Emily's Visit

Emily left Sunday afternoon after staying 5 days.  This was the first time she had been here when I was feeling good enough to go out and do stuff, and as predicted, I had a really good time.  Here's what we did.

Emily arrived Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday, Emily drove me to UNC to see Dr. Dahners and get my staples removed.  We also picked up some x-rays and visited Raheleh up in rehab.  I haven't been up to rehab in a long time, and it was nice to go say hi.

Here's one of the x-rays of my hips after the first surgery, but before the second surgery.  You can compare the amount of bone in the left side to the right side to get an idea of what they removed.  It's a lot.

A lot of bone

We went to the lunch buffet at Tower Indian near my house.  We agreed it was some of the best Indian food we have had.  It's nice to discover good restaurants close by that you didn't know about.

We also discovered La Rancherita.  It's a Mexican place near my apartment that has unusually good food.  I got the Burrito Ranchero with chicken and chorizo.  It was covered in avacado slices and some spicy and savory sauces that were delicious.  Emily got chicken flautas that also had some very unique sauces.  It was definitely way better than average Mexican food.

We also tried the sushi at Neo Asia.  It was delicious, but I had never been there, and I'm really excited to go back and try some of their other menu items.  We saw them bring one lady a pile of fried rice the size of half a football.

Sushi!

Saturday morning, we went to the Raleigh Flea Market where we spent half the day.  We had some delicious hot dogs, and I got to see Julie, and talk to her friend Jen, whose son recently had a spinal cord injury.  They live nearby, so I may see more of them in the future.


Of course Emily had never been to Tribeca, so we had to go there for a burger.  We were there with her friend, Sarah, and I got to try 3 different burgers.

Sunday morning, Emily took me to Carmax to look at cars and see if there were any that seemed easier or harder to get into.  I didn't actually transfer into any of them, but I was able to identify a few that seemed a little better than the others.


I finally got to watch Bellflower, which is a movie I have been saving a long time to watch with Emily.  It was okay, but I'm glad I finally saw it.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things that we did, but we did a lot.  Mostly, we ate really really well, and discovered some really good restaurants that are very close by.  I'm looking forward to going back to them although for the time being, I really need to take a break from food.  I've been eating way too much for my mostly sedentary lifestyle.  I need to dial it back a couple notches and maybe have a salad or two.  Prepare for Emily's next visit.

So far this week, I have mostly been trying to recover from last week.  By the time Emily left, I was exhausted.  That's the most time I've spent up and in the wheelchair since I got out of rehab.  It was fun, but now I need to recover.  I could write more, but on that note, I'm going to bed.  I'll try to write again later this week.

Busy

First off, my recovery from surgery is going about as well as could be expected.  My left hip feels great, and I'm pretty happy with the range of motion.  I get the staples out tomorrow.

25 Staples

The right hip still hurts more than I want it to, but it's back to the level it was before surgery.

I'm very grateful to my mom for her help with the first week of my recovery.  It can be stressful having my parents around, but I really don't know how I could have gotten through that first week without her.  I was pretty broken.

It was nice while she was here because Gus's parents have been in town to help Gus build a new deck, so I got to introduce Gus's parents to my mom.  They got along quite famously.  We had several meals together including one at Gus's house where his mom made Runzas.  They're like German HotPockets.  You dip them in mustard.  Very delicious.

Gus's awesome new deck

The last week or so, I've been feeling really good.  I can actually lean forward in the wheelchair slightly.  Not as much as I think I need to, but it's enough that I can do some important things that I haven't been able to do.  Like spit in the sink when brushing my teeth.  I think I can now retire my spit cup.

I think I also might be able to get into a regular car now.  I haven't tried it yet, but I'm optimistic.  That means I might be able to drive soon.  I'm not going to rush it, but that would be pretty awesome.

I don't know how it's possible, but I have felt very busy since my mom left.  I've had several visitors.  Ben came for dinner and to watch Star Trek, Amy brought me delicious food, Cullen came by for dinner and a movie, I took a trip up to see Titus and Brittany and tour Titus's new shop, and yesterday my friend Adam stopped by with his new wife, Caroline, while on their honeymoon.  It's been a whirlwind of visitors reminiscent of when I was in rehab.

Tonight, my friend Emily is arriving for a 5-day stay, so the fun continues.  I'm really looking forward to it because I'm feeling good enough to get out and do some stuff, and I'll have Emily around to make it happen.  Should be fun.

Post Surgery

Surgery number 2 is in the books.  I got home from the hospital yesterday.  My stay at the hospital wasn't much fun, but it was better than last time.  This time we actually got to stay in rooms with walls and doors, so that was nice.

An uneventful picture of me before surgery

The surgeon said the surgery went pretty well.  He said they were able to remove a lot of bone.  More than last time.  They said I lost a lot of blood.  More than last time.  I definitely felt weak afterwards.

Day 2 after surgery

The good news is that my left hip didn't hurt at all after surgery.  I just don't think I can feel my left hip.  My right hip, on the other hand, which they didn't touch, hurt a LOT after surgery.  Of course it hurt before surgery, and it still hurts now.  It also feels like it has less range of motion than before the surgery.  It's all very weird, and I'm hoping it gets better as I heal, but I'll just have to wait and see.

If you don't want your body to do very strange things, don't break your spine.

They are sending me PT and OT to help me at home here, so we'll see how that goes.

I'm still loving my new mattress.  I was fantasizing about it the entire time I was in the hospital.  Those hospital beds are not comfortable, and it was bliss when I could get into my own bed and use a pillow that was not covered in plastic.  I slept about 14 hours last night.

I wish I had something else interesting to say, but I don't.  Right now, I'm just concentrating on resting and feeling better.

Surgery #2 and Bedding

It's almost time.  My second hip surgery is this Wednesday.  My mom arrives Tuesday morning, and will stay until the 15th.  I'm excited that the surgery is happening, and I'm looking forward to seeing my mom.  I haven't had an overnight guest in a while.

I'm hoping that my recovery will be quick, but I'll just have to wait and see.

In other news, I finally got my new mattress.  I'm very glad I got it in time to do my surgery recovery on it.

I did a whole lot of research before buying this mattress (after buying 2 other mattresses that were less comfortable than my 9-year-old metal spring mattress).  This is a 10" latex foam mattress that I got from a place called sleepez.com.

My mattress pieces before assembly

It's considered a "kit" mattress, and it arrives in pieces that you have to assemble.  There are 6 slabs of latex foam, each 3 inches thick, with different softness ratings.  You stack three on each side of a zip-up cover that holds it all together.  Then you can rearrange layers until you get the feel you want.

Looks kinda like this

I ordered XFirm, Medium, Soft for the side I sleep on, and Firm, Firm, Medium to put on the other side and use to experiment with if I wanted to swap out layers.  Fortunately, the XFirm, Medium, Soft feels really good.  So good that the only other arrangement I want to try is Firm, Medium, Soft.  So I have to exchange one of my Firm layers for a Soft, and then I can try both arrangements side by side.  They'll let me exchange layers really cheap for the first 90 days.

I don't know which of those two arrangements I will prefer, but the one I have now feels really good.  It's supportive, but soft.  I can sleep comfortably on my side or my back, or even on my front.  I've never experienced a mattress this comfortable.

Latex is nice because doesn't form lasting impressions like memory foam does.  That's important because I would have a hard time transferring out of an impression.

Also the mattress works perfectly on my electric adjustable frame.  I never thought I'd want one of these, but I've used it a couple days now, and I have to say, it's really nice to be able to sit up in bed comfortably, and work on my laptop like I'm doing right now.  I can even sleep with my feet elevated which I've wanted to do since I came home from rehab, but have been unable.

In conclusion, I wish I had bought this mattress a long time ago.  Years ago really.  But it took months of research to figure out what I wanted.  This one wasn't exactly cheap, but it has a 20-year warranty and should last longer than that.  If you're thinking about buying a mattress, you should try mine out.  I couldn't be happier with it.

Pending Surgery

This morning, I had my pre-op appointment with Dr. Dahners to talk about my next hip surgery.  The appointment was uneventful, and the surgery is next week.  I have to admit I'm a little bit nervous.

I guess it's normal to get nervous whenever anybody cuts a huge hole in your body.  I got the impression today that they cut the bone out with a hammer and chisel, so that sounds violent.  I hope I'm not in too much pain afterwards.

I'm also apprehensive because after the surgery, I have to start doing therapy again.  I'm supposed to start working on advanced wheelchair skills, and things like floor transfers and driving a car.  I'm excited to try that stuff, but I'm also pretty sure it's going to put me on a timer to go back to work. 

My feelings about return to work are mixed.  I'm looking forward to getting back to a sense of normalcy, and I'm also really looking forward to the social aspect of it.  It would be nice to get out of the apartment on my own, and see friends and coworkers every day.

At the same time, I'm worried they might force me out there before I'm really ready.  If that were to happen, I might find myself in situations I don't know how to deal with, or I might find myself injuring myself just by spending too much time out of the house.

So that's what I'm thinking about right now.  I don't know if I have any reason to worry, but it's my nature.  Hopefully my fears are unfounded, and I'm worried about nothing.  The next step is just to worry about getting through the surgery.

In other news, I ordered a new mattress this week which should arrive tomorrow or the next day.  It should arrive tomorrow or Saturday, and I'm optimistic that it will be really comfortable.  So I'm really excited about that.  Hopefully it will help with some of my butt pain by relieving pressure when I sleep.

I also got to the wheelchair store this week to try out some different seat cushions.  I borrowed one that seems a lot better.  It's filled entirely with air, so it's very comfortable, but it's much harder to transfer onto and off of.  It's called a Roho, and I may have to get one.  I might use it temporarily until my butt feels better and then switch back.  I'm not sure yet, but it's nice to have options.

A Roho air cushion.