Took longer than I thought this medical blob.....haha....blob....of course, I meant blog. Senior moment or poor typing. Lets go with the latter. Beside being in my recovery and recuperation mode, we have had other activity going on. Onward and upward we go.
Each morning, I go outside to sit and visit with our friends. Its so great having them around....as we have said before and Art reminds us we are all family. Our family really when Sam & Sandy returned to their site next to us. Hooray! So good to see them and resume our lives where we left off several months ago.
The day after I returned from the hospital, a sales rep showed up with a device called Kneehab. It was an electrical stimulator to wake up my thigh muscles.......wow!....they woke up and never went back to sleep. At first it, wasnt too bad using it but by the third day, I was howling in pain (Yup....I finally let out the screech heard ‘round the world). Bruising had moved up and around my thigh and it must have jostled and beat my blood around so bad that I thought my leg was being
eaten by a pack of piraa. Oh, the pain! I dont know what was going on but it wasnt good. I could use the remote to control the intensity but I was going the wrong way with my numbers....my baseline started with 85/95. This time it was 0/0 cause I ripped it off my leg ...best I could cause it was all stuck to my skin like a jellyfish. The pad didnt really fit...too long on my thigh so some of the gel pads were folded over. It wasnt good....any of it. I called my care coordinator to inform my doctor that this device was not adaptable for my needs and I was sending it back. He probably promptly documented in my chart: patient. So be it. Im not into S&M so why would I inflict myself with such horrific and extreme pain? Why? It was eating my leg alive!
Okay. The next day we received a call stating that they could not arrange home (RV) help because I didnt have an attending (internal) physician. Of course, I do in NY. I tried to get one here in Florida but everyone I called arent taking new patients until
after the first of the year. I have an appointment with one on January 7th but that wouldnt help me now. Fortunately my care coordinator went to work and resolved that issue through a transition doctor.....no idea who he is (never saw or spoke to him) but he must have signed the needed papers because the next day, the Nurse saw me at our RV and had out to me that afternoon. All good. They were impressed with my present status. PT did an assessment by taking me through some exercises....all good. No problems....no pain. Walking with my walker easily and pain free. Hooray. Next day, another PT guy showed up......he was the bicycle man! I had bought a small floor pedal bicycle last year at our parks yard sale for $1.00. He had me use it. Ooooooooo. Not so easy! Hummmmmm- Im not liking this too much. But I did what he told me to He had me do other exercises. Whew! Now I had the first guys exercises, the second guys exercises and some sent from Advent Health via a video. God, if I did them all, I would be exercising 24/7!! No way, Jos.
Now what!!?? What is this anguish? My left hip hurts....bad! Feel sorry for me? I hope so. This is impeding some of my exercises. Not good. bicycle man and wants me to pedal again......No way, Jos. Ive buried that machine. I told him about my sore hip. He felt bad. We did some ROM exercises that didnt involve my hip. So now I am alternating a heating pad on my hip and ice wrap on my knee. My leg is so confused its a wonder it doesnt just drop off. I was happy to get rid of the ace wraps stocking. My affected leg is still very swollen and firm to the touch. Two times , years ago, I went to the Smithsonian Medical museum and saw a leg in a big jar all swollen up from elephantiasis. My leg could be in a jar next to it! Feel sorry for me? I still have the surgical dressing on. NO! That is not a maxi pad on my knee.....
