For some reason last night, for the first time in a long time even when I was healthy, I could not fall asleep. Then my right leg started to twitch off and on. I did not have any kind of tea to drink, no warm milk, nothing else to help except that prescribed Oxycodone. I didn't take that because I had already taken my Tylenol and Advil earlier. Finally a little after 12:30am I wore out and fell asleep. The right leg is tied to the right hip that was replaced. It must be some of the nerves waking up from the surgery.
Not good.
It felt like I had just gotten to sleep when Stella's nose nudged my arm at 4:00am as she stood by the bed whining. She thinks we are back to the old routine since I am there when she wakes up. That will not be the routine for quite a while. Luckily all they wanted was to go outside and right back to the bedroom for another couple of hours of sleep.
As you can see, Stella is never too far away and is sleeping in the corner of the computer room just right of my desk as I type this post tonight.
I can't say I felt great after getting some breakfast but I didn't feel bad. I started some of the exercises before I got out of bed and continued a couple of more while I walked. When the six exercises were finished I walked ... and walked up and down the hallway, around the corner to the kitchen and to the living room door ... around around and around. By 8:30am I had over 900 steps which I think is too many at that time of day ... but the surgeon did tell me to walk as much as possible.
The paper towel is to protect my books from Stella's drool after she drinks water. It has been a very valuable tool recently. For some reason she thinks she has to check out every book now after she drinks large amounts of water.
So back to my developing routine.
I do a total of 6 exercises, some of them 2x per day and some 3x per day. I found out that I do need to take time to lay down even if I am not tired or sleepy. I'll get a siesta in per day, maybe two. Plus my swollen right foot told me I needed to find out what to do to make it smaller .... lay down, elevate the ankle above the heart for 20-30 minutes 2x per day. It worked because my foot and ankle were smaller when the time was up. That turns into a pretty busy day when you add time to fix meals, do the dishes and just walk.
I did have a first today ... I walked outside the front door, around my porch and across the driveway at the top. I saw my neighbor drive by and wanted to tell him/her or both what had happened. They said when they didn't see me riding my bike nor around the house outside they assumed I had taken a vacation. Without hesitation they offered anything they could do at any time, handing me both of their phone numbers.
Tomorrow morning at 9am my neighbor is taking me to the bank. I will get out of his Jeep Liberty, walker and all, go into the bank to make a deposit plus get some cash for tipping the Frys Market delivery people and to pay him back in cash for anything he thinks I might need or when his wife adds anything I need to their shopping list. I have plenty of food left but the next time I do a shopping run I don't want him or his wife to take the time to shop and then go through checkout for me. That takes too much time. So I am sitting up my Frys Delivery right after this post.
He will also spray the growth (little) on the outside of my fence to prevent any spiders or snakes using that to crawl over the fence into the yard. He would cut the bushes down but he just had an operation on his carpel tunnel and is not to hold, carry or pickup anything heavy for another couple of weeks.
I will be speaking to my surgeons office and the PT office at 8am to make some arrangements for someone to come to my house for PT sessions and examination. I did find my hip incision today, the swelling had gone down that much. It is clean, healing and no discoloring. Last night on Amazon Prime I ordered 3 more pair of the compression socks with traction strips on the bottom of them, some Magnesium and a shower stool with a handle that I can attach to the shower wall if needed. All of that will arrive tomorrow. As will Heidi's new bed from Chewy. Amazon Prime is a great thing.
It will be a busy day tomorrow but I WILL take the time to rest more, which means more times laying in bed flat with my right foot elevated.
Tonight I feel like I'll get to sleep with no problem. I washed my sheets, pillow cases and Heidi's pillow case she sleeps with on the floor. There were no close calls today such as tripping, turning my toe inward while walking. No pain to speak of just a large numbness on the side of my right hip. My bike wreck wounds are healing fast and itching so that will improve things a little once they are completely healed.
I found a Hip Replacement forum late this afternoon, with a lot of good info by those experiencing some of the things that I am. While I glanced through the headlines and some of the posts ... EVERYBODY is different, heals different, different issues or none at all. I am glad and thank my lucky stars that this happened when I was in good physical shape based on what I read on that forum.
I do give a short daily update on Facebook on my Friends list. I have a few concerned friends that can't believe I am doing this alone not counting the dog feeder and neighbor. Some feel I should still be in a rehab facility and a few others think someone should be with me 24/7. So ... they get a Facebook update. :)
I had my dog feeder tell me how many clients she is servicing right now because the times she was getting here kept getting later. She had 12 different client, some with multiple horses, dogs or cats. She does this 365 days per year and loves animals but at what cost? She is a great dog sitter and I'd have no problem having her take care of the hounds if I took a vacation or I have to go to Tucon or Phoenix later for heart surgery.
If that happens I'd rather have a house/dog sitter and someone here all the time so Stella could have a normal as possible routine. She needs someone around all the time.
So that's it for today. Maybe I had a little bit more improvement. I know to watch myself as I feel better and NOT go against their protocol and continue to follow the basic exercises and DO NOT increase the reps. Like an old high school friend, retired ER nurse told me "on do the 10 they told you to do not a 100 like you feel like doing" ... something similar to that. I got the message.
All is good in the Wild West.
It was a year ago today that Sadie passed away first thing in the morning. Which reminded me today, how long will it be before I can lift 88 pound Stella in back of the car to go to a vet or go for a ride? Even Heidi at 45 pounds ????
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