Saturday, September 12, 2009

Late Night Adventure

So.. yesterday... I went to the doctor... got the great news that we've done what we could for my knee... and it's time for a Total Knee Replacement. With that news... I quietly came back home... stopping at the store to get a few things for dinner. (It was pouring down rain, and cold... so homemade chili was in order!)

I got everything into the house... walked the dogs... attempted to do some things around the house that resembled some housework. I got really tired. So I took myself a little nap... (soon to be interrupted by the phone ringing... and it went to the answering machine) I got up and got to working on making the chili for dinner. DH ended up being re-routed for the rest of his day... which put him 4 hours over on a Friday night. (Again!!!) By the time he came home, I wasn't moving very well. My left knee was the most swollen I've ever seen it, and it was also the "hottest" part of my body. I wasn't worried until the chills hit me.

I called my doctors service... but he had signed out for the weekend. His weekend cover sent me directly to the ER. We got there a little before 10 pm. We had to go through triage... and then wait for the ER Attending to come in. I think he thought I was a "doctor hopper" looking for pain meds. I am not one of those... at all. I told him that if he wanted to see my x-rays of what my knees looked like, I would send DH to the car to retrieve them. Finally, he realized that yes, I had seen my doctor today... and yes, my doctor did tell me that I have water on my knee... but that, no, my knee was not in it's current condition during that visit and only became that way that evening.

Long story short--- my blood pressure was sky-high ( duh! ) and I was starting to get an infection in the joint. That's a serious thing, considering all of my various medical situations. At one point, I looked straight at him and asked him... "Are you gonna treat me or not? Cause I'm getting a vibe that feels like you don't want to!" He did do a white blood cell count, which came back normal... and he gave me a broad spectrum antibiotic and a really good shot in the hip of Toradol to relieve my pain. We were outta of there by midnight and back on the road to home! Needless to say... I was quite "loopy" and we laughed a lot on the way home. I think I managed to get DH up out of bed a minimum of 4 times before we could settle in for the night.

Today... we took easy in the morning... and then did the whole pharmacy thing ... stopping at CVS, and also getting DH a haircut while we were at that shopping center... and on to Walmart to get my other script. We managed to grab an electric cart that worked... and the Walmart Greeter actually yelled and snarled at us as DH went to get the cart... I had been standing there waiting while she was off talking to someone else, so we helped ourselves. She did not make me feel welcome at all... I snarled back at her that IF she had the knee that I had... she'd help herself to a frikken cart too! Oh my!

We are now safely home... we've eaten, snacked... and relaxed. We've had Punky out of her crate for most of the day... she likes to lay on the bed with me. Nolli has also gotten up on the bed with us... it's been a cozy family afternoon. I am starting to feel better... the chills have stopped and although my knee is still hot, it's not nearly as warm as it was. I actually can feel a difference on the inside edge of my knee... like there's actually just enough room in there, instead of not enough! I'm getting a little woozy as I am keying... so I think I've written all that I can and have it make sense. I am hoping to be able to go to church tomorrow!

Thanks for reading... be blessed!
~Suzanne

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Suzanne: Let's hope the doctors can get you fixed up before the snow flies. Life is way to short to suffer like that. Our health is so important and your story keeps me grateful on a daily basis that I am still able to ride my bike and get around ok.
Best always, and take special
care of yourself.
Best always, Sandra