Tag Archives: recovery

Oops!….I did it again!

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Mrs. and Red have shown up together a few times. I wonder if that means they don’t have fledglings in the nest? Or, have they flown the nest?

Monday I had a big, long day and I woke up in the middle of the night with a dull ache in my ankle.

I started Monday with a 30-minute walk. Then I got ready to have breakfast with a neighbor. She offered to drive me to my hair appointment and we decided to get breakfast along the way first. My hair appointment is 50 minutes away — which is too long for me to have my pedal on the metal!

We left my house at 9:30 a.m. and I didn’t get back until 3 p.m. After elevating and icing, I cooked dinner. Normally this wouldn’t be too big of a day. But right now, post surgery, it was! I had my ankle brace on most of the day and I think that’s what made me sore.

I woke up yesterday beyond tired. I skipped my walk because I had morning PT. I explained to the physical therapist that I was tired and overdid it Monday. He thought I meant Saturday, not Monday. He told me to know my limits and continue to do more, but don’t push it.

Then he proceeded to rip into my ankle with his fingers. He added one legged leg presses and few other exciting things.

Needless to say I’m toast! In case you missed it, I wrote about overdoing it last week when my surgeon cleared me to walk, drive and get in the pool HERE.

Red before he took off from our tree. The Red flying photo isn’t perfect, but I like the movement.

When have you had a day where you felt you overdid it?

The Quiet Hour

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The best hour of my day — 6 to 7 a.m. I’m out by the pool with coffee, journaling, listening to birds. The temperature is still cool in the 70s. Yesterday, I watched a coyote hustle by the fence, trying not to attract attention during my quiet hour.

Then the day moved away from quiet time to my first Physical Therapy session. I thought they were just going to talk to me and figure out a plan. They took off my boot and ace bandages. Then they measured my flexibility in both ankles. They worked on my right ankle with stretches, massage and manipulation. Then I had to do a series of exercises including tracing the alphabet with my right foot. They had me use bands and had me work through more exercises they want me to do there and at home.

When PT called a few days ago to schedule appointments, I was taken aback. I thought surely this was way too soon. I was not ready for this. I’m perfectly content cocooning in my casita. I’m not ready to leave the nest!

But my husband drove me there and I’ve got a month of appointments scheduled — to start. The therapist said within a few weeks, I’ll be out of my boot and walking without it.

The best thing about PT? There’s a taco shop next door called Oscar’s Tacos. We brought take out home after my appointment. It was a small shop where the employees and customers were all Latino except for us. That was a good sign. I have been on a quest to find decent Mexican food since we moved to Arizona. Now, after each appointment, I can take food home! And yes, it was good!

What is the best time of your day?

Sights from my backyard

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Friday I went to see my surgeon and she removed my cast! YAY! Then she put me in a heavy duty boot and told me to use my walker and walk around the house and outside with 50% weight on my right leg. The other thing she said was I could take a shower beginning Sunday with no huge plastic sleeve topped with saran wrap on my leg. WOOHOO!

It’s the little things like semi-walking and taking a shower that are making my days!

Part of my morning routine, after coffee and writing three pages, is to venture outside. I sit for about 45 minutes to an hour watching and listening to my birds. I also listen to the Hallow app on my phone. I’m listening to a podcast on it called “Bible in a Year.” I’m on day 180. I find this to be a peaceful and helpful way to approach my day. I was so over being laid up last Thursday that I didn’t want to do anything. Getting outside plus listening to this app and my birds has helped me over the hump.

Here are a few sights from my backyard:

Here’s a honeysuckle I took with my iphone while sitting outside.

Here’s a selfie of me in my sundress and boot with my walker.

Aloe in bloom next to honeysuckle.

One lone blossom on top of a saguaro.

What little things or moments in your day make it special?

Life in Limbo

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Red is staring at me through the window. I took this sitting down at the casita table with my iphone, because my Nikon with the telephoto is too much for me to handle a few days after surgery.

Life is taking on a new rhythm post surgery last Friday. I feel like I’m in a time of waiting. Now that my pain is less and I have a knee scooter, I am pretty much self-sufficient. Except for going to the grocery store, cooking, doing laundry — all the things that fall under my jobs. Now my husband is taking on those tasks, along with work. To be fair, hubby often does those, but now it’s all on him.

Once I got the knee scooter, which came four days late from Amazon, I was able to do most little things myself. Before that, I had a walker the surgery center sent home with me. I had to hop on my left leg with right leg in the air. Talk about a work out! Also, that left no hands free to pick up or carry anything. I had to rely on my husband for everything, which after a few days, wasn’t easy for either one of us. My handy dandy knee scooter has a basket and I can zip around the house like a free bird.

I’m passing time watching my birds out the window, reading “Writing Down the Bones,” reading blogs and beginning a new manuscript. There are a few TV shows and movies I’m enjoying, too. I’m waiting for the momentous day of my first pre op appointment a week from Friday. Sometime after that, I’ll start PT. It’s a quiet time of waiting, but to be honest — “hey it’s not that bad!”

P.S. “Hey, it’s not that bad,” I’d tell my coach after my Masters swim practices in Palm Springs. My coach joked about what an endorsement that was for his program. He said that we should make t-shirts, which a friend and I did!

How would use spend a stretch of quiet time ahead of you? Keep in mind you couldn’t leave the house or be weight bearing?

Not for wimps

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Cardinal in tree
A beautiful site of a cardinal in a tree.

It’s been over a week since I got COVID and I thought today would be a good day.

Both my husband and I commented this morning that we were feeling better. He’s attempting to work and I got up feeling well rested. I even felt hungry which is a first. I’ve been having trouble eating.

But then I took my final Paxlovid dose and things went from good to worse. First, I can’t stand the metallic taste and was thankful this was the last dose. I was feeling weak and tired, so I decided to take a hot shower and change into a fresh pair of pajamas and go back to bed.

That was my goal for the day. Then I began vomiting the nasty Paxlovid and I had to sit up or I’d get sick lying down. I coughed mouthfuls of phlegm. I felt like I couldn’t swallow because there was a lump in my throat that I can’t stand.

All I wanted was to get snuggled in bed next to kitty Olive and feel better. But I coughed and spluttered all over the duvet and I had another load in the washer.

Many people had Covid and it wasn’t a big deal. I guess in the big scheme of things it isn’t for me either.

I know people who took Paxlovid and didn’t have my reaction. I know a few who did, but more who didn’t.

I don’t remember feeling so awful in years, but as Scarlett O’Hara would say “Tomorrow is another day!”

If you took Paxlovid or know somebody that did, what was the experience like?

Another week, another surgery

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Rainbow in Santa Barbara during Christmas week.
A rainbow over the Christmas week VRBO.

This week I’m back taking care of my son in the Bay Area. He had surgery a few days ago. He heard the garbage truck coming, realized he forgot to take out the bins and raced down the stairs, breaking his foot. The last time I was here taking care of him, he had shoulder surgery from overuse injuries caused by swimming and rowing. That was several months ago, but not long enough for him to be healed and to be able to use crutches.

At Christmas week in Santa Barbara in the VRBO, he stayed on the main floor with us (mom and dad) and scooted around the kitchen and living room on his knee scooter. The main floor had the master bedroom and a small second bedroom. The rest of the “kids” — ages 21 to 34 — were on the lower level and out by the pool. I can only imagine how frustrating it was for him to be stuck with mom and dad.

He made the best of it and hopped down the spiral staircase a couple of times so he could sit with everyone by the pool.

I’m not sure what this week will bring. I’m sitting in his living room while he sleeps on the sofa with a cast on his foot. He has to return to remote work so I may be sitting quietly by getting ice for the ice machine and filling his water glass.

I brought a book I thought I’d read while I hang out in his house this week. But I finished more than half of it during during the plane ride. (Chanel Cleeton’s “When We Left Cuba.”) The good news is he and his girlfriend were Literature majors and they have a nice supply of books. I don’t need to get worried about finding another book to read.

shelves full of books and a knee scooter
Books and the knee scooter in my son’s living room.

What are you reading now? Have you taken care of your adult kids after surgery? We went out to dinner with friends the night before I left and they said they’d never do it. That their kids are on their own. What are your thoughts about that?

Back in the water

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Last January, I made my way back into the pool, after my epic failure at skiing. Today, I went to Masters and it was fun to compare where I was a year ago. Unfortunately, my attendance has been hit and miss lately due to travel, guests–and I’m a wimp when it comes to cold weather! And we’ve had a cold and wet winter! This morning it was 39 degrees on my morning walk–and in the 50s at noon Masters, with the pool a cool 78 degrees. This may sound like whining to my friends stuck in 15 inches of snow back home in Washington–but hey, this is Palm Springs! It’s supposed to be warm, even hot by now.

So, today I was able to swim the 1,000-yard warm-up and a mini set that Coach Jeff gave me. (It’s nice to have personalized workouts tailored for my post-surgery self.) I wrote the following story at the end of January last year. I have come a long way in a year–it’s not that bad! Hopefully, I’ll make more progress as the months go by.

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The view from my walk today–in the pool.

Yesterday, I walked on the pool deck at the Palm Springs Swim Center to figure out how I could manage to get some exercise walking. Since my recent ACL injury from acting like a young hotshot skier in Utah, I’ve been missing my morning walks and my Masters’ group swims. I was told that I can’t swim right now, but I could walk. So following the advice of my amazing physical therapist, I decided that I should try walking in the pool.

I have been worried about walking up and down the normal swimming ladder, found on both sides of the pool. So yesterday, I went to investigate and found two options:

 

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These lifts are required at every public pool in California.

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This is the option I used.

The steps were easy, the handrails are put exactly in the right spot. I had no problem getting in and out on my own—without asking one of my lifeguard friends to operate the seated lift. They told me they would. But, I was glad to not need their assistance.

Next, I walked a full 30 minutes following the “heel first, weight-bearing flat foot, push off toes repeat method” that my PT has had me practice. She was right, the pool feels so good. The lack of gravity makes me feel like I can walk and walk.

The views were incredible. My knee was moving and the only trouble I had was watching other lap swimmers. I was ready to plunge in head first and take off in a nice easy freestyle. But for right now, I’ll enjoy the ability to walk without pain, the gorgeous pool views and lifeguard friends. It was spectacular today and I’m so blessed. Hey, it’s January and it’s not that bad!

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These are the stairs I was nervous about.

What are you thankful for today? I’m kind of liking the smell of chlorine on my skin.