Starting to Feel Like I've Got This

I was once again up before the sun Sunday morning, but this time it wasn’t because of excruciating pain that caused me to mentally spiral and breakdown like the day before.  Nope, I was up early this morning because my back was killing me.  From all the sitting and laying, my low back was extra tender and making sleep difficult.  Still, this pain was far more preferable to the gut-wrenching, stabbing pain that racked my left leg yesterday.

Chris and I checked my numbing meds, and we both confirmed I was out.  I took the tape off of the area, and touched the catheter, but my brain wouldn’t connect and let me pull it out.  I asked Chris to do it.  Let me preface this by saying that it did not hurt in the least.  However, I was a expecting to see this short piece of plastic removed from my leg.  The reality is that this was easily a 3-inch piece of plastic which makes sense in hindsight because it had to be place along the femoral nerve to deliver the medicine.  I don’t know how I didn’t toss my cookies watching Chris pull this catheter out of my leg.  It was like watching a magician pull a scarf out of his hat, only the scarf was a plastic catheter and the hat was my thigh.  It was barf-inducing. 

Chris would later tell me that he was thoroughly grossed out pulling the catheter out as well.  While I was either unconscious or stoned out of my memories, the nurse told Chris there was a black tip on the catheter that marked the “end” of it.  If he removed the catheter and the black tip wasn’t there, he would need to take me to the hospital.  He was careful to remove the catheter; however, he said it was really disgusting to pull that 3-inch plastic piece from my leg – that he could feel it catching muscle, fat, etc. and made him want to vomit.

Well, I’m so glad we both didn’t vomit because Chris would’ve definitely had to have cleaned that mess!

I got through my PT way more easily today, and I was finally to get through all 5 of the prescribed exercises on my RomTech on Sunday.  The two minutes of active pedaling at the end felt much better than it had the previous days – like I actually had muscles that worked now!

Just pedaling away getting my recovery on!

With the catheter out, I was free to take a bath or shower.  By the afternoon, my lower back was screaming, and I decided to take a bath.  With the hot water going and Epsom salts in the tub, Chris and I pondered the physics of getting me into the tub.  I tried holding onto him and hoisting my injured leg over first, but my injured leg wasn’t ready to balance any of my weight on it.  Because of that, I couldn’t balance on my bad leg and hoist my good leg over the wall.  I really needed one of those elderly people, walk-in bathtubs right now!  After those failed attempts, I sat on the wall of the tub and reached my arms back into the tub and began to lower myself backwards into it.  Chris handled both of my legs and together, we gently hoisted my body into the hot water.  I kept my left leg on the ledge of the tub to keep the bandages from getting wet, and felt the cleansing, hot water soothe my aching lower back.

I thought about going back to work on Monday, but I really wanted one more day of recovery for myself, for me to relax at home with the pain now minimized before going back and having to concentrate and actually do something productive.  I texted my boss to check with her about me now coming back on Tuesday.  She was happy to accommodate me.  I’m sure she was more than prepared for my text because we had discussed earlier the possibility of me taking Monday off as well.  I just didn’t want to ask for the day in HR, get it approved, and then have to cancel the request.  Obviously, she was happy to accommodate my request.

Monday was once again another good day.  I definitely could’ve gone to work and been as good as possible, but it was nice to have one more day to myself resting, relaxing, and recovering.  I also had PT that afternoon and I made sure to do half of what was prescribed to me as well as get all 5 of my RomTech pedaling sessions done – sessions that now were 8 minutes of passive pedaling and 4 minutes of active pedaling.

PT #2 done!

At PT, we did the same exercises from Friday.  Once those were done, we worked on my balancing and weight-shifting.  My PT had me stand with my right foot in front of my left (injured leg) and work on shifting my weight forwards and backwards.  This was to stimulate my leg muscles and trigger the muscle memory for walking.  I will admit, after the bathtub fiasco, it seemed like walking was a long way off, but at least these small exercises were progress for me.

Monday evening, cozy and comfortable as possible in my oversized chair with my dogs snoozing away beside me made it hard to think about work the next day.  But I had been off my painkillers since Sunday afternoon, and I was doing much better.  It was time to get back to some semblance of normalcy.  I’m so glad I gave myself this extra day though.  I was as stress-free as possible, so much less stress compared to how I had been in the past few days and just got to zone out and enjoy my time with Chris and our babes.