Keepin' it real downtown

Post Op Day 5

Wow, the days are going by! And here I sit, on my couch, my leg up and supported of course, debating the worth of getting up for any given need or desire. To reach my camera to post these pictures? Maybe not worth it. To get my frozen peas for an icing? A bit more valuable.

Last night I woke up at 4:30 feelng pain. On a scale of 1 to 10 of pain I've probably not felt anything greater than 5 or 6 throughout this whole experience, opting instead to load up on drugs whenever I expect the going to get tough. So early this morning I awoke to maybe a 5 or 5.5 pain rating, and despite my efforts at weaning off the percocets, I popped one along with a couple of Tylenol. I think I took Tylenol at that point anyway... hard to recall. I also had a middle of the night bathroom break.

Speaking of bathroom breaks... for those of you who are unawares, percocet does a pretty efficient job at both making me drink lots of water which makes me have to pee quite often, and also keeping my bowels from doing their thang. I went from Monday to Saturday before I got any kind of action in that department! And I think the only thing that got me going was a stool softener my mom gave me along with the reduced pain killer intake. The bagels and chili and everything else I ate all week didn't seem to play a role. Also, getting to the bathroom can be a real challenge. There's only so fast I can crutch and I don't know if I always experienc that kind of urgency or if this is special, but I suppose I can usually react far more immediately.

I digress.

I slept fine for the rest of the night, waking up arond 10 or so. I took the requisite daily leg shots. Check out my bruise! I have great pride in it.

Overall the knee doesn't look too excessively swollen or anything, eh? I'm feeling okay about it.

Steve made a plan for us to meet his friend who had spent I think it was 8 hours at the Sunnybrook ER with a twisted shoulder. Another ultimate frisbee injury paying the Sunnybrook doctors' salaries. He lives in my condo building so we all met at this new breakfast place in the awesome Grange foodcourt.

I thought it would be funny if Steve showed up with a tensor bandage wrapped around his head. Instead he decided he'd like to slip and fall on the floor of the food court. All he had to show for that, though, was a headache and a frown.

I felt like absolute crap in the food court. I think it was either because of the percocets or because I hadn't had a percocet since 4:30 and I've become an addict, but I felt clammy and feverish and without apppetite and close to tears. A quick fix took care of the problem and I was good to eat my BLT with the rest of 'em.

After breakfast we headed on our way to Loblaw's. We'd called ahead and made sure the electonic cart was available for use. It was! We went through the store, trying to figure out what I'd need for the next couple of weeks or so. Man, this surgery would suck without lots of help. And varied help too.. I don't think Steve could stand it if he lived in this city. Poor guy... Maybe we were pushing it by going out.

Anyway, almost $100 later I think I'm stocked for a while now. Riding in the cart was pretty fun. Though it sucks that you can't reach the things you need and that the crowded aisles are three times more annoying when you're not agile and can sneak by people and things.

Overall I'm doing okay here on day 5. It's now evening and after an afternoon of watching DVDs provided by my lovely friends I'm feeling rested and pretty okay. I'm definitely not ready to go out and return to work, but I could perhaps start getting some work done from home over the next few days.

Steve is leaving for Hamilton tonight and I've been arranging visits for the next few days. Come by anytime! I'll be here. Except tomorrow when I have my first physio appointment at 10am. I wonder how long it'll take me to crutch over to Dundas and University... Looking forward to getting started on that stuff.

That's all for now. Thanks for the messages and calls, my friends. They're very much appreciated!