Saturday, January 31, 2009

Day Three

Whoops, forgot to post an update yesterday so I'll just do a double today. Or perpetually be a day behind.

Yesterday I think I started to make a turn for the better. I'm still walking on crutches and all that, but getting around just seems a little easier. I was even able to take a shower yesterday, after wrapping my leg in a garbage bag and doing whatever possible to seal it shut. Ever since then, the gauss/ace wrap on my leg has been wanting to slip down; I guess it got a little saturated.

Nothing else big going on. Just doing what the doctor says to do and sleeping a lot.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Day Two

Well, today I'm definitely feeling yesterday's surgery, but that's to be expected since the local anesthetics have worn off. I've spent the majority of the day laying around watching TV and sleeping with ice on my knee, and my leg propped up on a pair of pillows.

Bending my knee hurts pretty bad today, even with the Vicodin, but I've been through worse pain in the past. I can't complain too much given the circumstances.

I also have some pictures of the inside of my knee that were taken with the scope during the surgery. It shows exactly what they expected to see. You can clearly see where my knee cap was rubbing on my femur. You can really see the inflammation. Once I get a good explanation of what each is a picture of, I might post a few just to share.

And to end on a good note, my mom made cake! :)

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Post-op

Evening all, just giving a brief heads up about how surgery went.

First of all: damn, what a week for surgery. We got an ice storm from hell in Kentucky this week and it has shut down the town for two days for the most part. We got over an inch of ice, and needless to say it is freaking nasty outside. The hospital remained open, and so did the pharmacy I got my pain pills from (a friend of mine who got his wisdom teeth out yesterday wasn't so lucky).

As predicted, I couldn't sleep worth a damn last night. I think I tried to go to bed at 1, got up around 2:30, tried at 3, got up, tried at 4... eventually fell asleep and got about an hour of sleep, woohoo?

At the hospital, everything went very very well. Everyone was very nice, I even got in early since I showed up a little bit early. The pre-op physical showed I'm still healthy as a horse, although I'm not sure how that's possible with how much I've been eating like shit lately, haha.

Today was the first time I had ever had an IV for any reason, and I have to say I'm surprised at how fast medicine works when you get it that way, damn! First time they gave me something they said "We're giving you a drug to help you relax. It's like Valium but better." I said, "so I'll start feeling good pretty so --- ooohhhh." Then when I got to the OR shortly thereafter, I got to watch them setup briefly, then heard "You're going to sleep now" and woke up two hours later. I wish I could have fallen asleep like that last night.

Today I've just been bumming around all day. I'm drugged up on vicodin, but I sure can't feel a thing so long as I use my crutches. I got really light headed / nausiated when I got up a bit earlier, but the medicine they gave me for that worked like a charm too.

Thats all for now. Expect frequent updates, I'm hoping to use this as a recovery log for at least the next week or two. Thanks for all the support, too :)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Night before

It's the night before surgery, or as I like to call it "getting my knee stabbed."

Nervous? Yeah.
Ready to get it over with? Uh huh.
Not wanting to wake up at the ass crack of dawn? You bet.

Not much to say, really. I have family down here to help me get around, although I'm hoping I don't need help for too long. Really not sure what to expect during or afterwards so we'll just see how things go tomorrow.

Wish me luck guys. I'll be around.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Fail and get up and win

It's no joke the last several months have been shitty on my end. Can't run, can't bike, can't swim, can't do shit. Walking to class hurts my knee. Hell, driving hurts my knee.

I dug myself into a hole.

I fell back into my old ways of rotting in front of the computer. No working out. Not much going anywhere. Eating like shit. Absolutely no motivation.

Driving back to Kentucky yesterday I got to thinking about all the stuff I've accomplished. All the people supporting me. All the things that have changed in the past year, all the things I need to work to change back, and the few people encouraging me to do so (Thanks Joe).

I'm digging myself out of this rut.

Sure, I still can't run, bike, or swim. But even with my knee, I'm still capable of pushups/situps and the like, so I'm getting back to it. I started today with what was my first workout since, well, probably July. I did some pushups and a minor ab workout. Over the next few weeks I hope to build it up more so I'm in some sort of shape / state of mind to tackle the physical therapy.

My knee surgery is two weeks from Wednesday, and I'm going to hit it with some momentum.

“A winner is a loser who was willing to fail and get up,
fail and get up,
fail and get up,
fail and get up and win.”