I awaken where I have been for two days -- flat on my back on the couch. I immediately swing my poor legs around to ready myself for the "long trek". I notice that the swelling on my ankles has gone down a bit. I can see my ankle bones. I remove the compression bandages and lay back to relish the freedom. There are deep marks in the back of my legs where they used to be, and the skin itches as it begins to move back into shape. But my mood is on the upswing. I also notice that while they ache, my knees no longer scream for pain killers. I make it to the bathroom slowly, but much more easily, still on two crutches. I have plenty of time to think on the 20 mile (feet) "walk" down the hallway, and I develop a plan for the next two days. By the end of today I will graduate to one crutch, and I will sleep in my own bed tonight. Tomorrow I will use only one crutch all day, and by Tuesday I will not use crutches and will go to the grocery store. Ambitious stuff. By the time I reach the bathroom I have revised the plan slightly to allow myself some slack if I don't make goal.
Hubby is in the kitchen drinking his tea. I make myself a cup of coffee and some oats. It is very difficult, but I manage to move around the counter-tops like a toddler beginning to cruise. I scoot my bowl of oats to the other side of the peninsula where the breakfast room table is, grab my crutches, and work my way around to the chair.
Hubby tells me he's proud of me, and then we eat breakfast in relative silence and I feel grateful for the quiet companionship.
"Have you fed the birds yet?"
"No, they have plenty of food left."
I ask for the binoculars so I can look at the feeders, and find they do have food. Enough if not plenty.
"Have you fed the fish"
"No, but I will." and then he does.
He returns with a report that both lilies are still blooming, and a new one is emerging. I ask if he counted the fish. He looks at me for a long time with a mix of amusement and amazement. "They're too fast."
By noon there is no mistaking it, the swelling is going down in my knees, and my ankles are almost normal. I've been icing them on and off for two days, and it's working. I am taking laps around the house every couple of hours to get my muscles moving again. I plant each foot carefully and slowly transfer weight to each knee. "Laps" consist of going from the dining room, into the kitchen, into the breakfast room, a u-turn down the hallway, and back to the dining room. Maybe 40 feet total. I work up to three laps at one time. I can feel how weak my left knee is and I start wondering if I will be able to ditch a crutch by bedtime.
I learned a long time ago that there is no heroism in pain. I take tylenol for headaches, I take naproxin for aches and muscle pain, and I take the vicodin as needed. It works, it helped me stay comfortable if not pain free for the first two days, it helped me get back to sleep in the middle of the night when I was awakened by throbbing, and now it helps me move and cope with the aching that comes from using my tender joints. I notice that I need less and less as time goes by.
I can see that the plan is working! Today I climbed Mt. Everest.. well, I ascended the stairs and took my first shower since Thursday night. I use a shower stool so I don't have to worry about standing (and slipping) and it works beautifully. I am clean and I feel even more optimistic. By the end of the day I am tentatively working on walking with one crutch to help support the weakest knee, and I am sleeping in my own bed.
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