Quality of life restored.

September 17th 

Nearly seven weeks post op, and I'm doing brilliantly. Still some pain behind the knee, especially if my leg has been raised for any length of time. The exercises are going really well, and I have gone from doing the step-ups with a block of a 6-inch rise to our front step, which must be well over a foot. I can truly say this was the best decision of my life. No more arthritic pain, and Ian has noticed how much happier I am. I say to anyone considering having a knee replacement, go ahead...you won't regret it.

 

Block

Front step

 I'm walking now without a limp and can manage roughly a mile all by myself, no hanging on to Ian for support. Even the swelling is going down and last weekend I managed to be on my feet for 5 hours serving tea and coffees for the Heritage Open Day and not a twinge of pain felt!

So that Heritage Open Day (HOD's). It's organised every September to celebrate the history and culture across England and thousands of volunteers organise events for people to find hidden gems and experience new places, all for free. It was decided that our canal society should partake and the Erewash Canal be put on the map, so the Toll House, Pump House and taking groups to see the dry dock and finished extension of the Cromford Canal, were the highlights of our event.  Considering rain and high winds had been forecast, we got away lightly, a brief thunderstorm early afternoon, okay the rain was torrential and had us all scrambling to cover up the cakes as well as ourselves, but that was the only thing to mar a very good and well attended day. Ian was the volunteer at the Pump House, showing folk around and talking about its history, a task he relished.

 

Historic photos of the pump house (can be viewed via ECP&DA website gallery)

I manned the refreshment gazebo and somehow got myself volunteered on making the hot drinks. That's where I stayed until it closed at 3 pm! All those lovely cakes on show and I didn't even have one! The diet is still on the cards, I've not lost any more since the op, but at least I haven't put any on!  

 As usual, I took photos for your enjoyment. 

The gathered group, ready to be led by Micheal (the font of all knowledge about the Erewash), to the Cromford extension. (He knows most pubs around the system too! 😂)

Tombola

Jenn having a go.

A band to serenade us all

 

Shirley on ECP&DA stall hoping to recruit new members.

Yet another knee update

 11th September

The physio did phone back last Monday afternoon and seemed totally unconcerned about my fears. She ruled out nerve damage, that is very rare apparently, and said it was all to do with the muscles healing. She mentioned that knee replacement is brutal, the first thing the surgeon does is dislocate the knee cap and then pulls all the muscles, tendons etc out of the way before sawing away the knee joints. Holes are then drilled in the ends of the bone and the new joints hammered in place! No wonder healing takes time and because of my unfortunate mishap a few weeks ago, mine may take longer. So I have had a prescription for Co-codamal which I must take three times a day along with Ibuprofen. There are side effects..... constipation....oh joy of joys!

Getting on and off the boat has also been better than I expected. Lack of water meant FS was sitting on the bottom so no need to step up onto the back deck, just straight across. Getting down into the boat was slightly more challenging but going backwards and stepping down with the bad leg whilst hanging onto Ian, worked a treat. What didn't work so well, and something neither of us had even thought about, was how to get into bed? At our son's in Milton Keynes I had loads of space to swing the bad leg up onto the mattress, but in FS I have about a foot between the wall and the bed. The radiator hindered as well, and Ian even had thoughts of having to remove it, but after a bit of trial and error, getting my bottom as far up the bed as possible, almost on the pillows, gave me just enough room to swing the leg up.

We had hoped to take FS to Huddelsford the third weekend of September for the Heritage boat gathering, but lack of water has seriously effected the locks at Fradley and Glascote, and the Erewash is more like a shallow ditch as no water is coming from the feeder at Langley Mill. I did wonder if the event would be cancelled, but checking on Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust website, found it's still going ahead. Click HERE if you would like to attend, as there is more to see and do than I expected. We contacted Christine, the organiser and asked if we could take the motorhome instead. We got the thumbs up so that's something to look forward to. 

 I don't expect to blog again for a while unless there is anything more to report about the knee replacement, but I expect to continue with my ramblings once we are on the move again.

 

Knee update

 Oh dear, I have been very lax in keeping up to date with the blog. It was a harsh, gentle reminder from Marilyn asking what was happening that spurred me on to do one! 

So here goes.... this was my reply to Marilyn. 

All was going well, walking much improved, no more using the crutches or stick. Knee still felt tight at the back, but exercises helped. Nearly at the 90 degrees when I had a massive setback nearly two weeks ago. 
In bed, trying to turn on my side, when suddenly had shooting pains go from my outer knee right down to my foot. From that moment, all attempts of exercises went out of the window! I suffered for 5 days before deciding I had to speak to the physio. She immediately asked if I could see her that afternoon, so on Wednesday Ian drove me the 2 hours to the Park hospital in Nottingham. (We were still at our sons in Milton Keynes)
Long story short, I have damaged the soft tissue which is causing the cramping pain that I'm getting. Cold compression was advised and gently exercise, no going to run the marathon! Apart from that, she was really pleased. I have done better than most people, 5 weeks post op. She was amazed I walked in with barely a limp, and all the tests she gave I passed with flying colours. She even said my bend was already past the 90 degrees (not in my book, I thought, but the very large set square she used told a different story!) Anyway, I have been given more exercises to do when I'm able, and she has signed me off. One thing that has worried me slightly is how will I cope back on FS. For 5 weeks, I have had the space to move around and to exercise without any obstacles to hinder my progress. Quite how I will cope back on FS was something I didn't want to think about. I mentioned to Marilyn that we may have to reconsider our plans and sell FS to buy a Park Home.

Marilyn immediately came back with this reply.

Oh bugger! 

It’s those over confidence moves that catch people out. A lot of stretch in that turning movement that previously you’d never even think about. 

I’m pleased you’re on the mend again and excellent re the >90deg bend!!

It’ll be good to be back on the boat, Irene. And in a way I’m not surprised about you looking to move on land. Is a park home fully serviced? Is it a retirement community? Does it have nursing/care staff?

Tell me more!!

 

Instead of me trying to explain all about Park Homes, it's easier to click the link HERE

Then, about 3 days ago and doing a step-up exercise, another shooting pain but this time even worse! It didn't wear off when sitting or having the foot raised. In fact, leaving my leg in one position for any length of time and then trying to move, meant I had to keep changing leg positions before finding the least painful position to be able to stand up! Painkillers once again became the norm and because we were due to return to FS in a few days, decided not to phone the hospital again but wait until our return (which was yesterday 7th Sept) So that's where I'm at, at the moment. I have phoned the physio department and a return phone call will be sometime today. Hopefully it's not something bad like nerve damage. I also had a letter waiting from the consultant changing my September appointment to October 2nd. Blast.... I was hoping to see him earlier! I will update later.