So being at the parents has its advantages. I got rid of my cable a year ago (who has time to watch?) The folks have satellite TV (because they wanted yours truly to be comfortable) and we all know that Sunday will be NFL football day with games at 1, 4 and 8:30. Sublime. But I didn’t expect to be up at 4:30 AM with a pounding pain in my leg, primarily at the site of the main incision where the stapes are located. I think quickly while I’m writhing in pain and realize that I haven’t iced down in quite a while. I make my way upstairs to get those blue icy gel packs and then apply to the source and wrap in a bandage. I get downstairs, place leg in CPM and wait…
Fortunately, I breathe a sigh of relief as the pain begins to dissipate after 5-10 minutes of agony. It seems that I may have been a little too ambitious but nothing that should have caused any damage. I’m anticipating getting to PT as soon as possible to ask whether anything I could have done might have been too much and caused permanent damage. I fall asleep to the vibrations of the CPM and hope to wake up well in time for kickoff.
I do wake up at around 9:30, the latest I’ll ever sleep. The folks already have bagels with everything on them and I get the royal treatment at around 10:30. I’m feeling good! No problems, no pain. I do some work on the Knee web site to keep it current and then start answering some questions at TheLaw.com, my legal web site. Before I know it… it’s kickoff time!
Cosmetics and Numb Area: Before we get to the games, on the third day I began to notice some serious discoloration (yellow) on my leg and you can see some in the photos. Additionally, a beautiful pattern of purple splotch appears below my knee and primarily on the soft inner portion almost underneath my knee. The numbness from the general anasthesia is gone but I still have significant numbness in the front, just to the left of where the sutures are and a circle emanating from the center of my shin. There is no feeling there at the moment in a space about two and a half inches in diameter or so, perhaps a tad larger, and it spreads across the front of my shin to the outer edge of my leg. OK, now that we have dealt with vanity… let’s deal with football!
I spend the entire afternoon with laptop on lap, leg in CPM, ice rotated every hour or so. I watch the Jets almost blow a must have game, watch the Cowboys get blown out (much to the extreme joy of all of New York) and then watch the Giants blow a game they should have won, the kicker is a bad call that changes the course of the game. Saw that last game with Dad and nice to spend some quality time. No real problems with the leg, just a little trace “aching” in the knee that I can’t really call pain but that dull ache that you used to get when your bones were growing. Perhaps its my new piece of titanium holding me together.
Nightime game comes and still no pain but exhaustion is starting to set in. I may go to work tomorrow, not sure, although it does seem rather quick. I have a PT appointment at 11:30. Game is pretty good but I fall asleep with Favre behind in the third quarter and the Pack really needing a win. Nuts… never fall asleep when Brett Favre is at the helm and the Packers are behind because you know that he is one of the best ever and most times he’ll make a game out of it.
I’m planning on getting up early and doing some work. I pass out with my laptop next to me, glasses (haven’t work contacts in a while) on my keyboard. I just can’t keep the eyes open and I’m snoozing, fortunately without pain in the incision area at this point…
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