April 3: Had ACL surgery. Half of the day was spent either feeling fine (with a bit of nervousness) or unconscious. The other half was spent sleeping or puking.
April 4-8: Entire days spent only doing either A. sleeping or B. pill-popping. No post-op pain was felt because of said activity B. Also, activity A generally resulting from activity B. Selected pills were Ketorolac, Oxicodon, Asprin and Tums... Food is important when you are taking Ketorolac. My food of choice happened to be LIFE cereal and goldfish for the week.
April 9: Post-op appointment with the surgeon. All looks normal according to the physician's assistant (if you call a half-numb, yellow and purple swollen mass of a leg with a 4-inch scabby scar on the knee all up in a mummy-wrap normal).
April 10: Tried to telework. Spent most of the time getting caught up on e-mails.
April 11: Spent the entire day reading Twilight. [entire = 14 straight hours. bathroom breaks excluded.]
April 12: Easter! I couldn't play trumpet and I was super jealous seeing Susan and Andy up front. I wonder why I thought I would be able to practice the music while on drugs?
April 15: Started Physical Therapy! I did not know what to expect, but found a fellow American Idol fan in my therapist (she likes Danny Gokey the best, while I remain faithful to Kris Allen).
Therapy update: I was able to bend my knee to 75 degrees (flexion), only straightened to 15 degrees (extension). Hurts. A lot. Once the session was done, I felt good and loosened up, though. Still on 2 crutches.
April 17: Had second session of PT.
Therapy update: max 85 degrees flexion, 10 degrees extension. Ouch.
April 17-19: Went to Covenant Pines for an all-church retreat with First Cov. Had a great time getting to know more of the first cov family. I had to bring both crutches to the camp so I wouldn't fall on my face while i maneuvered around all the trees and wild animals.
April 19: I forced myself to trudge through the beginning chapters of New Moon. I couldn't get into it originally because Bella was pissing me off. I kept reading and was able to get past my frustrations, and then my attitude toward her flipflopped... my heart broke for her when Edward left (Yes, I cried. Harrowingly. Josh, Kate, and Shelly are my witnesses.)
April 20: Down to one crutch! No more pain pills necessary, either.
Therapy update: max 95 degrees flexion, 7 degrees extension. Mega ouch. Definitely hurt enough that the tears surfaced.
April 23: No more crutches! Spring Diversity Day at work. It went surprisingly well. Speakers on Title 9, Japanese Internment camps in WWII, an African American speaker from the Senior Executive Service of DCMA, and an actual Holocaust survivor.
Therapy update: Digression. Max 92 degrees flexion, 10 degrees ext. Super frustrated at myself. >.<
April 25: Got home from work and a package was waiting for me at the back door. Sarah had overnighted my own personal copy of Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. (!!!) Finished New Moon. (actually April 26.) Stayed up to 4:30AM to finish "the last inch and a half" of the book. Didn't think it would take that long. Worth it.
April 26: Drove to Hutchinson to visit MorMor & Ellen. MorMor took a tumble out of her wheelchair a few days earlier so she was feeling a little down. It was nice to see her, and I don't think she minded that I napped off my post-New-Moon fatigue while I was there.
April 27: Physical Therapy went super well. :D
Update: 100 degrees flexion, 6 degrees extension.
April 28: Finished Eclipse. Wished Bella would just quit being so stubborn about getting married. She is selfless, yes, but seriously... give up your preconceived notions about the idea of marriage and just get excited about something, already.
Therapy update: 103 degrees flexion, 6 degrees extension. (i think?)
May 1: Got another insurance statement (not a bill) from Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Almost passed out when I saw how much the statement said the surgery cost. $30,000?! Rough estimate of what i will have to pay? $4000. "Thank you Jesus for a job and HEALTH INSURANCE!"
May 1-3: Dad drove to the cities in the Audi to see the Twins play the Kansas City Royals. (5/1:
W 7-5; 5/2:
L 7-10; 5/3:
L 5-7) Got to see
the Germanns on Saturday and Brittany & Matt (her BF) on Sunday.
May 4: Left with Allison (coworker friend) to drive to Quad Cities for a 2-week class--CON120: Mission-focused contracting. Joy.
May 6: Finished Breaking Dawn. I tried to draw it out... the sadness at the idea of being done was a stronger emotion than the excitement of finding out what happened. I am pleased with how the ending turned out. :) Sarah told me about this guy named Kaleb Nation, the first guy to publicly read Twilight. He
blogs reactions to each chapter of all of the books (hilarious). His sites have made him famous and he's met
Stephenie Meyer and the cast of the movie, been in
Business Week Magazine, he's written a
book, writes his own
songs, and keeps a very active
youtube channel. As a fellow
Tweeter, this is my
favorite youtube video of his.
May 8: (today... phew!!): I have successfully finished my first week of class. I had a very detailed dream about being late to work (at a local candy store). My commute was on foot through people's houses and through windows. I dreamt that I could run. It was a very exhilarant and liberating dream, in spite of the going to be late fear.
Knee update: No therapy for 2 weeks because of being out of town. A giant ten-inch patch of the left side of my knee remains completely numb. This really disturbs me. I will have to wait many more months before the nerve-endings grow back. I do my exercises faithfully every day but I miss my American Idol camaraderie with my physical therapist. :(
Have a lovely weekend!! :)
Hannah
