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You are welcome to apply any part of this article to your own personal use. Please do NOT publish any part of the article or apply any part of it to any non-personal use without the express written concent of the author.
Hi all,
Well, we saw the orthopedic oncologist today. It's been exactly one week since he did the surgery. Things look beautiful (surprise!).
In 7-10 days we'll need to have a doctor (preferably a surgeon) check out the surgery site. We have some flexibility here, as it doesn't have to be my orthopedic oncologist that does that particular follow-up. So we could head back to Ft. Lauderdale and have one of the local guys check it out down there.
We'll be back in Gainsville to see the orthopedic oncologist again on February 18. Until then, with some slight ease in restrictions, I'll keep doing what I've been doing: resting and letting my body heal.
Thanks again for all your kind thoughts, emails, phone calls and cards. They've all helped keep my spirits high throughout this adventure.
For more details, read on...
I'll continue using the leg brace at least until I see the doctor again on February 18. But I no longer have to wear it 24/7. For example, if I'm resting in bed or on a couch with pillows for support I can take the brace off -- I just need to keep my knee flexed at somewhere between 30-60 degrees. I probably won't start doing that for several days, until we're comfortable with manipulating the brace without a home care nurse to help. The leg brace, by the way, is now adjusted to allow that same 30-60 degree movement. That makes it infinitely easier to get into a car or sit in a chair for a meal.
We'll probably still have a home care nurse come in once a day for at least a few more days. It takes about 3-4 separate hands to hold the dry dressings in place (no tape is used) while an Ace Bandage is being wrapped around my leg at the surgery site to hold everything in place. Once that's done, it's a simple matter to wrap a second Ace Bandage around the leg from my ankle to just above my knee. Ace Bandages are used because they provide some support to the muscles, and they help prevent swelling. If my foot begins to swell, I'll need to include it in the wrapping ceremony.
I do have two simple exercises to do to keep the flexibility in my hip. They're easy to do while lying on a bed, and I'm not allowed to work up a sweat. Physical therapy won't start until the leg brace is permanently off, and that won't happen until the surgical wound is healed.
I'm still not allowed to take a shower. The water would cause the dissolvable sutures to dissolve too soon. Perhaps in 3-4 days. Until then, spitbaths prevail. When I'm ready for a shower, I'll need to find one that's not combined with a tub so that I can walk directly into it using my crutches. So I can't use the one in our current room at the Rush Lake Motel.
I'm doing pretty good in the pain department. Yesterday was the first difficult day, and with a quick response from the doctors with a second pain medication, it was quickly back to a manageable level. On a scale of zero to ten, where zero is no pain and ten is the most excruciating pain imaginable, I'm typically around a half to one and a half. Yesterday I was getting shooting pains at about level six, which would last for maybe a minute or so then subside. Today I was back to the low levels until having to get up and about for the visit with the doctor. Now it's between two and three, so I'll be taking some medication to calm things down after sending off this message.
We don't yet know when we'll be leaving Gainsville. With the leg brace it's impossible to get aboard the boat, so we'll have to make alternate living arrangements before we can leave.
All for now.
Fair winds,
Capt. Edmund "Bear" Downing
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