Surgery Recovery - Day 4

My friends and family have been amazing through this experience - my email, text messages and voicemail are full of well wishes, my apartment is full of flowers, I have a ton of really yummy 70's candy (Ari really likes the Pop Rocks, though he wouldn't drink Coke with them), my brother somehow procured 3 of the best Nintendo games ever and a game player that will play them to keep me entertained, plus my sister found a copy of a classic Babes in Toyland movie I haven't seen since I was a kid! I already tested out the Nintendo, pathetically I get so into it that small jerks and twitches are a regular occurrence - I will need to wait until my knee isn't so susceptible to these, uh, minor movements for a real Mario Brothers marathon. Babes in Toyland here I come.

One of the super fun things that started last night was that in addition to the stabbing pains (somewhat diminished, but there none the less) and the general aching the stupid friggin thing started itching. Of course, you absolutely can't itch it, which makes it even more annoying. I suppose I should be pleased by this, it does indicate that my twitching spaz moves haven't significantly impacted the healing process - which is indeed a good thing.

When I woke up today the stabbing pain seemed to have diminished even more, now my leg just looks and feels like a stuffed sausage. I'm a bit worried about the swelling so instead of leaving the Game Ready brace off when its not running I am leaving it on all day and using both the ice and the compression.

I also realized I haven't once tried to do the one exercise my doctor asked me to do. Whoopsy. I will start doing that today if I can - basically all I need to do is attempt to straighten the sausage, er, leg. He seemed to think that would be enough to be starting with. I was highly skeptical at the time - thinking that he was underestimating my recovery prowess, alas......does it count as straight if I can't see the space when I lean back and look at the ceiling?

Ari worked from home again today so he could help me - poor guy, fortunately I don't think I'll start to smell again until tomorrow. He is helping me practice getting up and sitting down using various random props other than his shoulder so I can get to the bathroom when he goes in to work.

The other problem I've been encountering is the weight of the brace on the top of my knee. It drops onto the bandages when I stand up resulting in at least half the pain that makes me want to learn how to use a bed ban. Since the last thing I want to do is klutz my way back into the emergency room I am following my doctor's instructions and keeping the brace on whenever I move around. Unfortunately, the pain resulting from this (its not a stabbing pain in a particular area, but it certainly is not dull and seems to permeate through my entire knee by the time I get back to the couch) turns me into a moaning vegetable on ice for at least 15 minutes. I am going to start experimenting with the tightness of the brace - maybe I can cinch the thing into my thigh tight enough so it doesn't slide down. I've also been considering hacking together some sort of suspender system that would attach to the straps on the brace. I'm pretty sure the doctor wouldn't appreciate this modification though, so hopefully the cinching approach will work.