2 week update

WOW, it's already been 2 weeks since  my surgery.  I've made a lot of progress in the last week that has made moving around and becoming more independent  easier:

1. I stopped wearing my ginormous brace.
2. My pain decreased enough to stop taking painkillers.
3. My fat swollen leg has diminished a tiny bit, enough for me to crutch around without getting dizzy.  So I can make something to eat or pick up a few toys or throw a load of clean clothes on the floor. (All of these things take me 10 times longer though!)
4. I can bend my knee enough to get into the car, so my father-in-law took me on an out-of-house adventure yesterday.
5. I can get up and down from the floor and grass!!!  This is my favorite!
6. I can sleep on my side a little bit each night!!!  Second favorite!!
7. And I got a handicap parking permit.  Awesome.

Grandpa's in town

Afton and Abel are having so much fun with Grandpa.

  It' s been nice and hot here, so the water hose got turned on Grandpa.

Abel stayed a safe distance from the sprinkler...and Grandpa!

This is how Afton felt about Grandpa...

Turning the hose on her!

horse ranch field trip

Daddy got to accompany Afton and Abel on the horse ranch field trip today. I was so bummed to miss out of their first horsey ride :(

Laughing out loud

Abel and Afton still say the funniest things.  These are my favorites right now:

Abel: I cannot believe it!

Abel: Mommy say "activitae" (or however the spanish diego word is spelled)!  LOUDER!

Afton:  Oh, fart!

Afton: I need to take my queen nap now.

One of the neat things about being bum ridden is getting .to watch my kids interact, make funny decision and see how their brain works so hard sometimes

lesson leanred

Yesterday was a bad day.  I went in for my post-op visit and got some stitches taken out, got a good look at my knee (good thing I didn't eat lunch because it wasn't pretty) and had to bend my knee.  My doctor assured me I could bend it further, I assured him I could not.  He bent it anyway and I cried.  It was like being in the transition phase of labor, except that the pain never ever ever went away for the rest of the day!  

The good part was I got a protective bandage for my incision area which meant a shower could finally happen.  Except that when I tried to take a shower and removed all my layers of protection, the pain and pressure made me almost pass out.  And I can't think of a safe way to get into the shower anyway.  

I did manage to wash my hair in the sink (so glad I learned this skill well as one of 5 girls in a family of 6 with 1 bathroom) though.  That made me happy.

And painkillers.  I appreciate the quiet floating feeling after too much pain.  

And now I'll stop whining.

pain and protection

Right now I've got protection of 36 inches long and 5 inches thick protecting the brand new knee. And I've got mad skills: getting up and out of bed and back into it on my own, up and off the couch and today I threw away some of my own trash. I rock!

And of course the protection of my three loves! Any pain I have is dampened by watching scenes like this...

Abel sings

Abel's performance side is really blossoming.  He loves to sing songs and be applauded for his talent.  I captured a few favorites for our out of town audience:

Surgery Countdown

Having major, invasive surgery really lights a fire.  Sleep, relaxing, reading and personal time...that's all I'm going to have in 4 days (okay, the relaxing part will be narcotic induced).  I am enjoying every hectic minute of my last pain free, walkable, dinner making , laundry infused, child holding, park attending days!