On to more weighty issues

News from my orthopedic checkup yesterday was good. I have lost the cast on my left forearm (where did I put it...?) and now have just a removable wrist brace. No more plastic bag in the shower, no more stinky dead skin in the cast. I had a long soaking and scrubbing session to clean up the forearm and wrist, and it looks quite respectable now. Instructions are to work on mobility and then strengthen.

For the leg I'm told that all is staying in place nicely and the lack of any pain is a good sign. Instructions are to start at 40lbs and then gradually increase weight bearing to full over the next 4 weeks. By my calculation, this means the following weight bearing schedule:

26Feb   40lbs
27Feb   45lbs
28Feb   50lbs
 1Mar   56lbs
 2Mar   61lbs
 3Mar   66lbs
 4Mar   71lbs
 5Mar   76lbs
 6Mar   81lbs
 7Mar   87lbs
 8Mar   92lbs
 9Mar   97lbs -- Can stand with weight evenly distributed
10Mar  102lbs
11Mar  107lbs
12Mar  113lbs
13Mar  118lbs
14Mar  123lbs
15Mar  128lbs
16Mar  133lbs
17Mar  138lbs
18Mar  144lbs
19Mar  149lbs
20Mar  154lbs
21Mar  159lbs
22Mar  164lbs
23Mar  169lbs
24Mar  175lbs
25Mar  180lbs
26Mar  185lbs

Now all I have to do is adjust my diet so that 185lbs actually is full weight bearing on 26 March. All this sitting about and eating is not good for my waistline.

Quantifiable progress

Maximum right knee bend angle measured at 102 degrees on Monday, 112 degrees today. This is good. Also no pain medications for the past 5 days.

The real question is what news I'll get from my orthopedic appointment on Monday and my neurosurgeon appointment on Tuesday. I'm hoping for removal of hard cast on the wrist, and bone growth in the leg on Monday. On Tuesday it would be good to ditch the neck brace. We shall see.

Sauna expedition

The sight of my sauna, 30 meters away across the snowy garden, has been a little frustrating over the last week. It needs to be used when there is snow about, and the use is better if I am among those sweating. Last night this problem was addressed.

There was, of course, just one small problem: I can't walk over that 30m to get to the sauna as I have a broken leg. I can't even get there with my walker because the ground is uneven and covered in 5 inches of crusty snow. Friends to the rescue! I hobbled outside with the walker (again using the half steps that Polar made), enough to get off the deck to the edge to the snow.

I then lowered myself onto a plastic sled while Leslie held the walker steady to avoid any mishaps. It seemed important to keep the leg in the mending, rather than re-broken, state.

Leslie, Jonas, Laura and Polar then hauled the sled across the garden to the threshold of the sauna. I thank them for not letting go and sending me out-of-control down the driveway, that would have been bad. I then maneuvered myself in and onto the bench, sat and sweated.

Cook until lightly roasted, and reverse. Ahhh!

The phone company loves me

It just so happens that the start of my phone billing cycle was the day before my accident. I just got the bill for the month following and instead of the usual couple of hundred minutes, it seems I was on the phone for 1,905 minutes last month! That is over 31 hours or a little under 5% of the month. Yikes.

One other news... it is warm and sunny here, the ice is melting and the snow sinking away. Noises of snow sloughing off my roof are sometimes quite eerie.

Narc free for 36 hours

No pain medications for 36 hours now and I'm not in pain. Having saved up all those doses I'll be able to party hard tonight (joke).

When I say "not in pain" I should add the proviso "except when I do my PT exercises". Most are OK but the knee-bend is a killer. The pain is paying off though, on Thursday a knee-angle of 90 degrees was officially recorded. That is about 70 degrees better than it was a couple of weeks ago, just another 70 or 80 degrees to go.



Just in case you happen to live a few thousand miles away and haven't been inundated with snow of your own. Above is Kata the snow clearing fairy on Wednesday when we got about 18", after she cleared a long long path up my driveway and to the house. Thanks.

And finally, the vexing PBR question has been answered. To remind, the question was "how did a can of PBR get into my fridge?" This is not the usual choice of my very generous and discerning friends. The answer, I am told, is Chris. Hmmm, next party he throws... Waste not want not though, I drank it, with lunch. Burp.

The unbearable lightness of this water

I can sit and watch a rainy day without problems. I can sit and watch the sun stream in through my window without feeling too bad. Watching a foot of fun fresh fluffy snow accumulate as I am trapped and immobile is really frustrating. That is all I have to say about today.

Monday checkup: OK but no speed records

I had my first out-patient orthopedic checkup on Monday 12th (day 30). Many x-rays of wrist and leg. The wrist is healing well and I'll probably lose the cast in two weeks (hurrah!). The femur is OK, all bits in the right places, but not showing so much sign of bone healing so we just have to wait and see.

I did get permission for my PT to work on some new exercises -- ouch, why did I ask for that? I'm also encouraged to put 20lb weight on the right leg to encourage bone growth. This is not much, less that the weight of the leg. All progress though, if not as fast as I might hope.

To be fair to my PT, she did also suggest that I might take advantage of leaving to house for a checkup, and go out for lunch. Kata, Leslie and I enjoyed a fine lunch at Olivia's, washed down with some very pleasant fizz. Yum.

Incisive comments?

So, there you have it. A picture of my naked right leg. Sexy, eh? Actually, I'll have to agree that it is not a very pretty sight though the incisions are healing up very nicely.

I woke up on Thursday morning to an NPR report about increases in addiction to painkillers, especially OxyContin, the one I'm taking. I think I'd better avoid getting addicted, especially if there is any chance that Rush Limbaugh's brand of hate speech might have been in some way connected with his OxyContin addiction.

My new evening meal plan continues to work wonderfully. Thanks to Carol, Don, and Carl and Sandy! Yesterday I ventured to make supper myself -- it took me about three stints to make a simple pasta sauce but I think the achievement still marks progress of sorts.

Eating like a king

I'm now settling into the long haul waiting for my bones to mesh so that I can stand on two legs again. A fine silver lining is that I have friends coming over every evening to keep me company, to prepare a delicious meal, and even do the washing up. Thanks to Leslie, Jeni, Phoebe and Thorsten, and Laura! I wonder what Carol with bring tonight?

The weather has turned cold cold cold. There is snow for skiing and ice for climbing. I, on the other hand, am mobile only with the walker shown. Fortunately I have to wear the neck brace only when I'm up and about.

Gotta brag

I might be incapacitated at the moment but the mail reminds me of better times. I just opened a package to find a copy of the Alpine Journal 2006 with my picture of Ade on Good Neighbor on the front cover! We knew they were going to include the article about our climb (see also version on Cascade climbers) but I didn't know we'd get the cover. Yay!

I too can take a shower every day

To avoid any interpretation along the lines of Senator Biden's stupid comments, I'd like to point out that I make no claim that I will be any cleaner (hygienically speaking) than any 2008 or earlier US presidential candidate of any race. I do think my record on lying and war crimes stands up pretty well against Bush's though. Am I straying into politics? Oops.

Thanks to Don's efforts in fitting a hand-held shower head I can now sensibly shower on my own (cast in a plastic bag). Another feel-good step in the right direction. Kata had to head back to PA to work so I even fixed my own lunch. It wasn't very complicated (bread, seitan, oil, olives, juice), but I did wash the dishes too -- tidier than normal I'd say.