by Julia | May 21, 2014 | Our Captured Life
Here’s who came and saw me today! My 2 adorable nieces…it sure cheered my afternoon just watching them play! And seeing all these tiny dolls and miniature little strollers and swing. And the teeny puppies that stayed ‘magnetted’ to the mama dogs mouth! Aww yes I know I sound like a kid! 🙂
Shania
Amy
So much adorableness…
And of course we can’t forget the handsome lil guy, which was trying so hard to be ‘all-boy’ with so much girl-ness all around him!
Mason, very proud of his new mitt and ball!
And just a lil update on my progress; since a shower alone seems to exhaust me I just frequently wash my hair in the sink and today I managed to do it alone. I am trying so hard to not become discouraged…all I want to do is be able to be up and working without getting faint and tired. Mornings are still the most difficult and always need help out of bed. Also haven’t stayed alone yet as trying to sit down and get my pillows to elevate my straight unbendable leg seems to be more than I can manage. I think my dear hubby is starting to wear out, he won’t complain but he’s been doing all the cooking, laundry and caring for me plus his job…I found some pickles in the freezer. I think it’s time someone starts bringing us some meals to ease the load for him.. til later, 
by Julia | May 20, 2014 | Our Captured Life
It really is quite strange to not have all those bandages on and actually be able to see what all they did. The worst thing is it feel so unsupported. We still wrap it up with ACE bandages, but with all the gauze gone the brace is so loose and when I walk it really hurts to try and put weight on it. Kinda feels like it is gonna ‘give way’. So I called the Dr and they said we can come upright away and they will adjust it. So as soon as someone could come take my Hubby’s place in the combine he took me to the Dr. I actually just saw his assistant Ms Diane Miller. She not only fixed the brace, she showed us how all the straps work! It’s quite the contraption!! But once it’s all explained, it’s actually kinda easy; but it sure had looked confusing. As much as we hadn’t felt like spending a $100+ out of pocket for the brace, we are now glad it was a requirement. With that not letting me bend and offering support in the right places I am allowed to put as much weight on as I can stand. But I still haven’t learned the art of walking without crutches 🙂
I’m feeling a lil more adventurous since ‘having’ to get out of the house. So I spent a few hours over at my sisters house and she brought me home then. That was so nice for something different!
Riding in a vehicle is still an interesting outing…because I only get to sit in the back seat sideways with my leg up on the seat. I told my hubby it’s starting to feel like he is having to “put the child in the carseat in the back” everytime we go somewhere.
I have been busy organizing everything for Amish Sweets’ baking which starts this weekend. So many recipes to copy. Ingredients to buy. Prices to gather. Itemizing everything to see what my prices need to be. Receipts to be tallied. So if you wonder just WHAT I am doing with all my spare time on my chair…that would be it!
Plus today I officially begin adding therapy-at-home to my list of necessaries.
by Julia | May 18, 2014 | Our Captured Life
Yep I was hurting pretty bad by this morning! And we agreed that I’ll be taking those pills before bed tonight. 😉 It’s a real chore to get everything accomplished every day. When I’m sitting I can’t move my leg whatsoever without someone else (or me) picking it up and helping it. Getting in and out of bed by myself is not an option. Makes me realize over and over again how very blessed I am to have such a wonderful patient husband! He does a truly amazing job of helping me with every lil thing and I don’t ever hear him complain.
When I went to have surgery done it didn’t even cross my mind that I wouldn’t be able to attend church the following Sunday. Yea, I know, I was really naive about it all! But now I’m wondering how Looong I’ll be stuck at home?! We had a message from Santosh Poonen that we’d wanted to listen to, so that helped our morning pass more quickly.
My dear Hubby cleaned up the house, vacuumed, and washed the dishes. We had high hopes of getting some visitors all afternoon. BUT. No-one showed up, we were kind of really disappointed. Not being able to get out makes one realize how ‘shut-ins’ feel and why we should go visit them. So take it as Lesson #1 Julia, Remember, even if you don’t have anything to offer or wise cheerful things to say. Just go visit those people. Just seeing something other than 4 walls will bring them a smile and break up their time!
Late in the eve, we finally called Hubby’s mom and siblings and they came up for about an hour. But it had been a realy loong day and we were so glad to see night-time. 🙂
by Julia | May 17, 2014 | Our Captured Life
Finally. Last night was my first night of sleeping through the night without having to take pills, matter of fact without even as much as waking up!! It was super amazing to wake up and discover it’s 7:30 AM and I had just slept all night.
I made a major discovery yesterday, when my husband wanted to leave in the afternoon to go to work and my sis came to stay with me. This was my discovery: “This recovery is going to take a LOT longer than I expected”! Yeah, I know, I didn’t say it was a good one.. It’s just that these pills that I’m taking really do have side affects, which I didn’t expect until I was having different issues and got smart and read up on the papers they sent with the pills. The main ones that I have bothered me are: dizziness, itchiness, nauseous, constipation, and sleepiness. The worst by far is feeling nauseous all the time and not being able to get up without feeling lightheaded. Drinking water and eating crackers to keep from puking.
Painwise: it’s very tolerable most of the time but I can tell that something is different in my knee as I am starting to feel more pain in it. Keeping it on ice 24/7 seems to help the most. Everytime I stand up I have to catch my breath before I start walking as it feels like all the blood is rushing into what I’m guessing is my big incision and it pulses n pains like it’s gonna pop open.
Honey has been home all day today, mowing the yard amidst taking very good care of me! It seems like all I do is sleep every few hours, which I do! But trying to accomplish anything while sitting here wears me out. So this is what I look at most of the day….from the top of my leg to below my heel..it’s bandaged up to where my finger is, my pants are just covering it.
Leah brought us a pizza for supper, bless her heart! Honey wants me to go to bed without taking pain pills just before sleep, I think he’s concerned that I don’t get addicted to them 🙂
by Julia | May 16, 2014 | Our Captured Life
The long awaited day, May 14th, a Wednesday. finally arrived. I really had no idea what to expect, but I was so ready to get this surgery done!
My hubby and I arrived at Murray Calloway County Hospital in plenty of time to get registered and find our waiting area by 6 AM. My Dr. has privileges at this hospital and does his surgeries there. Turns out he had more than 1 scheduled for 6 AM, so I got to be the one sitting in the waiting room for over an hour. Turns out they had problems getting the other lady’s IV started, thus making the delay for me even worse.
The nurse was really sweet and I soon forgot my agitation over the long waiting… First things first, they needed to take a pregnancy test just to make sure that I’m not pregnant. I was pretty sure I wasn’t but I had told my hubby, just watch, after alll this time spent waiting for my surgery. I’ll be pregnant and then they won’t do the surgery! But I wasn’t. I was taken back into a room, the nurses had me change into a gown and got my IV started, and double-checked all the proper information on every possible paper. Plus put all the medicines into my system to avoid becoming sick from the anesthesia, beings this was my first surgery ever I had no idea how I would react to it, so she gave me all the possible preventatives. After I was all settled they got my husband and let him be back in the room with me until time for surgery, which was very sweet! The nurse assisting the surgery came in to introduce herself, and also the guy giving the anesthesia. And Dr. Morgan stepped in to make the marks for my incision and check on me one last time. Before he left he asked if he could pray with me, of course I was very happy to allow him, by now I was beginning to get a lil nervous and he just totally relaxed me with that. It was probably the highlight of the day and was blessed to hear him pray specifically for each and every person that was having a part in my surgery that day.
While we were there waiting I got to feeling extremely sick. I didn’t hardly dare move, couldn’t concentrate on watching anything on tv, or hardly talk. My belly was extremely upset but I didn’t feel like throwing up. I still don’t know what it was, but they gave me some crackers and I fell asleep a lil bit and got some relief. I wonder if it was something in one of the medicines she gave me? But after I woke up I felt so much better.
Finally after about an hour the anesthesiologist came back in and said he was here to start the anesthesia into my IV. Okay sure. Now I was kinda excited, this was starting to happen and I wanted to experience how it feels to fall asleep. Knowing I was going to have surgery there was 2 things I was concerned about, this being my first time and all. 1. I wanted to make sure to kiss my hubby before I leave the room. 2. I wanted to remember and experience what it was like to be wheeled down the hallway on a bed in the hospital, and hopefully even get a glance at the surgery room. Last thing I remember is the anesthesiologist leaning over me and pouring a lil tube into my IV, then nothing…..
A few hours later I woke up, instantly I thought, “Did I already have surgery?” I wasn’t sure where I was n couldn’t feel anything and there was something over my mouth, everything was a blur. But I moved my hand around enough to feel down by my leg n there was all kinds of stuff there, I couldn’t move it or do anything, so I knew surgery was done. Just from thinking and doing the above I was soo tired, I just lay my head back down and wanted to sleep! But a nurse rushed over to my side and took ‘the thing’ off my mouth and wondered how I felt, n if I have pain? I don’t know what I said, all I remember was kinda groaning. She wondered again if I have pain, cuz if I do she can put something in my IV for pain she said. That sounded like a good idea so I tried to move my leg again and yeah, everything hurt, so I old her, “Yeah that’s fine.” I really don’t remember much, but I know that every time I opened my eyes and wanted to think, I just felt so confused, tired and foggy. After a few times the nurse asked me if I was ready to wake up and go back to the first room with my husband, I knew that I wanted to, but I just didn’t want to wake up or move. It was prolly around 2 hours before they did take me over, the sad thing is that I don’t even remember that ride! I do remember being so happy to see the face of my Sweetheart, but I just promptly fell asleep again!
Dan said the Dr. came and talked with him right after the surgery and said it went extremely well and in minimal time, only 1 hour. [but he had to wait to see me for almost 2 more hours].
I got to see my leg now, it is wrapped up in ACE bandages from the very top of my leg till only my toes are sticking out. And there’s a brace over that from the top of my leg down to my ankle which is set to not let my knee bend at all. They say I’m not supposed to remove any of it for 5 days.
I remember bits and pieces of the next 2 hours. I would wake up and ask Dan a question and then try so hard to stay awake. Suddenly without warning I’d be sleeping again. One of the first things I asked him was, ‘Did I even kiss you and tell you bye?’ He assured me that I did and that I was smiling and talking for awhile after they gave me the anesthesia, even while they were wheeling me out of the room. My foggy brain couldn’t quite grasp that! I’m not sure how often I asked him until we figured out that I must have still been ‘with it’ but now the anesthesia was doing it’s work and erasing everything from my memory, even more than I wanted it to! Everytime I awoke I had more questions for him, towards the end he gently told me that I had asked him some of those questions like 3 or 4 times already. Guess my memory was still wiping away things! They also gave me a prescription for pain, so hubby told me to just sleep and he’ll run to the drugstore and fill the prescription.
Because I had my surgery as an out-patient, I was able to be released the same day yet. So by around 1 in the afternoon they were asking if I think I feel good enough to go home? They brought me crackers to try to give me energy. I tried to sit up and got extremely wore out, sweaty and nauseated that they brought me a handheld fan. I told em No, I can’t move or get up yet, I want to sleep more. So they let me lay back down and I slept for another 30 minutes before I tried it again. Painstakingly and with alot of help from my Sweetheart we finally got me dressed. During that time I put the fan away and by the time we were done, I was grasping frantically for it again, it was the only thing that kept me from passing out. Everything in me was fighting to not ‘get sick all over the floor’ -it was AWFUL!!! [I remember thinking, at least I can move, it was a more bearable feeling than the sick feeling I had before surgery.] At least I was starting to be able to think clearly when I was awake!
I think it took me probably a good 20 minutes to maneuver my big ole leg and my nauseated self off the bed and into the wheelchair, it felt like an hour! Once I was finally in my wheelchair I made the comment that ‘I thought I was gonna throw up, but I was fighting it off’. The nurse was like, “well you probably would feel a lot better if you just would have let yourself.” I was like, ugh, a bit too late, but thanks! She also informed me that if I ever have another surgery to let them know that I got really sick from the anesthesia and to have them give me medicine. She also put a patch behind my ear to leave on for 2 days to help with the nausea, and sent me out the door with a bag in case I get sick.
So the nurse wheeled me down and Dan carried all my paraphernalia. I remember distinctly when we got outside there was a cool breeze and it was almost chilly, but I instantly felt better. I was feeling so weak and that was like a burst of energy. I told my hubby that I think God gave us a cool day just for me, cuz I don’t know how I would have gotten into the car if it hadn’t been for that.
Thankfully we had brought my crutches along and we got me situated sitting sideways in the back of the car. Nurse also gave me some ice to put on my knee. We had our jackets that we wore from that morning, and it sure helped to prop up under my knee and for me to lay my head/back on against the door. I was soo wore out and ready to sleep again!
When we were almost home, honey woke me up and said to hurry because it’s almost ready to downpour! So we hurried as much as I could. He did so well in aiding my every move. I was feeling quite a bit better and could walk mostly alone with the help of my crutches. Except going the steps, Big oopsie, I hadn’t practiced doing that one with crutches. But we got it figured out. We were just good inside when indeed it started to dump rain! Ahh 🙂
It was hard to get myself moving and think of going home, but it was soo good to be home! And on my recliner. We got out 2 pillows to prop under my leg, they had specifically told me to not let my heel hang off the edge of the pillow. After awhile that got harder than it sounds! We kept putting ice on and I slept most of the afternoon. It was such a blessing to have my Sweetheart here with me, as anytime I needed to get up [which was ONLY for bathroom trips] he had to help me. As awkward as this may seem, we soon decided we needed to get a lil step stool, because what do you do with your leg while sitting on the toilet when you can’t bend it?!
My wonderful sister brought us a meal over, if there was one thing that I needed it was food. The nauseated feeling anytime I tried to move was bad enough. Trying to take my pills every 3 hours for pain on an empty stomach just would not have been pleasant!
I was surprised, but I was super tired by about 8pm and so ready to go to bed! So we did what I had done right after the accident and rigged up pillows under my leg and I had to sleep in one position all night. I woke up pretty much every 3 hours and took my pills along with some crackers. But thankfully I usually went back to sleep quickly. By 5 am I was so done being in bed and my husband sweetly awoke to help me out on the recliner and get comfortable there. Of course after a bit, I was sound asleep again!
Surgery Day complete. Thank you Jesus!
