This post is written on Thursday 25th August.
I was discharged from hospital on the day after surgery. In the morning I had a visit from a physiotherapist who showed me how to go up and down stairs. Then the occupational therapist came and went through the help I needed. I was given a chair to go over the toilet, a trolley and a stool for the kitchen, and another for the shower, to go with the crutches. After being told I could go home I then had to wait ages for the paper work. A person was arranged to come every day and help me with showering. I now think I could manage without him if I had to but the manoeuvre in and out of the shower is a liitle tricky and it is nice to have someone to catch me if I should slip.
I started work on Wednesday 10th August from home - I probably should have waited to Monday as I got tired very quickly those first few days. I am only managing 5 or 6 hour a day but I am making a useful contribution and a lot less bored than I would be just sitting at home.
ACC have given me a taxi card which allows me to get out and about rather than being stuck at home. I am becoming a bit of a whizz at scooting around the supermarket behind a trundler. Down side is I wait ages for a taxi as taxi drivers aren't keen on the very short trip from supermarket home. I get dropped off at the supermarket when coming back to Island Bay from somewhere else so that isn't a short trip.
On the Thursday after I came home I visited my mother at Rita Angus rest home for the first time in 6 weeks. The smile on her face was worth all the effort to get there.
Idol and Toby came home on Saturday 13th. Erin and Amerillis drove to Napier and took some rental cars back to Gisborne. James drove a coach to Napier and then drove the car back. His mother also got an outing doing the trip with him. I had told Erin to put the dogs on their normal diet when at home but clearly they were getting a lot more exercise playing with Viper. Idol had lost the fat he acquired eating rubbish on the walk and Toby was very thin.
On Sunday Patrick came back home from church with me and cleaned the car for me. On Monday we took it out to Petone to get the windscreen replaced. I then ordered a taxi to a wrecker for an unsuccessful trip to the wrecker to get a replacement light. The taxi dropped us at the Butcher and Brewer for a long lunch while waiting for the windscreen replacement to be finished. I was assred by the taxi driver it was only a short distance back to Smith and Smith. Google maps tells me it is 600m. I might have walked 25km a day for a month but that 600m on crutches was as tough as trekking above 4000m in the Himalayas. I was doing 25m between rests and it took me 25 minutes. The repairs cost $800 but
I was sent home with 5 days supply of Tramadol I haven't used, 7 days supply of Ibuprofen an aspirin every day and a truckload of paracetamol. I never touched the Tramadol. I can't help wondering when the ibuprofen supply was so much less than what I was given when Toby bit my finger after his nasty accident. That ibuprofen has come in useful. The pain from the surgery dropped off to the point where I was taking paracetamol twice a day and ibuprofen once a day within 10 days. Basically I am pain free - but often uncomfortable - while lying down or sitting with me foot elevated. Pain kicks in whenever I move but is well managed with the exception of 1 night when I cut back too quickly.
On Tuesday 16th August I did a live interview on Radio New Zealand National. It was 18 minutes long which is way longer than any interview I have done before and I was very nervous. On my South Island walk I had a 7 minute interview with Jim Mora and I got through with no ums and ahs. This interview with Brian Crump was full of them.
Saturday 20th August I got brave (or many of my friends say foolhardy) and drove the car for the first time. I took the dogs to Murchison Rd dog park and then went shopping for birthday presents for Gwen and Eva. I had planned to also visit my mother and go to the supermarket but by the time I had done the birthday present shopping I was exhausted and went home for a nap. I drove to church on Sunday - and had fun getting out of the car park after the Tongan congregation arrived. Toby was delighted to be able to go to church again. For him the sad thing abut Brian resigning his he doesn't get bread at the communion any more. I have been out in the car for a short trip every day since except Wednesday. Today I drove into Vivian St to get to the ANZ IT breakfast. Very nice having managers waiting on me.
This afternoon was the first follow up visit to the hospital. Although I had my surgery at Wellington Hospital - about 3km from home. But the surgeon only does outpatient clinics at Kenepuru - 28km away. I took a taxi to Wellington Hospital and then had to climb into the shuttle van for the trip to Kenepuru. The climb into the van was a little daunting but the driver had obviously had many passengers on crutches and showed me the safe way to do it. Grab handles mounted inside the van helped hugely.
When the backslab was taken off I discovered that my feeling I had 2 surgery wounds was correct. A huge wound one side and a small one on the other. I don't know if the small wound is because I have the tightrope procedure or if it was to repair the tendon which I was told pre-surgery may be necessary but no mention was made of it post surgery. The large wound looks bigger than the one I saw on you tube of the tightrope procedure so I am guessing I got screws. I was told the blind trial would involve a questionaire each visit. Only 2 questions - what degree of capability did I have (zero out of 10) and my level of pain (2 out of 10). Given how subjective pain is I am surprised they asked that question.
As soon as the nurse applied the alcohol to the wound before removing the sutures I knew the wound was sensitive and removal was going to be painful. I was ouching and gasping and really having trouble keeping still.
The only colours available for the cast were black blue and purple. I had decided I wanted orange but it wasn't on the list. I chose purple
The cast stays on for four weeks and as you can see it is lined with cotton wool to protect the wound so it can't get wet and I still need a plastic bag in the shower. This stays on for 4 weeks and no weight bearing - or using it to drive - for that period.
I was discharged from hospital on the day after surgery. In the morning I had a visit from a physiotherapist who showed me how to go up and down stairs. Then the occupational therapist came and went through the help I needed. I was given a chair to go over the toilet, a trolley and a stool for the kitchen, and another for the shower, to go with the crutches. After being told I could go home I then had to wait ages for the paper work. A person was arranged to come every day and help me with showering. I now think I could manage without him if I had to but the manoeuvre in and out of the shower is a liitle tricky and it is nice to have someone to catch me if I should slip.
I started work on Wednesday 10th August from home - I probably should have waited to Monday as I got tired very quickly those first few days. I am only managing 5 or 6 hour a day but I am making a useful contribution and a lot less bored than I would be just sitting at home.
ACC have given me a taxi card which allows me to get out and about rather than being stuck at home. I am becoming a bit of a whizz at scooting around the supermarket behind a trundler. Down side is I wait ages for a taxi as taxi drivers aren't keen on the very short trip from supermarket home. I get dropped off at the supermarket when coming back to Island Bay from somewhere else so that isn't a short trip.
On the Thursday after I came home I visited my mother at Rita Angus rest home for the first time in 6 weeks. The smile on her face was worth all the effort to get there.
Idol and Toby came home on Saturday 13th. Erin and Amerillis drove to Napier and took some rental cars back to Gisborne. James drove a coach to Napier and then drove the car back. His mother also got an outing doing the trip with him. I had told Erin to put the dogs on their normal diet when at home but clearly they were getting a lot more exercise playing with Viper. Idol had lost the fat he acquired eating rubbish on the walk and Toby was very thin.
On Sunday Patrick came back home from church with me and cleaned the car for me. On Monday we took it out to Petone to get the windscreen replaced. I then ordered a taxi to a wrecker for an unsuccessful trip to the wrecker to get a replacement light. The taxi dropped us at the Butcher and Brewer for a long lunch while waiting for the windscreen replacement to be finished. I was assred by the taxi driver it was only a short distance back to Smith and Smith. Google maps tells me it is 600m. I might have walked 25km a day for a month but that 600m on crutches was as tough as trekking above 4000m in the Himalayas. I was doing 25m between rests and it took me 25 minutes. The repairs cost $800 but
I was sent home with 5 days supply of Tramadol I haven't used, 7 days supply of Ibuprofen an aspirin every day and a truckload of paracetamol. I never touched the Tramadol. I can't help wondering when the ibuprofen supply was so much less than what I was given when Toby bit my finger after his nasty accident. That ibuprofen has come in useful. The pain from the surgery dropped off to the point where I was taking paracetamol twice a day and ibuprofen once a day within 10 days. Basically I am pain free - but often uncomfortable - while lying down or sitting with me foot elevated. Pain kicks in whenever I move but is well managed with the exception of 1 night when I cut back too quickly.
On Tuesday 16th August I did a live interview on Radio New Zealand National. It was 18 minutes long which is way longer than any interview I have done before and I was very nervous. On my South Island walk I had a 7 minute interview with Jim Mora and I got through with no ums and ahs. This interview with Brian Crump was full of them.
Saturday 20th August I got brave (or many of my friends say foolhardy) and drove the car for the first time. I took the dogs to Murchison Rd dog park and then went shopping for birthday presents for Gwen and Eva. I had planned to also visit my mother and go to the supermarket but by the time I had done the birthday present shopping I was exhausted and went home for a nap. I drove to church on Sunday - and had fun getting out of the car park after the Tongan congregation arrived. Toby was delighted to be able to go to church again. For him the sad thing abut Brian resigning his he doesn't get bread at the communion any more. I have been out in the car for a short trip every day since except Wednesday. Today I drove into Vivian St to get to the ANZ IT breakfast. Very nice having managers waiting on me.
This afternoon was the first follow up visit to the hospital. Although I had my surgery at Wellington Hospital - about 3km from home. But the surgeon only does outpatient clinics at Kenepuru - 28km away. I took a taxi to Wellington Hospital and then had to climb into the shuttle van for the trip to Kenepuru. The climb into the van was a little daunting but the driver had obviously had many passengers on crutches and showed me the safe way to do it. Grab handles mounted inside the van helped hugely.
When the backslab was taken off I discovered that my feeling I had 2 surgery wounds was correct. A huge wound one side and a small one on the other. I don't know if the small wound is because I have the tightrope procedure or if it was to repair the tendon which I was told pre-surgery may be necessary but no mention was made of it post surgery. The large wound looks bigger than the one I saw on you tube of the tightrope procedure so I am guessing I got screws. I was told the blind trial would involve a questionaire each visit. Only 2 questions - what degree of capability did I have (zero out of 10) and my level of pain (2 out of 10). Given how subjective pain is I am surprised they asked that question.
The only colours available for the cast were black blue and purple. I had decided I wanted orange but it wasn't on the list. I chose purple
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