27 Staples are Gone

The physical therapist visited today and first thing she said was "Do you want to get those staples out!" Of course I said "right on" and we set to the project immediately. The first thing we did was each of us had to count the staples. Once we agreed that there were 27 total staples to remove, she proceeded to clean the entire area and rid the skin of as much old tape stuff she could. After that she used a scissor like staple remover that reaches under the staple and then bends it down, allowing the two ends to flip up and out of the skin. It is real slick and in my case only hurt on two staples. She said that those two were real tight and she expected them to sting a bit. It sting was very minimal and I was real pleased with how everything went.

Once all the staples were out we counted up the little shards of metal and agreed that there were 27. She covered the scar area with strips to help hold the skin and that was it. I took pictures and the job was done.

My scar should be real straight and may even almost disappear. That would be great!

Things Are Getting Better, I Think.

It was such a great idea when it first popped into my head. The Knee's blog, something to keep me busy when I am laying around recovering. The best laid plans...

I find it hard to keep up with everything that has happened and to put it all into perspective relating to the pain, the drugs, the emotions and everything that has happened in the past week. Every time I think I should take time to note an event, I am in a narcotic fog and I either don't feel like writing or I am asleep.

I think I could write a novel about this experience, there has been so much that has happened. But like I said it would mean taking time to sit and write and every four hours I go back into la la land.

So when you see me ask me about the following:

Operating room NIC connections.

Nurses, good and bad.

The big head ache.

Blood on the covers.

The Catheter (This one speaks for its self.)

24/7 and only one position you can be in.

Well, that about covers the big ticket items. It doesn't do justice to all the great visitors who stopped by, by telling their story. For example Rayelle Anderson stopped by and said hi and I immediately fell asleep and slept through her entire visit. I felt so bad.

The Daze of Pain

A Bit of a Timeline

May 20th, 2010 - Met with Dr. McInnis to see if there is any thing to do to fix the knee. Negative.

June 6th, 2010 - Met with Dr. Chisholm to get an EKG and the OK to get cut on.

June 17th, 2010 - Met with Dr. McInnis to have Travis give me cortisone shots for knees.

August 11th, 2010 - Met for a Pre-Surgery Clinic at Kootenai Medical Center.

August 11th, 2010 - Met with Dr. McInnis for Pre- Surgery assessment and pep talk.

August 11th, 2010 - Met with Tyler Baxter at North Idaho Physical Therapy to receive the EMPI Tens Kit

August 13th, 2010 - Met with Kootenai Anticoagulation Clinic

Countdown Begins

Tomorrow at 7:30 am I will walk into Kootenai Medical Center and check in with the front desk. The operation is set for 9:30 am and I really don't know how long it should take. I don't know when I will be able to post and so I may not remember much about the day August 17, 2010.

Here is some info about who will be involved in this process.

Dr. Donald Chisholm - Referring primary physician. He started it all!

Dr. Douglas McInnis - Orthopedic Surgeon. The bone cutter.

Travis Headley, PA - Physician's Assistant. He pulls the ligament away from the bone cutter so that don't get cut.

Gianna Donnelly - Anticoagulation Clinic Pharmacist. Gianna give me the Warfarin to thin my blood.

Baylen Kreiter - Orthopedic Team Lead for Home Health.

Tyler Baxter - Physical Therapist

More to come as I gather these new friends.

A Funny Thing Happened…

To continue the title of this post, …on the way to the Anticoagulant Clinic.  One of the things I had to do was visit the Anti Coagulant Clinic and get my finger stuck for the ninth time.  They test my bloods ability to coagulate and then when I am in the hospital they will start me on the drug called Warfarin the generic of Coumadin. My INR (the measurement they use) was 1.1 which Gianna said was normal.  Gianna is my Pharmacist and she was very nice to speak to and easy to look at.  She explained everything about the process of blood thinning and told us all the goods and bads when it came to thin blood and blood clots.

The meeting took about an hour , but when I got home I got a call from Gianna and she informed me that after looking at the prescriptions that I am taking, I was taking two prescriptions from the same family and that was not suppose to happen.  She told me to call my primary doctor and ask what was up.  I called. Within the hour my primary doctor called back and said oops!  Oops is something you shouldn't say in the medical field, but he said it.  He also covered by saying that we have been controlling my high blood pressure with smaller doses of several drugs and that in combination the two oops drugs did not exceed the normal higher dose level for that drug family.  I said OK, thank you, I think. So now I am taking only four meds to help my high blood pressure and to help lower my cholesterol levels.  I will report that to all the varous areas that requested a list of meds, and everything will be fine.

My My New Steve Austin

A Pile of Ex Trees

The number of things that i have been given to read is amazing!  Each area of expertise has their own booklet that tells me what might happen during the surgery.  I must say they do not sugar coat it one bit. I guess they have to cover their butts a bit, they are going to chop off my bones and insert titanium and plastic.

Before – Knees are not pretty!

I had Linda take a picture of my left knee today.  I looked at the first one she took and said “Take another, I don’t like that.”  Linda looked at me and said “Knees are not pretty.”  So take a look at this not pretty brown knee because it will be changing soon.

It All Started Several Years Back

I know this is going to be a bit hard to believe, but back in the day I was quite a runner.  I spent my time in college and then after college running and hiking all over the North Idaho area.   I loved to get out and run and found that at about six miles I had a definite runners high that I really enjoyed to experience.  I ran fun runs and trail run all over the place.  In fact I ran Bloomsday three times in the college Mascot suite.

My running introduced me to many areas and many friends and through this a great friend, Mike Bundy, introduced me to a second passion that related to my running. I became a Hasher!  Hashing was the perfect outlet in my life.  I loved running but that was followed closely by one other passion, beer drinking!  To me they went hand in hand. In college a friend was adamant  that if I ran enough, I could drink all I wanted and never get out of shape or over weight so I took that to heart.  I drank and ran through college and then when I graduated and found Hashing, I drank and ran with others who had the same passion.

My running never got out of control but as the years went by I started suffering the pains and injuries that runners sooner or later inflict upon their bodies.  I think back now and I can remember many of the times I came off trails and felt the pains of over running, so I drank beer and forgot about them.

As I prepare for my first knee replacement I was able to pinpoint one of the runs that started the ultimate downfall of my left knee.  The IEH3 met at my favorite Hashing bar, The Bayou Tavern.  This establishment sits at the foot of the hills that flank the north side of the Green Acers area of the Spokane Valley.  It was a favorite Hashing spot back in the day because it was adjacent to the hills and that it had a very colorful cliental. On this particular trail we were lead up to the top of the ridge and then followed the power lines back down and ended back at the Bayou. 

On the decent, I felt my first sting of bone on bone contact related to my knee deterioration.