This is so cool! I had no idea that there was such thing as a client-only wiki. My experience has always been with wikis being server software. Mind blowingly awesome. I’m going to start using the Ten Foot Wiki for a future D&D game that I’ll run for my friends.
Strange, but I’ve sort of measured my life the past couple weeks from the perspective of how my recovery from knee surgery is going. I guess that’s because I haven’t been able to really get out and do too much. It’s something of an undertaking just to go out to dinner or to see a movie, since I’m on crutches. There have been a couple days where I’ve “overdone it” – trying to go too far on my crutches. If you’ve never been unable to use one leg and had to hobble around on crutches, it’s hard work! And very tiring. I know my arm muscles and abdominals have gotten a workout, that’s for sure!
Anyhow, so here’s a quick rundown of milestones.
1/9/2006 – the surgery
1/11/2006 – back to work thanks to telecommuting; took the bandages from the surgery off – wanna see? – and replaced them with gauze and tape from home; took a shower, being careful to cover the knee with clingwrap
1/14/2006 – first attempt to ride our stationary recumbent exercise bike – the attempt failed because my leg was too stiff to go all the way around the pedals
1/15/2006 – tried again on the exercise bike and succeeded with some effort; now able to turn the pedals all the way around (without resistance)
1/17/2006 – visited surgeon’s office for first followup appointment; got stitches removed and replaced with “Steri-Strips”
1/18/2006 – took a shower without clingwrap for the first time; went out to dinner (Taigun) and a movie (“Narnia”) to celebrate the 14th anniversary of when Beth and I met; over-exerted myself hopping around at the movie theater on crutches
1/20/2006 – the first day I didn’t take any Percocet at night – until now the pain was enough at night that it would occasionally wake me up
1/21/2006 – removed Steri-Strips – now there’s nothing covering the surgery wounds; first day I didn’t take any painkillers at all (not even Advil)!; knee was flexible enough to move the seat on the exercise bike forward into a more normal position and ride for quite a while
A female friend and former co-worker of mine joined Beth and me for dinner a few weeks ago. It was nice to catch up on what she’s been up to the past few years. I’m not sure why, but she mentioned this t-shirt to us, and how funny she thought it was:
But personally, I like this one more:
You have not truly lived until you’ve read and enjoyed a short story about Cheney and Rumsfeld as gay lovers:
The video for part of the surgery is a 67 megabyte MPG file. Most of the few people who read my blog probably don’t have the bandwidth to want to download such a thing, or don’t care to watch it. But if you’re curious, let me know by leaving a comment here and I’ll upload it and write a little bit about what you’re seeing. It is actually somewhat interesting.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that all the photos from the surgery are here.
The surgical procedure they did to me yesterday is called “microfracture”. I couldn’t remember the name when I wrote that last blog entry. From what I’ve seen online, recovery should take longer than what we had originally hoped, which was just some cartilage work. For example, from MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia:
Physical therapy begins in the recovery room immediately after surgery. The patient is connected to a continuous passive motion (CPM) machine that gently flexes and extends the leg for 6 to 8 hours per day for several weeks, often during sleep. The exercises are increased over time until the patient regains full range of motion. Such exercises are believed to speed up cartilage regeneration.
The patient will be told to keep their weight off the affected joint for 6 to 8 weeks. Crutches will be needed.
For whatever reason, though, my doctor hasn’t prescribed CPM for me. I asked his assistant if I’d need a CPM machine and she said that the he doesn’t normally use CPM for this sort of procedure, which seems a little strange given that (a) I had CPM last time when it was a less invasive procedure and (b) everything I’ve read online says CPM goes with microfracture.
Also, my surgeon said I’ll be on crutches about 4 weeks, not “6 to 8″. So I guess we’ll just have to see!
Meanwhile, I’m home resting again today. After I give myself a “spit bath” (I can’t shower yet) and put on some clean clothes, I’m going to recline on the couch, elevate the knee with the ice, and then…well, I’m not sure. There aren’t many things I can do prone on the couch. Maybe I’ll watch more TV, like yesterday. Or maybe I’ll play some Civilization IV on my laptop. Or maybe I’ll catch up on some reading.
Speaking of Civilization IV (“civiv” as they call it), I got that game a week ago or so, using a Target gift card that Polycom gave me. I’ve finished two games so far. The first game was the tutorial and I got an OK score. The second game – my first “real” game – I won, but my score ranked me as having approximately the same leadership skills as Dan Quayle. No kidding! When you finish the game and get your final score, they show you a scale which consists of famous civilization builders from history to compare yourself to. At the top of the list is Julius Caesar. At the bottom is Dan Quayle. Now I’m on my 3rd game, which is a simulation of what might have happened if civilization arose on Earth before the last ice age. I’m only a couple dozen turns into it, but I suspect what’s going to happen is that several nations will grow up, and then ice sheets will come down from the north and crush everything except what’s at the equator. We’ll see!
Well, today was knee surgery. It went well, I guess. We were back home by 10:30 AM, and I’ve been reclined all day long, under the effects of narcotics. The whole thing was surprisingly pain free. And I got a CD containing a movie file that shows the critical part of the surgery.
Last week, when I asked the surgeon how long to expect to be on crutches, he said “one week or four weeks.” Basically, he wouldn’t really know until he got in there. If there weren’t many problems, then I’d just need crutches for a week. If things were more messed up, then crutches for four. I didn’t talk to the surgeon afterwards, but Beth did, and she told me that he told her I’d be on crutches for a month. So, things were worse than they might have been. Beth said the surgeon said he did in fact have to poke holes in the bone to let some marrow come out to form “fake cartilage.” And the video confirms it. It’s weird.
I’ve watched lots of TV today, and now AMC is showing “You Only Live Twice.” That’s the one where Blofeld shouts awkwardly to his underling, “Kill Bond, now!” I love it.
New Year’s Day we started with another free “continental” breakfast, and then Beth drove us down the icy mountain. I took over driving at Georgetown. I’d originally thought of going to Pappadeaux’ for Sunday brunch, but we were both anxious to get home and, frankly, a bit burned out on dining out (not to mention that we both gained 40 or 50 pounds from all the great food we had between Christmas and New Year’s). So we came home, stopping by Taco Bell for a cheap and small meal.
All told, we soaked in 7 hot springs in 6 days, and saw a lot of new places we’d never seen before. Hopefully Beth will write at least one travel article about the whole trip.