update from boredom-land
Sep. 10th, 2014 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llcoolvadSince it's over seven weeks now, I feel like I should update, but I really don't have a lot going on. I wake up. If it's a work day, I either log in, or get ready and go to work. (I'm sticking to only a few days per week in the office since I still can't drive and since I still have some pain) If it's a day off, I hang around doing not much. I've watched a lot of tv and rewatched a lot of movies. Can't get that enthused about reading right now, other than the internet. Short form seems to be the way to go for my current attention span.
The pain is improving, but it feels like it might be at a point where it's going to stay static for a while. it's very raw-feeling around the incision, and the muscles underneath sometimes get seriously sore. I've still got some referred pain in my back, and the area under my arm still feels swollen and numb. On the other hand, I'm off the hardcore pain meds and am just on ibuprofen and tylenol.
Since I got off the pain meds I'm sleeping better, only waking up one or twice per night and I can get back to sleep most of the time without having to sleep in the chair, so that's pretty exciting. I am SO SICK of lying on my back I could scream. Occasionally I prop a pillow under one shoulder so I can angle ever so slightly to the side, which is pathetic but the best I can manage.
My breathing isn't great yet. I had to have two lung taps and they told me that the fluid would eventually clear out, but so far I can go about 30 feet and then I start breathing pretty hard. I went to my PCP this week and he wasn't particularly helpful, but he did take a chest x-ray, so maybe I'll have to have another tap. Ugh.
I did a load of laundry in my own house the other day. Totally exciting. I can't carry anything heavy (and by heavy they mean ridiculously light like five pounds or less), and even though I'm feeling better I'm afraid to break that rule by much. I can't go through this again. But I can chuck a small hamper down the stairs, drag it to the wash, drag the wet clothes to the dryer in stages, and then carefully bring stuff back up the stairs (as long as I keep it light). SUCH a relief. I think laundry was the worst part. Mom can't do a whole flight of stairs, never mind do it a couple of times in a day. P did some for me at his house, which was over and above the call of duty, then mother and I managed to get to the laundromat a couple of times, but it was stressful and expensive. I am so glad I got better enough to manage it myself.
I've been getting most of my supplies from either Amazon Prime or Peapod or the occasional trip out with either Patrick or mother. Peapod really is super convenient. Having stuff brought right into my kitchen for a small delivery fee? Excellent. I might keep this up. I hate the supermarket anyway. I could save my chores time for going to unusual stores. That would be nifty.
Solving my other problem, washing floors, is my delightful birthday present, Mr. Mint. So cute. Turn it on, wet its cloth, let it go do its thing. Floors clean. Done and done! If the floors are especially grotty, run it a couple times. No problem! I like any tool that I can set and forget and have good things come out at the other end.
Speaking of my birthday, P arranged a surprise party for me on the Saturday following my birthday! I had no idea! It was pretty awesome. There was good food and a bunch of people I like. I even got presents. Everyone got me earrings, proving that my friends know me pretty damned well.
So that's about everything. My license expired on my birthday, so tomorrow P is taking me to get it renewed. I will take my car over to Jiffy Lube and get the fluids changed (it's been sitting for almost eight weeks) and get the tires rotated. And then I'll have to decide if I'm going to keep driving, or wait out the full 12 weeks they suggest. When I called the surgeon's office to ask if I could drive yet, they said if I'm off the pain meds and have full range of motion without pain then maybe, carefully. But the pain part is important because you move more slowly when you're in pain. I'm still worried about the airbags, though. And I drive a stick, so I'm not sure I will be able to handle it anyway. But I like having a maybe on the horizon, anyway!
The pain is improving, but it feels like it might be at a point where it's going to stay static for a while. it's very raw-feeling around the incision, and the muscles underneath sometimes get seriously sore. I've still got some referred pain in my back, and the area under my arm still feels swollen and numb. On the other hand, I'm off the hardcore pain meds and am just on ibuprofen and tylenol.
Since I got off the pain meds I'm sleeping better, only waking up one or twice per night and I can get back to sleep most of the time without having to sleep in the chair, so that's pretty exciting. I am SO SICK of lying on my back I could scream. Occasionally I prop a pillow under one shoulder so I can angle ever so slightly to the side, which is pathetic but the best I can manage.
My breathing isn't great yet. I had to have two lung taps and they told me that the fluid would eventually clear out, but so far I can go about 30 feet and then I start breathing pretty hard. I went to my PCP this week and he wasn't particularly helpful, but he did take a chest x-ray, so maybe I'll have to have another tap. Ugh.
I did a load of laundry in my own house the other day. Totally exciting. I can't carry anything heavy (and by heavy they mean ridiculously light like five pounds or less), and even though I'm feeling better I'm afraid to break that rule by much. I can't go through this again. But I can chuck a small hamper down the stairs, drag it to the wash, drag the wet clothes to the dryer in stages, and then carefully bring stuff back up the stairs (as long as I keep it light). SUCH a relief. I think laundry was the worst part. Mom can't do a whole flight of stairs, never mind do it a couple of times in a day. P did some for me at his house, which was over and above the call of duty, then mother and I managed to get to the laundromat a couple of times, but it was stressful and expensive. I am so glad I got better enough to manage it myself.
I've been getting most of my supplies from either Amazon Prime or Peapod or the occasional trip out with either Patrick or mother. Peapod really is super convenient. Having stuff brought right into my kitchen for a small delivery fee? Excellent. I might keep this up. I hate the supermarket anyway. I could save my chores time for going to unusual stores. That would be nifty.
Solving my other problem, washing floors, is my delightful birthday present, Mr. Mint. So cute. Turn it on, wet its cloth, let it go do its thing. Floors clean. Done and done! If the floors are especially grotty, run it a couple times. No problem! I like any tool that I can set and forget and have good things come out at the other end.
Speaking of my birthday, P arranged a surprise party for me on the Saturday following my birthday! I had no idea! It was pretty awesome. There was good food and a bunch of people I like. I even got presents. Everyone got me earrings, proving that my friends know me pretty damned well.
So that's about everything. My license expired on my birthday, so tomorrow P is taking me to get it renewed. I will take my car over to Jiffy Lube and get the fluids changed (it's been sitting for almost eight weeks) and get the tires rotated. And then I'll have to decide if I'm going to keep driving, or wait out the full 12 weeks they suggest. When I called the surgeon's office to ask if I could drive yet, they said if I'm off the pain meds and have full range of motion without pain then maybe, carefully. But the pain part is important because you move more slowly when you're in pain. I'm still worried about the airbags, though. And I drive a stick, so I'm not sure I will be able to handle it anyway. But I like having a maybe on the horizon, anyway!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-09-11 03:59 am (UTC)I'm with you on sleeping on the back. At summer camp (north of Houston--hot and humid), I learned that I was coolest sleeping flat on my back. Which makes no sense, because you have the most exposed skin available when lying on your side. Nevertheless, I learned to sleep on my back. And I can easily imagine the thrill of being able to be slightly at an angle.
Static pain? Hope you're wrong about that and it gets a bit more better before it plateaus!
Thanks for sharing your victories. And that some of your new strategies are so nice you might keep them even when you don't need them anymore!
I quite enjoy your writing. Especially the part about how you do laundry now. So pathetic. And yet so freeing! You shouldn't have to do it like that. But you can! And about your surprise party. With people you like!
Best of luck on your continued recovery and happiness!
no subject
Date: 2014-09-11 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-11 09:07 pm (UTC)My best wishes for a continued recovery.