Not so.
I've had so many visitors and doctor's appointments I haven't even had time to read the new magazine Andy got me early last week. Not that I'm complaining. At least I'm not complaining about the visitors. I have loved seeing everyone and it means so much that people came by. It has certainly helped brighten my spirits.
The doctor's appointments on the other hand, have been really tiresome.
Last week I had four in three days.
Last Monday I had my stitches out of my chin which made me look a lot less like Frankenstein, so I was grateful for that. But I got very nervous before hand and the combination of that with the pain medication and just all around feeling bad I almost fainted before he took the stitches out. I managed to hold it together, but I was ready to go back home for sure.
Wednesday was the Oral surgeon to do x-rays and look at how my teeth and jaw are healing. He said things were looking good and made an appointment for me to come tomorrow morning and have the arch bars taken out that are holding the bones together. Then he's sending me to the orthodontist. I'm hoping they are just going to look at my teeth and develop a plan of action rather than actually putting on braces or anything tomorrow. I don't know if I can handle two medical procedures in one day.
Friday first I went to the orthopedist for x-rays of my ankle. Everything still looks good there and he still thinks surgery won't be necessary. So that's a blessing. Until that appointment I hadn't really been able to see the brake in my ankle. It is so, so small and it really frustrates me that I'm going to have to start all over with my running because of it. It also really sucks that the weather is perfect for running right now and I'm stuck here on my couch with a big heavy cast weighing me down.
My second appointment on Friday was another visit to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to take the cast off my nose and make sure it was healing well. I was nervous about that one too. Not so much because I thought it would hurt, but because I had no idea what my nose would look like. I knew it had been really bad based on the descriptions my doctor had given me in the hospital. My surgery had been very long and extensive and the scrub nurse almost passed out from the severity of my injuries. So I was more than a little afraid of not looking like me. I almost passed out again, twice. They had to lay me back in the chair and get me a soda. But really it wasn't so bad. Taking the cast off was only slightly painful and my nose is only a little swollen. The good news is that if I don't develop breathing problems I don't have to have more surgery to finish repairing my nose. The bad news is that because of the extent of my injury my doctor thinks it more likely than not that I'll have to have the surgery. But he wants to give me ample time to make that decision rather than push me into anything more painful than necessary. I'm really grateful for that.
I feel a little better every day and some days do a little more than I should. It's hard to be so dependent on other people and I've been taking baby steps to become as independent as possible. Andy told me last night that he thinks he knows what it's like to be a single parent now. I didn't really know how to respond to that. I see his point, but that just makes things more frustrating for me. He has a lot on his plate and I try to give him a little "me time" whenever I get the opportunity.
I have managed to get my shower routine down to a precise science so I can do it without assistance. That is a big deal for me. The most difficult thing is putting on my "cast condom" so I don't get the cast wet. It's a heavy plastic bag attached to a ring and this stretchy rubber seal. It's really cool, but it's hard to get on. Once I finally did it myself I would have done a little dance; if I could put any weight on my right leg.
Something I have tried my best to hang on to through all this is my sense of humor. I try to make the most of the situation and have a little fun with whatever I can. Whenever I have visitors I make them draw something on my cast. My only rule is that you have to actually draw something and not just sign your name. Anything is game (so long as it isn't obscene) and so far everyone has done a great job. The most unique illustration so far is when my step dad drew a bug on the bottom of my cast and wrote "ouch!" out next to it.
I also decided that my crutches needed a little something. I had tied a really pretty silk scarf to one of them, but it just wasn't enough so I had Andy take me to the craft section at Walmart last night to pick up something to jazz them up. I had one idea in mind and then I saw the packs of fabric scraps they have and I was inspired. I spent the better part of this afternoon covering my crutches in modpodge and fabric squares. I'm really pleased with how they turned out.
From color coordinated fabric scraps...
To one-of-a-kind designer crutches
(click the picture to get a better view)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment