A Grand Day Out

Yup, that's a sea turtle! At last, we've captured one fresh out of the ocean, coming ashore for his nap. This was the icing on the cake of a lovely day off work!

I had a doctor appt this morning, my 6-month anniversary of my knee surgery. Doc says my ligament on the right knee is doing great. He was very happy. I told him the bed news was that my left knee, the "good" one, continues to be funky. He contorted my leg in various ways and says he doesn't think it's anything serious, but wants me to have 4 weeks of physical therapy on that leg. He also had me fitted for a brace to wear when I'm active, a much smaller one than my post-surgery brace, thank goodness.

So I'm trying to look forward to being in much better shape in one month. But it's hard to get excited abt the strain the PT puts on my schedule. Since they don't have evening hours, I have to leave work by 3:30 to get there on time, and sometimes that's just hard to do. But I'm going to have these legs longer than this job, so I just have to do it.

I'd already planned to take the day off and celebrate six months of recovery. I actually finished with the doctor early, so I took off for the Ala Moana Mall, our local fancy mall with stores like Cartier and Hermes and Louis Vuitton (stores I never actually go into...). I went to Macy's and bought lingerie and then wanted to have a manicure at a salon there. My local across-the-street place is a tad industrial. They do a good job, but it's not very relaxing.

But the nail place wasn't open yet, so I went to a fancy local store and indulged in some retail therapy with a few items. Fortunately after that, the nail place had opened (or I might have had to wander into Cartier or Hermes or Louis Vuitton). This place was more soothing than the place across the street, though the color is a little darker than I wanted (Chris says it's brown. I say it's a deep plum...).

Next I went to Home World to buy a home accessory. I had my eye on this large blue platter with sand colored accents that looks great on our coffee table with our blue walls and beige tile.

Then I headed to Costco to buy gas, have lunch (they have great pizza) and pick up a few things. I dropped my belongings off at home and decided to run up to the North Shore to the Laniakea beach where the sea turtles tend to hang out. We went up there a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday evening and saw one turtle asleep.

Today, when I arrived at 3pm, there were no turtles, just a lot of tourists. I ran into the water to cool off, then went to a shady spot to finish reading the latest John Grisham book. I saw tourists acting excited a couple of times and then saw the turtle volunteers spreading out a red rope.

The volunteers man the beach to keep tourists from touching or bothering the turtles. After the turtles come out of the water, the volunteers make a perimeter with the rope and shoo the tourists behind it. You can take all the pictures you want, just as long as you don't try to touch the big guy. The turtle didn't seem to pay any attention to all the commotion around him.

He had his eyes closed when I got there, but he raised his head and moved up the beach a few inches and then settled in again for his nap. By the time I left he was sacked out like a baby. His back flippers were stretched behind him like a dog will do.

The volunteers all know the turtles and told me this was was Oakley, a young male. It's hard to tell from the picture, but his shell was probably 3 feet long. I plan to go back again and hopefully see more than one at a time. Chris and I may run up there one day after work, have Mexican food and turtle watch.

I got home in time for Final Jeopardy with Chris, which I got and none of the contestants did. That's always so satisfying... Then I went out for Thai food for our dinner.

So it was a grand day. Shopping, pampering, wildlife viewing, and no cooking...

World's 10 best places to live...

Saw an article on msn.com that caught my eye - 10 best places to live in the world, and I've visited about half of them! So here's the "Eva-view" on these places.

1. Vienna. The picture in the article wasn't very flattering, but there's no question that I found Vienna to be a great city when I visited in 2002, and I would love to go back. The art museums, the Hapsburg palaces, the churches and that great Sacher torte...

2. Zurich. Beautiful little city. Great scenery. Good train connections. Large watch selection. Dangerous airport, though.... Only flight I've ever been on where we wobbled like that on landing AND there were fire trucks with lights flashing right by the runway, ready to come put us out after the expected crash (which didn't happen to us, but did happen 2 weeks later in similar weather conditions and caused several fatalities....)

3. Geneva. Didn't get there when we lived in Germany. Got close! Someday!

4. tie between Vancouver, Canada and Auckland, New Zealand. Okay, to my shame, I have never been anywhere in Canada. I have flown through Auckland's airport and I've seen the South Island, and New Zealand had to be one of the most beautiful places I've seen. Reminded me a lot of Switzerland and Norway.

6. Dusseldorf, Germany. Okay, I never got there, either, but it's not exactly a tourist destination. Some friends of mine who went there for a long weekend said it was more of a one-day kind of town... But if this survey says it's livable, I believe 'em... Maybe because so many trains connect thru there and it's easy to get out of town...

7. Munich. Got there several times! Nice city. Good pretzels. Great Glockenspiel.

8. Frankfurt. Spent a day there sightseeing and traveled through there several times on the train. Nice town. Lots of sex shops near the main train station...

9. Bern, Switzerland. Been there! Seen Albert Einstein's house. Looked like a pleasant place to live. Capital of the country.

10. Sydney. I miss Sydney. Great city. Cool opera house and bridge. Nice botanic gardens. Cute flying foxes. Lots of opals.

One of the criteria this year was infrastructure, especially transportation, which is the reason Germany had so many cities on the list. You know those Germans -- they make the trains run on time...!

Meditations on Fishing...

I got a catalog from LL Bean this week with all their Fishing gear. I can't imagine what I bought from them that prompted them to send me this catalog. But I can always use more reading material in the loo, so I kept it around.

I had no appreciation for the gadgets that fishing requires. No idea how many varieties of hip waders there are. And they're expensive! $399 for the new Helix Wader. Though you can get the Breathable Emerger Waders for $99.

Next are your wading boots, specially designed to reduce the transfer of invasives by 80%. You can pick up a pair of those for $109.

And of course, all the other gadgets necessary for the fisherman, not just rods and reels (though there are pages of them, too). A hand-held GPS (handy for finding your car, says the blurb.) A headlamp (for fishing in the dark?). A little light / magnifier that you clip to your ball cap bill. A lighted ball cap or lighted reading glasses (actually, all three of those sound handy for many things, not just fishing...). Forceps. Never know when you're going to have to deliver a baby while you're fishing, I reckon...

A couple of types of stream thermometers. Might be handy for my afternoons in the pool... A Mosquito Annoyer to repel the pesky female ones that bite. Would that work on employees, I wonder?

But I did linger for a bit on the fishing vests. Eighteen gear specific pockets, including two front pockets with removable foam fly patches! The back pocket is designed to hold a hydration bladder. Something like that could be handy for bike riding! And the all-in-one altimeter, barometer, thermometer , clock and digital compass. Get your money's worth with that little doodad.

You can buy your own canoe at LLBean, $1,399 or $1,699 with the complete package that inlcudes oars and a motor. There's the Allagash Bug-Net Hat with a fine mesh netting that stores in a pocket in the crown. Now, where was THAT when we lived in Alice Springs?

I might end up buying some of these gadgets after all.

March Madness--Iditarod!

It's March and my version of the Madness is to follow the Iditarod! It's been running for a week now, and the leader is at the Grayling checkpoint, 429 miles to Nome!

Lance Mackey is leading the way again for the third year in a row. He's the only one in the top 10 to still have all 16 dogs running. He has taken both his 24 hr and 8 hr mandatory stops. His closest competitor who has also done those steps is about 15 miles (2-3 hrs) behind him. He could still be beaten, but his team is looking awfully strong.

Martin Buser, a 4-time winner and the holder of the record for speed, briefly took the lead close to the half way mark, while the others were taking their 24 hr break. But since then he has again dropped back in the pack, currently at 22nd. BUT 9 of the teams ahead of him have not taken their 8-hr break on the Yukon, and he has, so he's really 13th...

It gets confusing at this point about who is really ahead, but once they're out of the Yukon, and those mandatory breaks are complete, the picture will get clearer. There's one more mandatory 8 hr break that every team has to take at the White Mountain checkpoint (77 miles from the finish).

The lead contender for rookie of the year was a 38-year-old woman but she has since been passed by two other rookies, so things happen along the trail.

For the past few years a legally blind woman has been making the race and she has a companion dog sled team that goes with her. She'll likely never win but she loves the dogs and the race. Good for her!

I broke down and bought the "Insider" package which gives me the ability to check the mushers on a map with their GPS position. Mackey's GPS went a little funky at one point and he admitted at the next checkpoint that he fell asleep and the team lost the trail, so he had to turn them around, costing him an hour or so. Hasn't hurt him yet, though. He also joked about the hallucinations the mushers get from fatigue. Saw one girl reading a book along the trail and she waved and spoke to him.

Part of me hopes Lance gets a little competiton soon to keep it interesting! But the rest of the top 10 are close together, and there's still a lot of racing to do....

Target report!

Yes, with all the natural beauty and beaches here, I spent my day off going to Target...

But in my defense, we have had remarkably English-like weather here for about two weeks. It has been mostly overcast, windy and wet. And for here, it's been cool. 60's is cool! Our part of the island has dropped into the high 50's at times overnight. When you don't have any heat, that makes for a chilly evening, though great sleeping weather. We seem to be having a late winter here, and after the floods of Dec/Jan and all this cool, wet, windy stuff, I am ready for some sun.

And of course, I'm not quite ready for the great outdoors. The physical therapist had some very encouraging things to say about my progress, but I still can't get into the ocean for awhile. Getting into and out of the surf can be tough on a recovering knee joint.

So what else could I do but go to Target?? Both stores had a "soft" opening on Wednesday, but it was all over the news, so I figured today (Friday) would be crowded as well. But it wasn't too bad. I got to the Kapolei store just before 9am and there was plenty of parking and shopping carts. At first, I just walked up and down the aisles, seeing what they had. I was surprised at how much food they had. Finally I got a cart and bought some food that our nearby Safeway doesn't seem to carry, bought some vitamins, a skillet, and a pool toy! I got an adult sized floaty thing to lie in, hoping for the return of our sun.

But I'm taking back the skillet. Says "NEVER" use the dishwasher in all caps. If it can't go in the dishwasher, I don't want it. I just didn't read the fine print before I purchased. So dang, sometime soon, I'll have to go back!

Milestones--a new Costco! And Target!

And how could I forget?? Great things are happening here on Oahu in terms of shopping. A new Costco opened in the Kapolei area, which is in the southern part of the island, west of Pearl Harbor. It's not close to us, but I'm hoping that means that the Costco that IS close to us will calm down a bit. I almost never go there except at weird hours (8pm on Friday, 30 min before they close, for example), or to buy gas. With any luck, I can start enjoying my Costco card more...

The local papers recorded a madhouse at the new store when it opened. 750 parking spots and 1000 carts were all claimed within minutes of opening. People got there two hours early to line up. Shoppers also didn't fully realize that one of the interstate exits had been revamped to accommodate them, so they got off one exit earlier and jammed traffic. Locals who just wanted to get home spent 45 min going one block.

The article mentioned the two-for-one egg deal that was packing the aisles and the $3,000 designer handbags that were going for $1,999. What a deal.

On Wednesday, Target is opening two stores here, with the official grand opening on Sunday the 8th. Both stores are about the same distance from us. One of them is supposedly the largest store on the island, and the other is opening near the new Costco, further exacerabating traffic problems there. I anticipate both stores will be a repeat of the Costco madhouse, but that won't stop me from going there, though I may make it late in the day when sensible people are home.

So yes, unemployment is up here and the housing market is down and we are experiencing all the same problems that the mainland has. But we still need Stuff. And we neeed it at reasonable prices.

Quiet Sunday morning

It's a lovely cool Sunday morning here in Oahu. Some birds are going to town but so far no neighbors are out with weed wackers or lawn mowers. It's been cool all week, the closest we've had to wintry weather. A little sunshine would be nice, but it's looking pretty cloudy out there this morning.

The doctor did take me off the brace on Monday and I'm doing a little more each day. Trying to focus on not limping, since now it's as more of a habit than a necessity. I had some very long days at work but tried to do my home PT every night anyway.

Yesterday I went to a baby shower in Kaneohe. It's such a gorgeous drive over to that part of the island! If the mountains had a little snow on top, it could be Switzerland. After that, I went to a nearby mall. It was the first such outing for me since the surgery and it felt great to be out and about.

I went to the mall because I had a Macy's "thank-you" card with about $48 on it. I got a Macy's credit card last fall and somehow apparently signed up for this cash back program. I wasn't sure if it expired or not so wanted to use it. I couldn't find any clothes that appealed to me, so I went up to housewares. We needed a new meat thermometer, so I got that, and then poked around in the small appliances.

I thought about a blender, but decided I'd rather research them first. Besides, the ones they had were all huge. I ended up with a Cuisinart sandwich maker, and am looking forward to a grilled cheese or tuna melt today for lunch. It was $39.99. Today, I decided for some reason to poke around on Cuisinart's web page. Same sandwich maker is listed at $24.95. !!! Just goes to show once again how expensive it is to live here, and the premium prices we pay for everything. But that gorgeous drive to Kaneohe--well, maybe it's worth it...

But after a 58-hr work week this week and a long (but very enjoyable) day yesterday, I may really just stick close to home today. I'm planning to take this coming Friday off no matter what.

Saturday Afternoon

My PT says that my doctor will be pleased when he sees me on Monday, and should take me out of the brace, and I hope so! It's really become a nuisance, sliding down my leg as I try to even out my walking gait. We worked on my gait a little bit today, trying to get me used to using the right leg normally again. Part of it now is just that I'm conditioned to favor it and put more weight on my left side, and I need to learn to trust it.

I was happy to see how well I seemed to be doing on the exercise bike, my whole 8 minutes on there... I remember my first time on the bike at 4 minutes and I could barely make the pedals move, and even then my left foot was doing all the work. I had to sit far back and could barely reach the pedals, and I had to take my shoe off to give my ankle enough flex. Now I'm pedaling away with shoes on and pressure on both legs.

They've added a pound of weight to my leg when I do leg lifts. Boy, does that make it harder. At the same time, it's great to feel the results of the PT, and to be able to do more and more things, even simple things like rest my foot on the rung of our kitchen stool as I type this.

I went to the grocery store with Chris today! That was another simple thing that I haven't done in weeks. Of course, he might have been just as happy to do it alone, but he was gracious to bring me along, and it felt good to do even a small errand. I haven't done anything except work, sleep and PT for three weeks now.

And I have to say a word or two about how wonderful Chris has been during all of this, taking on job of chauffeur, cook, maid, home health aide and handyman. I couldn't have gotten this far in my recovery without his being so supportive, driving me so many places (esp the first two weeks), doing all the dinners and cleanup, cleaning the house, and doing so many other things. That allowed me to just focus on my PT and job.

Well, and also focus on a few TV shows. I have become addicted now to "Property Ladder." The renovation process itself isn't as interesting as the remarkable lack of thought and planning most people put into it, and the complete lack of self-awareness of how they affect the other people in the process. As a potential management / team training tool, it's priceless.

Speaking of lack of thought, planning, self-awareness, etc., I have too much stuff sitting around, and have bought a magazine on getting organized. "205 ways to make your life easier." "Clutter conquered in every room of the house." But I might have to take a nap first...

3 Weeks after Surgery, 1 week after football

Even though it's great to have a 3-day weekend, I've found myself in a bit of a funk. No more football... We enjoyed going to the ProBowl last week here in Hawaii! It was fun to get to see so many players from all the teams at once. All the team mascots were there, doing what mascots do to each other, and I had a good time making fun of the cheerleaders sent from each team. No word on their selection criteria...

"don't they realize they're a joke?" I said to Chris. "They're not a joke," he insisted. "Every man here is glad to watch them. Just wonder where they get those go-g0 boots."

Somehow I don't think his focus was on the go-go boots... A woman spilled some beer on my head passing it to her husband. That was annoying, but a minor blip. It was definitely one of those games where people were soaking up the atmosphere (and the beer) more than the plays themselves.

The ProBowl next year will be played the week before the SuperBowl in Miami, where the SB is being held. But that's brought a lot of backlash from the players, who see Hawaii as a reward. So the NFL is in negotiations with Hawaii to bring the ProBowl back here for 2011 or 2012.

I'm still in the knee brace, but called the doc on Friday to see if I could unlock it for walking, and he said "yes," so I'm feeling more mobile. No more "FrankenEva" when I move around. At slow speeds, I almost look normal... It still hurts more than I expected it would at this point, but it does get better every day. I see the doctor a week from today and am hoping I will be out of the brace then, or at least can sleep without it.

Other than that, just enjoying the end of the Hawaiian winter and rainy season. We haven't had a lot of rain in February. It's nice and cool in the mornings when we wake up. I'm looking forward to getting our warmer weather back so I can really start to enjoy the pool!

Two weeks after surgery...

It was a rough week trying to juggle work, physical therapy appointments, other doctor appointments, and fit in 6 hours at home on the knee machine each day.  The knee machine time kinda went by the wayside.  I haven't made 6 hrs since Sunday.  But I seemed to be doing well at PT today, and I was completely comfortable in the knee machine at the highest angle today.  

Boy, will I be glad to see that thing go.  I also read an article on the internet that said those machines are a source of debate as to how effective they are.  After 6 weeks, they tested two groups of people, one who had used the machine and one who hadn't, and they were at the same level.  Said their main value was psychological, that it made the patients feel like they were doing something positive and constructive towards their healing.  

But I told myself not to second guess my doctor.  That was one article; he's had experience with lots of patients and seemed sold on the value of this thing.

I got really tired this week.  Couldn't even make it into work on Friday - pretty much slept the whole morning.  But I'm looking forward to the Pro Bowl tomorrow!  When I'm not having anxiety attacks over how much things are piling up at work...

I drove myself to my PT appointment and back (abt 5 min each way) this morning and it felt fine.  So I plan to start driving to work on Monday, which is abt 15 min each way.  I'm still wearing the brace, but it has a hinge, so I can get pretty comfortable with driving.  I wouldn't want to be caught in heavy traffic yet.  

I still have to walk with the brace locked in the straight leg position, so I'm still "Franken-Eva" when I move around and I'm slow.  I don't have a lot of pain anymore - just a mildly uncomfortable pulling sensation in that knee, as the new ligament continues to stretch.  I'll take the crutch w/ me to the ProBowl tomorrow but more as a way to signal to others that I'm "special" so they can see why I'm moving slowly and don't knock me over...  And maybe other ladies will take pity on me in the restroom line...

Of course, you can never deal with just one thing at a time.  Our electric bills had been steadily climbing and really jumped last month, so we called the electric company, and they came out and told us we had a hot water leak, and our hot water heater was in overdrive trying to heat all this water.  It's taken us almost 2 weeks to get a plumber to deal with it.  One was supposed to show up Thursday afternoon, but called to reschedule for Monday.  So Chris gets to stay home and deal with that...

Our pool pump was also having problems, so we got that replaced (just waiting for the bill....).  That has been wonderful, though, because our new one, besides being energy efficient, is SO much quieter.  We can really enjoy the pool now while the pump is on.  It's soothing to look at the rippling water and we don't have to turn up the TV set over the pump!

We cleaned the house today.  Chris of course, did most of the cleaning, but I cleared out some of my junk that had been piling up on our ample kitchen counters.  It's nice to get back to (almost) normal.  I still hate how much some of the paperwork has piled up, but then I just try to think of some of those TV shows I've watched lately about people with cluttered houses and I try to compare myself to them and feel less stressed over my own mess...

Well, time for more hours in the knee machine!  

Saturday - much improved...

After Friday's unexpected pain, I was very relieved to wake up this morning to minimal discomfort and no additional swelling in my knee.  I forced myself to spend 7 hours in the knee machine today and got up to the magic number of 120!  

I broke down late afternoon and took a Percocet to help get me there, but figured that's what the doc gave me the pills for...  Don't think I'm in any danger of addiction...  In fact, I was a bit disappointed with that morphine last week!  Was looking forward to that great euphoric feeling it's supposed to give you, but I never want to see that stuff again!

And as a plus, I've had some moments without any discomfort when I was up walking around or standing, so that gives me some hope that I've turned a corner.  But I'm still having plenty of that nagging pulling sensation.  I was thinking earlier this week that pain comes in so many different varieties.  There's the sharp abrupt pointed pain like when I stubbed my toes in the bathroom this week.  If I had to give that a color, I'd paint it red.  The pain I feel would be just a dull, ugly brown.  It just wears on you.  You don't realize how much until it stops.  And oh, what a relief when it stops...

Enjoyed more daytime TV today, including two episodes of Property Ladder on The Learning Channel.  The people they featured made some really stupid decisions, but I figured in one case, the producers were salivating to get that woman on the air because she was such an incredible flake.  She wanted to spend $30K on renovations, and had this grand design in mind.  She had the sense to hire a general contractor, but when he told her that the grand design would be 40K, she got upset with him.  He suggested scaling back.  She didn't like that idea.In the end, she spent $72K, and after 4 months, still hadn't sold the house.  But she did make for compelling viewing.

Then Lifetime was having its "Love Gone Wrong" weekend, so I watched a couple of docudramas also about people who made some really bad decisions.   Now I'm sitting here watching the AKC Eukanuba dog show.  They're so beautiful!  Well, most of them.  There are still some funny-looking dogs out there.  

I also enjoy the sidebar videos on the difference dogs can make to a person's life, like a wheelchair-bound man and his Labrador assistance dog.    It showed him opening the front door for the dog to get the morning paper, and the dog looked so thrilled to pick it up off the sidewalk--just wagged his entire back end.  "Look!  I've got the paper!  Yippee!"  I try to bring some of that doggy enthusiasm to the things I do, but I'm not as cute as that Labrador.  

Superbowl tomorrow!

  

knee fears and other breakdowns...

I was in so much discomfort today and not managing my pain well.  I was trying not to take the Percocet anymore, but extra-strength tylenol just does absolutely nothing for me, and the doc doesn't want me to take ibuprofen due to its anti-inflammatory effects.  So I just tried to brave it out and by the time I got to the physical therapist was pretty close to tears and trying not to show it.

After torturing me in various ways, they put me on the stationary bike today for 4 minutes.  Four whole minutes!  It was so uncomfortable at first.  I whimpered a bit, thinking of my long bike rides in Germany, Australia, and Yorkshire, and how I could hardly push the pedal!  But I told myself to stop being silly, that before I knew it, I would be riding again, that I was progressing well, etc.  Then I heard BelleRuth's voice (star of healthjourneys.com and guided imagery) telling me there are times I will feel fearful, angry or sad, and I need to acknowledge that as my truth of the moment.  When I acknowledge my emotions, I allow myself to heal.  No denial with BelleRuth.  

So that's been my truth most of today's moments--in pain and sad over all the discomfort.  

This evening, sometime in hour 3-4 on the knee machine, my knee really started to hurt in weird ways that it hadn't before.  So I dialed the angle back a bit and soon just quit the machine all together.  The doc has emphasized how critical this machine is to my recovery, to regaining a fully functional knee, and part of me hated to stop for that reason!  But he's also told me to do what I can tolerate.  After toughing it out for several cycles, I decided that maybe I should just honor this unusual pain for the evening and try it again tomorrow.  So I've been just letting the ice bag sit on the knee and have turned off the motion machine.

I did a lot today. It was my first full day off the crutches.  I took a shower, which is a bit of an ordeal (just my 2nd one since the operation).  I walked up and down the street for 10 minutes.     I had an hour of physical therapy with several new activities.  I walked another 5-10 minutes around the shopping center (got a Mocha Frap light as my after-PT treat).   And I'd done 3 hours successfully before that pain kicked in.  So I'm hoping it was just my new ligament's way of saying, "uh, enough for today, hon."  

And, since then, when I've been standing up and walking around, I haven't had the pain I'd experienced earlier in the day!  So perhaps it was a bit of a breakthrough in a positive way.  

Tomorrow will tell.  For now, I'll just try to enjoy "The Unsellables" on HGTV as Sophie tells these property owners the obvious - repair and clean up the place if you want to sell your house!  

Knee Machine

This is the knee machine.  The foot goes in the upright part and then you drape the rest of your leg down the middle of the gray fleecy stuff.  You use the remote control on the side to increase the angle.  It slides up and down the dark track in the middle

The dark blue blob on top is a fancy ice pack, and the blue/white thermos in the background is a container of ice and water that keeps the blue pack cold. I put the ice pack on top of my knee as it goes up and down in this machine.

I'm supposed to do 6 hrs a day, 2hrs on, 2 hrs off, but it actually hurts my back (lying on it) more than my knee.  I know this is critical to my recovery, but can't wait to be done with it..... 

I've started wiggling my good leg around in the air, crossing it over the bad leg, anything I can think of to move my back a bit, including "butt lifts."  Anything to give those back muscles something else to do.

Off the crutches!

Had my follow-up visit with doc yesterday and I am off the crutches!  I was going to compose a column on crutching techniques but will dispense with that now!  I am starting to take short therapeutic walks (5-10 min) in the neighborhood and am taking one crutch with me on those to help me feel more stable, but when I walk around the house, they're history.

I'm also out of the Ace bandage and just have surgical tape on the incisions in my knees.  A nurse re-glued me and taped me up at the doc's yesterday.  So no stitches or staples - just surgical glue...  My knee looks a little swollen, but looks like a knee and not a grapefruit.  

I'm having trouble bringing in multiple pictures so will just do this one for now.  

Thought I would close by telling y'all about some of the nifty new daytime shows I've discovered.  There's "Clean House" on the Style channel, where people with AMAZINGLY full houses of junk have the "Clean House" staff come in and get rid of all their stuff and get their space into something they can actually live in.  I thought it might help me get more organized but the last time I was this bad was in college.  I'm a neat freak compared to these people...

I've also been watching the Dog Whisperer a lot and Cash Cab.  My favorite missed question on Cash Cab so far - what island used in nuclear testing in the 50's gave its name to a piece of summer clothing?  The contestant's answer - Bermuda, in Bermuda shorts.  Yeah, there was a lot of nuclear testing on Bermuda....

And I've been a regular on the Comedy Channel and the Colbert Report.  Last night he interviewed a representative from the National Chicken Council about the shortage of wings for the Super Bowl.  I googled the NCC and the guy on the show and they both exist!  I even sent him a short e-mail and he replied that he preferred answering questions about chicken wings over questions about bird flu....

PT and leg machine

Today, went for my first day of PT, which turned out to be pretty much a non-event.  I was expecting all kinds of painful, torturous exercises, but they massaged my leg and gave it some electrical stimulation and measured it, and all in all, it was pretty pleasant, especially that leg massage.  

They also told me I didn't need the bandages on any more until I told them the doctor said to leave it on until I see him on Thursday.  Then they said, "oh."  They also didn't have my doctor's protocol for an ACL reconstruction, even though my info was faxed to them on Thursday.  

Later in the day, we picked up my CPM.  I can't remember what CPM stands for exactly, but it's the cradle-sized device that passively moves my leg around.  I wasn't terribly impressed with the guy who "fitted" the device, either, but I really like the machine and it's covered in this nice fake sheepskin stuff that feels good to my skin.  

I've only taken two Percocet so far today.  Might just try ibuprofen tomorrow and see how I get on with that.  Also hope to take pictures of all my devices!  

Hospital and Beyond...

We were in the middle of rush hour traffic getting into Honolulu Friday morning and arrived about 20 minutes late.  But no one seemed to notice.  It's Hawaii and time is a casual thing... 

Since I'd done most of the admin stuff the day before, they just did an inventory of what I'd brought with me and sent me to the surgical admission center.  For the surgery, they put me in a thick purple paper gown (even had a partial lining) and matching purple socks.  Then they put me on a gurney and wheeled me into a waiting area where they hooked up an IV.  

Every hospital person who came back checked my wristband, asked my birthdate, and which knee was having the operation.  I told them I was expecting a lot of birthday cards after all this.  The surgeon came by and marked my leg and initialed it.  He was using the allograft technique, which means he was using cadaver tissue to reconstruct my ligament.  

After the IV was in, they allowed Chris to come back and we watched some CNN and talked a bit.  Because it was cold in the pre-op area, they had a hose (looked like a vacuum cleaner) that attached to a flap in the gown and it blew warm air on my tummy.  Very comfy!  Poor Chris had to just sit there and be cold.  

Then the anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist came by and started to do their thing, and I didn't remember anything else until being wheeled into recovery.  The anesthesiologist had already told me she would give me a special shot after the operation into the right leg, and that was very welcome.  

There were also some pictures on my bed from the operation, with a CD attached.  I looked at them, holding them up right to my face, but they could have been pictures of Saturn.  Couldn't make a lot out of them.  At some point, they removed my pretty purple gown and put on one of those cloth ones.   But I got to keep the purple socks... 

Then I was wheeled up to my room.  All the rooms are private, but they leave the doors open with a curtain pulled for privacy.  So I might as well have been on a ward.  I could hear a man nearby groaning a lot.

The next few hours were pretty bad with nausea and a headache.  I was on a morphine drip, but it felt like I was having the mother of all migraines.  We (the nurse, Chris and I) finally decided it must be the morphine.  I could tell the nurse was nervous about removing the morphine, but he started me on Percocet, and the pain in my leg was fine.  And after that, the headache and nausea went away and my goodness, I felt SO much better after that.

They'd brought a liquid lunch that I'd been unable to get down.  Then they brought regular food for dinner.  It took me a couple of hours to get that down, and of course, it was quite cold by the end, but it felt so good to have food!  Around 11pm I asked for a snack, and they brought me chocolate pudding!  Mmmm.

Most of the afternoon my leg had been in a passive mobility device.  I think that's what they called it.  It looked like a cradle.  You put your leg in it and it starts to slowly move your leg up and down, getting your knee going.  I used that the whole time until I was discharged, which impressed the staff.  They said not everyone tolerated it that well, but I thought it felt good.  Very soothing.  The first half hour was a little painful, but after that, it just felt good.  On Monday, I get my own for two weeks.

They also had this ice machine thingy on my leg.  The ice pack is just a flat device that fastens around the knee with velcro, but it's attached to this tube which is attached to a little canister thing that looks like a small beer keg.  It plugs in and it's very noisy, and is filled with ice water, and keeps circulating ice water through the knee pack.  When I'm on the Percocet, I don't notice the noise.

I got through the night pretty well (thank goodness for my iPod!), and really looked forward to breakfast!  Though of course they took vital signs every few hours.  My BP had been high-ish with the morphine, but once I was off that, it was dropping into the 117/72 range, which was a relief to see.

They brought me an omelet with rice and some kind of little round patties which I suspect were Spam, very popular here in Hawaii.  Probably the first time I have had rice with breakfast, but again, I was hungry for it all.  Even drank the weak coffee.  I'm a growing girl - gotta get my ligament growing firmly around that graft!

The PT came in with my initial set of exercises.  They weren't too bad.  Again, the staff seemed surprised I wasn't showing more pain.  Soreness is the best way to describe it.  I had also gone through the night (almost 7 hours) on only 2 Percocet.  I don't think of myself as being particularly brave about pain.  But I had been listening to BelleRuth Naperstek's guided imagery on successful surgery, where she tells me I will have minimal discomfort, and it appears she was right!

Finally the doctor came and said how great everything was and discharged me.  Chris made a trip to the car with the ice / beer keg and other stuff and then a wheel chair guy wheeled me out to the car.  I came home to two beautiful sets of flowers - a dozen red roses from Chris and a very cheerful bouquet of yellow flowers from colleagues in Texas.  

I start physical therapy and my passive motion machine tomorrow and am looking forward to that and to getting rid of crutches.  The doc says I can drive as soon as I'm off the Percocet, so that's motivating!  But I think I'll use those a few more days...  Man, can those things put you to sleep.  And I have such vivid dreams!  

So for the past 24 hours here at home, I've been drinking liquids, taking drugs, watching a little TV, and crutching to the bathroom and back.  Thank goodness I can do that by myself.  In the hospital, it took one-two helpers due to the IV lines and getting my leg in and out of the passive device.  And I really want to wash my hair.  But maybe will save that adventure for tomorrow...

The Pre-Op process

I had my pre-op appointment today for tomorrow's surgery.  First, it gave me a chance to find the hospital here in downtown Honolulu.  It was a rainy morning and there were several traffic issues, so the 15 miles took 80 minutes to get there.  The irony is that driving in heavy traffic is one of the things that really makes my knee feel like it's getting pulled apart...

When  I got there, they gave me a 2-page questionnaire that no one showed any interest again, at least not until I asked several people, "do you want this?"  I discovered my pre-op appointment was actually a series of appointments.

First, the nurse took me back to an examining room so I could sit for a bit.  Never sure why they do that...  I told her I needed a snack after that trip, and she just laughed...  Anyway, I took the time to relax from the drive and then play with the rubber joints all orthopedic surgeons seems to have around. 

Then she had me change into a pair of big baggy shorts, and the knee brace guy came in.  My nifty Robo-Cop brace has a hinge in it, and a lock on the hinge to really keep that leg straight.  He showed me how to adjust all the straps and how to put it on properly.  He said I'll be wearing that thing pretty much 24 hours a day.  "How long?"  I asked.  "It depends," he says.

They say that a lot around here.  "It depends."  

The doctor came in and we discussed the procedure a bit.  Of course, I have a good dozen questions swirling in my head now and none then.  It will be 3 months before I can start jogging.  Not that I ever did a lot of jogging before.  But definitely none for 3 months.  Nine months before I can do any cutting actions with the knee, like an NFL running back or basketball player.  Well, never did those either...  I can swim after about a month.  The first 4-6 weeks are the crucial part, where the risk is greatest that the new ligament might be stretched.  

He's going to use an allograft, a graft from a cadaver.  This is less painful than shaving part of my patellar tendon.  Less pain sounds good to me.  He gives me a pain medication, Percocet, and recommends I fill it today so I'll have it when I need it.  He talks some more about pain and how they manage it.  I haven't really thought much about the pain.  I'm hoping it's a good thing that I'm not dwelling on that topic much.  

We discuss the physical therapy a bit.  I know that is critical to my recovery.  He recommends renting a passive motion machine for the first two weeks to help me regain my full range of motion.  Happy to do that.  There is a good PT place near where I live, and he already has me signed up there.

Then a nurse comes in and goes through a lot of paperwork.  I sign it all.  She gives me some body wipes I'm supposed to use (right after I finish writing this).  She finally tells me what time to show up on Friday - 6:45am.  Yikes!  I will be spending one night, and she gives me a pamphlet on what to bring with me.  The answer - not much...  (They recommend you leave all jewelry at home and I've already taken off my rings.  My left hand looks funny without them.)

Then she sends me to a basement to have an interview with nurse who finally shows interest, excitement even, in that 2-page questionnaire.  She seems surprised to see that I don't have any daily prescriptions yet.  After going through my health history, which makes me feel pretty healthy, she describes the next day and warns me that a lot of people will ask me questions before the surgery, and that is by design.  "To make sure you don't take out a kidney?"  She sort of laughs at that as she says, "right."

Next I go to the Physical Therapy department where I get fitted for crutches.  Brace!  Crutches!  No, no, I'm going to be one of those people who rises, takes up my bed and walks.  But I don't tell her that.  I practice with the crutches.  

Before leaving the hospital, I check out the gift shop, coffee shop and cafeteria.  Not too exciting.   The hospital is near Honolulu's big fancy Ala Moana Mall, so I go there for lunch and treat myself to a little retail therapy at the Vera Bradley store.  Buying a couple of small items for my brief hospital stay somehow makes me feel better, a little more settled.

I've packed a little backpack with my few belongings they recommend.  The one place I'm going off script is by bringing my iPod.  I'm downloading a couple of movies to it now.  I'll have a private room (all rooms are private in this hospital), and I'm sure there will be a TV, but I want more entertainment options.  I'm anticipating a long night...

Well, time for those body wipes.  It's almost 9pm, and in abt 8 hours, I'll be up and body wiping again...  But it's the first step to getting my life back.  I keep telling myself that...

Regaining my life under the knife...

For the next few weeks, lucky readers, this blog will chronicle my knee surgery and recovery.  As some of you know, in 2002, I ruptured my ACL on a ski trip.  My knee actually did really well until our move to England, where two slips on ice resulted in a much looser knee and some damaged cartilage.  A surgeon there recommended the reconstructive operation and one here in Honolulu concurred.  So tomorrow is the Big Day.

I vacillate between being really excited about getting my life back and really dreading the process.  On the one hand, the knee has increasingly limited my activities.  In London on one trip, it just collapsed on me one night.  We'd left a show and were in the tube getting to our train and it just stopped holding my weight.  I had to drag myself up the steps by the handrail.  Didn't hurt, didn't give any warning, just stopped holding me up.

Here in Hawaii, getting out of the ocean surf was always a nail biter.  The fear I felt was so strong that I was almost ashamed of it.  And after walking that 10K, I've had a heavy, swollen sensation in it.  So I'm ready.  I'm ready to be active without fear.

But on the other hand, the next 4 weeks are going to be hard, and the entire recovery process is about 9 months.  That's just a reality I have to face, though I'm doing pretty good with the denial...  I had a pre-op appointment today and was genuinely surprised when the doctor gave me a pain prescription and said "better get that filled today."  AAAAAAAGH

Ready or not, denial or not, here I come!  Join me in these next few weeks for a blow-by-blow description of recovering from an ACL reconstruction!  What a trip it will be!  

2009 Catch Up

Right after my last post on 26 December, we had the Big Oahu Blackout, which made news especially since Obama was still vacationing here. 12 hrs of no power for most of the island, and they're still trying to figure out exactly what happened. It appeared to be a series of freak lightning strikes. Today's paper included one article that said based on the cost to prevent this very unusual occurrence from happening again, we might just prefer to live with the risk...

This year, 2009, is the 50th anniversary of statehood for both Alaska and Hawaii! Apparently statehood day is in March, so anticipating more celebrations for that.

Speaking of celebrations, after enduring a New Year's Eve here, we both have firmly stated that wherever we will be next year, it will NOT be here. Our neighbors started with the fireworks around 6:30pm and continued until about 1am. It was like being shelled all night long.

Supposedly parts of the island looked like they were on fire from all the smoke. The smoke was so thick on our street that we shut our front windows. Really don't get the point. It reminded me of those countries where they shoot guns in the air after a wedding and half the time end up wounding the bride or groom...

Getting ready for life without football. Don't know what I will do...