Yesterday we had our taxes done . A little late this year due to my leg mishap but still done before the April 15th deadline YAHOO!
Speaking of my leg here is an updated photo of what it looks like now . This was taken last Thursday March 28, 2013 I am still amazed at how great it looks .
I would have never guessed it would look this good with what it started out looking like 8 weeks ago HERE Yikes !!!
Here is a little sneak peek of my classroom hubby is doing for me. I am so excited ! He just put the lights up into the tray ceiling and OH my goodness it is sooo bright we may need to wear sunglasses while stamping LOL!
I have been making a video on this journey but change of plans we will only be doing the classroom as of right now since we need a new roof on our house this summer and that takes priority .
So I will be posting the video of what has been done on the classroom part in the near future . Still have a few things to do flooring /trim /doors but will share it as soon as it's done .
Tomorrow I will be finishing up my April newsletter which will be sent out Tuesday morning . Boy I missed making my newsletter for you this February & March ... But I'm getting back on track one step at a time right ? Praise God !
Also a quick update :
The Single stamps HERE will now be available until July 31,2013
Right off the bat I would like to Thank & Praise God for getting me through the last 5 weeks . For all of you who have went through a surgery you may have felt like how I was feeling .
Down in the dumps/ Pitty Party / Crying / Emotional roller coster .
My Mom had mentioned to me well you know you are getting close to that whole COL ( HOLD on are you kidding me .. One thing at a time please !!
Okay we are fast forwarding to this past week...
or should I say rewinding ?
Whatever "IT" was~ it lifted and I feel MARVELOUS! well not 100% back to normal but seriously so much better. I wonder if it is all the medication they gave me in the hospital IDK But I do remember I felt like this with both knee replacements too. It just didn't last as long as this time ... maybe it was the trauma with this one ~ I wish I knew ~ whatever it is I do NOT like it !
It all started last week when I was told by my PT girl ( Ashley) I should start practicing driving YAHOO!
So this was my practicing ... I asked hubby to go with me around the subdivision so I could see if everything was good to go and well it didn't quite make it around the sub ( just mainly down the road out of the sub LOL) cause the next thing I hear hubby saying is ... well I guess you practiced enough cause we were on the main road LOL! It was amazing and YES I was alittle EXCITED ( Alot excited) Praise God!
Also on Tuesday Ashley told me to lose the cane I kinda looked at her weird and thought really ?? you sure ? It's my secruity.. she just shock her head yes and smiled . Praise God!
This past Friday I got my knee to bend at 100 degrees I seriously started to cry and we high fived each other . I am so very Thankful .
This past week I also got to ride the stationary bike at PT. I rode it for 5 mins and the 1st minute or so I couldn't quite get it up and over the hump to petal ( was told that's normal) but then once I rocked it a bit then Up and over it went ( What a feeling ) I don't know why in my mind I assoicate that Bike and driving with I am getting better . Don't get me wrong both are BIG things BUT like Ryan at therapy said we are not ready to run around the block yet LOL! YEAH -YEAH -YEAH .
Trust me Ryan is not a debbie downer just a realist and he knows how excited I was to ride the bike so the running around the block was more of a joke .. Like I am going to do that..1st of all I do NOT run LOL!
So the other morning I am watching myself walk in my mirror and notice my right foot is pointing in slightly . I am not sure if its me seeing things or what .
I ask hubby and he said yes it is just slightly .
At therapy I am talking to Ashley she she working on the deep rub / and my scar tissue and she asks me what my least favorite excerise is ?? ( She does this to get my mind off the pain of the deep rub ) OH yes there is 1 that I will call the leg torture .
I am not even sure what they call it BUT think of it as a leg lift to the side BUT laying down on your good side on a table with your back / butt / head right up against the wall and bending your good leg then with your bad leg toes pointing down then slide it up and down the wall as many times as you can . I can only do 18-20 and 20 is pushing it . Ashley said everyone Hates ( even those that are very active in working out hate it too) that one it really works your quads and your hips .
Still having a hard time sitting for long periods of time in that whole quad/hip area but that will get better too .
The video below is what it is BUT I slide my foot on an acrylic wall which is behind me with my butt and shoulders against the wall . It seriously BURNS! by the time PT is all done I will let you know what my count is on this one . Hopefully it will be better than 20 in a few weeks.
So while we were chatting about that I mentioned to her that I think my foot is slightly turned inward and she said it's because of my hip/ quad everything in that area was to be built back up and is still weak . so I asked her what excerise helps that and she gives me the head nod towards the leg torture area . Oh great! Her and Ryan both tell me it is all still so fresh from surgery and it will get alot better in time . so now Ashely has me doing the slides in sets of 5 and then resting instead of sets of 10 and I must admit it still BURNS like crazy but it was slightly better on Friday.
My most favorite time of PT is the Ice and E-Stim machine for 15 mins . After 2 hours of PT I can NOT wait for Ashley or Ryan to say are you ready for ice Ahhhh YEAH!! Hello my best friend ! Ashley is looking into me getting the E stim machine for me to use at home even if I have to rent it I would be willing to do that but really would love to buy one or maybe my Ins. will cover it we shall see. hopefully this week we will find out .
Notice all my stri-strips are off ( yahoo!) BUT there is one spot at the very bottom of my leg that had a scab which fell off after Ashleys rub down ...so I have another stri strip on that to help bring that together and close up .
My Scar is looking for Fabulous :) . It's funny when looking at it~it seems to be starting to fade in parts . The inside by my knee cap and just above are still very tender areas and OUCHIE when the deep rub takes place still . The whole right side of my outter knee area is totally numb.
Thank you all for your prayers, your well wishes and cards / gifts . I can not express how grateful I am. I am truly Blessed with your friendship and thoughtfulness.
I filmed a video for you this upcoming week Plus I have my club girls coming over this next Saturday so yesterday was a fun stamping day But I did over do it a tad .
I did get (2) club projects designed and a video filmed Just need to pre -cut everything this upcoming week for Saturday .
Very soon we will be back to 2 videos a week ( Thursdays and Fridays) Thank you all for your patience through all this . I wish I could HUG all of you !!
I am all caught up on my Thank you notes from January 31, 2013 - current PLUS I have mailed all our New Glitter Queens welcome packets out ( finally) so sorry for the delay .
Thank you for picking me to be your SU! Demonstrator .
Here is my Sunday Share video . I love this commercial it reminds me of our Jessie when she was little and Bowzer
Have a Wonderful Sunday friends !
PS I have started a category for all my leg stuff if you want to get caught up on what happened click HERE
I wish I had done that with my last knee replacement surgery so I could compare all of this now to that one.
The posts will still be in my Sunday Share categories BUT you will have to scroll through all my Sunday shares to get to those about my leg .
Oh my goodness can you believe it is only (17) days till the 1st day of Spring . I am thinking by the way our winter has been this far we may not be in the warmer temps and snow free even if the calenders says we should be .
Either way just saying it makes me feel better already .
I thought I would share with you the photo we took the day I arrived in the ER and when they ended up having to cut my jeans off of me as you can tell my right leg is really swollen compared to the left . Here is another photo of what my jeans looks like after all the cutting was finished .
I ended up keeping them since they were my favorite jeans and hubby said we will get me another pair just like them later .
I am happy to report I survived my 1st week of out patient therapy . I got (3 ) more weeks (3) times a week . I was quite surprise how much the word spread around the office that when I came in on Thursday 4 therapists wanted to see my X-rays and were also amazed that I wasn't in a cast .They all said they don't see what happened to me very often.
The most painful part so far of therapy is when Ashley works on my scar tissue around my knee cap inside thigh YEWWW sends me to the moon I tell ya ....But when she works on my outer thigh muscle rubbing that~ feels amazing! So you know that old saying Good with the Bad right ? LOL! swear she has the boney-ist fingers in the world and gets right down the business .
Thank goodness for all the warm up excerises I do for 30 or so mins before she gets me . Then the ice down is also a top favorite .
I must say we have gone through so much ice in the Griffith home . I do not remember using this much ice with my past knee replacements . Frozen peas and frozen popcorn kernals don't last as long as regular ice . Thank goodness for Sams Club 20 lb ice bags which lasts almost a week .
On Friday I got my bend to 97 degrees and I am so excited about that ...BUT I still have so much swelling in my leg .
Click HERE for a updated photo of my leg and what it looks like as of yesterday evening The Stri-strips are coming off now . It looks So much betterto me now and its amazing there is no itching,But where is does itch is behind my knee which is weird.
Yesterday I was hoping to get a video filmed for this upcoming week for you But Fridays PT had me icing alot and laid up for most of the day yesterday and standing while I film wasn't looking to promising . Maybe today will be better.
Day #24 ~ 3 weeks post surgery. Tomorrow I have my follow up with Dr. Hubers and if all goes as planned I will be starting out patient theraphy Tuesday .
Out patient means working on big equipment ( Treadmill/ Bike/ Leg press machine etc..) to get my leg/thigh ( quad) better . Leslie said I should have out patient theraphy for 4 weeks possible 6.
My 8 visits with Leslie ended this past Friday and she got me to 92 degrees bend on my knee YAHOO!
Last Saturday I stopped taking Xarelto and started aspirin theraphy Sunday and will be on that until March 1, 2013. Very thankful I didn't have to do Coumadin or Heparin and that also ment NO blood draws with Xarelto . So this makes me a very happy camper :).
I am sleeping alittle better now and going down stairs PRAISE GOD! .
I go downstairs only when someone is here with me. It's feels so GREAT to be in my Stamping space again . But then again any change of scenery from laying in bed all day... even sitting in my living room is such a blessing.
I have been making my Feb Thank you notes and getting caught up (Thank you again for picking me to be your demonstrator and your patience through all this with me.)
Hubby did get me out of the house Thursday and took me out to dinner. That was AMAZING too. We figured we should do a test run getting out since we will be going out to see the Dr. on Monday and Snow was coming Friday... so Thursday was the day .
Thank you all again for all your well wishes and Prayers . I love you all .
P.S Hubby has been downstairs working on my stamping room . I actually started a video back in Oct 2012 and adding to it as progress is made in the new stamping area . We figure it may take a year or so to finish but we will have it all on video to post when it is all done .
So far hubby has started on the trey ceiling and also drywalled my tanning bed area and also closed off the furnace area which will be for Christmas storage and his workshop .
Well it is day #17 and I must say I am feeling better every day . Still need my walker when walking & haven't left the house since I came home from the hospital .
I haven't been able to sleep well at night seems I have a hard time getting comfortable . My PT girl says this is totally normal and should get better by week 3 .
I want to send you all BIG hugs for all your wonderful cards /gifts I have recieved . You all make me smile . I will be sharing more of your beautiful cards and gifts this upcoming week
My PT girl ( Leslie ) says this upoming week we may be trying the stairs YAHOO! I mentioned to her once she got me down there I may not want to come back up. She is actually pretty excited to see my stamping room too ... NOT as excited as me though !!!!
For Valentines Day Hubby got my a new Pandora Braclett charm and said he went in and asked if they have a Broken Femur charm ~ Nope~ so he got me the next best thing .... A Wish Bone How sweet is that ( see photo) .
We both laughed even though we both do NOT need anything to remind us of all this for a very long time ...But the Wish Bone makes it sweet .
After I told Jessie what Daddy got me she said he should have asked if they had a Zipper charm LOL! ... OH my I swear those two think so much alike it's scary .
Besides the Beautiful Charm he also got me 2 dozen roses and he also stopped at the Bakery and picked up Fresh Baklava and Cannoli .
Jessie and Pat came over Friday and made us dinner ( Chicken tacos YUMMY) and while Hubby and Pat went out to Bass Pro shop Jessie and I got to hang out and she did my hair and painted my toe nails.
I am still ashamed of how ugly my toes were YIKES! but they are super cute now ready for my 3 week check up with the surgen on Monday the 25th.
The Bruises on my hands and arms are just now starting to fade Praise God!
The staples came out Thursday and Thank Goodness my PT girl said to Ice up really good beforehand I have about 20 or so that were embeded and hurt pretty bad when coming out .
I kept them ( see photo) maybe we can think of something to make with 83 staples ...
It was such a relief to get the staples out. ClickHERE for the photo with the staples out .
Friday we got my knee to bend at 80 degrees now mind you that is NOT me doing all the bending BUT my PT girl Leslie doing 90% of it. But it will come one day .
Thursday was also the 1st day I put my tennis shoes on and WOW that was super great . Hubby is still helping me in and out of the shower Praise God !
One of my best things through all this has been my leg lifter . With my past Knee replacements I used my Robe belt to help lift my leg But since then they have come out with this fancy leg lifter .
I thought I would post for my Sunday Share on what all happened with my leg. Seems there was a little confusion on what happened since my hubby and daughter were both trying to keep everyone updated on face book.
Hubby and I were walking across the parking lot and I fell Thursday morning . I seriously thought I went down so gracefully but when I looked up & seen my hubby's face I knew something was really wrong Plus I couldn't feel my right leg at all . When I looked at my leg below my knee it was laying to the right of my thigh bent backwards .
Hubby some how got me in my car and drove to the hospital, and while driving my leg kept getting bigger but still no pain( yet) .
Once we got to the hospital they had to get me out of my car . They got me on a stretcher and wheeled me in to the ER cut my jeans off and put in IV then called my Doctor who did my knees back in 2005/ 2007 .
My Doctor came in and said he looked at the X rays and said he would not be able to do the surgery that it was way out of his league. he recommened (2) specialist one for reconstructive and one for Trama surgery .Praise God I had both doctors work on my leg .
The Xray showed I broke my FemurBUT my knee replacement from 2005 was in place and didn't break BUT where the femur broke there was nothing to attach a hindge to my knee to my femur . It was Shattered
The next step was to put my leg in Traction and get the femur straight enought for surgery .
Click HERE for another photo. Just know that it is gauze wrapped around the pins in that photo That's all with a Black marker I assume that marks the bottom of my knee or something ..
Next they had to drill into my bone with 2 pins and putting 20lb weights at the end of my bed to stretch my femur ( see photo) All this took place that day Thursday Jan 31, 2013 .
Friday Dr Hubers came in and said he was hoping to get me into surgery at 2 or 4pm Friday turned out surgery was at 4ish and I remember waking up in my room at 12:45 am Saturday..
I ended up with at least a 13 inch incesion with 80 staples (Click HERE for that photo) , a brand new larger knee replacement and a Hindge w/a new rod that goes up 5 inches into my femur Plus I needed 2 units of blood Plus Lots of Bruises on my arms and leg.
I seriously felt like a pin cushion with IV / blood draws/ drain tube/ Staples etc... All that to say PRAISE GOD I still have my leg.
I am currently have a home nurse come in 2 times a week and a Physical Therapist 3 times a week . I am not able to sit very long and or walk or do stairs ( Stamping studio is down stairs).doing most of my excerises in bed ankle bends / butt squeezes /knee presses and lots of ice for swelling .
I will be getting my Staples removed this upcoming Thursday . Looks like I need to be well iced for that proceedure. My follow up with my surgen will be the Feb 25th .
I am able to walk to the kitchen and back to bed and of course to the bathroom with a walker .
I want to thank you all for your sweet comments / cards/ well wishes and prayers . I still find it hard to even look at my leg with all the stitches seems like it really isn't my leg or it's something out of a horror film~maybe it will be better after the staples come out ... we shall see .
One thing that Blessed me was that all of you know me and know that I am consistent in posting to my blog and when this all happened you all knew something was wrong since I had not posted in a few days . I can't make promises about my blog postings during my recovery But I will try.
Just wanted you all to know I had a accident last Thursday morning and have been in the hospital . I came home from the Hospital Monday afternoon. I will try and get a post with all that has happened this last week .
Thank you all for you concern and prayers as I recover from major knee surgery.
