(Nearly) One Month Post-Op

I am almost 4 weeks post-surgery! Hooray!! I am all finished with the CPM machine, too. I feel like I have loads of free time now since I'm not stuck to that machine for 6 hours a day. It did really loosen up my knee so I miss it a teensy bit. But not too much. 

My knee is feeling a little better and a little stronger nearly every day. It buckles less inside the brace when I walk, and I'm trying to increase my ROM a little each day. I think I'm around 110-120 degrees now. It's much more difficult since I was only allowed to go to 90 the first few weeks, and it's very stiff. I've been trying to not take any prescription or over the counter pain meds either since I typically don't like taking any medicine. It's definitely still pretty sore, especially when I bend it or after physical therapy exercises, but it's becoming more bearable. 

I've been pushing through the odd pain in the back of my knee and have been doing tons of PT exercises in order to keep my quad from atrophying as much. Hopefully it's working at least a little.

Surgery leg vs. regular leg. My left knee is a little swollen still.

John loves doing physical therapy with me. He always runs over, lays down next
to me,  and goes "Ria workin' out!! Tootsie toes! Leg up! Leg down! 1-2-3-4-5."

I still haven't gone to pick up the e-stim machine, but I'm thinking about getting it this week after seeing my legs from the angle of laying on the floor while doing PT.

Super-atrophied left quad next to my huge-looking right leg.

Between my knee feeling a little better and having more free time without the CPM machine, I've been doing a lot more these past few days. Probably more than I should be doing, but I'll get back to sitting on the couch soon. It's been a busy week.

On Friday, it was Caitlyn's last day of high school. We had to go all out. We held up a big tropical sign across the road to welcome her to summer break that she drove up to, then Nathan, Joey, my dad, my mom, and I attacked her with shaving cream. We tried to show Little John ahead of time so he wouldn't be scared, but he still freaked out a bit. Luckily he calmed down quicker than the silly string episode and was laughing by the end of it. Caitlyn was such a good sport, too, and she got a little revenge on my mom and Joey. She spared me thanks to the leg brace. 

With everything going on, I totally forgot that my driver's license expired on my birthday. Luckily it was no big deal to go renew it a couple of weeks late. I was a bit worried I'd have to go back to my temps and re-do everything, but that only happens if its been expired for 6+ months. My mom drove me down to the BMV, which of course was packed, and we ended up being there for about an hour. Luckily there was a chair for me to sit on to rest my leg, and Little John provided lots of entertainment. He was really good the entire time. At one point he ran into a corner, and when I asked what he was doing, he popped a squat and shouted "Pooping!" It was hilarious. 

John Nathan also turned two on Saturday! Kevin and I were at a wedding, so we couldn't go to the last-minute family party for him. He was originally supposed to have his party earlier in the day, but Kelly has been pretty sick this week so it's rescheduled for next weekend. We'll definitely be there then!

Happy 2nd birthday, cool little dude!! I love you.

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to handle going to a wedding, but we had told Stef and Brandon we were going way before the surgery and I really wanted to go. It was a lot of fun! The wedding and reception were at the Faculty Club at OSU near Mirror Lake, which was gorgeous. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor ceremony, and Stefanie's vows were so sweet and personal that she had every guest crying a few lines in. There was a lovely cocktail hour, a delicious dinner, and dancing after. We ended up leaving a little while after dinner because after 4 hours in the brace, my knee was killing me. I was able to make it that long thanks to Stef's wonderful sister-in-law who works for a medical equipment company. She brought a wheelchair with a leg rest for me to use during the ceremony and reception. Thank you for the wheelchair!!

The beautiful bride! 

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Hoge! :)

The rest of the weekend was busy and wonderful. After the wedding, I went to Kevin's to hang out for only the second time since surgery. I love home but it was great to get out and go to Kevin's again for a little bit. Ashwin, Rohan, Hayes, Erin, Craig, Eric, Andy, Kevin and I were all there. It was so nice to see everyone in a place where I can take my brace off and relax my leg. After a few hours, we ended up going to Pointe Tavern for a little bit. Kevin and I left to go back to Dublin when my knee started to get sore. 

The guys at Pointe Tavern

On Sunday, almost everyone from the group last night went to brunch (Kevin was at a movie--Thanks for giving me a ride all the way from Dublin, Hayes!), and then we went back to Kevin's. Kevin's parents came to visit. It's always a good time when the Andersons visit!! Kevin and his dad picked up takeout from Barley's Smokehouse so that my knee could be a bit more comfortable (I think I over-did it the rest of the weekend so it was very sore by this point), and we watched The Mothman Prophecies. For those of you who know me, you know I hate scary movies. It wasn't too terrible, but it was a bit creepy. Especially when Kevin's dad told me the story of a bird flying into their window and leaving an exact mothman print a week after they originally saw the movie. I'm superstitious, so this was extra creepy to me. They also brought some DVDs and a game to lend me while I'm hanging out at home. Thank you, Cindy and Larry!

The rest of the weekend slowed down and was pretty lazy. It involved multiple s'mores, sleeping in, reading, and a cookout in Dublin. It was a relaxing end to the busy three day weekend.  

Oklahoma

I wasn't watching the news much yesterday. I heard about the tornadoes, but in general the news gives me a lot of anxiety so I paid minimal attention to it. This morning I actually listened to everything that happened. Now I feel like a complete moron for posting about my petty little aches and pains that are nothing compared to what all of those poor families are going through after that devastating tornado. My heart is aching for everyone suffering in Oklahoma, especially for those who lost their loved ones.

Pain and Atrophy

I had my second follow-up appointment today. It went okay. I still have a bit of swelling, but not too much. My quads are atrophying way too quickly though, apparently. I'm not sure why it's atrophying faster than they expected. Most of it is because I can't walk properly, I'm wearing a brace, and I'm not moving it a ton due to the brace. I've been limping/barely putting weight on it since before the surgery when I hurt it in the beginning of April, so it probably started atrophying then. It doesn't help that my appetite is still barely there, so I'm probably not eating enough to maintain what little muscle I had to begin with.

Atrophy. I don't think it looks too terrible (Until I stand
up. Then my left leg looks like it did when I was 12).

I've been doing all of the PT exercises except for one (quad presses). The quad presses were causing a lot of pain in the back of my knee, so they told me to lay off of them. I tried them again recently, and they are still quite painful. The physician's assistant (I still haven't seen the surgeon; he's been out of town and I'll see him in 2 weeks) said that I may have some sort of fluid cyst thing in the back of my knee causing that pain, and that I just have to push through it now. If I don't push through it, I have to use an e-stim machine to stimulate my quads since my leg is rapidly shrinking. I HATE e-stim machines. We practiced using them on each other in OT school, and some people said they were relaxing. I felt like I was being electrocuted and found it incredibly painful even on the lower settings.

It also hurts really badly when I bend my knee from about 20-50 degrees, which she said is probably scar tissue from the surgery and may eventually go away. For now, I have to deal with it. They also reiterated that the recovery that I was originally thinking would be 3 months is actually closer to 1.5 to 2 YEARS. It'll continue to feel better week by week, but she said it's a looooooooooong, slooooooooooooooow recovery. I'm patient with some things (children, the elderly, my patients), but I am not patient with myself at all. This whole process is literally driving me insane. It takes me forever to do everything, and I'm so sick of sitting on this couch. 

I also learned from the PA that redheads typically have a more difficult recovery, and a lot more trouble with pain management since the meds don't work as well on us. HOORAY. It's something in the gene that makes red hair. And, usually people who get OCD in their knees are boys, teenagers, very tall people, people who have had a huge growth spurt, and incredibly athletic people. I am none of these things, with the exception of being minimally athletic. I am just getting lucky and beating the odds all over the place. 

I wouldn't say I'm the toughest person in the world. I am a huge baby with anything emotional, but I'm usually decently tough with physical pain. Not lately though. Everything hurts, and I am so sick of constantly being in pain. My knee hurts (obviously) in 3 different specific places. The incisions hurt, even when a bed sheet barely brushes them. My hip hurts from doing all the PT and from compensating when I walk. My ankle hurts from how I have to walk with the brace and my foot hurts from the extra weight of the brace. My thumbs and wrists have hurt since fieldwork, and now they hurt a thousand times more from getting the brace on and off and from awkwardly moving around to compensate for my leg. Everything hurts.

The PA didn't look too thrilled when I mentioned I had been going for walks, so maybe I'm just doing too much. She said I shouldn't really be taking any walks, and that I should pretty much just be sitting on the couch, using the CPM machine, and doing PT. She said if I'm going absolutely stir crazy, I can go for a very short walk. I don't feel like I'm over-doing it, but maybe I am. I've never been good with moderation. I'm an all-or-nothing type of person, usually more on the "all" side.

I honestly think I'm going to start doing deep breathing exercises while listening to Bob Marley for at least 15 minutes a day, because I am going to explode (the 35 meltdowns I've had so far don't truly count as explosions, right?!) from the amount of stress I'm feeling if I don't figure something out soon. One part of me is saying "Wow, it's almost been 3 weeks already!" and the other half is going "Oh my gosh, it's only been 2.5 weeks. You have a wayyyys to go."

(Original pic from this site)

I apologize for being so whiney and complain-y. I really needed a vent post, even though I know there are things to be grateful for. Even if it takes me FOREVER, at least I can walk. At least I can bathe myself. At least I can still eat even if my appetite isn't always there. At least I still have leg muscles to atrophy, and they'll come back when I start the move intensive physical therapy. At least I'm still here and I still have my body to feel all of this stupid pain, and at least I have this handsome (and spectacularly creepy with his mustache that lasted approximately 15 hours) dude to give my sore foot that I can't reach a massage.

If this picture doesn't creep you out, I don't know what will.

Dad Update: He's doing really well! Walking around like crazy, and he abandoned his walker after about 2 days. He still uses it for long walks though. Dad has his follow-up appointment tomorrow.

Last, what we did for Caitlyn today. She only has 4 days left!

The video would've been longer but it kept freezing. We attacked her with poppers (which we saved for a day when Little John wasn't here so that we wouldn't scare him half to death again), and caught her totally off guard :)

My Quirky Family and My Dumb Mistake

My family is nuts. I love them dearly, but we are all a tad crazy (and are driving each other crazy lately). It's been especially chaotic recently. My mom never gets stressed, and between taking care of my dad, nephew, and I, I can tell she's reaching her limit. I don't know how she does it all! She called in my grandma for backup, and she deserves a week in the Caribbean alone after all of this.  

My dad and I are both typically non-stop, busy people, and with both of us barely walking, you can just feel the excess energy building up around our house. Add in my darling yet noisy and busy 2 year old nephew who is here at least three days a week, three dogs barking incessantly (my grandma's dog is currently here, too), and a TV that is always on and sometimes blaring depending on who is watching it, and it becomes a bit overwhelming for someone who typically thrives on peace and quiet. I am having a difficult time adjusting to having less say in my environment, and I am trying to just be thankful I have a roof over my head and family members to help me out.

Thank goodness I only have one more week with the CPM machine so that I won't be stuck on the couch as much. Although sitting everywhere else is incredibly uncomfortable, so I'm not quite sure where I plan on going. I am also nervous about having only one more week with the CPM machine, because my knee usually feels so good after I use it. 

Back to my family though...

I mentioned that John's birthday was this past week. With everything going on, nobody had time to get to the store and to make him his own cake, so this is the best we could come up with. Poor John.

Leftover ice cream cake and nut roll

Half of the ice-cream cake from my birthday (with mostly soy ice cream left since everyone ate the good stuff already), and half of a nut roll. Plus we handed John the cakes in the wrong order so he's 72 instead of 27. He didn't seem to mind too much. We were all laughing so hard we could barely get through the "Happy Birthday" song. 

Happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo...

Another goofy thing my family has been doing recently is greeting my sister when she gets home from school. She is so sick of school, and has the worst case of senior-itis. She says all they're doing in all her classes is watching movies or having study centers for the homework that she doesn't have, so she's bored to tears. To make her last few weeks of school more fun, we have welcomed her home in the driveway with a countdown sign, and each day we add something fun (balloons, bubbles, streamers, etc.). One day an insurance guy and this guy who is fixing our bathroom were here for the party. I'm not sure if they thought we were a fun family, or legitimately insane. 

The beginning of our countdown, way before surgery

Adding Nathan, Little John, and John on Skype to the party

Yesterday, we did our usual greeting then attacked Caitlyn with Silly-String. It was absolutely hilarious, and she wasn't expecting it at all! 

Surprise!

Four full cans of Silly-String ended up on her.

Unfortunately it scared Little John half to death, and he started sobbing hysterically. I'm not sure if it was the sound or if he thought we were hurting Caitlyn, but he was so upset. This is where I made a stupid mistake. I instinctively picked him up to comfort him because he looked terrorized and I was the closest to him. Due to my brace, I bent down with horrible body mechanics and pulled something in my back when I lifted him up.

When I handed John to my mom, I must've hurt my knee because it felt awful yesterday evening. I honestly have the body of a 90 year old. I have been off the pain pills for a while, and had to use them again last night because the CPM machine was killing my knee and sitting awkwardly in it was hurting my back even more. Because of my knee, I can't do the normal exercises I do to help my back when this happens. So now my knee is more sore than it's been in a week, and my back is in quite a bit of pain itself. 

To end it on a positive note, a few more "On the Brightsides":

• I went out to dinner on Wednesday with Kevin, Nathan, Hayes, Erin, Ashwin, and Rohan for the first time since the surgery. We went to Hampton's on King and it was beautiful out! It was wonderful to get out of the house even though it make my knee pretty sore to stay in the brace that long.
• My dad got HBO since he figures we'll be pretty bored sitting here the next few weeks, and now I can watch Game of Thrones!!! I just have to get caught up first.
• I received this lovely card from my church :)

P.S. Thank you Nate and Caitlyn for the rest of the pictures!

On the Bright Side

This recovery process has had it's ups and downs, and I have to say that a few days ago it was more on the down side. It's been pretty stressful around here lately with how much is going on with my dad's surgery and mine. I was in an awfully horrendous mood, and I am in awe of how my mom and Kevin haven't kicked me to the curb and abandoned me yet.

I thought I would be working at my first, big-kid job now, beginning my career in the exact position I wanted to work in. I thought I'd be saving up money and moving out of my parents house since I've been back here since I started grad school. I thought my knee wouldn't still be in a lot of pain nearly 2 weeks after surgery.  I expected to be able to go out to eat with friends still, go to movies, and that I'd have an easier time riding in a car. I also thought I could drive since it's my left leg. My brace is so big that doing anything besides sitting in a recliner is uncomfortable. My contacts are also STILL driving me nuts after multiple eye doctor appointments and new contacts, and this has been going on since January.

I've been frustrated with how long it takes to do everything and frustrated with having to ask for help so much. I've been scared to move too much since it's painful, but even more scared to not move and lose strength or range of motion. I've also been filled with immense guilt for feeling bad about the situation at all, because I know how lucky I am. I have an incredible support system, and this is hopefully just a temporary issue. I've seen plenty of patients who have it much worse, and I should be thankful for all the good health I still have. All of this shouldn't upset me so much. 

So, I've decided to try to look on the bright side of things:

I don't get to begin working when I thought I would, but...

I have the rest of my life to work. Now, I get the summer off! I can enjoy long, lazy days and I get to sleep in every day. It's really nice not worrying about an alarm clock.

Delicious fresh fruit

I have to spend 6 hours a day laying down using a CPM machine, but...

This gives me tons of time to read! I've been finally catching up on reading my Kindle, magazines, books, the newspaper, and short stories. I have also been watching more TV the past two weeks than I have the past 25 years combined. I've never been a big TV person, but I'm finding some shows I enjoy. On that note, I also found out 7th Heaven is on TV again!! Not new episodes, just re-runs, but they haven't had re-runs on for a few years! For anyone who knows me well, you know that is my favorite show of all time. I don't care how cheesy it is. 

So much to read, so much time (finally)

My pain meds were making me nauseous all the time and my appetite has shrunk from sitting around doing nothing but...

I lost some weight without trying at all. Hooray. That never happens! And I've been eating so much chocolate! I know this will come back to bite me in the butt when my appetite picks up again and I'll gain it back, but for now I don't mind.

Enjoying my birthday treats

Both of my knees still hurt and this surgery kind of sucks, but...

Hopefully it will feel much better in the next few months than it has in the past 15 years. Also, I found out some more wonderful news today!!! My MRI of my right knee came back, and I don't have osteochondritis dissecans in it!!!!!! I have some arthritis in my patella (knee cap), but they said as of now, I don't need surgery on the right knee. HOORAY!!! :D

I am going to continue to try to look on the bright side, and to keep in mind that "This too shall pass."

Beautiful orchids from my mom. They were a "Congratulations on your first OT job!" gift, but now I'm sort of looking at them as a recovery plant. They change form purple-blue to completely white, and some of them have already started to. Maybe I'll be better by the time they're all white (I enjoy goofy symbolic stuff like that).

Dad Update: My dad came home from the hospital yesterday. He is doing much better than the doctors expected, so he got to come home a few days early! Almost all of his symptoms from before surgery are gone already, which we are SO thankful for! He's having a difficult time getting comfortable sitting anywhere, but he's okay when he's laying in bed and he doesn't seem to be in too much pain. He's going stir-crazy already though, so we're trying to think of stuff to keep him busy that doesn't involve bending, lifting more than 5 pounds, or twisting. 

Also, Happy 27th Birthday to my older brother, John! Time is flying. I can't believe you're married and have 2 kids now. I hope your birthday was a good one :)

Healthy Healing and a Happy Birthday

Dad Update: My dad's surgery went well for the most part! His ligament was pressing on his spinal cord for so long that when they removed it, part of his dura mater (the outer layer of his spinal cord) came with it. The doctor was stunned he wasn't in there sooner. They ended up putting a few rods and pins in his back, too, because it was more degenerated than they initially thought. The surgery took 5 hours instead of 2, and after he was on bedrest for 24 hours, laying totally flat, to make sure his CSF fluid didn't leak from the dura mater tear. Hopefully this won't cause any complications. Today, he already walked with the nurses a little bit. He seems to be hanging in there!

As far as healing goes, my knee has been getting a little bit stronger each day, and my ROM (range of motion) is thankfully increasing without too much pain. I like to play Kanye West's "Stronger" in my head when I'm doing PT exercises because I'm cool like that, and I swear it makes them less difficult to get through. At my post-op appointment on Monday, I was at 50 degrees on the CPM machine. She said bump it up by 10 degrees each day, so I did, and I made it to 90 degrees on Thursday! Ninety degrees was the goal, so I called to ask if I should increase it even more. She said to stay at 90 for now since it's the "therapeutic range", so that's where I'm at for the next two weeks. Hooray!!!

I've also been hanging my lower leg over the edge of the couch and bed to increase my ROM. Sometimes this REALLY hurts, and other times, it feels totally normal. It always makes me a little nervous. This was me getting to 90 degrees a few days after surgery (when I was at only 40 on the CPM machine) on the side of the couch. It may seem like nothing, and it was something I took for granted every day before, but I was thrilled this first time I got to 90 degrees. Baby steps! 

Ninety degrees for the first time!

My knee is also getting more stable and hasn't been buckling inside the brace as much when I walk. I've now mostly been walking without the crutches. Occasionally I need them a bit more if I'm over-doing it (Like when I went to visit Dad at the hospital-that was a bit much and I ended up needing a wheelchair to get back to the car. Woops.), but typically I can sloooooowly walk without them. 

My dad recently bought a NutriBullet, and the book that it came with has a section on building healthy bones. I doubt I get enough calcium and vitamin D since I'm lactose intolerant, so we've tried to make a few of these smoothies to help my bones repair themselves better from the surgery. 

NutriBullet bone-building recipes 

This is the first one my mom made for me. It had avocado, banana, chia seeds, almonds, and spinach. It was so gross because of how thick it was...but I didn't want to waste it so I drank it anyway. Maybe the next one will be better!

Gross smoothie..the next one will be better!

Another essential part of healing...lots of chocolate. Kevin brought me this bar that is over a pound of chocolate. It's dairy-free but doesn't taste bitter. It's one of my favorites! Thank you, Kevin!

Awesome chocolate bar

I have also been getting all sorts of get-well cards and wishes. They make my day! My mom gave me a book called "Blissful Moments for Women." It has a bunch of Bible quotes and short passages, and it's perfect for right now. My grandma gave me a Willow Tree figurine, and a cross ornament. My cards are lined up on a shelf that I can see while I'm laying in the CPM machine. Erin visited me all day Tuesday and helped out while my parents were in the ER. She helped with my brace and CPM machine, brought Noodles & Co. for lunch, and brought Shakespeare In Love to watch. I was so thankful for her help and company! Thank you to everyone who sent something, called, visited, sent well wishes on Facebook, and who is praying for my dad, my family, and I! I appreciate every single thing everyone has been doing for me. 

Card from my Grandma Votino

Card from the Loisells

Card and book from my parents

Card and gifts from my Grandma Haase

I have also been continuously entertained by this goofy little dude (my nephew) since my parents babysit him 3 days a week,

(John Nathan being a cool dude)

and have had endless cuddles with my other precious nephew. Look at those cheeks!

James taking a nap on me

My birthday was perfect. I woke up to this awesome poster-board sign from Caitlyn, and these beautiful roses from my dad. Each year he gets me my age in roses on my birthday. My mom made me breakfast, and then I hung out with the CPM machine for 2 hours. I took a real shower, too, instead of a sponge bath/washing my hair in the sink. It felt glorious! I never really fully appreciated how amazing a shower can make me feel, or how simple of a task showering used to be compared to now. It's getting a little easier each time though.

Thank you, Caitlyn!

Twenty-five gorgeous roses from my Dad.
Thanks, Dad!

Jessica came to visit and brought me the awesome Strawberry Poppyseed salad from Panera for lunch, and then Ashwin stopped by to hang out and brought me one of my favorite desserts in Columbus: a flowerless chocolate torte with raspberry sauce from Hyde Park. Thank you, Jessica and Ashwin! 

My mom made chicken fajitas, salad, and fruit salad for my birthday dinner followed by ice cream cake! My corner had dairy-free cookie dough, and everyone else had real black raspberry chip. It was delicious! I got some pretty awesome presents, cards, and Facebook wishes. My parents are getting me a new camera that I get to pick out as soon as I feel up to it. John & Kel got me an adorable framed picture of Caitlyn and I kissing John and James' cheeks, and Kevin's parents sent me a hilarious card with a gift card for my Kindle. So far I've only rented library books on it, so I'm really excited to buy some books for my Kindle!

Kevin got me a giant box of fancy dark chocolates from Anthony Thomas (I'm seeing a theme here...everyone brings me food!), and ballroom dancing lessons for us to do together once my leg is rehabilitated. I can't wait to get better so that we can start! I went to a ballroom dancing club my freshmen year of undergrad with a friend, and it was so much fun. I've forgotten it all now though, so I am excited to learn again! This will be even more motivation to get through physical therapy and everything. 

Kevin and I after our walk

One of the best parts of the day was going for a little walk. We made it about three and a half houses down, which is the furthest I've gone without crutches, so that was another small victory. It was an incredibly slow walk, but everything seems to be incredibly slow lately.  It felt so nice to get out of the house, and it was a beautiful evening! It was a great way to end the day. 

P.S. I don't know what is going on with the spacing..it's normal when I write then gets messed up when I publish the post. I'll try to figure it out. 

The (Crazy) Past 24 Hours

It has been a CRAZY day in the Votino household. 

The day began with my post-op appointment. I felt incredibly car-sick from riding sideways in the back seat mixed with the pain meds (that I mostly took out of fear of getting my stitches out--the knee felt okay). We're trying to figure out a better way for me to travel.

The athletic trainer came in first and told me that the sutures looked good and healthy, and that they were healing nicely, so they wanted to remove them. To everyone who said it wouldn't hurt, you lied to me!!! It did hurt! Not as badly as I was expecting though, and the athletic trainer was awesome. Two of them felt like a pinchy-pully thing and were just mostly uncomfortable, and the last one stung really badly and brought tears to my eyes as I death-gripped my momma's hand. I am a big baby with that sort of stuff. I could never have been a nurse, and I admire everyone who is one. 

The PA (physician's assistant) was next since the doctor is out of town, and I was told to work on increasing my ROM (range of motion). The guy who delivered the CPM machine said increase 4-6 degrees a day, so I have been increasing 6-7 per day, so I was at about 50 degrees. The PA said I really need to bump it up and to increase it by 10 degrees a day, so that's what I've been working on. It's definitely not comfortable, but I want my ROM back! She also showed me some really cool pictures of what they did during surgery. 

The one on the left has the bottom of my femur and the top of my tibia, at the healthy part, how it should look.
The picture on the right is my damaged cartilage/bone that could've broken off soon. More pictures to come!

When I got home, my I spent some time convincing my dad to call a doctor about his hips/back. They have been hurting for quite some time (I think for over two months), and he's had numbness/tingling down his leg. I told him that's a spinal cord problem and to go to the doctor's and get an MRI. When he was having some bathroom issues yesterday, I insisted he call a doctor because of some syndromes we learned about in school where having bowel/bladder issues is a HUGE red flag. I was scared to death it was cauda-equina syndrome, which is a when there is pressure at the bottom of the spinal cord and it requires emergency surgery.

My dad finally called an orthopedic doctor since we don't know of any neurologists, and they told him to get to an ER immediately because of his signs and symptoms (saddle anesthesia, urinary retention, severe lower back pain, sciatic pain, numbness/tingling in his legs). Everyone in my family was a bit nervous at this point since we don't know of any good neurosurgeons. We talked to a family friend who is a nurse, and she convinced them to go to OSU, saying that's where the best back surgeons are. Around 3:00pm, my parents went off to OSU.

My wonderful parents at Siesta Key last year. My dad is rockin' that beach shirt.

I was trying to keep myself from worrying, so I worked on my PT exercises. I got through about 100 of each of them, until my leg started cramping. I bent it to try to increase my ROM, and when I straightened it it felt like something pulled in the back of my leg and there was a really sharp pain. I started freaking out that I had messed something from the surgery up, and left a message at the doctor's office. I laid on the floor for about 30 minutes and Caitlyn got me an ice pack. Caitlyn was going to help me up before she left for work, but I couldn't straighten it to put the brace on without a lot of pain. She had to leave so I stayed on the floor. 

Luckily, Kevin's wonderful boss let him leave early and he came to help me since the rest of my family was gone. After the ice, I was able to straighten it and get the brace on, and Kevin helped me to the couch. I couldn't put much weight on it without a lot of pain, so I was back to using two crutches when I had been using one or none. I am so thankful he was able to come to my house.

While this is going on, I'm continuously worrying about my dad and that I messed something up in my knee. The athletic trainer called back since the PA had left, and said I probably overworked or pulled either my hamstrings or my popliteus (a tiny muscle behind the knee). She said to take it easy and that if my knee locked at all, to call immediately because that could mean the plug popped out. I'm now trying to balance pushing myself to get my ROM back and taking it easy to not overwork anything.

Itty bitty popliteus muscle

Nathan and Caitlyn got home from work, so we all just hung out waiting to hear news about dad. I was Googling like crazy, trying to find a good neurosurgeon, and my parents were sitting in the ER waiting for the MRI. He finally got in to get an MRI around 6:30pm. They waited a few more hours to hear the results, and they heard there was something on his spine, but that the physician's assistant wasn't quite sure what and that the doctor would be there in the morning. At this point, a million scenarios are going through my head (Tumor? Cancerous or not? Has it spread?). The doctor said it might be a bone growth, but nobody was sure yet. 

Kevin, Caitlyn, Nathan, and I are all anxiously waiting, and then we hear a Buttercup throwing up. Sometimes Buttercup does that if she eats too quickly, so we didn't think much of it. Then she threw up again. And again. And again. Then, there was the worst smell ever, and she had diarrhea in the dining room. This continued for about an hour, with her throwing up or having diarrhea every 5 minutes. I have no idea how she got so sick. Normally I'm the pet person of my house when my mom is gone, but I can reach the ground with my brace. My siblings get too grossed out by it and started gagging when they tried to clean it up...so Kevin volunteered to clean it up. 

Feel better soon, Buttercup!

My mom now refers to Kevin as Saint Kevin. He truly is! I could not have gotten through last night without him. He helped me get my brace, my ice, food, blankets, socks, pillows, cleaned up cat mess, set the garage up for Buttercup, captured Buttercup to put her in the garage for the night since I wouldn't be able to clean in the morning, and comforted me while I had multiple emotional meltdowns from worrying about my dad. 

"Saint Kevin"
(Please excuse my terrible laptop editing.
Those are angel's wings, not blue ears.)

After an exhausting evening, everyone was finally settled and fell asleep. It was far from a restful night's sleep though. My hip was killing me from the PT, my knee was sore, and my pain meds were in the kitchen. I absolutely could not wake Kevin up and ask him to do one more thing, was too sore and exhausted to get my brace back on.

In the morning, we found out some excellent news!! My dad has a ligament bending and pressing on his spine, and he is scheduled for surgery on Friday. If the ligament is calcified, they'll remove it then put a rod and pins in. If not, they'll remove it. While back surgery never seems like good news, and it's scary since it's on the spine, we are thankful it wasn't a tumor, and that it wasn't cauda equina. He really wanted to come home before surgery, and they came home this afternoon since he didn't need immediate emergency surgery. 

The next few weeks are going to get crazy. We're praying for a complication-free surgery and a speedy recovery for dad, and for everything to slow down around here! Thankfully, my grandma is coming to town this weekend to help my mom out, and hopefully I'll be off of my crutches and more independent soon! We are all trying to take it a day at a time. 

P.S. Yesterday was also my Great-Grandma's 100th birthday! She always said she wanted to live to be 100, and she did it! Unfortunately, she isn't doing so well right now, and it's just kind of a day-by-day thing. 

Happy 100th Birthday, Great-Grandma Sophie!
This picture was taken November 2012 around Thanksgiving.