I’ve got to make the decision today about what I’m going to do now as I’ve only booked this week off as holiday.
I’ve been going over everything in my mind since the early hours of this morning; I’ve done the shopping and I’m up-to-date on food shopping but I’ve got the house to clean yet!
Looking at it from my wife’s capabilities I don’t think I can expect her to cope on her own next week so really there’s no choice as far as I can see.
I’m going to get in touch with my line manager shortly and tell him I need at least another week yet, maybe more.
I won’t be paid but I don’t want to use up all my holiday hours and have to go from now until next April with virtually no time off!
If she’d had the staples / stitches out and there was a lot less swelling it could be different but I can’t take the chance and be worried all day I’m out of her sight.
She’s doing OK today but there’s still no sign of the swelling diminishing as yet. stevmk2
stevmk swelling of the leg is variable and can be quite toublesome to some patients for several weeks, swelling can cause the leg to ache and indeed make the leg feel very heavy.
Sitting for long periods should be discouraged and in between frequent walks, it is better to be in a reclining position, also don’t worry if the leg becomes bruised this too will settle in due course.
We weren’t expecting the swelling to be as troublesome as it’s turning out to be - that’s the problem Pats.
My wife’s up and about every half hour going for walks along the street - on her own now - and she really does hate sitting about but what’s getting her down the most after the swelling is the aching in the leg, even though we knew and expected that.
She also found it difficult, (if not downright uncomfortable!), to maintain a reclining position as it gives her a backache so she aims for a halfway solution raising the “bad” leg slightly on a small stool.
The main thing with my wife though is that she’s impatient and there’s nothing I can do to convince her it’s going to take longer than she thought! stevmk2
I am afraid that your good lady will have to try and be patient, we can be bad patients when we are unable to ‘function normally’ and do everything we are used to doing.
Elevating her leg on a stool is fine steve, but make sure there is a cushion of pillow so as not to have her calf resting on a hard edge of the stool as that can affect the circulation and the swelling.
Well she had the best night’s sleep since before the “op” last night - I’m really pleased too 'cos I know / sense she’s uncomfortable so it effects me too!
Nothing to do with hearing her in my case either - no aids in so naff-all heard!
She’s out walking again - does this several times a day and she’s getting further and further up or down our road.
I’ve been so busy doing housework today - got a bit behind so really got stuck in today - didn’t even notice she’d gone out a couple of times!
I said to her this morning, if you do a quarter of a mile at a time, by the end of the week you could be 5 miles away!
Tell you what, those crutches may be aluminium but they don’t half hurt when you get whacked with 'em! :shock:
I’ve emailed work to tell them I will need more time - I work for a charity that looks after disabled people but at times like this I’ve got to put my wife first haven’t I?
Still makes me feel a bit guilty though…
She’s doing’ really well on the meds now - she’s cut them right down and although I was a bit concerned, she said she doesn’t like the upset stomach they cause so she wants to try to get the dosage down.
Bit annoyed to find that the District Nurse that’s supposed to be all set-up to remove the stitches / staples has NOT been set-up at all!
My wife has got it set-up now but the excuse from her surgery was pretty feeble again - they didn’t know if they’d picked up the info from the hospital or not!
How hard is it to check?! It’s in the same building! stevmk2
She’s fed-up today though Pats - it’s raining quite heavily here and she wanted to walk further afield today!
I’ve borrowed a proper wheelchair with supportive seating cushions and adjustable foot rests from work so, if it’s fine tomorrow, we’ll go for a longer walk but I’ll take the chair just in case.
We used it before when MIL came up because she’s unable to walk more the 50 yards now.
I finished off the housework today - took me longer upstairs yesterday and I’ve had to work around shopping twice because, despite doing a big food shop on Thursday, there’s a lot of fiddly bits 'n bobs we needed or we’d run out of that I don’t get in Aldi or Asda because our town centre’s better value.
My wife chased up the surgery again yesterday afternoon and they say a District Nurse will be visiting her - soon.
That’s it - no definite day or date despite the fact that the dressing is supposed to be removed within 14 days of the operation and it’s 11 days today.
We’re waiting for the physiotherapist to visit now on Monday; they 'phoned her on Thursday.
We’ll see if they can do anything or lean on anyone for us - they did before.
What I can’t get over is all the stuff we were told by the hospital about the risk of infections - MRSI etcetera, yet nobody seems to care about removing dressing or even checking that the wound’s healing!
Not happy with this at all but we’re keeping a close eye on the dressing she has on and the area around there - it’s all we can do.
It’s one of the reasons it took me virtually 6 hours cleaning - I’ve done a really deep clean everywhere, just in case! stevmk2
My wife’s gone back up to bed for a bit of lie-down - she’s not doing so well today for some reason and she says everything aches.
She ate most of the cooked breakfast we always have on Sundays but left a fair bit, which is unusual for her.
We’ve checked everything we can - make sure there’s no obvious, physical problems but she does have an upset stomach again.
She cut down on the ibuprofen and paracetamol yesterday so perhaps that explains the aches and pains back but it doesn’t explain the stomach upset again - bit of a mystery there.
It could be the weather’s affecting her mood too as she couldn’t get out much yesterday.
I’m hoping she’ll feel a bit better later and if she’s up to it I’ll take her out in the wheelchair, with the crutches, for a bit of a change of scenery and some exercise, which she needs to keep up. stevmk2
My wife didn’t stay upstairs long as it was a bit noisy she said.
We still had builders yesterday working across the road and they’re not exactly like Apaches when it comes to moving around - you’d hear them in the High Street!
She got up again and I got her to go out.
I took the wheelchair but she walked the entire way from our house to Sainsbury’s - over half a mile!
Coming back she got a bit tired and got in the wheelchair but she still did around three-quarters of a mile so that’s pretty good.
It’s worked wonders too because the swelling’s virtually gone now but so have the aches and pains and she feels confident enough to use just one crutch. stevmk2
