Laughter as a medical vehicle...

Today, I visited Nurses M and D and had the Unna Ankle Boot (fashion statement that is NOT coming to a store near you) replaced with the full leg variety. The Suzanne modified boot was taken off and I lament to the wonderful nurses how I'm really bummed. The leg looks better, but I don't think I'm going to get my shot on America's Next Top Model.

The wounds have improved, but Nurse M is doubtful. She hasn't really seen them in a couple of months and heck, she thought those suckers would be long healed. This is me we're talking about, nothing ever goes as planned. I describe previous wound sizes and depth and she gets the idea to have Nurse D catalog the wounds for my file. I continue to joke "Hey, I'm getting my photo shoot? Which magazine will I be in?" Good fun. I suppose I should give them copies of the pictures that I won't put in the blog because I know some of you have weak stomachs and others of you, well, you'll use my leg for your master's thesis for a nursing degree!

My latest script for Hydrocodone was for 50 tabs. We talk about that. On Saturday, I got the brilliant idea to take one tab instead of two every six hours. It was not one of my smartest moves, trust me. There was lots of pain. I was told to try taking 2 tabs while working, but one for bed, or better yet, try working naproxen into the mix.

Okay, I'm game (aka STOOOPID). I was due for medication when I left the office, and I take one tablet. I return to work, very tired because I sat and did nothing for an hour and a half. The weariness continues and I come home, eat dinner and fall asleep on the couch at 9pm. I was due for meds at 10. Lately, I've been able to sleep through the night, provided I had a dose within 2 hours of bedtime. The conventional wisdom is that I'm not as active, I shouldn't need it. (We won't discuss that bedtime seems to be 2am because of the pain issues)

It's 2am. From about 11pm until 1am, I tossed and turned until I gave up and got up and took the meds. Considering how I felt, I went with two tablets.

So, in case you ever need an Unna Boot, the fashion police may like your variation on the Ugg Boot. It's not the best version for me. The boot compressess the leg to improve blood flow to promote healing. When you're Suzanne, and you have a defective valve, it causes more swelling in the mid calf area. The goal for me is to get the blood flowing up to the knee, where the circulatory system works well. Instead, I made it pool between my knee and mid calf. Perhaps this is why I had the RSD flare.

I also got to share my bad humor on another front. We went to visit Ed's mom and Jane Saturday. Their pool is very nice and ready to go-alas, no heater means its not quite warm enough for use. This didn't stop Ed and the boys from going in. The humor comes in the form of telling everyone that I was a Howard Jones song on Saturday. "You can dip your foot in the pool, but you can't have a swim" and "Unna Boot is to Blame".

If I didn't have a sense of humor, I think the family would be tired of all the crying I could do about this situation. However, it'd sure be nice to live without the RSD flares and trying to live without pain medications when its clear that my body needs them...

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