Like I said, Mom, Dad and Brent were waiting and waiting and waiting… and hungry. I was still a little spaced out, but I suggested we grab sandwiches at Erbert & Gerbert’s (that’s right, V, that wasn’t the Vicodin talking when I told you about the place). We got home and my tummy wasn’t feeling quite right, so my sandwich went in the fridge and I opted for a meal of saltines.
Contrast that to dinner that night: stuffed-crust pizza with chicken, beef and green pepper. My tummy was extremely happy when I was eating that, so I was extremely happy overall. (Not being in excruciating pain because of the Vicodin probably helped that overall happiness, too.)
Thankfully, Brent was able to stick around the house that evening so Mom and Dad could go out for a couple hours. He’s a member of the local Lions’ Club, which is our Boy Scout troop’s chartering partner, and the troop was joining them for dinner. It was good they could both go because while Brent and I were asleep at home, Dad received an award that’s given by the Lions and Boy/Girl Scouts together. (I think Mom said about eight people had received it across the country.) He had no idea he was receiving it—I don’t think he knew it existed until that point—but it was the perfect venue and Mom was there to put the medal over his head in front of everyone who he worked with to earn it.
Since then… surgery was on a Monday and I went to my team’s soccer game that Sunday. I was talking to some guy whose brother had the same surgery (using the patellar tendon) and was laid up in bed for two weeks, painkillers and all. We’ve got another game this Sunday, but given that it’s at 8:30am and the low temp could hit 32 tonight… the cold weather could be bad for my knee, but I could be chickening out, too.
My knee has been healing well. I’ve been to two physical therapy sessions so far and the person I was working with last time said I was “doing really good.” At that point, my knee could bend to about 120 degrees and I could walk around fine without my crutches, but I’ll be using them until told otherwise. I’ve been taking Advil on a regular basis to help with the inflammation and haven’t touched the Vicodin in four or five days (sorry, Josh, you can’t have the extras).
I’ve got my next PT appointment in a couple days and I’ll probably need the brace adjusted again. As the swelling decreases, the brace begins sliding down my leg more and more. It’s not that bad this time around, but I made some adjustments on my own, too. When it got fixed it up the last time, the guy made the straps snug and had the hinge at the right height, but the swivel point was at least an inch back on my knee, so I had to fight against the brace to bend it. It was already reeeeally uncomfortable by the time I got home, so I fixed it. And hopefully didn’t do any damage in the process.
Okay, I think that’s about it. And even if it’s not, it’s late and I need to do some PT exercises before bed. Time to bend my knee back and forth, then sleep the sleep of angels and dream the dreams of dead people’s knees… or something. G’night, all.
Just to clarify for your fanbase – I work nights and had stayed up all day to be with Shawn during the surgery. When he fell asleep at home, I decided it was okay for me to take a nap too. 😉
Nice post Shawn!