O.K., it’s ‘shuffling along, carefully’, not ‘dancing’. . . . . .but then, I never have been able to dance well 
I’m taking it slow and easy, relying on post op boots and my spiffy red Rollator for support. It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, but it is exhausting! Right now, I’m limiting myself to three trips per day (bedroom to family room) before I request wheelchair help. I’ll have to work hard to get my strength back, once the surgeon approves me for more exertion!
Sorry I haven’t posted anything here since my surgery; I made a small tactical error when I assumed I would only be off-line while I was hospitalized. Each day, looking at my computer keyboard has been enough to make me want to take (another) nap. I’ve got zero energy!
In brief: Oct. 30th – my surgeon arrived in the pre-op area On Crutches!! Nope, he wasn’t teasing me; he’d had a welding accident! I opted for local anesthetic, and it worked beautifully. My surgeon told DH that he had encountered more work than he expected; there were quite a few Rheumatoid nodules present…..some of them quite large!
Oct. 31st – Yep, the pain level is about what I expected ~ pronounced (especially in the left foot), but not unbearable. The nurses are friendly and attentive, and they’re prompt with the meds my Doc approved. For someone who’s only scooting around a bit on a mattress, I sure am tired!
I was supposed to go home today, but no such luck. While taking my stats for the discharge paper-work, they discovered I was running a 103 degree fever. Hmmm, nope. . . . .not going home with that reading! At least they let me stay in my roomy, gray bell-bottoms and Casper, the Friendly Ghost T-shirt, instead of another (shudder) horrid “gown”! There’s no infection causing the fever; too many years of smoking/not enough months of healing & self-cleaning are the culprits. I need to stay hydrated, use the inhaler and breathing exerciser they handed me and cough the junk out of my lungs.
Nov. 1st – The nurses dutifully cruised into my room and did my stats throughout the night. The fever began to abate, my oxygen saturation improved a little bit (I’ll need to keep working on that), and I received a green light from the Doc after breakfast. Getting from the wheelchair into Tom’s Mustang GT was not a pretty sight! The nurse asked if I was going to ride in the back seat – - – -positive proof that he’d never attempted the contortions required to get oneself into said seat! LOL! We had the expert advice and guidance of our next-door neighbor when we tried to remove from the car here at home. (Invaluable advice – she’s a senior ER nurse at Brook Army Medical Institute (?) I think.)
Nov. 2nd – Doing only necessary moving around and spending 99.5 of my time with my feet elevated to prevent swelling. I picked up my Kindle & tried to read; couldn’t concentrate at all! Couldn’t follow the action on TV or think of words to type into my blog, either. Did a lot of napping
Nov. 3rd – See Nov. 2nd
Nov. 4th – Decided it was time to conduct a small expiriment. Could I move about, just a little bit, with the help of the post-op boots and Rolator? Yes!! As I mentioned earlier, I’m not doing a LOT of it; but I got to watch the election results come in on our big-screen TV. (Love the “Smart Boards” the news commentators use now! With limited walking comes loads of fatigue. . . .I napped off & on during the evening.
Nov. 5th – Did a bit more shuffling around, sewed a few mini yo-yo’s, got some more bad news from DS, and finally got this entry written!
