor with the toes, or some other cheat.

But by now whatever hip flexor/quad muscle was not firing before is working to slide my right foot forward as I crutch. So that is progress! I can slide my op-side foot forward six inches across the floor. Trophy please!

Crutching is very tiring. Standing on one leg is also very tiring. Pretty much everything I do that is movement requires so much effort by every single part of my body except my right leg that I am exhausted after the smallest feats. A shower, a staircase, a switch of positions... all of it requires a rest period afterwards, and sometimes some Valium if the movement has caused muscle cramps or extra pain.

I can sleep on my left side for long periods (i.e. more than an hour = long) during the night and switch from lying on my back to lying on my left side on my own. It is neither easy nor comfortable to do so, but I can do it. There are times when sleeping on my left side is far more comfortable than sleeping on my back, but combining the words sleeping and comfortable is still an exercise in oxymoronism.

I have not made any progress at all with the itching, however. I must be reacting to one of the medications, but I just itch all the time. Not the same as the heat rash, but just like itching little red bumps everywhere. I am still taking Atarax (which I was taking in the hospital for the heat rash) so the itching is supposedly being controlled, but you could fool me.

Another strange thing I have noticed is wild temperature fluctuations. I swing from freezing cold to complete hot flashes in what seems like fifteen minute intervals. Makes dressing very difficult but I'm learning to love layers. I think this must also be some some sort of medicine reaction.

My dressing is beginning to peel off so I've got an email in to the doctor to find out when that can come off. It is pretty much deciding the timing itself at this point, but I don't want to just rip the rest of it off without his permission.

Other than that, no news from the home front.