Down

I've been feeling kind of down lately. I'm not sure if it's because I haven't been able to get out much or stress from other areas in my life. My knee is healing well, I got the stitches out yesterday. I've gotten some other strengthening exercises from the physio to do as well.

Milo went back to the vet. Both his back paws are infected. Just a few weeks after they had cleared up :/. We must seem like pretty awful puppy parents. I think it might be a new food allergy developing, we will likely have to re-test.

I worked with some femo clay. I'll post pictures once I paint it.

Post-op....continues...

I'm doing alright. I was able to get around the apartment today with out a problem. Other than kneeling, I still can't kneel. Or squat. My knee is still inflamed, but it isn't painful. A bit achey. My back is actually starting to hurt more than anything, not being able to squat or kneel means I need to bend my back more to pick up things. So i've been having some back spasms, which is no fun.

On a lighter note, i've almost finished up one of my big projects for the semester. Yay for botany! I'm still behind in my notes, but I figure i'll do an hour or two a day and I should be able to make it up.

Milo has injured his back paws again :/.

Post-op Day 10

Not much to update on. My days have been pretty much the same. Still swollen, still bruised. I can walk around a bit better, stairs are still hard though.

Post-op Day 8 *WARNING*

*SURGICAL IMAGE WARNING* I'm going to post a picture of my knee post-op without the bandage.

I haven't updated lately because my days have been similar. Rest, ice, tell Milo to stop barking, sleep, repeat. I have been healing though, i've been able to put more weight on my leg each day. I used two crutches, then one crutch, now i'm hobbling around without anything at home but used my cane when I went to see the doctor. Speaking of my GP, they didn't even send her the report! She didn't even know I had surgery until I said "well, i'm here to get my bandages off...". Lol. And what a relief it was to get them off! Wanna see a picture?

Bruises and Stitches

It's pretty bad quality...but basically my knee is inflamed and brused everywhere. It doesn't hurt much though, the feeling is like it's bruised. Which it is. And like I can't bend it all the way. And a bit achey. But compared to sciatic pain, it's nothing! I'm not sure why i'm bruised farther down the leg, maybe the surgeon was leaning on it? I'll have to ask next week. The stitches are prickly. My wrists are also getting quite sore. Whether from being on the compy/phone, arthritis flaring, or from holding my self up on counters and crutches i'm not sure.

In other news, i've started the second book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. I'm trying to catch up with the tv show (which is on season three, I think it would be around book three?) but it's slow going. I don't think I read as quickly on the computer as I do a physical book. Strange?

Post-op Day 4

I'm able to put more weight on my leg as time goes on, tomorrow I think i'll be able to walk with just one crutch. While my knee hasn't been more painful, it has felt more inflamed today. I've spent most of the day reading A Game of Thrones. I'll likely finish it off tomorrow. I really need to start working on my projects and tutorials >.>...

My leg with an icepack, 

the bandages are already starting to look ragged

The lovely easter basket and chocolate bunnies my MiL left us :)

You may notice that both the bunnies already have their ears eaten...

Post-op Day 3

It's been a long day. Bran, Milo, and I are house sitting for my MiL. This also includes watching after the adorable old shar pei MiL adopted, he's no trouble really but it's all extra work for Bran!

I've been extraordinarily tired today. I took a little nap this morning and i've just been resting most of the day (other than packing up a little and getting in and out of the car). Pain levels are ok, though the fibro pain is acting up a bit. I feel like my hips and shoulders are bruised, even though they aren't at all.

I've also started reading A Game of Thrones, it's following the series so far, but I like having all the extra details :).

Here is a pic of my leg, this time on a different couch!

Post-op Day 2

I was on my own today. Not my favorite. I'm feeling much more tired and ended up taking a three hour nap in the middle of the day. Though on a good note, I was able to take a shower (on my little stool) without getting the bandage wet. It's nice to have clean hair :). I've been putting a bit of weight on my leg now as well, I haven't had any endone today so I can see exactly how much pain i'm in. Keeping in mind i'm on slow release panadol, but it's pretty bearable.  I'll take some endone tonight to help with sleep but I should be able to go without it soon. Took the brace off today as well, honestly I think it was more cumbersome than helpful to begin with. My wrists and shoulders are sore though...Here are some pictures!

My leg without the brace, you can see crutches in the background

I kept water and ice packs in an insulated bag next to the couch, handy!

Milo keeping watch, he isn't impressed with my photography skills

Little stool with non-slip spots on it, handy for couch-side table and showering

Post-op Day 1

I am now 29 hours post op. How did it go? Quite well as far as I can tell! I didn't actually get the chance to talk to the surgeon again, only the rather cute resident doctor, but from what I gather it all went as expected. I have a big brace that i'm to wear until tomorrow afternoon (48 hours post-op) and lots of bandages i'm to leave on for a week, then see my GP and have her take them off. In two weeks I have the follow up with the surgeon (or maybe the resident again? Who knows..). 

Pain hasn't been too bad, i've been taking panadol osteo and the occasional endone. Which it is about time to take again. My throat is a bit sore from the tube they stick down it during the operation  but otherwise i'm pretty ok. I had to wheel and deal a bit to get to go home, the surgeon wanted me to stay overnight because he thought I would be dealing with intense pain. After working with the physios though they thought I could go home, and so I did! Just to let you know, it's really hard going up stairs using crutches! I can start putting a little bit of weight on my right leg tomorrow, though i'll likely still have to use crutches for a little while. 

My husband has been taking great care of me <3 he is so lovely :).

So here are some pictures I took over the past day, the leg pictures look really weird since they were taken from a laying down position >.> my feet look disproportionately small..

Name tag and the edge of my lovely hospital gown

My unstyled hair and scarf keeping me warm

 Ted covered left foot and right leg in brace + wrapping

 It took them a few times to get a suitable vein >.>

Leg today, with my tropical shorts :)

P.S. don't you love my sandal tan lines? XD

Pre-op Consultation

Tomorrow is surgery day! I had the pre-surgery consultation today, it seems like i'm likely to have to stay overnight :(. If I somehow get to be first in line for surgery, they may let me go home, but it's unlikely. So i've gotten a few books together and put a movie on my iphone, hopefully that'll get me through the wait (since they want me there at 6:30 am, despite that i'm not first in line) and to keep from being bored if I need to stay overnight. I'll keep all four of you that follow me up to date on how it goes ;).

Queenies Tea House

Today was the day! The day I celebrated my birthday with my family here in Oz :). Bran, my MiL, SiL and I went out to morning tea at Queenies. It was lovely to spend some time together, and once agin Queenies was top notch. My MiL and I both got regal high teas while SiL and Bran preferred bacon egg pies. There was even leftover treats that we took home and had for afternoon tea ;). Over all a lovely day. Tomorrow is the pre-op consultation where I will learn my fate. Not looking forward to it so much, but it must be done. I'll also try to get in and see my GP.

Dog Park Fun

Quiet day at home. Hip/back is still not awesome, but I was able to go for a good walk with Bran and Milo to the dog park. I love watching Milo run around and roll in the grass :) he made friends with a rather chatty dalmatian. We have my birthday high tea tomorrow with MiL and SiL.

Quiet Day of Rest

Quiet day at home. Hip/back pain is back up to a 5 :( probably need to up lyrica? I'm not sure if my GP will want that during recovery from the knee surgery though. Hopefully I can get in to see her. I've been choosing movies to watch during recovery as well :) hopefully Bran will like them or i'll be watching them on the compy.

Speaking of Bran, he had an interview yesterday that he wasn't too confidant about but the recruter e-mailed him saying it went really well! The office is a bit closer to us and apparently pretty casual. We'll see what comes of it :).

Herbs and the Future

I'm pretty boring today. I had a nice long conversation with my sisters and father back home, then went to class. 

Class was fun though, we were talking about teas vs infusions vs decoction and succus. Here is the difference; a tea is steeping a bit of dried or fresh herb in just boiled water for about three to five minutes, an infusion is steeping a medicinal amount of herbs in water (1:20 herb to water by weight) in boiled water for 10-30 minutes, and a decoction is boiling an herb for a set period of time. On the other hand, a succus is basically juicing an herb and adding alcohol as a preservative. So today we made an infusion of chamomile, a decoction of different spices (which was basically chai tea, mmmm ;) ) and two different succi, one garlic and one lemon. They are going to trial the succi next week when i'll be home recovering, but it's great stuff to learn about! Plus i'm not too sad about missing raw garlic mixed with alcohol thats been sitting around for a week ;). 

We also had a presentation by a representative from The Herbal Extract Company of Australia. We compared their herbal extracts vs the Mediherb extracts we use in class and in clinic. Keep in mind these are both top of the line medicinal herbal extracts, but I liked the Herbal Extract Company's more. They seemed to be closer to the herb and had less of an alcohol taste, but maybe that is just my preference. I hope to someday be able to make my own herbal extracts to use in my own practice :). 

Peanut Butter Pie and Broccoli Soup

Today I made something delicious. Any day I say that must be pretty good, right? My creation today is a delicious peanut butter pie, minus the crust as we had no cookies and I didn't feel like making a crust. I used the recipe here.

Peanut Butter Pie Minus Crust

It turned out lovely and creamy. I only made half the recipe and less of the chocolate topping as I only had a bit of chocolate, which is another reason why it is in ramekins. It is super quick to whip up too! I'll definitely be making this again :).

My husband Bran, on the other hand, made a delicious cheesy broccoli soup! I think this is the first soup he has made, and he did a great job :). The recipe is sort of a mash up of different recipes i've read, so it's sort of original? It makes a lot of soup <3 some for the freezer I think! I'll leave it here for anyone who is interested. 

Broccoli soup

1 large onion

2 cloves garlic

4 potatoes (5-6 small)

1 liter Stock

2 heads broccoli

2 cups shredded cheddar

1-2 cups Milk (cream, cream cheese, etc.)

Olive oil/butter 

Salt and pepper

Dice onion,  fry at the bottom of a 5 lt pot and until browned using butter or olive oil. Add garlic and stir until browned. C

hop up cleaned potatoes into 1 inch cubes, a

dd potatoes and stir for 30 seconds. Add stock, bring to a boil then cover and set on low heat.

Preheat oven to 150 C. Wash broccoli well. Chop up, including broccoli stems. Place on cookie sheet and toss with a bit of oil. Cook in oven until browned, about 20 minutes.

Add broccoli to soup once browned. Turn off burner. Add milk. Make sure soup is not too hot and add cheddar, mix until melted.

Blend with immersion blender until at the desired texture (or mash with potato masher and have it chunky). Add salt and pepper to taste.

This time Bran used some cream in place of some of the milk. It would also be good using cream cheese or sour cream, probably yogurt would be alright. You could use veggie stock and soy milk, ignoring the cheese, to make it vegan. Such variations! 

In other news, i'm nervous about the upcoming surgery. I'm not looking forward to the recovery mostly, but i'm so glad Bran was able to get a few days off with such short notice. Plus he has friday and monday off to celebrate good friday and easter (not that we celebrate either...maybe celebrate a late Mabon?), so there is some extra time that he'll be around to help me out. Mostly i'm concerned about stairs, as we live on the first floor. I'm pretty sure they have you on crutches for about the first five days, so I think i'll just have to take it nice and easy. 

My R hip has been a bit painful today, otherwise i'm alright. No mood swings. 

Good News and Annoying Symptoms

Good news everybody! I finally have my knee surgery date! It's in a week!? It's in a week from this morning. Someone else had to cancel and apparently I was the first person who was free to take their place. This is both good and bad news. Good because I really would like my knee to not be causing constant pain and going off track at random times. Bad because i'll likely miss a week of school (or more) and have to do painful physiotherapy for at least six weeks. But still...after that it should be all good!

The surgery i'm getting is called a lateral release. Thats where they go in with small incisions and a camera and snip some connective tissue that is too tight and pulling the kneecap off center. The connective tissue will heal and be less tight and the physiotherapy ensures your muscles help hold the kneecap in place. It's an outpatient procedure, so hopefully i'll be able to go home the same day.

I'm hoping over the week to stock up my freezer with some meals so Bran wont have to do all the cooking (and i'll have something to eat when he is at work and i'm recovering). I'm thinking easy things like soups, especially since we don't have much freezer room. Maybe some french toast...

In other news, annoying mood swings today. Had an anxiety attack, which was stopped with the help of some passion flower extract. Then after I got home from class my head felt achey and was getting symptoms similar to when I came off cymbalta. It might be because i'm titrating off of amitriptyline, if I recall it has a longer half life so maybe i'm only getting the discontinuation symptoms now?

Pain in hip was up a bit, maybe 3/4.

Blah.

Blah. Just feeling a bit blah. Pain is down though, so thats good! But just blah. Goodnight.

Quiet

Quiet day at home. Now much to update on. Pain is still down to a 2/3 so i'm a happy camper. I do feel like I look more bloated, but maybe thats just me... I've been tired today as well. So now i'm off to bed.

Haircut and Tea

I've had a great day! First, my pain levels are down to a 2-3, which is fantastic as i'm usually at at 5-6 and lately often a 7.

Second, I finally got my hair cut! The hair stylist was fantastic and a lovely person. I got my hair cut at The Ruby Room in Nundah, if anyone wants to know. They gave me coffee and a head massage as well as a fantastic cut. Plus she actually explained how to style my new haircut, which sometimes they neglect to do. So here is my new 'do:

Haircut <3

Third, I had a delicious afternoon tea at Queenies Tea House, which I will also be going to with Bran, SiL, and MiL next weekend for a high tea! They were also lovely, I had a wonderful sticky date pudding and some tea which I don't remember the name of but was also good!

I then (fourthly) went to my osteopath to get some work done, and everyone in the place complemented my new haircut :) it's always nice to get complements.

So at this point i'm lookin' good, nicely fed, and feeling good.

Now i'm having Red Rooster (it's a fast food place that serves chicken) and snuggling with my hubby :). Nice way to end a great day! I've fluffed up my hair a bit, and i'm so looking forward to playing with it and my new styling cream. 

Oh, and it's my birthday <3

Manufacturing Class and Lyrica

So this is my 366th post! That mean's i've written (all together) a year's worth of posts. Pretty exciting.

Anyway, Lyrica is pretty heavy duty. I woke up in a complete fog. It was like walking in a fun house most of the day. It cleared up later, around 2 pm, so I was able to attend class. This is at 75 mg twice daily mind you, so i'm starting out a bit heavier than others i've read about (who started at 50 mg once daily). I think i'll be alright though. As I said, I made it through class and tomorrow is a day off then the weekend so i'll have some time to adjust. I'm also titrating off amitriptyline, though I don't think the fogginess was from that.

In other news, I had a really great time at class! We were learning about herbal tablets and capsules. We actually made some tablets (although they are wet, and would need to be dried out) :D. It's amazing how easy they were to make, but granted we had medical grade herbs in class. If we were making it for clients we would need to be much more careful about measuring and whatnot. Still, it was fun :).

Pain level was down today, maybe only a 2 or 3. Whether that is due to lyrica or just a good day i'm not sure. I'm getting a hair cut tomorrow :) quite excited for it.

48 Hours Later

It's been a long 48 hours. Monday I was feeling pretty good, until the evening when my back hurt so much I had trouble sleeping and woke up a lot. Tuesday my back spasmed horribly, and more of my leg went numb (i've had a numb stripe since the microdiscectomy). ER, three crying fits, and a few hours later i'm sent home and told to see my gp and start some nerve pain meds. So thats what I do. I missed class again today (which I HATE doing) to see my gp (and have another crying fit >.>) and get a script for Lyrica.

I also got a script for sertraline. Because i'm not coping and my anxiety is up so high that i'm apparently crying infront of every health practitioner I come across. I'm not particularly proud of this...the crying or the sertraline...but I can't keep going like this, with either the pain or the emotions about the pain. I've used sertraline in the past with success, so i'm hoping it'll help carry me through this rough patch. 

So now i'm starting up a small dose of Lyrica and titrating down the amitriptyline before adding sertraline in 8 days or so. It isn't going to be a fun 8 days or so. I've already given warning to my husband. But i'm hoping this will help. I'm just so tired of this.