Trigger Finger Surgery

 This is what my hand looked like for 10 days after surgery.  I couldn't get it wet while it was bandaged up, so I took showers with a bag on my hand.  There were several things that were very hard to do with one hand.  I could sometimes use my thumb and index finger on my left hand to help me do somethings, which helped, but it was hard to manage with just one hand.

This is what my hand looked like after getting the stitches out, which took place 10 days after surgery.  I'm not supposed to use it much for another week, it's still pretty sore and I can't bend my finger into a fist yet, but it should come with time.

Update on Ken's Knee

 This is Ken's knee after some of the bandages were taken off about a week after surgery.

 Ken and his new best friend, his walker.

 A lot of time is being spent in the recliner with an ice pack on his knee, doing things on the I Pad.

After seeing the Dr. yesterday, he was given permission to use the walking stick some, instead of the walker.  (He's actually started using the walking stick almost all of the time now.)  He'll also start doing out patient physical therapy next week.  Everyone says he's doing well and progressing faster than normal.  The hardest thing for him to do is trying to get his leg to extend fully and fold fully, but he has lots of exercises to help him work on that, so it'll slowly come back.

Knee Replacement Surgery

 Tuesday morning, Ken had knee replacement surgery.  The afternoon and evening after surgery was bad, but not because of pain.  He was on morphine which took care of the pain, but it also made him feel nauseous most of the day.  It wasn't until the next morning, (Wed.) when they took him off the morphine that he started feeling better...until the physical therapist came in!  When she started showing him how to do the exercises to get his knee working again, he experienced more pain than he has ever had in his life, according to him.  She also got him out of bed and he managed to walk to the chair on the other side of his bed, but started feeling nauseous again during the procedure, so after sitting for awhile in the chair, he headed back to bed.  He did do the exercises some more that day and did some more walking, without feeling as bad.  He's using a walker whenever he gets out of bed and he's decided that it's his new best friend!  Thursday, was a better day and the physical therapist even had him try going up a few stairs, which he was able to do because there were handrails on both sides of the stairs (which we don't have at our house).

The hardest part now is getting on his feet after laying down for awhile, because his knee stiffens up, but once it loosens up, he does fine.  Friday morning (today), he got out of the hospital and he's going to be spending most of his time downstairs in our house for awhile, until he's able to manage going up and down the stairs better.  It's nice to have him home again and not have to be running back and forth to the hospital!  A nurse and a physical therapist will be coming to see him at home for awhile, we don't really know how often or for how long yet, so that will help to keep him improving.  More updates will follow as we get things figured out and how things are going to be working.

Thyroid Removal

 I just know that everyone has anxiously been waiting to see pictures of my neck after my surgery.  ; )

What do you think?  Not to bad, huh?  It feels like I have a necklace on all the time.  Several times, I've thought that I should take off my necklace, then realized that I didn't have one on.  That is really the only discomfort that I'm having, which isn't bad at all!

1 Month After Surgery

For those interested in seeing what my heel looks like, here's a picture taken about 3 weeks after surgery. 

I had my 1 month check-up today and the doctor said I was doing better than normal, which was nice to hear!  However, he also said that I Have NOT Healed completely and that a lot of the time, people come in after 3 months and complain about it hurting worse, but usually at 6 months out, it's better again.  Basically, I think, he was trying to say that even though I'm feeling so much better, don't over do and still take it easy.  There was a couple of good news items that were the result of the appointment, first of all, I 'm not going to have to do physical therapy, because of how well I'm doing.  He gave me some exercises to do on my own, like writing the alphabet in the air with my foot, plus a few others.  When I did the alphabet this afternoon, it was pretty painful and I needed to take some Ibuprofen afterwards, so it's a good exercise for me to work on.  Second, I don't have to wear the boot any more, which is what I was hoping for!  I'm supposed to wear open heeled shoes now and can walk without the boot.  We took one of the knee scooters back to the pharmacy today, but I wanted to keep one for any large walking projects.  I used one today when we were getting groceries, because it was a lot of walking around the store, but now that I'm home, I'm not using it.  I can also walk up and down our stairs, as long as I do it slowly and put both feet on each step, before going to the next step.  Anyway, I'm definitely making progress, although, I will still need to do Disneyland with a wheelchair, because it would be to much walking that soon after surgery.

3 Weeks After Surgery

Today is 3 weeks after I had surgery on my heel.  I don't go back to the doctor for another week and a half, so I don't really know how well I'm doing, other than how I feel and what I'm able to do.  I'm feeling good about the progress I'm making.  Even though I still have to use the "kneel scooter" most of the time to get around, I can stand on my foot and even take 10-12 steps while leaning on my scooter for support!  This week, I got out of the house a couple of times also.  I was able to go to church on Sunday, went for a short walk/scoot on the centennial trail near our house Monday and Thursday, I got to go to a luncheon with last year's mentor moms.  I still can't drive, the doctor said I would probably kill someone if I tried to drive with the boot on, so one of the mentor moms picked me up, but at least I got to go.  I also, still have to scoot up and down the stairs on my bottom, but everything is getting easier and I'm able to do more every day, and that's the goal!

A New "Boot" to Wear

 I saw the surgeon yesterday and they removed the cast and the stitches in my heel.  I found out that the main issue wasn't the Haglund's deformity, but it was the bone spur that was causing the biggest problem.  He said the one he removed was about the size of a quarter.

 I seem to be doing well, because he said that I could start trying to put some weight on my leg.  So far, I've just stood on it for a couple of seconds, because it's so painful still.  I have to wear this "boot" all the time except when bathing. I did get the OK to wash my right foot again, which is nice.  Yesterday was my first time to leave the house in 2 weeks and it went really well.  I feel more confident to get out and about now, but since I can't drive for several more weeks, I have to depend on Ken to take me places.  I can't understand why the Dr.s change their story so much!  He originally told me no weight could be put on it for 3 weeks, now 2 weeks after surgery, he said I could start putting weight on it.  Before surgery, I asked him if we went on vacation 6 weeks after surgery and it involved a lot of walking would I be ready to do that.  He said, "Yeah, no problem!"  So we went ahead and made plans to go to California with Kari's family.  Yesterday I mentioned it again, including that we would be going to Disneyland, and he seemed to be appalled by the idea of me doing that so soon.  If he had given me that reaction the first time, we might of thought a little harder about whether to go or not.  Luckily Disneyland has wheel chairs to rent if you get a note from your doctor, so I'll be making my way around Disneyland in a wheel chair this time.  It's pretty frustrating when they tell you one thing, then change their story later!

Wheel marks on the carpet from the knee scooter.

Knee Scooter

This scooter is working really well to get me around the house.  It's a little difficult to push on the carpet, but it's not bad at all and at least I can go from one room to another.  Today is Day 2 out of 21 of being unable to put weight on my right foot. The numbness from the "leg block" wore off, so I've needed to take more pain medicine.  Consequently, I've felt pretty sleepy a lot of the day.  If I take 2 pills, I have no pain, but feel sleepy, if I just take 1 pill, I have some pain, but don't feel as sleepy, neither solution is a good one so I'm going to try something different.  I'm going to try taking 1 1/2 pills when it's time to take them again and see how I do with that.  I had a few visitors today including Todd, Betsy and Seth, who dropped by for a visit on their way home from an overnight camping trip.  A family from our church also came by and brought us some soup and homemade bread for our dinner, that we're looking forward to eating tonight.  We talked for awhile with them, but it wasn't to long until I started getting sleepy again, so they didn't stay very long.  I also scooted on my bottom up and down the stairs once, so I could wash my hair in the kitchen sink.  It's pretty easy to go up and down the stairs, the only issue is getting to my feet once I get to the top of the stairs and getting my scooter up there, so I can move around again.  Our solution, so far, is for Ken to carry it up the stairs, but he won't be here to do that during the day next week and I think the scooter will be to heavy for Mom to carry up and down the stairs.  I may have to just stay downstairs during the day, which is why we asked Mom to come help next week.

Heel Surgery

I had surgery on my heel Friday, June 1.  They took off a bone spur and rounded my heel bone, a problem called Haglund's deformity.  The procedure called having an Ostectomy, that I just wanted to write down because I think it's a fun word.

I have to stay off my leg for 3 weeks, so I have a little green cart to rest my leg on when I move around the house.  (Picture to come in a later blog.) I had a "leg block" before surgery that is supposed to help with the pain the first day or so.  It, plus the percoset, has kept me pain free for this first 24 hour period, which has been awesome!  So, other than feeling drowsy most of the time, I'm doing well.  By the way FYI, the computer dictionary doesn't recognize the word percoset and wanted to substitute percolate, which I thought was funny also!

Heel Diagnosis

After over a year of pain in my heel, and consultations with several people, first, my regular doctor, who gave me some exercises to do.  Then last summer, a physical therapist who also gave me exercises to do.  Then I saw an orthopedic doctor in January, who gave me an insert for my shoes.  I was consistently told it was my achilles tendon. All of these treatments seemed to help for awhile, then it would start getting worse again.  I went back to the orthopedist on Monday because it was hurting again and he decided I should see a podiatrist and have more physical therapy.  I saw the podiatrist today, they took an x-ray and he told me that I have 2 things going on with my heel.  I have a bone spur and a condition called Haglund's deformity, which means I have a bony enlargement on the back of my heel.  He said that I shouldn't have more physical therapy, that it wouldn't do any good at this time.  (I'm glad I waited to see him before scheduling any physical therapy!)  The bottom line is that even though he gave me some other shoe inserts to help temporarily, I'm going to need to have surgery to take off the bone spur and the bony enlargement.  After I have the surgery, I'll have to stay off that foot for 3 weeks.  That doesn't mean I'll have to stay in bed the whole time, the doctor said they would give one of those carts to rest my foot on, so I'll still be able to get around some, but I'm sure I'll not be quite as active for awhile.  Then I'll have physical therapy again after the 3 weeks is up.  We haven't decided for sure when to do it, but since some of my activities are coming to an end in the next few weeks, we may do it, the end of May or early June.

4th of July Weekend and Achilles

We had a very busy weekend starting with my mom coming over on Friday, July 1, and staying until Wed. the 6th. I had heard about a patriotic musical play that was being put on for free at Stanwood High School to celebrate the 4th, so Mom and I decided to go to it Friday evening after dinner. It was put on by a church and home school group and it was very well done. It was nice to hear a lot of the patriotic songs that we had learned when we were in school sung during the performance. I think that was my favorite part!

Then Saturday, the 2nd was Seth's birthday party, which I wrote about below. I forgot to mention when I wrote about it before, about how excited Seth was! He showed his excitement by waving his arms like he was going to fly, it was so funny to watch him do that! As we headed home after the party, we discovered that there were a lot of people still traveling to get where they wanted to go for the weekend, so it took us twice as long as usual to get home, which was a real pain!

Sunday started out rainy and kind of cold. Since we were going to the Mariner game after church, I gathered up things to help keep us warm at the game. It was still raining when we boarded the train to head down to the game, but shortly after we left Everett it stopped raining and cleared up. The tide was out during the train ride to the game, so we got to see lots of herons trying to catch fish, plus 7 bald eagles sitting along the shore in various places. When we got to Seattle, it was sunny and warm, which was nice, but during the game it got so warm, that I was wishing I'd worn shorts instead of long pants! Since it was raining at home, I didn't think to bring any sunscreen, so Mom and I sat with our arms straight down to try and keep from getting sunburned. We didn't get burned, so it worked to sit that way, but it wasn't very comfortable! Monday, the 4th, wasn't as busy, we did some chores around the house, then got ready to have some friends over for dinner. It was nice to see Dennis and Mary and have the chance to catch up with them, then we all went to the fireworks show in Arlington.

Tuesday, I had physical therapy for my Achilles tendon in the morning, then I took Mom shopping for awhile in the afternoon. We, also,made a batch of strawberry jam in the afternoon, while we waited for Tim and Debbie to arrive. We had dinner out with them before going out to Granite Falls to visit my uncle, aunt and some cousins. My uncle, who is Mom's brother, isn't doing well, so we all wanted to see him. We had a good visit with them, even though they live fairly close, we don't see them very often. Tim, Debbie, and Mom left the next day after lunch, so we had a long and busy weekend!

The tape on my Achilles tendon. I took it off Tuesday before physical therapy, then got it retaped during physical therapy, so I still have it taped. I also have several exercises to work on stregthening my legs. One of the exercises has me trying to balance on one foot for a minute, which is really hard, and I couldn't believe how wobbly I was when I tried to do it! Hopefully, as I continue to do it, I'll be able to do it without being so wobbly!

My Kidney Stone Experience

I found out several weeks ago that I had several kidney stones. There was only one on my right side, that was 7mm and several others on my left side, a couple of 3-4mm ones, a 7mm one and a 15mm one. The urology doctor I saw, thought that I should have them broken down, so that I could pass them without a lot of pain. He said that if they started to go down wihtout being reduced in size, that I would be in a lot of pain before they came out. Since they hadn't been bothering me,(I didn't even know I had them until I had an ultrasound for something else)I decided to wait until after we got back from our trip to the Bahamas to have the procedure done. There was some risk in waiting, because they could have started to come out at any time, but I wanted to feel good for the trip, so I waited. I had no problems at all on the trip, so I was glad that I waited. I asked the doctor, how long I would be laid up after the procedure and he seemed to think that I would bounce right back and be doing my regular routine the next day. I thought that sounded good and that it wouldn't be a big deal to have it done. WRONG! I knew it was called surgery, but he said that was just because they put me out for the procedure. Yes, they didn't cut me open and remove anything, but it was still an invasive procedure with a tube being put up inside of me and a stent being left inside to help "things" move along. I had the surgery done on Tuesday and once I got on top of the pain, I did pretty well. I did so well that first night, that I thought I didn't need the percocet the next morning, so I just took a couple of extra-strength Tylenol. Big mistake!! It took most of the morning for me to get the pain under control again. I definately wasn't up to doing my normal activities that day. Because of those experiences, I was afraid to cut back on the percocet for awhile. I finally had my first percocet free day on Friday, although, I'm still taking the extra strength Tylenol when I need to, because I still have some discomfort. I'm definately not bouncing back as quickly as I thought I would or as quickly as the doctor seemed to think I would. Catching the tiny little bits that come out is an experience also, I thought there would be a lot coming through, but in reality, there's not much at all. Hopefully, next week will be better, and I'm still glad I had the procedure done because people have said that passing a stone without it being reduced in size is more painful than child birth.

Teeth, Finally Done?

After 13 months, I finally have a new tooth in my mouth. As is usually the case, if something could go wrong, it did. It took 4 appointments for me to get fitted for the new tooth and crown, when it usually takes 2 appointments. The first time I went in to be measured, the piece that was supposed to fit onto the insert was the wrong piece, so they had to call the lab that made it and have them make another one for me. When it came in, 2 weeks later, they did the mold for the new tooth and told me it would be ready a couple of weeks later. When I went back 2 weeks later, they spent 75 minutes trying to get it to fit, then decided that the lab needed to make it again. The part that fitted onto the insert was to tall, even without the crown on top of it. So, home I went again, without the new tooth. Today I finally went back in and everything went pretty well, the tooth part was put on the insert and the crown placed over the top of it. The crown had to be taken in and out several times to grind it down enough so my bite matched up, but hopefully, I'm done for awhile! The only danger is that the crown is put on with temporary cement, which is how they attach it and the crown can come loose and need to be re-cemented. With my track record, that will probably happen to me and at the worse possible time. We'll have to wait and see!

More Doctor/Dentist Appointments

I sometimes wonder what I'm thinking when I make appointments, other than I want to get them over and done with. This week I had 2 appointments, the first one was Tuesday and was with the oral surgeon, who was going to put the implant in my mouth, where he took my tooth out several months earlier. For some reason, I was more nervous about getting the implant inserted in my mouth, than I was about getting the tooth pulled out. I think it was the thought of them drilling a hole in my mouth and inserting a metal screw into the hole. Also, I was put completely under to have my tooth pulled and was only going to have nitrous to have the implant put in, because it was going to cost an extra $850 to be put totally out. That seemed way to much to pay for that, so I decided to go with the nitrous, It went OK, to just have the nitrous and obviously the left side of my mouth was numbed, so I couldn't feel anything. The only glitch in the procedure was at the end, when the surgeon decided that the implant he had put in was to small, so he took it out and put another one in. I took pain pills and anti-nauseous pills for the rest of Tuesday, then when I got up on Wednesday and was still feeling some of the effects from the pills, I decided not to take any more. I wasn't having much pain by then, and had no problem going without them. The main benefit seemed to be to make me sleepy, and I didn't need that any more.

Then today, Thursday, I had an appointment to have some more samples taken from my thyroid. Since they only had to do 1 nodule this time, it wasn't near as bad as that first time when they did 4 nodules. It was still a little painful, but was endurable, especially since I had taken a pill to relax me before the procedure. It helped me get a nap after we got home, but I didn't feel real relaxed at the Doctor's office! Now we wait for the results again.

Root Canal

A week ago tomorrow, I had a root canal done on the last tooth on the top of my mouth. Everyone seems to really dread root canals and moaned when I said I had to have one. They actually aren't nearly as bad as people seem to think they are. Yes, it wasn't fun, drilling into a tooth rarely is, but it really wasn't painful either (and I didn't even use nitrous, they wanted to charge me $55 for it and insurance won't cover it. I think it's the first time I've been near a dentist, including cleanings, without using nitrous in many, many years!) I have had virtually no pain this past week, other than if I happen to bite down on the tooth. So imagine my surprise when my lower jaw started turning green, purple and black, toward the end of the week. It definitely looks worse than it feels. I talked to someone at church yesterday who used to be a dental assistant and she said that having that happen is really unusual! Leave it to me to have the unusual happen!

Birthday and More - Part 2

Two other things have been going on this month that have contributed to making it a busy month. The first is having to make a decision concerning Dad's future care. Dad has been in the hospital or a rehab center ever since he fell at Thanksgiving. The rehab place was needing Mom to think about and make a decision about where Dad should go for care when he left there. They said that she wasn't going to be able to take care of him by herself because he was going to need someone stronger that she is to help him. So, I rode the bus over to Wenatchee on Jan 3rd to meet with a counselor and Mom about that issue. Mom decided that she wanted Dad to go to an Adult Care Family Home in Wenatchee, so we got a list of them and were able to visit a couple, while I was there. The first one we went to, neither one of us liked, but the second one we looked at was a very nice place and we both liked it and the lady that was in charge of it. We thought that Dad would be in the rehab facility another week or more, but a couple of days later, it was decided that he had reached a plateau and was ready to be moved. I was glad that I had been able to help Mom find a place for him to go because he needed to be moved last Tuesday. Mom said that the move went smoothly and Dad seemed to make the move without any problem.

I only had 1 day to help Mom in Wenatchee because I was scheduled to have a root canal on one of my teeth the day after I was there, Tues., the 5th. Unfortunately, when the Dr. started to do the root canal, she discovered that I had a crack in the tooth that went down into the root, which meant that I would need to have the tooth taken out. I spent a little over a week avoiding eating on that side of my mouth, but still had some pain with it. Yesterday, the tooth was extracted, and I'm still unable to eat on that side of my mouth. The area is very sore, has some swelling and I'm needing to eat soft foods even on the other side of my mouth. I'm taking pills for the pain and swelling, but I have actually been surprised that it isn't more painful. Getting the tooth taken out is just the first step of a long process that is going to take almost a year, before I have an insert put in, then a cap will be put on it so that I'll have something to bite down on. Hopefully, the rest of the year won't have as many traumatic things happen!

Biopsy Results

Just to let you know, everything looked fine on the second biopsy. The Dr. actually used a different procedure this time, so I have a bruise on my neck now, but it is fading and since everything turned out fine, I guess that's not to much to have to put up with. Thanks for the prayers!

Biopsy - Part 2

For those of you that are not on facebook, where I've already given all the gory details, here is your version of my day with the "Biopsy Doctor From...." heck , where is he from? Let's just say that although he is a nice guy, the procedure he performs is not nice! It actually went better this time, however, I'm not sure the relaxation pill I took really helped until I got home, put up my feet and snoozed the afternoon away with the cats on my lap. I was very relaxed then. He told me that he was giving me twice the normal amount of medicine to numb my throat, but again I was still able to feel some pain. Not as much as the first time, so that was a good thing. He was surprised that I was feeling any pain. It felt like a prickly sticker had been dropped on my throat and pushed into it. All in all, the pain was less and it was a much shorter amount of time, so it was a lot better. Now the wait for the results. I'll post those when I get them.

Appointment Made

I finally called and made the appointment to have the biopsies redone and don't have to go in until Oct. 20, that was the earliest they could fit me in. It always amazes me that something that seems so important gets put off for a month because there is no room in their schedule. They did say that they could deaden it more, but they tried that last time with minimal results. I don't know if they can put me completely out because I think they would need to have an anesthesiologist to do that. We'll see, I will ask them about it. I appreciate all the sympathy and prayers, thanks so much!

Good News and Bad News

As most of you know, I've had a lot of doctor and dentist appointments and procedures the last 3 months. I had 2 crowns put on my teeth that needed to be adjusted several times, cat scans, an ultrasound, shock treatments to determine the degree of carpal tunnel I had, surgery for carpal tunnel and most recently, biopsies done on nodules on my thyroid. The last procedure was by far the worst I have ever experienced! I left the doctor's office after the procedure, made it to my car, and broke down into tears because it had been so painful. They did do some numbing of my throat, but it didn't seem to make much difference, at least I can't imagine that it could be worse without being numbed. There were 4 nodules and he took 4 samples from each nodule, that's 16 times he stuck a needle in my throat. Now, after all of that, I got the results yesterday that 2 nodules were benign (the good news) and 2 were non-diagnostic and he wants to redo them (the bad news). I really, REALLY, don't want to have to go through that again! The nurse that gave me the results said that the doctor said that what he saw looked OK, but he really feels that they need to be checked again to make sure. I called my regular doctor to ask her if I really needed to do that and was told that I probably should and that they might be able to give me something more to keep it from being so painful. Hopefully, that's the case, I'll let you know later.