Knee Surgery is the New Black - Part II

OK, so, where was I? OK. So I'm home now. The knee feels pretty good, but I still have to take it easy. Of course, kids don't get that. Chloe, bless her heart, just wants to be hanging with daddy. Literally. OK, hanging ON daddy. She's climbing on me and trying to hang over my right leg because I've got it propped up on the coffee table on a pillow. This, to a 3 year old, is a swing!




So, you can see there is still some swelling (these were taken on Monday, two days after I took off the original packing) and I still have to treat the knee well. There are only two fairly small puncture wounds (sorry the image quality is so bad, shot with my phone at night in the bathroom's yellow lights) and that's it. But I do have to keep them dressed to prevent any infection - and the one on the inside is giving me a battle trying to go there.

The knee doesn't hurt to bear weight - it's the muscles all around it that took the beating during the surgery, so that is what remains sore.

OK, gotta run. More to come, including why you shouldn't just come home from surgery and immediately try to participate in the family... Ciao!

Knee Surgery is the New Black

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures - yet! Till then, here's a general info picutre. My surgery was to repair the right medial meniscus.

I had the knee surgery last week on Thursday. It was a day surgery thing, I got dropped of at 11:30 and Shanna came to pick me up at around 5:30. Like a short day at work, just more painful - well more painful than my current gig. And really, I've had some jobs that were way more painful.

Anyway, they went in, scoped the knee, cleaned out the torn pieces and didn't make it good as new. But, at least it's cleaned up. I won't loose any mobility, but I do think I'm loosing some stability. I'll know for sure when I get the pictures later this week.

As for pain, it hasn't been that bad. Nothing like the pain from shoulder surgery and way more easy to deal with. The knee is stiff and swollen, but not as bad as I thought. Not nearly. And, the doctor's office called on Friday to tell me to get up and walking. Obviously I didn't go out and try to do anything, I just walked around the house. Of course, I couldn't go into work (I couldn't drive there - and the drugs I was taking were a bit much to drive on), so I stayed home and worked it gingerly. I couldn't get cleaned up either, I had to keep the bandages on until Saturday. MAN! Was I dying for a shower.

Oh. And I SLEPT. I was constantly wiped out. Don't know if it was the healing, the drugs or possibly something else... We'll see and I'll update you more on that next post.

So, to wrap, everything went well. I'm home, medicated (Vicodin - I think it just makes me sleepy) and resting. Ciao!

Happy Birthday to Me (10.10)

I'm not sure if this will be posted east or west coast time, so this might actually go up *after* my birthday. But, I wanted to post it before I went to bed.

You can see the picture above. It was one of the many things that my girls (including my wife) did for the celebration of my birthday. I can't tell you ALL the stuff they did - really, it was amazing! They made cards, made party hats (including a crown for the King of the House), they choreographed two different dance routines (one by Bayley and Chloe - the two middle girls) and one by Halle and Bayley (the two oldest), and Chloe did an impromptu song AND dance. They made presents for me, and at the end of the day, they gave me all the love a daddy could want. It was awesome seeing the different things they did, amazing seeing how much their gifts have grown. Unbeknownst to them, they had no idea that the best gift was THEM. Sure, the other stuff was neat, but nothing (other than the relationship with my wife) beats just having my kids love and honor me (and for that, I have to give my wife lots of credit too) for being dad. Of course now, it's my responsibility to make sure that I'm the best dad I can be in order to ensure that love and that honor is not misplaced.

That, ladies and gents, makes for a great birthday.