Day 10

Got up early and, since there wasn't a coat of ice on the deck, took the dogs out for a few. Our house is an old farmhouse. There is no way to get outside without walking on decks, stairs... that are often icy in winter. The garage is detached and is at least 150 feet from the house, so it's not like I can just crutch on into it and go out from there. That keeps me a prisoner early in the morning. Luckily, we also live in the Pacific Nortwest. That means not a lot of snow and most ice melts by 10 or so. The last few days have been sunny and clear, and it's been nice to get out - especially since I know rain will come soon.

I am gaining energy day by day. If I could walk, I could, with a lot of sitting and resting, do a half day of work - that would not include exercising or doing anything else. It would also mean I'd be beat the next day and would sleep most of the time. I'm getting used to the whole hobble on the crutches or scoot on the knee scooter thing and have been doing a bit more around the house. It is exhausting because the muscles used are NOT the ones normally used, and everything takes more time to do because you have to use the assistive aids to keep repositioning yourself. The husband certainly helps. He cooks - luckily he likes it - and helps a lot with the dogs.

Helpful hint of the day - if you have them and you have the room, position chairs in strategic locations to help with doing some chores. For example, the litterbox is upstairs. I have a chair next to it so I don't have to get on my hands and knees to clean it. At that station, I have disposable gloves to avoid cleaning the box and then grabbing the crutches with dirty hands, plastic bags for the scoops and an old vacuum cleaner to clean up afterwards. There is a bench by the dryer for sitting while folding laundry. These are all places the knee scooter cannot go because of stairs, otherwise, I'd just sit on it.

My cast has been getting wet inside from sweat. I had no idea my feet sweated that much! I'm trying to air things out when I sit in my recliner to keep things from getting smelly. I would like to rewrap the whole foot because, one, it is getting smelly and, two, they rewrapped the leg portion in the ER and did it way too loose. I have had to keep tightening that but have not wanted to undo the whole thing and do it right because I don't have the materials here. I found the cotton cast padding they used online, but it can only be ordered in a case of 12. Gauze is too rough and would rub the skin raw in places like the heel. So, I'll wait until the 12th when we go for the two week check.

Pain .5 in the foot, 1 to 2 on the knee graft; swelling 2.