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.