Cabernet and an Allen Wrench

That ends well. Today was a very very long. For me getting up at six a.m. hasn't happened since I rode AIDS Lifecycle. My normal get up time is eight a.m. then I spend the rest of the day doing pretty much nothing. Today, Jerry and I were out of the house at 6:30 a.m. to catch an early train to New York. Of course, after I bought the non-refundable tickets our appointments were pushed back an hour. Turns out that was not such a bad thing because it took quite a while to get from Penn Station to the Hospital for Special Surgery. And the address the HSS MyChart gave me turned out to be wrong, but we had time to get to my first appointment, which was to x-ray my femur. I was prepared for the surgeon to tell me I needed to wait a few more weeks before progressing. After all, I am old, and I have osteopenia, the precursor to osteoporosis. So despite taking multivitamins and calcium, I figured the standard four weeks post-surgery was not going to cut it. After x-rays, we went to my ...

I still feel remarkably good. I have a few aches in the femur, but I kind of look at that as a good sign of my bone starting to attach itself to the rod. The sutures on the back of my leg hurt if the skin gets pulled, so I do everything I can to avoid that. One time this past week I couldn't avoid the skin pulling because I needed to bend over to grab a cat. On Tuesday, a new volunteer was at the shelter, and while I am sure she had been trained, a cat she was socializing managed to escape his cage. He ran under the cages and popped out right in front of me. I gently picked him up and we got him back to his cage. It was worth a bit of pain. On Thursday I met with my new physical therapist. I felt so comfortable with her. She tested my strength and gave me a few exercises I can do during my "rest" period. She encouraged me to stand more to get my left leg stronger. She and my OT will coordinate to get my whole body ready to walk again. I am so excited. I am adapting to...

I'm thinking if I start a post I will get discharged. One way or the other I am out of here today. My experience at HSS has been wonderful. Hard to say that about major surgery, but it is true. Since they pulled the epidural I have not taken any pain medication. I was left with some post-anesthesia nausea but they took care of it. Every staff person has been caring and delightful. And my room is insane. Huge wirh a beautiful view. I joked that the small refrigerator was a wine fridge. The surgery went very well. I opted to not have the plastic surgeon reroute the nerves because it would have meant cutting into the skin graft, which at least for me, does not heal well. With meditation I have been able to keep the phantom pain mostly under control, and I believe as I get more active it will subside. The orthopedic surgeon said my bone quality was good, and I should be able to start gradually putting weight on the residual leg in about four weeks. I will see him around then to ...

While Jerry had Covid for the bus anniversary, at least we had our wedding anniversary to look forward to. I was sedated and intubated for our twentieth, so we were looking forward to celebrating 21. Ha. Along with Covid, Jerry had a cold, which now we both have. I can usually get over a cold in a couple of days, but not this one. We are both coughing a lot and generally feeling pretty crappy. So we canceled anniversary dinner with our neighbors and once again, got takeout. It might sound counterintuitive, but not being able to celebrate I'm alive after being hit by a bus anniversary was harder. We will celebrate our wedding anniversary when we are feeling better, and somehow that seems fine. Maybe next weekend. I did get out of bed long enough to take a shower today and that felt wonderful. I'm still doing most of that one-handed, as my orthopedist doesn't want me to ruin the good work he did on my rotator cuff and bicep, and neither do I. While I was in the shower I...

Today is the one-year anniversary of me getting hit by a bus. At first I was going to call this post Unhappy Anniversary, but then, I'm alive, so thought I would call it Happy Anniversary. But this week has been so shitty I figured I'd leave off both modifiers. Jerry has Covid, which has basically left me as a prisoner of the fourth floor. Most of the day in the bedroom with a brief sojourn down the hall to the TV room to watch two episodes of Occupied. Norway gets occupied by Russia. Cheery, eh? I did get out of the house for PT and OT. OT is going well but PT is another story. The blisters on my residual leg have turned to scabs. But even when they clear it is doubtful I will be able to wear my prosthesis. It would likely cause more blisters which could have an impact on my scheduled osseointegration surgery date at the end of July. And after my physical therapist, for the I don't know how many times, repeated instructions several times with that I think you'r...

Today is Day One of AIDS Lifecycle, the fundraising event where a couple thousand cyclists ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles over seven days. Jerry and I did this ride on our tandem numerous times, and I learned so much on this ride, mostly about myself, but I also learned a few practical things. Some of my most valuable lessons came from Butt Clinic. Until I got a new saddle and a really good bike fit I spent years suffering chafing and blistering, so thank goodness for Butt Clinic. My most memorable Butt Clinic was when Dr. Eric Goosby, who was Pres. Clinton's AIDS Czar, treated me. Well, I mean it was cool that it was Eric Goosby, but perhaps even more important, he introduced me to Tegaderm. That stuff is incredible! It is a thin, clear bandage that protects skin, but since it's clear you can still see what's going on. Which brings us to today. Finally, the blisters on my residual leg are gone, but I'm left with some scabs from the blisters that opened. I...

While I have been wearing my leg at home and when I go to PT, I thought it was time to take it out for a spin. Sunday was a BARCS fundraiser, Pours for Paws. Local breweries, a winery or two and some hard liquor purveyors would be on hand to pour drinks. There would also be some food, including one of my favorites, Blue Pit Barbecue. While Jerry and I are not beer drinkers, we thought it would be a fun event to attend. I would see friends, and, of course, adoptable dogs. So I put on a long skirt to hide most of my prosthesis, and off we went. I knew I would not be walking at this event, but I took the opportunity to stand a couple of times, and it felt great. We spent a couple of hours there. We drank some wine, had some snacks, petted some dogs, and we headed home very happy. When we got home I took off the leg, and much to my disappointment, it had sprouted some blisters, two of which had opened. Considering I had not been walking, I was surprised, but then I remembered I for...