Back To Iraq

My DS left for Iraq on Thursday. Sure wish it had been home for good but I was just glad to get what time I could while he was here. At least this time he left his car here with us. The other car wasn't as lucky as he left it with buddies and let's just say...they need oil in order to continue running :( I found a nice looking Jaguar for him while he was home and he went over and looked at it and ended up buying it. It's an awesome looking car too. A beautiful red with some sparkles in the paint. I canceled my therapy on Thursday so I could see him before he left.

I have also had to quit taking any pain pills. The percocet has caused me some issues that I need to relay to the doctor. Blood in my stool at least once a week if I take them. I have had some severe stomach pains for the past 3 days since my last dose. I wouldn't have taken that dose had the therapist not made my leg hurt so badly. So right now I am staying away from any pain medications until the DR can tell me what to do. As I write this, it is after 2 am and the pain is terrible. The blood in my stool only lasts for the first movement after taking the pain pills so I assume it is related. I am afraid to take anything for the pain though as I am afraid it will cause more trouble than good. Maybe I should call the hospital and they could suggest something for me. I have tried calling the doctor that prescribed them but I usually end up with the answering machine for the nurse. That really aggrivates me since I explain to the person I first talk to that I am having issues.

I suppose that is enough whining for now. I need to see if I can ease the pain without causing further problems. Have a great weekend.

Nice Sunny Skies

Today was extremely beautiful. It did manage to warm up a bit later in the afternoon but it wasn't terriblly bad. Therapy today instead of tomorrow and let me just say this..."OUCH!!" I think I mentioned that my therapist said I have some tendinitis below the knee. I researched it a bit tonight and..well...there are mixed "How to treat" exercise...no exercise...heat..ice...surgery..OMG though I did find where it said the quad being weak can cause this and this is part of my problem right now. A weak quad that only cooperates when it wants to. Well...that tendinitis pain is only part of it, and today he managed to bring out the pain. You see, I can't straighten out the knee all of the way and the tendinitis prevents a lot of the bending as well.

So today he gets next to me after I finished my leg lifts and presses DOWN on my knee. This hurt extremely bad and I know he was just trying to loosen up the muscles but "OUCH". I did remind him that my other leg didn't hurt, was free, and he had his head right over it...LOL He said just relax, well that was easy until he would press down and of course I would tense up because it hurt so badly. This was the first time since I started therapy that my leg continued to hurt hours afterwards. Actually, as I write this at 11:30 pm it is still hurting. I wonder how he will sleep tonight...probably better than I will. Enough for now as I need some rest.

The Birthday Boy

Here is a layout I have tried to complete for 2 days now. This time my program behaved itself and I got it finished. Not quite what I started with as the first one I had made everything for the layout. Maybe it was better this way as I really like how it turned out this time. This was one of the many photos I took at Riley's 2nd birthday party. He's such a little doll :) Now I am off to bed for the night.

Therapy....and Layouts.....hmmm...LOL...

Another day of therapy has come and gone. Seems my poor leg is giving me fits, so what else is new? Seems I now have tendinitis in my leg below the knee. The tendonitis caused me yet another sleepless night and then tells me quickly when I am moving it incorrectly. No more increasing the exercises or adding any new ones until the pain goes away in the tendon either. Let me tell you, it really hurts to say the least. I hope it doesn't delay my progress much though.

I am now at a 90 degree bend which is good since the last measurement he took last week was only 59 degrees. Straightening the leg completely is still an issue but my therapist said it will come in time. Who would have thought that something we take for granted would be so difficult to accomplish ? There seems to be pain for me in either direction, bending or straightening. My hope is for it to go away and the sooner the better. As for the swelling, I asked about it today and how long he thinks it will continue to swell. Well...I didn't expect his answer at all. He said it could be as long as 6 months before the swelling is gone and here I thought 3 weeks worth of it was a long time.

My DS stopped over for a few minutes today. He's so busy while he is home and I'll grab every second I can get. The days are getting shorter for his departure too which I am not ready for but know it's inevitable.

I have managed a couple more layouts. I have tons of pictures to use I just need more computer time. This first one is of my sweet great nephew Brandon. He was looking out the patio door and wanting to go outside and play with everyone else.

This one is of my niece Emily and her son and my great nephew Julian. Boy do they grow fast and right before your eyes. He's gotten so big since I saw him the last time. At least he was awake for pictures this time...LOL

Finally . . . I Did A Couple Of Layouts

Just a quickie post to show you 2 layouts I finally had the chance to do. Though it took several sittings I did manage 2 layouts today.

What A Fun Day . . . . .

I had a really fun day today, though tiring it was so worth every minute of it. My son and I went to Kokomo for my Great Nephew's 2nd birthday. So fun being 2 :) We spent the entire day down there with everyone and didn't arrive home until midnight. My leg is thumping but I will survive. I had so much fun and it was a much needed break from looking at my own house for so long. Not too much to post because I believe I am heading to bed now and going to get this knee some much needed rest.

My Boy Is Finally Home . . . .

CJ arrived home today around 4:30 pm. I was so very happy to see him again. To see he was ok in person and to hug him again. Of course pictures are always on the agenda here at my house and within minutes the camera was doing it's job again. He really looks good too and doesn't seem any worse for wear right now. His girlfriend Erica brought him from the airport since I had doctor appointments and therapy today.

Doesn't he look great here ? I think so :) It will sure be nice to have him home for a while. They went out for dinner and he said he will be back over tomorrow and sleep on the sofa if I didn't mind. How could I mind....I love it that he's home even if it is just for a little while.

On another note...though the first one was the best news of the day. I had therapy today and then the visit to the doctor. I am finally out of the straight leg brace I have been wearing for 2 weeks now. That makes me extremely happy because it had been causing me some terrible pain this week. The doctor said I didn't need a brace at all as long as my therapist thought it was a good idea. Well my therapist agreed with me today, hoping I could get out of that stupid brace. I did however decide I still needed some support because it just felt better when walking if I had some. So I am wearing a hinged knee brace right now. The doctor told me the other brace was basically because my leg muscle needed the help and not the knee since everything he did to the knee is good to go.

With my knee having limited mobility right now this brace seems to help me walk much better and steadier. I still don't have pain free or complete bendability yet and straightening it completely out is painful. It is however coming along much better than the first time I had therapy. Unfortunately my therapist did say we might need to get a bit more aggressive since the muscle just above the knee is sore and hard when I bend and causes some pain. I did come off the table, or as my therapist said "Did a wheely", with some of his help in the bending today. So for now it looks like at the least, 2 more weeks off of work and we will go from there.

Getting under the desk is a bit easier now but still painful so computer time looks to still be limited time. I will be so glad when the knee gets as back to normal again, or as close to normal as possibble. I will be looking at some arthritis later in life because of the damage he found on my bones that he smoothed out while in there. I suppose it is just something that is inevitable and he did say it would have been worse had he not smoothed it or found it so that seems to be a big plus.