TKR recovery starts 21 May '13

[1ELISEA]

You've got me on pins and needles waiting for the next installment.

 

[Hopper]

Can you come to our hoolie?
All tales rewarded with a gallon of Paddy!

 

[inspojo]

Interim post. Not instalment 3. Not yet...
I'm absolutely flabbergasted! I write a carefully researched treatise on a subject of intimate interest only to men and only the women turn up! Not only that, it is very obvious from some of the comments that most of you failed to close your eyes when instructed. Appalling!
Thanks to you all; toothfairy, Sophie03, Eaglesnest, Puffin; kneefromhell, Dorothy, nlthomp, myway, Jamie, bottomshollow, Deb, I'm glad you all enjoyed my attempts to lighten the mood. I do think that a bit of a laugh is good for everybody and everything. That's something I learned at my father's knee, and various other joints.
natureloverCD--sure I couldn't do a thing like that! scaredinCA, SWMBO didn't stick around at my request , I didn't want her to see me screwing up the surgical gown. Hopper, thanks for the invite but I'd be afraid the Powers might corrode the Stryker! 1ELISEA, get those pins and needles checked out, it might be circulation!
And last but not least, Diana. Oh dear me... that was not my intention at all at all at all. For God's sake dont injure yourself. Or your husband. I knew I shouldn't have dragged those statue things into a serious academic discussion. Ooops...

Now. Everybody. E.I.R.

 

[bottomshollow]

Just to emphasize your father's wise advice.

 

[new knee in June]

Joe,
I was having a teary day today but, then I read your post My husband is fine & thanks you
very much for your descriptive posts.
I just wanted you to know, you made someone smile today
Sincerely,
Diana

 

[puffin]

Your descriptions are just hilarious

 

[inspojo]

Joe,
I was having a teary day today but, then I read your post My husband is fine & thanks you
very much for your descriptive posts.
I just wanted you to know, you made someone smile today
Sincerely,
Diana

Who smiled? Yourself or himself?? If someone was upcheered , that's all I want! Joe

 

[bichonmom]

inspojo..just caught up with some of your latest posts..and had a good laugh! Just what I needed! My LTKR is coming up in June..so I'll be following your progress to see how you're getting along..hope each day is better and better for you...

 

[My way]

Hi Jo, Just popping in to see how you are feeling today. I hope you are taking it easy and that you're knee is behaving. maybe I should have said, I hope you're behaving and you're taking it easy on your knee.

 

[inspojo]

It's time to release Instalment 3 into the wild. It has had a difficult birth; the muscular men who infested Instalment 2 had a very bad effect on one of our number, who shall be nameless , and I can't let them loose again.
The people in the hospital were lovely; the nurses were all angels and the OS and Anaesthetist told jokes while giving spinals. By the way, can anybody explain why hospital authorities send comely, lissome young nurses in to take the blood pressure of elderly men, twice a day, and are then puzzled when it's way up in the hypertensive region? The corridors were ideal for crutch racing, and the fire escapes made for excellent practice. The food was very good and the menu changed every day (well, almost). To my regret they didn't offer bacon, egg, black and white pudding, fried bread and three sausages for breakfast. Indeed, I had only one complaint about the grub; I ordered jelly and cream for dessert one day but they brought me Sago Pudding. This brought back a flood of horrible memories of our childhood in Dublin in the 1940's. Food rationing meant that choice was very limited, so the dessert du jour, every jour, was Sago Pudding. We called it Frogspawn and hated it. We'd stick our spoon into a dish of this stuff and try to put it in our mouths (for we were very obedient children) and always the whole dish came up off the table with the spoon still embedded in it. We were all quite thin by the end of rationing! I've got a couple of other stories of those times but you don't want to hear those!
On the day after surgery I was waiting patiently for the physio to arrive to show me how to jump out of bed, like you do, when two large, muscular gents (steady on there Diana!!) walked in. I thought "oh my gosh they'll tear my leg off will ya look at their arms" but it turned out they were a couple of hospital porters just wanting a chat.
Shortly after that the real physio came in, small, easy on the eye and fully seized of the go-gently philosophy.
But---I digress. I have been fortunate in that the correct pain med balance was hit upon straight away, and I haven't had pain beyond the mild/moderate level, for which I thank God. There was a lady down the corridor who had no pain at all. Constipation was never a problem and my ROM was 0-90 on day one. I'm telling you this so that people will know that such recoveries happen. Often.
SWMBO brought me home Friday evening in her 1 litre runabout and I fitted in the front passenger seat quite comfortably. However I did find it difficult to press the imaginary brake pedal when she took corners...
We arrived home safe and she made me bacon, egg, black and white pudding, fried bread and three sausages.
I knew I was home.

 

[scaredinCA]

You are doing so well. .. For those of us that live in the U.S. can you tell me what black and white pudding is? I've never heard of it. And would fried bread be a toast of some sort or like our french toast (bread dipped in egg solution and fried)? Fasinating stuff.

 

[trailspud]

Okay. I'm hooked, inspogo. Keep the tales and commentary coming. By the way, I had a hard time reading the catheter parts, but enjoyed it still despite my discomfort.

 

[bichonmom]

You sound like you're doing great! So glad you got to go home this evening..everything gets better at home! What pain meds are you taking? Seems they got it right the first time!

 

[new knee in June]

Joe,
So happy you are home with SWMBO, she's a very lucky lady You are doing so well I just
got home from work & see I was mentioned in installment 3 ( not by name ) Are you due for
another catheter soon, because I would love those muscular warriors to make another appearance.
Welcome Home, you make me smile
Diana

 

[kneefromhell]

Joe,
I was so excited to see that Installment 3 has been released! Your stories are so entertaining! You make having a knee replacement sound like it was a day in the park! (I wish! !) I am so glad you are doing well and that your pain is manageable! Your SWMBO is very lucky to have you, and you her! Enjoy your black & white pudding (I'm going to go google that now to see what it is!).
Be well!
Eileen

 

[inspojo]

Pigs blood pudding with oatmeal is what it is !! Nyum!! Full up of iron and other goodies for tkr people . Should be made compulsory gobbling in hospitals.

 

[inspojo]

Thanks for all your inputs! Bev, they gave me one Arcoxia NSAID in the morning, (no idea what that might be called over there) plus 2 Paracetamol 500mg every six hours . It sure works. Eileen, I tell SWMBO frequently how lucky she is but it only causes fights... Diana, you're worrying me now, wanting to see those particular gents again. Hmmm. And scaredinCA, back in the old days of small farms , no supermarkets or fridges, every farm kept pigs but didn't get fond of them because every so often one would be slaughtered and cured in brine. Every bit of the pig was used except the grunt. The blood was collected , mixed with oatmeal and certain spices (each family had its own particular spice mix), and finally packed into the washed intestines of the pig. Now there were no fridges, so every local neighbour was given a length of the "blood sausage" . Whenever the next farm clobbered their pig the compliment was returned. Brilliant, yes? There was neighbourliness, mutual helping out and much talk. No cars but lotsa talk White pudding on the other hand was minced pork, oatmeal and spices, maybe some other magic ingredient, but no blood. The same procedure applied. The trotters, head, meat were all preserved in brine or smoked, and stored in-house, maybe in the rafters over the range (fire). The range never went out, so a nice cuppa tea was always possible. Them, as the old folk would say, was the days. Believe me, a dinner of home-cured bacon and home-grown cabbage and spuds, with a glass of creamy milk to wash it down, followed by a pipeful of tobacco cut off the block was a dinner to die for. After a dinner like that, you'd herd mice at a crossroads... never mind your pate-de-foie-gras and white wine. I do hope I haven't spoiled your breakfast? Trailspud, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about. Fried bread was a slice of white bread fried in the fat on the pan with the rashers and puddings, and maybe a tomato for flavour in season. It did tend to soak up the eggyolk once you burst it with a fork. Now that noise you hear is me smacking my lips, so I'm going to make myself a ham sandwich...G'nite all!!

 

[referee54]

y the way, can anybody explain why hospital authorities send comely, lissome young nurses in to take the blood pressure of elderly men, twice a day, and are then puzzled when it's way up in the hypertensive region?

I was told that it was not the shapely women, it was the pain that I was in that raised my BP...that is my story and I am sticking to it!

 

[brs0660]

Oh, Joe. So sorry that I missed this real time story you have been sharing. Perhaps you should consider recording these stories for future victims (ooppss sorry patients). Sounds as if you are doing well and your beloved is keeping you honest.

 

[new knee in June]

Hello Joe,
Just popping in to see how you are doing? Good I hope. Your recipe with the blood in the
oatmeal was rather eye-opening The pork dish however seems quite tasty
come Monday June 3rd I will be on the "other side" could you please inform the muscular warriors
Take Care & have a wonderful weekend,
Sincerely,
Diana