I am three weeks and two days into my recovery from a broken left hip. My recovery is supervised by an orthopedist, (see update at week one and week two) and he's recommended no weight bearing for the hurt leg, just "toe touch" walking with crutches, and maybe some time walking in a pool. I haven't been in a pool yet, but I've been hobbling around. I can and have driven, although the twenty one steps from our angled driveway to our front door make me avoid it as much as I can, and climbing into my tall Toyota Land Cruiser isn't easy. I am probably putting more weight on the left leg than I should, but I don't have anyone waiting on me, either. My family is already pretty tired of me asking for help.
I've been really depressed, stuck in the house, working from home. I've had lots of visitors, and they have greatly cheered me up. Sunday Lauren brought me to Wente Vineyards, where her friend Katy works, for some wine tasting. Joining us were Austin and Celeste, and we also sat with Katy's fiancee Tim, and his friends Sue and Chip.
I've been really depressed, stuck in the house, working from home. I've had lots of visitors, and they have greatly cheered me up. Sunday Lauren brought me to Wente Vineyards, where her friend Katy works, for some wine tasting. Joining us were Austin and Celeste, and we also sat with Katy's fiancee Tim, and his friends Sue and Chip.
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| Tasting wine with Austin and Celeste |
We 'tasted' nice wines in warm sunny weather until we were all quite jolly, then Lauren, Austin and Celeste invited ourselves over to Jon and Rebecca's house for dinner. Jon had recently been injured in a bike/car collision, so we shared stories. That was fun. Yesterday my friend Romany and her son Finn came to visit me with a gift of books and coffee. Romany's due date for her second child was also yesterday! She said that if walking up my steps triggered child birth, she'd be very happy. It was so nice to get a visit. Also, three of my co-workers drove out to my house and spend the day with me, working from my house. That was great, and I felt more productive and less sad. I've had more visitors and gift baskets and cards and posters and good wishes from many people. I can't list them all. Big thanks to Lili and Megan for a family dinner, delivered to our house, and medical advice too. Thanks to Caitlin and Tim for the gift basket! Thank you to those who've visited, so much for your kind thoughts, and also for the food. It's been impossible for me to cook, and Lauren can only do so much right now for our family. She's stretched thin. And the two teenagers are so busy being teenagers that they can't or haven't been able to help much, especially since one of them, Sam is recovering from a dislocated shoulder. He was doing cartwheels at the camp where he works as a counselor, last week, and his already damaged shoulder popped out when he tried to do a cartwheel on the grass. Now he's in a sling; two injured Fletcher men in this house right now is not a happy situation. The dogs haven't been walked in weeks.
I am still getting atrial fibrillation, too. Way too much. Twice it's been triggered by a single beer, and has lasted for as long as twenty four hours. That's not good. Atrial fibrillation, or afib can create blood clots that in sedentary people - me right now - can lead to strokes. Additionally, the more you have afib, the more you get afib. The aberrant electrical pathways begin to become well-defined paths, and can then become the primary pathway, leading to chronic afib. I believe it's at root being caused by the calcium supplements I've been taking, at the orthopedist's suggestion. I was hoping I was wrong, and added magnesium to counterbalance the effect calcium has on the arrhythmia, but I think I'm right. Sadly, it probably also means no more alcohol for me, not even a single beer. I have an appointment with an electrophysiologist - the people who diagnose and fix atrial fibrillation - but because of my new insurance, I have to wait until August 26th, five weeks from now, for an appointment. Really bummed about the afib, which ironically actually causes feelings of depression at the electrical / chemical level, and bummed about all the hassle of changing insurance and doctors and trying to find new people to help me with this stuff. I miss Kaiser Permanente!
I've been working from home for the last three weeks, doing sub-par work. That gets me down, too.
Yeah, so, I'm blue. I miss walking, riding my bike, being a functional member of society, being out of the house. Next Monday I'll get x-rayed again, and the doctor will tell me how I'm doing. We might have an idea then about whether avascular necrosis (AVN) is occurring or not; that's the death of the bone that forms the ball of the ball/socket joint we call the hip. But we may not know for a year or more if AVN is happening. I'll find out at that appointment whether or not I can return to the office, altho the logistics of commuting into SF on crutches is tricky, and I'm not yet sure how I'll do it. As of next Monday I'll be four weeks in, and I'll have two to go of remaining non-weight-bearing on the left leg; six weeks total. August 9th will be six weeks from my fall and break. I believe the orthopedist will have me continue on crutches after that, through August, progressively putting more and more weight on the left leg. He said something about getting on a bike three weeks into that phase, which would be circa August 30th.
Sorry for not being more up. But that's what's up with me.
I am still getting atrial fibrillation, too. Way too much. Twice it's been triggered by a single beer, and has lasted for as long as twenty four hours. That's not good. Atrial fibrillation, or afib can create blood clots that in sedentary people - me right now - can lead to strokes. Additionally, the more you have afib, the more you get afib. The aberrant electrical pathways begin to become well-defined paths, and can then become the primary pathway, leading to chronic afib. I believe it's at root being caused by the calcium supplements I've been taking, at the orthopedist's suggestion. I was hoping I was wrong, and added magnesium to counterbalance the effect calcium has on the arrhythmia, but I think I'm right. Sadly, it probably also means no more alcohol for me, not even a single beer. I have an appointment with an electrophysiologist - the people who diagnose and fix atrial fibrillation - but because of my new insurance, I have to wait until August 26th, five weeks from now, for an appointment. Really bummed about the afib, which ironically actually causes feelings of depression at the electrical / chemical level, and bummed about all the hassle of changing insurance and doctors and trying to find new people to help me with this stuff. I miss Kaiser Permanente!
I've been working from home for the last three weeks, doing sub-par work. That gets me down, too.
Yeah, so, I'm blue. I miss walking, riding my bike, being a functional member of society, being out of the house. Next Monday I'll get x-rayed again, and the doctor will tell me how I'm doing. We might have an idea then about whether avascular necrosis (AVN) is occurring or not; that's the death of the bone that forms the ball of the ball/socket joint we call the hip. But we may not know for a year or more if AVN is happening. I'll find out at that appointment whether or not I can return to the office, altho the logistics of commuting into SF on crutches is tricky, and I'm not yet sure how I'll do it. As of next Monday I'll be four weeks in, and I'll have two to go of remaining non-weight-bearing on the left leg; six weeks total. August 9th will be six weeks from my fall and break. I believe the orthopedist will have me continue on crutches after that, through August, progressively putting more and more weight on the left leg. He said something about getting on a bike three weeks into that phase, which would be circa August 30th.
Sorry for not being more up. But that's what's up with me.
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