I have to say that my initial impressions of the Glenrose have not come anywhere near to what I was expecting. After getting my belongings organized, I sat mostly gazing out the window from my bed. I spoke to my daughter to let her know my sister-in-law would be dropping off the flowers she didnt know what to do with. I sure hope all the plants are not dead by the time I get home LOL
Just a quick aside here: I was weighed earlier and came in at 165 lbs on the nose. That means the combination of amputation {approx. 12 lbs} and hospitalization {hospital food} has helped me lose 14 lbs WOW!! lmao
"I lost 14 lbs on the new BKA diet and you can too!" roflmao ;-D
Phantom pain getting worse. Took tincture at 7 pm.
OMG! I had my worst night to date. It started with my sweetie not being able to come see me at all. By the time he finished and errand for one of the girls, it was after 11 pm and he called to cancel ;-( I was upset but I breathed through it, took more tincture and tried to sleep. The first thing that happened once I finally got to sleep was me shouting out "HEY GET OUT!" in my sleep. It was loud and echoed in this big room. Scared the shit outta me. Woke me right up and started the spasms all over again. I no sooner got settled again, when there was a loud clanging at 1 second intervals. I thought it must be some kind of an alarm going off. Then I heard some doors open or close and an "alarm force" type voice but couldn't quite make out the words being said; and the clanging just continued. I then heard fire trucks or sirens; LOTS of sirens; WTF??? The clanging had stopped only to come back on again a couple minutes later. It was like this all friggin night long and in between I was subjected to the worst phantom pain to date {7} The spasms, literally nooo control; feels like electrical jolts, not shocks, JOLTS!! Then the whole leg shakes and moves involuntarily.
So now, it's nearing 6 am and there has been maybe a 30 minute window of calm in the hospital and suddenly, we're treated to the same fire alarm; sigh, like a really bad alarm clock. What were they doing? Testing it NOW??
Today is my mother's 73rd birthday and I wish I could be there.
So, back to the day, I've been rudely awakened and the spasms are starting again, ugh!!
"Would you like something for pain?" a male nurse asks me.
I said, "a hell of a lot pain killers are gonna do for a foot that's not even there, so no thanks." Then he starts rattling off just little bits and pieces of what's going to happen to me now that I am here. Breakfast is a la carte to your room but I am expected to have lunch and dinner in the dining room {wherever THAT is!} and only during specific times which I didn't catch LOL I asked if I could have a shower because, oh yeah, I have hot flashes and soaked the bed again the night before, but he says he'll have to see what day/time I am scheduled??? This totally sucks. My head is reeling and it's not even 7 am. I'm not going to panic though and I keep dozing in and out as I am writing because of the night it was. I am determined to just take things as they come.
So turns out that every Thursday morning is a mandatory amputation education session for an hour at 9 am. Today's topic: Wound and Limb Care.
Breakfast came and went. I got no choice because someone ordered me a tray. ;-( So no hot cereal. Then my nurse for the day said I could shower ;-D so I did that. It was ok but hard to get around on a commode that was too hight for me and had 4 brakes put on LOL Stuck like a rat in a maze though so kind of frustrating waiting for help. Still haven't found out my shower day yet. Wondering if my nurse was just trying to help me feel better lol. She said that I would be popular today being the new kid on the block.
So far physio has been to see me about my wheelchair but havent brought a different one yet; just the board, cushion and pad.
I went to the wound and limb care class on the 2nd floor but had to leave early because the doctor was back up on the unit waiting for me.
Aside: Turns out that one of the GP's assigned to my unit is the son of my old paediatrician. Spitten image but I told him he's better looking lol He said the physiatrist doctor would likely see me today too. I'm going to try to rest before lunch. Wow! good thing I had that little nap before lunch lol because right after I was busy with the doctors, I had my 1st physio assessment. Guess I'm some kind of medical marvel LOL It's day 7 post op and apparently I am a week ahead of schedule in healing. No one can believe the limb is completely healed on the incision and that there is no drainage and hardly any swelling. My shin feels like I banged it hard but the overall condition is really, really good. I think they are thinking about keeping me in for 2 weeks doing weight training and wrapping my stump. Then they want to send me home to recouperate for 6 weeks and return to the hospital to be fitted for my prosthesis.
I did a full lower limb workout today even though I didnt have to. Maybe sore tomorrow but I doubt overly so.
I got to finally say happy birthday to my mother around 10 pm. I was grateful that my daughter and a good friend of ours managed to bring her a nice meal and presents and call me so I could speak to her. She said she was really glad to hear my voice. I was glad to hear hers too. I told her how well I am doing and that I would see her the 1st chance I get.
Well, it's now 11:20 pm and lets hope I have taken enough tincture to battle these phantom pains for a couple of hours.
1:00 AM Worst phantom pain yet. I thought it was suppose to get better now worse ;-( Unwrapped my stump and let it breathe for awhile. Next time I worke up I re-wrapped it.
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