Week 25 - Working More Hours

After my too early back to work fail from the week before, I decided to lower my expectations and scheduled PT at 1:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That left me with down time after PT, which clearly I needed. I did make it until 3:00 on Tuesday and then worked until 6:15 on Thursday so despite mostly half days, I still worked more than the previous week.

I stepped it up in other areas than work too so clearly was getting some energy back. I got a wild hair mid-week and did some work with my plants. I had all the plants from work still at home and they were in spots that had gotten light in the winter but not anymore. So I repotted a few things and put them outside then pulled a plant shelf from the basement, washed it up and put it on the tall dresser by the window in the spare room. It gave me 3 shelves to load up with violets then I put saran wrap down on the dresser and put more plants in front of the shelf. By the time I was done, the plants were in much better shape and I was able to take 2 tables out to the garage. Someday I'll get back to campus and will take a bunch of the plants, mostly violets, back to the windowsill in my office. Not that I'm in any rush.

We got a surprise email late on Thursday announcing that the U would observe Juneteenth and we'd get Friday off. I'd already made plans with Anne for her to come over for supper so now we'd have all the time in the world. I did go out in the morning and weed some in my veg beds because it had rained so it was easy weeding. And yes, I was in my nightie. I wasn't making anything fancy for dinner - stuffed shells (frozen from Aldi) with jarred sauce - but I did make apple enchiladas for dessert. Anne stopped at Trader Joe's for me and picked up some Kumato tomatoes for me so I can have some taco salads with lettuce from my garden. We ate, chatted and knitted. It was fun.

Saturday was a big day for me. I'd only driven within Wahoo but Saturday was spinning in Fremont and I was driving. My thought was that it would be a long drive followed by hours away from home so if I was too tired to drive home, Andrea would take over. Spinning was watching a video in a darkened room so I was nodding off but when the lights came on, I was ready to rock and roll. We hit Goodwill and 2 grocery stores and I was still fine to drive home. It was a long day but felt normal and clearly I was making progress.

Next on the list was swimming. I had convinced Lorri to try water aerobics in Lincoln so I drove us down Sunday evening for 6:15 swimming. I was very careful and didn't last through the whole class but it felt great to be in the pool. The cool water seemed to help my swelling, which isn't bad but also not gone after 4+ weeks (that's normal but I still am ready for it go be gone), and I didn't hurt myself. Yay!

So how was that for a full week? Working 3 half days was definitely a smart move. That left me with energy to get some other things done rather than being so exhausted that I did nothing beyond working a few hours. There was also plenty of knitting going on, including this pair. I cast them on to knit while I was biking, which is an hour most days so a chunk of knitting time. All in all, it was a good week with progress on all fronts. I'll take it!

Week 24 - Back to Work

Well, with no one pressuring me at all, I made the decision to start back to work part-time. Total FAIL. I was absolutely exhausted every single day, even after only working a few hours. Stupid! And no one to blame but myself.

I had PT 3 times and it wasn't too bad. I was driving myself so that felt good. I even went to the grocery store afterwards one day. My goal was hotdogs after failing to find one on Memorial Day but my small town store didn't have the high end ones I like so I got lame ones and some buns and cooked them in the toaster oven. They did NOT satisfy my craving for a grilled one so I'm still on the hunt for one.

I was still doing my bike 3 times a day but the bluetooth measurer that was attached to pads that were glued to my leg was a total fail. It was supposed to measure my straightening and bending but was 30 degrees off from my measurements at PT. Then I developed a rash under the pad on my thigh so happily pulled the pads off and called the company to ask what to do. They said to move the bluetooth thing away from the bike until it didn't register. I had to not only put it in the garage but inside the car. It felt great to have those off and to add to it, I pulled off the last of the steri strips on my incision. Finally I had my leg back! It's the little things these days. And the icing on the cake was when I got on the scale for the first time since surgery (I'd been waiting for the swelling to go down) and I'd only gained 1 pound. A miracle! I hadn't been over eating but I hadn't been dieting either so was pleased. That's not such a little thing.

Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public Day, which hadn't been on my radar. But I sent an email Saturday morning and several of the Monday Night Knitters were in so we met at Mocha C's. I started with coffee and then ordered my regular order from Tuesday's grab and go - chicken salad croissant with yellow Lay's chips and a scotcheroo. It tasted even better when shared with friends. As usual, we closed Mocha C's down, actually staying past closing while they cleaned up. It's nice to be a regular.

So despite going back to work too soon, I survived the week and had some fun. There was some napping and lots of knitting. Here's a pair of fun socks that I finished this week - just because. : )

Week 23 - Making Some Progress

Monday was Memorial Day but it was a non-event at my house. Someone in my neighborhood was cooking out, which smelled great, and I totally got a hankerin' for a hotdog so put a post on Facebook asking if anyone local was grilling hotdogs. Nope. So truly a non-event. All the holiday did was screw up my PT schedule.

But before PT, I was headed to Lincoln Tuesday morning for the follow up with my surgeon. Andrea drove me and I had hoped we'd have time to grab breakfast afterwards but the holiday clearly screwed up the doctor's office too because the waiting room was packed. But the doc seemed very pleased with my progress and it felt great to have my staples gone and I also only had to wear the TED hose on my surgery leg, during the day and up to my knee. Halleluiah! We didn't have time for breakfast but Andrea ran into Le Quartier for pastries. Delish. I had PT that afternoon and lived to tell. 

Tuesday was the first business day of the month and I hadn't planned to work but Brook, who is my back up, had his son life flighted to Children's Hospital in Omaha over the weekend so he wasn't at work. I ran all of the monthly reports, which was a challenge (drugs!) but got them done. Other than answering a few emails, this was the first work I'd done. Thinking was HARD. Then on this, the single busiest day since surgery, I decided to not take a pain pill before bed. Nope! I had cut down since the previous week but cold turkey wasn't going to work anytime soon. Live and learn.

Fitting 3 PT's into a 4 day week messes things up plus I had a Zoom professional development I wanted to go to on Wednesday at 2:00 so I went to PT after that. It somehow felt like another full day. Clearly my stamina was lagging.

Thursday felt like a treat with no PT. Then Rene was coming on her way home from visiting her mom to cook cottage pie. I'd also given her a list for Hy-Vee, including my favorite drumstick ice cream treats (I prefer Hy-Vee's to the name brands and I've tried them all) so she arrived with groceries. I had put together an apple crisp using mystery apples and the crumb topping recipe from the rhubarb crisp Helen had brought me. I sat and chatted while Rene cooked then we enjoyed dinner and chatting. It was lovely and not only did I have leftovers but groceries too.

I had PT Friday afternoon (I was trying to spread them as far apart as possible in the 4 day week) and successfully drove myself for the first time so wouldn't need friends and neighbors anymore. Darla messaged me and asked if I wanted her to bring dinner. I said I had plenty of food but would love a visit but she wanted KFC so I capitulated. Then she called to ask if her husband could come. We'd never met and had heard so much about each other so it was great to finally meet Cliff. He had ridden up on his motorcycle so Darla stayed later for more chatting. 

I was absolutely bored to tears on Saturday. I had been sitting/streaming/knitting for so long and maybe being alone after such a busy week left me wanting. Whatever. I was antsy and discontented all day long. This lead to overdoing it on Sunday, which included my first foray downstairs to the laundry room. And it wasn't a single load, I stripped both beds and did 4 loads and hung all the sheets on the line. Of course the clothesline broke when I had half of them hung. While the beds did need changing, I was motivated to get things roughly in order because I was planning to work part-time - just a few hours a day to start - starting Monday. It seemed like a good idea at the time but I struggled to sleep that night. Over stimulated maybe? Anyway, at least I done a bit in the house and felt sort of ready for a new week. Progress, right?

Week 22 - Healing at Home

Don't expect much detail this week because I was home and taking ALL THE DRUGS. There was streaming, knitting, chatting with my sister, who was crocheting like the wind (here's the 20+ year old half finishing afghan that she finished while she was here) and eating all the food she brought to me. And the PT. Must not forget the PT. And icing. Lots of icing.

So that was the first half of the week. My friend Heidi was taking my sister to the airport on Thursday and after that, I was on my own. Friends and neighbors started driving me to PT on Friday and were on board for the following week. All good.

Helen stopped by Friday afternoon to drop off spaghetti and rhubarb crisp, which she'd picked in my yard when she'd come for lunch one day (Wednesday? Can't remember - drugs again.) The food was delicious and I ate it for days.

Then on Saturday, Cindy came. I had bought all the ingredients for lasagna before my surgery so she made lasagna while I saw in the dining room chatting with her. She also did laundry and hung it out, swept my back room and hung out with me. It was fun to see her in person (I see her on zoom every weekday). And she was the hero of the day when the kid who mows showed up right as she was leaving. She took the clothes down and had him mow under the lines then hung them right back up. What a peach.

I have no recollection of what I did on Sunday (DRUGS!) but I'm sure it was more of the same. Update: I just remembered that Anne came over Sunday afternoon. She has a strict rule of not making plan on Sundays so she can get ready for the upcoming week but since Monday was a holiday, she broke her rule. I shared Cindy's lasagna with her, which was delish.

And just to leave you with a visual, here's my horribly swollen leg all decked out in the recuperation socks that my friend Lori made me me. And the TED hose - Blech! I hate them and aren't they just such a fashion statement!