Sunday, June 08, 2008
Tim's Surgery, My Elbow, and No Left Hands
Well, Tim had his surgery on Tuesday, June 3rd. It was supposed to have occurred on May 28th, but he misunderstood the surgeon's instructions. He was supposed to quit taking his Celebrex and Plavix a week before the surgery, and he thought he was supposed to quit taking them a day before the surgery. Oops! I found out about the mistake on the 27th and told him he needed to call the surgeon to let him know about the mistake. As expected, Dr. Peebles postponed the surgery. Very frustrating for Tim, who wanted to get it over and done with, but necessary to keep him from bleeding out on the table.
Anyway, the surgery was a lot less complex than anticipated. The doctor said that it looked more like an pocket of infection than a tumor, but he sent a sample of tissue for biopsy anyway. We haven't heard anything about it yet, and doctors usually call if anything really abnormal shows up, so I hope that no news is good news. The doctor also started Tim on a broad spectrum antibiotic and took a culture of the infected area, and we haven't heard anything about the results of the culture, either, so I guess the antibiotic that he chose was one of the correct ones. Tim goes for a re-check on Tuesday, so then we'll find out all the details for sure.
In the meantime, Tim's not supposed to do anything very strenuous with his left hand/arm, and he isn't supposed to pick up anything at all heavy. Fortunately, even though he's left handed, he can do most things with his right hand, too, so that seems to be working out okay. But when something heavy needs to be moved or a lid needs to come off a jar, it's a team effort right now. I still can't do much with my left hand yet, either. That means that we've got no left hands and two good right hands between us. So far, the teamwork approach seems to be working, even though it's a bit awkward at times.
Since the surgery wasn't as extensive as expected, Tim hasn't been as miserable as we we thought he would be, either. We had planned to stay in a hotel for 2 or 3 days because our bed is up really high, and we thought he wouldn't be able to climb up to get into it. But he felt good enough after his surgery to stop at a good friend's house on the way home from the hospital and visit for a couple of hours, and he said he thought he could get into the bed okay, so we decided to save the money for something more fun, like food or electricity! LOL And he was right; he got into the bed just fine. He's had to take pain medicine only three times so far. In fact, he's hurt more from his arthritis (due to being off the Celebrex) than he has from the surgery.
My elbow is doing okay, I guess. I can bend it more and straighten it out more, and I can rotate it some if both directions; but it seems like I make progress in one direction and lose it in another. I've been out of the cast for just under 3 weeks now (just over 4 1/2 weeks since the surgery), so maybe I'm expecting too much. My elbow doesn't hurt much, even when I move it, so that's good.
But my left hand and wrist are killing me!! I've been telling the doctors since the night of my fall that it feels like something is wrong with my wrist, too, but none of them have seemed to really hear what I'm saying. Well, let me tell you, the doctor is going to listen and hear me tomorrow when I go in for my progress check!!! My wrist and hand are still noticeably swollen even though the swelling has gone down around my elbow. I can't make a fist or even bend my fingers halfway. So something is definitely wrong, and I want to know what! The worst thing is that the pain in my wrist is keeping me from doing as much with my elbow and arm as I'd think I ought to be, so that's not a good thing at all.
Other than Tim's surgery and my rehab efforts, we haven't done much this week except sit around the house/motor home. I've been on the computer a lot, and Tim's watched a bunch of TV, but not much more during the week. Boy, do I miss cable! When/if we can afford it, we're going to look into getting either Direct TV or Dish TV for the motor home. So if anyone knows whether one is better than the other, please let me know.
Yesterday, we did get out of the house in the afternoon and drove into Knoxville to go to the gun show at Chilhowee Park. Tim's selling a couple of his guns so that he can afford to buy a couple more; in fact, the ads started running online a couple of days ago and will be in the Bargain Mart issue that comes out on Wednesday. So, off to the gun show we went to see if they had the rifle he wanted. I couldn't believe it cost $10 each for us to get into the show! It used to be just $5.
We looked around for quite a while, asking if anyone had what he was looking for (a 357 lever-action rifle), but it looked like there weren't any to be found. Several people told us that there had been a man walking around with one, with a sign sticking up saying that it was for sale, but we never spotted him.
Tim also couldn't find the gunpowder that he needed. He found it in the 1-pound cans, but not in the 5-pound cans. And the price difference is huge, almost like getting 2 pounds free when you buy the 5-pound can. So we'll keep looking for that.
He did find some speed loaders for his little snub nosed revolver (can remember what it is right now--I'll edit this posting after I remember) and bought five of them. And he re-joined the NRA at a reduced price (saved $10) and got a NRA baseball cap for free. And he bought a 30-round magazine for his SKS, but when we got home he checked it out, and he tells me that it won't feed properly, so he's taking it back today. It seems like he got something else, but I can't recall for sure.
I was going to buy another clip for my Ruger Mark III, but they were $22 (actually a good price--I'd pay $26 plus tax in most gun stores) so I decided to save my money for now. I've got my eyes on a kit that let's you make your own clear polymer stamps, and I want to save up for it. Besides, I've already got two clips for the Mark III, and while another one would be handy, I can certainly live without it.
After the gun show, we went over to Toby's and put a load of laundry into the washer. Then we headed up to the Mexican restaurant in the Food City shopping center near there and had a surprisingly good supper. I had chicken fajitas, and Tim had a chicken dish with a tropical sauce and pineapples. Service was good, and the total bill, including a 25% tip, was only $30. We can't afford to eat out often these days, but I'm glad we gave ourselves that treat.
After supper, we picked up the laundry and brought it back to the RV park to dry it. I spent the rest of the evening on the computer, and Tim played with his new toys. No surprise at either of those, eh? We just don't lead a very exciting life these days. 8-)
I'm working at choosing the photos to print from our trip to Disney World last fall. Since we were there for so long, I've got a couple of thousand pictures to sort through. I think I'm up to the second week in October now, but I'll get through them eventually. Once they're printed, I want to get them scrapbooked. Plus I want to work on scrapbooking Rachel's wedding. I got out some of my scrapping and stamping stuff and put it into a 3-drawer cart and a couple of boxes, and they're in the living room now where I can get to them. I'm still not sure where I'll work, but at least I've made some progress.
Well, that's about it for now. At least I didn't wait 3 months again to post an update. Just a couple of weeks this time. We're hoping to take a couple of days trips around the area soon, so maybe I'll have something more interesting to write about if we do. Until later . . . . .
Anyway, the surgery was a lot less complex than anticipated. The doctor said that it looked more like an pocket of infection than a tumor, but he sent a sample of tissue for biopsy anyway. We haven't heard anything about it yet, and doctors usually call if anything really abnormal shows up, so I hope that no news is good news. The doctor also started Tim on a broad spectrum antibiotic and took a culture of the infected area, and we haven't heard anything about the results of the culture, either, so I guess the antibiotic that he chose was one of the correct ones. Tim goes for a re-check on Tuesday, so then we'll find out all the details for sure.
In the meantime, Tim's not supposed to do anything very strenuous with his left hand/arm, and he isn't supposed to pick up anything at all heavy. Fortunately, even though he's left handed, he can do most things with his right hand, too, so that seems to be working out okay. But when something heavy needs to be moved or a lid needs to come off a jar, it's a team effort right now. I still can't do much with my left hand yet, either. That means that we've got no left hands and two good right hands between us. So far, the teamwork approach seems to be working, even though it's a bit awkward at times.
Since the surgery wasn't as extensive as expected, Tim hasn't been as miserable as we we thought he would be, either. We had planned to stay in a hotel for 2 or 3 days because our bed is up really high, and we thought he wouldn't be able to climb up to get into it. But he felt good enough after his surgery to stop at a good friend's house on the way home from the hospital and visit for a couple of hours, and he said he thought he could get into the bed okay, so we decided to save the money for something more fun, like food or electricity! LOL And he was right; he got into the bed just fine. He's had to take pain medicine only three times so far. In fact, he's hurt more from his arthritis (due to being off the Celebrex) than he has from the surgery.
My elbow is doing okay, I guess. I can bend it more and straighten it out more, and I can rotate it some if both directions; but it seems like I make progress in one direction and lose it in another. I've been out of the cast for just under 3 weeks now (just over 4 1/2 weeks since the surgery), so maybe I'm expecting too much. My elbow doesn't hurt much, even when I move it, so that's good.
But my left hand and wrist are killing me!! I've been telling the doctors since the night of my fall that it feels like something is wrong with my wrist, too, but none of them have seemed to really hear what I'm saying. Well, let me tell you, the doctor is going to listen and hear me tomorrow when I go in for my progress check!!! My wrist and hand are still noticeably swollen even though the swelling has gone down around my elbow. I can't make a fist or even bend my fingers halfway. So something is definitely wrong, and I want to know what! The worst thing is that the pain in my wrist is keeping me from doing as much with my elbow and arm as I'd think I ought to be, so that's not a good thing at all.
Other than Tim's surgery and my rehab efforts, we haven't done much this week except sit around the house/motor home. I've been on the computer a lot, and Tim's watched a bunch of TV, but not much more during the week. Boy, do I miss cable! When/if we can afford it, we're going to look into getting either Direct TV or Dish TV for the motor home. So if anyone knows whether one is better than the other, please let me know.
Yesterday, we did get out of the house in the afternoon and drove into Knoxville to go to the gun show at Chilhowee Park. Tim's selling a couple of his guns so that he can afford to buy a couple more; in fact, the ads started running online a couple of days ago and will be in the Bargain Mart issue that comes out on Wednesday. So, off to the gun show we went to see if they had the rifle he wanted. I couldn't believe it cost $10 each for us to get into the show! It used to be just $5.
We looked around for quite a while, asking if anyone had what he was looking for (a 357 lever-action rifle), but it looked like there weren't any to be found. Several people told us that there had been a man walking around with one, with a sign sticking up saying that it was for sale, but we never spotted him.
Tim also couldn't find the gunpowder that he needed. He found it in the 1-pound cans, but not in the 5-pound cans. And the price difference is huge, almost like getting 2 pounds free when you buy the 5-pound can. So we'll keep looking for that.
He did find some speed loaders for his little snub nosed revolver (can remember what it is right now--I'll edit this posting after I remember) and bought five of them. And he re-joined the NRA at a reduced price (saved $10) and got a NRA baseball cap for free. And he bought a 30-round magazine for his SKS, but when we got home he checked it out, and he tells me that it won't feed properly, so he's taking it back today. It seems like he got something else, but I can't recall for sure.
I was going to buy another clip for my Ruger Mark III, but they were $22 (actually a good price--I'd pay $26 plus tax in most gun stores) so I decided to save my money for now. I've got my eyes on a kit that let's you make your own clear polymer stamps, and I want to save up for it. Besides, I've already got two clips for the Mark III, and while another one would be handy, I can certainly live without it.
After the gun show, we went over to Toby's and put a load of laundry into the washer. Then we headed up to the Mexican restaurant in the Food City shopping center near there and had a surprisingly good supper. I had chicken fajitas, and Tim had a chicken dish with a tropical sauce and pineapples. Service was good, and the total bill, including a 25% tip, was only $30. We can't afford to eat out often these days, but I'm glad we gave ourselves that treat.
After supper, we picked up the laundry and brought it back to the RV park to dry it. I spent the rest of the evening on the computer, and Tim played with his new toys. No surprise at either of those, eh? We just don't lead a very exciting life these days. 8-)
I'm working at choosing the photos to print from our trip to Disney World last fall. Since we were there for so long, I've got a couple of thousand pictures to sort through. I think I'm up to the second week in October now, but I'll get through them eventually. Once they're printed, I want to get them scrapbooked. Plus I want to work on scrapbooking Rachel's wedding. I got out some of my scrapping and stamping stuff and put it into a 3-drawer cart and a couple of boxes, and they're in the living room now where I can get to them. I'm still not sure where I'll work, but at least I've made some progress.
Well, that's about it for now. At least I didn't wait 3 months again to post an update. Just a couple of weeks this time. We're hoping to take a couple of days trips around the area soon, so maybe I'll have something more interesting to write about if we do. Until later . . . . .
Labels: broken elbow, scrapbooking plans, surgery
# posted by Suzanne Q @ 1:28 AM 
