Week 10 - First Week Home

It was so weird to be home but since I was taking drugs, there are big holes in my recollection. Here are a few highlights.

Drugs - ick! I took my last oxi on Monday morning. I wasn't in tons of pain and the side effects were just not worth it. I switched to tramadol and took my last of that on Wednesday morning before I went to the doctor to have my stitches out. From there is was only Tylenol, which did take the edge off. As long as my arm was in the brace, I wasn't really in pain. All good.

OMG! Only having one arm is hard! Everything takes so much effort - going to the bathroom for instance. Try it with one hand. Just try it. Sleeping in the recliner. Also a bitch. I slept great while I was stoned but once I switched to Tylenol, I had more trouble. I'd wake up in the wee hours uncomfortable, not my shoulder but more from not being able to move. Or I'd wake up hot because the recliner is like an oven. I would be awake, tired, uncomfortable and hungry, which often lead to being awake for awhile, reading or playing online, and eating in the middle of the night. Not good. The time change didn't help. After being awake for an hour or two in the middle of the night, I would fall back asleep and luckily get several more hours in, most days not waking again until 8:00 or 9:00 even.

After the first shower that Lorri helped with, I was able to take them carefully on my own. It hurt to have the brace off but was worth it to get clean, especially after sleeping in the recliner. I was eating fine, mostly from the freezer but Andrea dropped me some yummy curried chicken salad one morning that was delicious. I was enjoying tea every afternoon, which helped chase away the gloom from the dreary, cold weather. I was spending ridiculous amounts of time online and knitting.

Enough talk about logistics. Here's the good stuff when I actually got out of the house.

My first foray into the world was when Donna took me to the doctor on Wednesday morning. My appointment was at 10:15 so I took Donna to breakfast beforehand at Cook's Cafe for waffles and sausage. Yum! I was out in public without a bra, which felt super weird and very "people of WalMart" but the brace hid it well enough I think. After the doctor, we went to HyVee and I picked up a few groceries, including the things I hadn't bought on purpose. I had thought that not having ice cream would work but I found myself eating lots of other things because I wanted ice cream and didn't have any. Chips too. So those things bought, we hit the bread store before heading home. I survived but had to take a nap that afternoon. All good.

I drove myself to downtown Wahoo on Saturday and lived to tell. I went to the market and picked up a book and some DVDs at the library. Later that night, I took a walk around the block and did it again on Sunday evening. It was bitter cold and my hideous cape didn't keep me very warm but at least I was moving. Progress in my book.

So that was my first week. As I said to Cindy on one call (I called work most days), I was still a week away from being able to enjoy any part of being home. But I was better every day and not in pain as long as the brace was on, which was ALL THE TIME. One week down, three to go. At least the weather was supposed to get warmer. I was looking forward to that.