Sunday, January 30, 2011

Where are we now?

OK, so things didn't go quite as planned this past week.  After having the screw removed on Tuesday, I walked out of the hospital with a little support from Charlotte and a handrail.  It wasn't bad as I was still on local anesthestia.  By the time I got home, however, it was rather painful to get into the house.  Charlotte picked up some tylenol for me and I had a prescription for vicoden just in case.  It didn't take long to realize I was going to need the vicoden and the Goat took me to the drugstore to get my prescription filled (sounds like a Who song).

I started walking with a cane, but the pain was pretty intense.  I could barely touch my foot to the floor without the most intense pain.  I stayed home and tried to work remotely.  At this point, I figured this was all part of the recovery process.  The doctor and I were communicating daily, and we suspected the pain was due to the fracture finally being loaded after the screw was removed.  Wow, it hurt!

On Thursday though, I started having pretty intense knee pain on the outside of my left knee.  It felt like I had strained something, but this pain was worse than the femur pain.  I was still taking the the painkillers and wondered what was going on.  I realized my left foot and leg were pointing in a different direction.  I wasn't sure if I was imagining it, but it started freaking me out a bit.   The doc said it was doubtful that it moved, but possible.

By Friday night, I could barely walk and every step was incredibly painful.  Granted, I was off the pain meds at this point, but I was not expecting this much pain.  On Saturday morning, I sent an email to the doc asking for help.  He told me to be in his office Monday morning for an x-ray.

Since then, I've tried to consider all the options and keep a positive attitude.  I've gone back to using the crutches and am not putting any weight on the leg.  My hip has now taken over from the knee as the number one pain riser with the fracture zone quickly following.  I am trying to prevent any further opportunity for regression until we know the situation. 

Tonight, the Goat came over and we plotted our day tomorrow.  He's picking me up at 5:30AM and we head for the Big Apple.  We had a good heart to heart talk and shared some of our feelings about this experience together.  We are in it together and will both be better off from this experience.  I appreciate all the support he has given me since the accident, and I know we'll take this next hill in stride.  I appreciate all the support each and everyone of you has given me over the past 4 months and know you will be there if needed on the road ahead.  I also look forward to sharing more fun experience with all of you as my body rejuvenates itself. 

Goat says I should write a book about the experience.  I think it could be a good read.  First things first of course.  Let's get the recovery back on track and then figure it out. 

I will run again.  It's just a matter of time. 

Peace

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Oh, Steve, you are facing really strong challenges. It would be desperate if we did not know for sure that you are stronger all of them. BTW, I and Alex recently visited Roerich's museum in New York and this monk reminded me you. He seems to be very stong both in body and spirit. :)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vCJ5ph6Hw5w/SK7_6_yJBrI/AAAAAAAABq8/wtSKrcpciDo/s1600-h/Roerich4.jpg