May 27, 2010

It's 5pm - and I returned from a great outing about 45 minutes ago. My friend, Johanna, took me on a trip to Quilt Company in Hartwood Acres and then we went out for lunch (pizza). Johanna and I are both a bit rash when it comes to buying fabric. If we see it and we love , we mostly buy it. It's much easier for me to spend money on fabric than on anything else. So, I have a new beautiful pile of stuff as an addition to my stash, and that I will use initially to continue to build a quilt inspired by the quilt book, Liberated Quilts by Gwen Marston. ( A get-well gift from friends based in Boston). I'll make 30 liberated blocks and go from there.

I said on Tuesday that I would report on progress on this amputation, having seen the doctor, or rather his PA, Chad, the prosthetist, Dave, and a nurse practitioner in training whose name I don't remember. Chad said the orthopedist was done with me - that I was discharged to rehab folks. The nurse took out the 33 staples in Daisy and Dave came in with the "shrinker" and worked with me from there. The shrinker is like a tight orthopedic stocking made to fit the residual limb. Shrinkers come in different sizes, and it is expected that I will eventually down size. In the meantime I wear this 23.5 hours a day. The other .5 is for bathing. And the shrinker is the step preceding being fitted for the prosthesis. So, I have a date with Bobby, another prosthetist, next Tuesday.
Bobby will cast Daisy for building the top of the prosthesis. A week later, I go back for fitting Daisy with the top of the prosthesis, and taking measurements and making decisions about the rest of the prosthesis. And another week later, the prosthesis (yet unnamed) will be ready and I will check myself back into rehab for a week of gait training as well as continued tinkering with the prosthesis. I figure I will be discharged from all of this somewhere between Friday, June 18 and Wednesday, June 23.
Don't know if I will be driving by then, or whether that is a separate mastery process - but I can sort of take this stuff one day at a time.

Pain continues to be a challenge with neurotin remaining the drug of choice. Orthopedist and friends are rather indifferent to this. It doesn't seem to be their problem at all. So I probably need to get closer to my primary care physician on this so we can build a plan together. There are a couple of pain clinics in town with acupuncturists on staff. I am going to try to wait until I am independently mobile to make some dates with these folks. And perhaps by then, I won't have to.

Oil spill surely sucks
Earth and sea forever sick
Young are left to cope

I really enjoy the haiku that are coming back to me. At some time, I will get all haiku together, yours and mine and the haiku that has come by e-mail and even in 'get healthy' cards and put it in one place. It would be fun to see it all sequentially.

And one last note of great interest. Four year old next door, Aidan, and his sister came for a brief visit carrying good food. Aidan wanted to know how I put my pants on.