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LeeApril26 Thats to funny I said something similar a couple of weeks ago but I said I was looking like "Mrs. Doubtfire".....:rotfl: I can was my good leg pretty well and only 1/2 of the other but I'm getting there.
 
Lenora,

Sounds like your doing fairly well, I can't wait to be able to walk. Funny reading the comments about the little things in life most would give a second thought about....restaurants having disabled toilet facilities. :)
 
special lady[/USER]. Yes, this whole experience-including the two months before surgery when I only left the house with my husband driving me-has given me a new awareness of the challenges faced by the disabled. Living in NYC offers enormous difficulties if you are unable to climb subway stairs; using a car is inconvenient, and parking in Manhattan is very expensive. I don't know how disabled people who live here manage. it can be very isolating. My doctors, hair cutter, gym and many friends are in Manhattan. Have not be able to get there for months. Now I look at everything from this perspective, and feel awful that I haven't really been sensitive to it before.
You have been through much more than I have, and still have challenges. How are you managing?
 
Liveringer. The only way I could think of to wash my operated leg is to stand on the other one and lift the operated one. Sounds like a catastrophe waiting to happen.
 
@LeeApril26

Lenora I felt the same way when I was in a wheelchair for a few months, and since....we don't really pay much attention to the difficulties many face everyday, and many for years or they're entire life. I'm doing alright, have good days and not so good days, but that's mostly because I get impatient or just tired of dealing with it. I know everything will improve once some of the restrictions are lifted.

I'm glad you seem to be doing fairly well, will keep an eye on your progress....:)
 
Lenora, I am not able to hover yet! Believe it or not, my PT said she will have to show me exercises so I can do that when I return to work. She told me today that many people go back to work after 2 or 3 weeks, that it is doable.
I don't know who these people are. She admitted that getting on and off of busses is very difficult as not all bus drivers can lower the bus for someone with a cane. Also she admitted that not all cab drivers will let someone sit in the front and put the seat back. The logistics of getting around in urban areas are head scratching.
I also have HH toenails. LOL
I don't think I have ever seen a high toilet seat in a public place, but now want to advocate for that. Not only for 'hippies' but think of all of the elderly people who might be too frail to use a lower toilet seat. It's ridiculous the handicapped stalls don't have the higher seats. I'm glad the place you went to had a high seat.
 
I hit 'post' too soon. I too am humbled by this experience. It has been a huge eye opener regarding people trying to just get around with walkers, canes, etc. I saw a woman with a cane and very badly turned leg look with utter misery at a LONg line to get on a bus long before rush hour. I wondered what the heck is she going to do. No one let her get in front of the line. The pain on her face was so sad. She was stuck, too. No way around standing in pain in that long line to get on a bus to get to work. The only saving grace is that surely someone gave her a seat seeing as how she had a cane. Let's hope so.
 
Peaches. Okay, once you receive those hovering instructions, do share. I bet they would build more muscles than wall squats.(another exercise my PT has assigned.) If I had to go back to work right now I would cry. I was thinking being involved in disability advocacy would be useful. Going to investigate ways to be involved in some capacity. You might get a taxi driver to let you sit in front, but if there is a security panel I don't think the seat would go back. It would be awkward but maybe you could keep your legs up on the back seat?
 
special lady[/USER]. I can understand your not so good days. I have been reading your thread for a while and admire your tenacity.
 
Lenora, I will share. I don't think it's anything special, though. I think it's just practicing squatting safely. She has not given me much beyond the sheet of PT exercises I was given at the hospital. She said she is not really authorized to give much more. She provides a little assistance with "occupational therpay" questions such as squatting on the toilet. I didn't think about the security panel. She said for a cab I would have to wave down cab after cab until I found one where the driver would allow me to sit up front, etc., then tip him more, etc. Please. I cannot do this in rush hour daily and cabbing to/from work anyway would be a big expense I can't incur. Believe me, I actually do cry at the prospect of going back to the job and the thought of doing it NOW as the PT and surgeon have claimed is doable just makes me ill. I still feel my days are taken up with exercises, icing, walking with the cane, and resting. Every day's progress is very small, not leaps and bounds necessary to tackle the job.
Trying not to panic, but today is a blue day as I am preoccupied with how I'm going to cope with it. It's not a nine to five job. The PT was trying to help me figure out as well how to lug work files to and from work as there is a lot of overtime (unpaid). Now have to buy some kind of thing with wheels that is not too heavy to lift up onto and off of a bus or something. Am overwhelmed, to say the least.
 
Peaches I think that you are worrying way to much right now. Please do not go back to work until you are ready. You are not quite 4 weeks post op, you need to heal the other stuff will come. By you stressing out, at this point, is not helping in your recovery. You shouldn't probably return back to work until at least your 8 week mark, but let you OS make that decision. You mention squatting have you tried a golfer's stance? Picture a golfer set their tee. I was doing that at around 3 1/2 weeks post op. We are all different and unique and do not rush yourself into something your body is just not ready for. I remember you posting worrying about getting around your apartment, your small refrig. now look at how far you have come. This is just another milestone for you, don't make it a hurdle. Take care and relax
 
Hi Peaches,
I agree with Liveringer. The worrying will get you down.. Is it possible to make the decision now that you will not return to work until 8 weeks and get your Drs confirmation that you need the extra time. That will take the pressure off you and give you the mental space to just focus on recovery.
Of course I don't know your work/ leave situation so I could be being quite presumptuous and I apologise if I am.
Your long term health and happiness is more important than work and if you can get some extra time to recover without this stress you will return to work fitter and more productive!
 
Peaches. Would it be possible to scan and email files to your home computer rather than drag/lift a suitcase, even on wheels? This is a digital age-there should be a way to work from home without killing yourself.
Also, as Maeve and Liveringer have said, is it possible to speak with your OS to explain the demands of your job and the travel, and see what he suggests? i think you once mentioned that it might be possible to work from home a bit? If you could work a few days from home and a couple of days in the office, that would give you more time to heal. I am a worrier, and I know the toll it takes. Think about listing your concerns and starting with your OS, then your boss or possibly HR. it is hard for any of us to know how much "give" you have in sick leave. Some people have none, and others have a little flexibility. Hope yours does.
 
LeeApril26, I have my partner to cut my toenails for me. I couldn't manage if I didnt have him. They do seem to be growing quicker than normal too.
Peaches, I don't know if it made a difference but when I was at my sisters using her low toilet I hovered using the wall and sink to balance.
Also if you can possibly work from home, do. Don't go back to work before you are ready. If you go back too soon you may end up having to take more sick leave as you could be in pain and unable to do your job. I hope you can work something out.
 
Thank you, everyone, for your patience with me. I'm so sorry to have highjacked this thread with my "stuff."
I know there is a flip side to EVERYTHING: I have a job breathing down my neck to hurry up and get well; but I do at least have a job and paycheck. I live alone and have to do everything alone with no assistance; but I don't have to worry about by deing a caretaker for someone. Everything has its plusses and minuses, and I try to be aware of that at all times. I have not had the extra challenges many of you have had (my surgeon felt my surgery would fall into the "routine" rather than challenging category). All along my challenge has not been with me, as I am a tortoise and not a hare, a marathoner not a sprinter, etc., but with my employer. No negotiation there, as is often the case in the U.S. in the private sector. Unless I dislocated my lip, got an infection and was hospitalized, etc., I am fully expected to be back at work at the six week mark and doing very well. Case closed. The surgeon and my PT are of the school of thought that many people can certainly go back at the 2 or 3 week mark. That's just the way it is. My employer has been kind in many ways; but they simply are not of the school of thought that weeks and weeks off is necessary. Anyway, my apologies for highjacking this. I agree stressing doesn't help. But this is my situation. I don't have an event or trip as my goal; my goal is getting back to work at six weeks and handling that, so that I can continue to be employed and have paychecks coming in. I am a little less blue; have kept on plugging away. The refrigerator remains a challenge as there is no room to apply the golfer's stance to get inside it. But I have used the golfer's in the living room to plug appliances in to power strips, and that was helpful. I continue to try to figure out how to clean myself sans a shower. My Howard Hughes-ian feet remain the biggest puzzle. Today I stuck them onto washclothes and swished around. Then, how to dry them? I decided to blow-dry them! It sorta worked! lol
Thank you again for putting up with me. I know it's not fun to listen to someone fret. I appreciate all of you more than I can say....
 
Peaches. No worries. You didn't hijack the thread. We are all having a conversation. As I said, I am also a worrier - and I have new one. I may have a urinary track infection. Going to a lab shortly. Will they have an elevated toilet????)
Anyway, you have two and a half weeks to figure out going back to work, and if you want to brainstorm it is fine with me.
 
Liveringer. Yes, just started on the cranberry juice. Did you take antibiotics? Glad you are doing better. I am waiting for test results.
 
LeeApril26 No, I did not take any antibiotics. I think I caught it just in time. I do not get them often but when I do I start the cranberry and water usually works.
 
Peaches As Lenora stated this was only a discussion to help out a fellow hippy. I hope I did not offend you that was not my intent. I can't believe employer's out there does not give there employee's proper healing time. **** having a baby is 8 weeks also in many cases. Major surgery is at least 8 weeks. Even still you said to are to be back to work in 6, well my dear you still have almost 2 1/2 weeks of some healing that will be very noticable. So take these couple of weeks concentrate on yourself healing and put your job out of you head until you have to report to work. I realize you need your job, they are lucky to have you but you will be no good to them or yourself if you don't allow yourself to be stress free for a couple more weeks.

Now on to the feet....have you seen that foot scrubber (as seen on TV)? I bought one at Walmart. It has bristle you put a couple of drops of soap on it and rub you foot back and forth. Kinda tickles but at one point before surgery I to use it. As far as, drying my foot I step on the towel and pull upward. Between the toes usually I let air dry. I am hoping at next weeks OS appointment my restrictions will be lifted.
 
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