More news from the ACL battlefront

More news from the ACL battlefront
Captain’s Log, Stardate 11.25.2005

Thanks for the well-wishes and prayers!

Pammer, I think you did mention that to me, and I think I intended to try that, but I probably forgot. [sheepish grin] “Oh, I have a castle!”

I forgot to mention two things yesterday. “Oh! I have a castle!”

Sometime in between gassing me into unconsciousness and waking up in the recovery room, I came into contact with an allergen. I’m talking major allergy attack. I haven’t had one of these since I lived in Hawaii and suffered from attacks every season because of the tropical flora and fauna.

It’s no fun going through an entire box of tissues while lying prone with my leg in the CPM machine (It’s a machine that moves my leg slowly from 0 degrees (straight legged) to 40 degrees (bent knee). It’s to prevent freezing of the joints, and I’m to increase the degrees gradually over the next few weeks.)

I took a Claritin, which has improved things some. A runny nose post-surgery is NOT FUN.

And I mentioned a pain med pump the surgeon would install to deliver local painkillers to the knee joint. Well, instead of a tiny subcutaneous pump, it’s a gigantic syringe-looking thing attached to a catheter, which is stuck in my knee somewhere under all these bandages.

I have to carry this syringe in its little carry-case everywhere. I think the doctor will remove it on Monday when I go in for a checkup. It’s highly annoying, but I think it’s working.

The prescribed ibuprofen feels like it’s burning a hole in my stomach. I had to take an anti-nausea pill, which conked me out for a good 8 hours. I started taking over-the-counter ibu at a lower dosage. It seems to be working fine without the stomach side effects.

So far, I don’t think I have blisters. It doesn’t feel like it, anyway. I’ve been good about “pumping” my foot to stimulate circulation in my leg.

There is this weird thick pantyhose the surgeon pulled on over the bandages to keep them in place. I don’t even wear pantyhose to look sexy for a night on the town. I certainly don’t enjoy wearing it when I’m feeling miserable and stuck in bed.

You will note I am degenerating into one of those old women who delight in discussing the minutiae of their illnesses. I’ve discovered that there really isn’t that much to write about when you’re in bed all day.

I got some of my suspense revisions done today. Hopefully I will be able to do more later.