Your Life Safe and Sound

  Saturday, it's been a big day.  I went to the range first thing, only one other shooter there.  Then  I went and got adjusted, boy did my back make some noise!  The best part is that I felt better right away.  My knee has been really stiff for the last few days, and right away it felt better.  I am always amazed how adjusting your back affects all parts of you body.  I have to make that a weekly part of my life, I just do.    I went back to work at LaSalle thursday, mostly testing and paperwork thursday and friday, the outage and the real work starts Monday.  I get to stay on day shift, 7-7 for a week or so.  It sure feels good to be back.  It was still hard to walk a lot, and the stairs are still tough, mostly I think I'm just not used to being active for so long.  I keep telling people that it's a work in progress, I guess that's for me too.  I want to be able to just step back in and do well, but I'm willi...

  Wednesday.  Today was the last day of PT, I'm going back to work tomorrow! I am excited, not nervous.  It's a scaffold job at the LaSalle nuclear plant, it typically lasts 6-8 days, so by next weekend I'll probably be laid off.  I figured with all the other people there, and it is a nuke plant, the work won't be that hard, and it should be a good job to go back to work after the surgery.   All the exercises I've been doing have gone up in weight, I feel like I'm stronger, and the bones don't hurt.  I still have some pain/discomfort when I kneel, I definitely don't have the range of motion to comfortably kneel yet.  Going down stairs is still tough, I just don't feel strong, or confident enough at that yet.  I'm anticipating that getting back to work will help restore some of the normal motion and activity range that I am used to.  I really want to get back to living my life, and not always being in pain.  I've been off one more week ...

  Tuesday, another cloudy, cold day, but it is another day.  PT yesterday was tough.  They had me doing some new exercises, I thought I was in ballet class.  Walk on just your toes, down and back.  Walk on just your heels, down and back.  The toe part was weird, but ok.  I almost couldn't walk on just my heels, without touching your toes to the ground.  Then the stool scoot.  I still don't know how to do that.  I can't get enough traction it seems like.  I guess I just can't bend my knees enough to get my foot planted enough to get traction.  After all that, man did my feet hurt.    My right knee is still really sore at night.  I stopped taking the prescription pain pills last week, only using Advil and Tylenol, and not very much of that.  I guess I need to take more at night.  I'm thinking about trying the heating pad tonight, maybe that will do it.    I'm trying to sleep without my feet up...

  Saturday, it snowed last night, and it sure is pretty out there.  Warm, wet, slushy, not fun to shovel snow out there, I'm glad those boys of mine like to shovel snow.   After PT yesterday, I think I ended up measuring 110 degrees of flexion and 4 degrees of extension.  New world record, for me anyway.  For the first time while she was measuring the extension, I could feel my leg actually stretching, straightening out as I tried to get as much as possible.  They had me use the hip machine, and a couple other exercises I haven't done before, today I feel sore in all new places. 

  Thursday.  Wow, it's been 10 days?  I guess the whole 30 days makes a habit doesn't work with me.  The recovery is coming along, I'm trying to not take any prescription pain pills anymore, just using Advil and Tylenol.  Tomorrow will be the first PT day like that, I'm not really sure how that will go.    I start back to work  2 weeks from today, February 6th at LaSalle nuclear station.  There area a few nuclear refuel outages this spring, LaSalle, Byron, Quad, and then Braidwood.  Braidwood ends in early May, and these are not without breaks in between, but pretty close.  I'm thinking these will be the best way to go back to work after surgery.  I haven't called the panel company yet, maybe I should do that for later in the year.  I hear about work at Citgo, and the peaker plant that's being built in Elwood, who knows what will happen next.   My PT progress is going ok according to Jessica, I think the last meas...

  Monday, stinkin Monday.  There are an awful lot of memes out there about Mondays.  I used some heat packs this morning for the first time today.  I put them in the velcro wrap around my knee for the drive to PT this morning.  My knee felt nice and warm when I arrived, and I got the bike to go around right off the bat.  I did spend a minute back and forth after that just to get moving, but that is the best start so far.    They had me do the testing against the machine, some testing against a computer connected machine to gauge my progress, I did the same testing in the beginning.  I'm not sure how much you really learn from this stuff, there seems to be an awful lot of subjectivity involved.  I know everyone needs some quantifiable way to measure my progress.  Saying that everything is harder or easier doesn't help I guess.   The measurements of flexion and extension are better overall, but I feel like I may have reached ...

  Sunday   Well, I've sort of let this slip haven't I?  I'm not sure what happened, but here we are.  Physical therapy wise, I think it's been an overall positive week.  I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere, albeit very slowly.  I think the best measurements were on Wednesday, 110 and 4 after warm ups.  Friday was a cold, rainy day, and the changing weather has a real effect on me.  Pain and stiffness keeps much bending from happening.  I think when we measured after a really good stretch and work out, it was about the same.  I can usually get the bike to go around after 4 or 5 minutes of warm up, and I started using the leg extension machine.  Functionally I feel like I'm getting better, but I'm still having a hard time just standing for a long period.  Moving around, walking, stairs, etc is all good, standing still, not so much.  Still working mostly on extension, my hamstrings and all those tendons, etc are reall...

  Monday again.  Today was a good day.  I haven't been able to say that for a while.  I was awake until about 2:30 am before I finally fell asleep.  So many things going on in my head, and I guess I'm just not active enough to be tired.    I feel like I may have finally turned the corner, for real this time.  Two days of not much exercise, mostly just working on extension while I'm sitting.  I went to PT today, driving my truck, myself.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, and I just needed to get out, alone.  It took almost the whole 10 minute warm up time to get the bike pedals to go all the way around, but it worked.  Cassie measured my extension and bending right away.  I don't remember the numbers for sure, something like 96 and 12 maybe?  We got right to work, focused first on extension, another measurement, and then exercises to build up muscle, before measuring the bending.  I think at the end of the session...

  Sunday   Another Sunday, it's getting a little easier to sit in Church, I'm on for security next week, so I have to get my act together.  We definitively can't have a static security presence, I need to keep moving around.  Just last week is when the church shooting took place in Texas.  I just can't stop thinking about that, every time I go into the auditorium, I think about that happening here.   Another day of mostly resting, not much activity.  I did talk to my friend the PT guy, and he seemed encouraged by the numbers, so I guess I should be too.  I'm starting to see the end of the calendar, as far as my back to work goal is concerned.  It's getting closer, and I'm hoping for a lot of progress here in the next few weeks.  My goal is to be back by the end of the month.  I guess it's something to shoot for.  I'll be back to PT tomorrow morning, Just keep going! 

  Saturday   I spent most of the day just resting, and reading.  Didn't sleep very much again.  The pain after PT in the back of my knee seems to get worse in the night.  I decided to not do much, just try to rest.  Everything at PT is so intense, I just want some time not in constant pain.  I was actually able to go a while longer between pain pills, and I used the lower dose ones.  I'm going to try to save the stronger stuff for active exercise days, and see how that goes.    I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, the pantry is getting kind of slim, trying to use up some of the random stuff in the freezer.

  Friday.    Last day of PT for the week.  Started out feeling a little looser than before.  Cassie worked a lot on extension, I think it measured 7 degrees when we were done.  It's getting there, just doesn't seem to stay.  I took Emerson to church to spend some time playing video games with friends for the afternoon.  Not having a chance to put my feet up very well wasn't the best.idea, but it was good to see him having fun.  I took him home, and then Kym and I came right back for a leaders meeting.   The motion on the bike wasn't as good as Thursday, couldn't get the pedals to go around this time.  Maybe Monday will be better.  The incision is still looking good, no eruptions.

  Friday, manipulation day.  Woo hoo!  We decided yesterday to go ahead with the procedure, and try to get all the motion I can while I'm still off.  I ate dinner about 9 last night, and went to bed about 10:30.  Of course, I didn't sleep very well.  Can't have any pain meds either.Not food or water after midnight, for a noon procedure.  Dumb.   So, here I am really thirsty, really hungry, and it's only 9am.  We have to be at the hospital by 11, so Kym is rushing around, getting everything ready.  They told me I would be there for a 23 hour hold after the procedure.  I will try to hold them to that.  Looking at the pictures from the last one, I think I was there for 2 days.  That leg was way more swollen the whole time, so I'm hopeful that this stay will be shorter.    It's almost time to go, and I'll try to write from my phone. IMG_6036.jpg 1.6 MB