Thursday, July 26
-- 8th post-op day
I feel like I'm running out of things to write about here. The hospital routine is ... well ... routine. Wake up, wash up, every other day get blood drawn, wait for the doctor, eat breakfast, take morning meds, take a little walk, die putzfrau kommt, schwester/pfleger visits, wait for the physical therapist, do PT, rest a bit, take a little walk, eat lunch ... etc. etc. Can you tell that I'm a bit, shall we say ... BORED?
Ah well, today and tomorrow here, and then to the rehab center we go. Roomie sings the praises of the Asklepios Reha Zentrum, according to him, it's sort of like getting into heaven after the purgatory of hospitalization.
I've gone through all but two of the books I brought with. Finished Mainspring last night waiting for the nacht schwester and my sleepy meds, and I highly recommend it. It's a well-crafted romp through an alternate universe wherein the Deus is truly and exactly en Machina. I'll start Barbarians by Terry Jones (formerly of Monty Python fame) today. It's a dissection of the history (and apprently the mis- and disinformation about) of Europe's barbarians and their interactions with the Romans.
The other brain-rot I've brought with is an anime series called Desert Punk (downloaded from iTunes). Very twisted and funny. The story of a diminutive bounty hunter in a post-apocalyptic Japan wandering the Kanto Desert, fighting bad guys, trying to get laid and always looking for a bigger gun. Big fun, weird, but fun.
Roomie's garrulous, a very social guy, and chats happily and at length with anyone who'll listen to him; sadly, our own conversations are pretty limited. He's a retired metzger (butcher), with three grown kids and a handful of engelkinder (grandkids). Was born and raised within 20 km of Essing, a town not far from here. He was born in '45, and grew up with that generation of Germans who saw the US Army as liberators. Talks about memories of soldiers bringing truckloads of food around to the villages, sharing out K-rations with the kids.
He's an interesting and engaging guy, and didn't really snore all that badly last night. He wears a sleep-apnea mask, which makes a sort of soft sussurrus (how the heck IS that spelled, the spell-checker isn't a bit of help on that one), sort of like distant surf, though he lost the mask sometime in the night.
PT today was the standard krankengymnastik I've been doing for several days, plus the pulleyforme system. I'm supposed to do that again this evening, on my own. The good news: I get to take a shower this evening! The schwester has a waterproof bandage for my incision. I've been doing spit-baths in the sink, and Em helped me get cleaned up pretty good this weekend past, but a shower sounds incredibly good right now.
Fr. Winter also scolded me again, basically for doing too much. She said I was sitting up, moving around too much, I should be lying in bed more. Sigh. Darn. Make me hang out in bed all day. Too bad it's without HW at my side! But that'd be a whole 'nother kind of PT that Fr. Winter would probably rather not know about.
*HW: One of the things I did this Sunday was scrub much of the dead skin from the postsurgical swelling off. One of the nicest things you can do for a very good friend or, indeed your partner, after a major limb surgery like this, is to help with exfoliation. Gentleness is highly recommended, as the limb has been traumatized, but the Betadine-discoloured overstretched skin sloughed off in impressive quantities as I gently, persistently scrubbed. I followed up with gentle application of natural skin lubricants based on vegetable oils (petrolatum and mineral oil are for machines, not skin) preferably pleasantly scented, with gentle, loving hands*
After lunch, I went down to the cafe and had a cappuccino, quite good, actually. Sat and read Barbarians a bit, but found the terrace quite warm, so I retired to the room to have myself a little lie-down ... got the fan drawing in the last of the cool air before the sun hits the room's balcony fully. Have to move things around in about an hour or so, close curtains, move the fan so it's not pulling in hot air. Did I mention there's no AC in the place?
After a little walk and very nice cappuccino in the cafe, I came back to the room and chilled for a while, did my pulleyforme exercises a second time after supper, then spent the rest of the evening anticipating a treat that had been promised to me by the day nurse: then glory of glories, I got to SHOWER!!!!
Just before bedtime, the schwester changed my dressing for a waterproof one, and I got to scrub away a week's worth of hospital (at least from everywhere I could reach). Luxurious.
I passed on the pain meds at bedtime, only taking the sleeping pill. I'm really not in very much pain unless I do something wrong, then it's a twinge that goes away shortly. The sleepy meds are because of the noise and constant bustle here (and the schwester looking in on roomie every two hours.
I feel like I'm running out of things to write about here. The hospital routine is ... well ... routine. Wake up, wash up, every other day get blood drawn, wait for the doctor, eat breakfast, take morning meds, take a little walk, die putzfrau kommt, schwester/pfleger visits, wait for the physical therapist, do PT, rest a bit, take a little walk, eat lunch ... etc. etc. Can you tell that I'm a bit, shall we say ... BORED?
Ah well, today and tomorrow here, and then to the rehab center we go. Roomie sings the praises of the Asklepios Reha Zentrum, according to him, it's sort of like getting into heaven after the purgatory of hospitalization.
I've gone through all but two of the books I brought with. Finished Mainspring last night waiting for the nacht schwester and my sleepy meds, and I highly recommend it. It's a well-crafted romp through an alternate universe wherein the Deus is truly and exactly en Machina. I'll start Barbarians by Terry Jones (formerly of Monty Python fame) today. It's a dissection of the history (and apprently the mis- and disinformation about) of Europe's barbarians and their interactions with the Romans.
The other brain-rot I've brought with is an anime series called Desert Punk (downloaded from iTunes). Very twisted and funny. The story of a diminutive bounty hunter in a post-apocalyptic Japan wandering the Kanto Desert, fighting bad guys, trying to get laid and always looking for a bigger gun. Big fun, weird, but fun.
Roomie's garrulous, a very social guy, and chats happily and at length with anyone who'll listen to him; sadly, our own conversations are pretty limited. He's a retired metzger (butcher), with three grown kids and a handful of engelkinder (grandkids). Was born and raised within 20 km of Essing, a town not far from here. He was born in '45, and grew up with that generation of Germans who saw the US Army as liberators. Talks about memories of soldiers bringing truckloads of food around to the villages, sharing out K-rations with the kids.
He's an interesting and engaging guy, and didn't really snore all that badly last night. He wears a sleep-apnea mask, which makes a sort of soft sussurrus (how the heck IS that spelled, the spell-checker isn't a bit of help on that one), sort of like distant surf, though he lost the mask sometime in the night.
PT today was the standard krankengymnastik I've been doing for several days, plus the pulleyforme system. I'm supposed to do that again this evening, on my own. The good news: I get to take a shower this evening! The schwester has a waterproof bandage for my incision. I've been doing spit-baths in the sink, and Em helped me get cleaned up pretty good this weekend past, but a shower sounds incredibly good right now.
Fr. Winter also scolded me again, basically for doing too much. She said I was sitting up, moving around too much, I should be lying in bed more. Sigh. Darn. Make me hang out in bed all day. Too bad it's without HW at my side! But that'd be a whole 'nother kind of PT that Fr. Winter would probably rather not know about.
*HW: One of the things I did this Sunday was scrub much of the dead skin from the postsurgical swelling off. One of the nicest things you can do for a very good friend or, indeed your partner, after a major limb surgery like this, is to help with exfoliation. Gentleness is highly recommended, as the limb has been traumatized, but the Betadine-discoloured overstretched skin sloughed off in impressive quantities as I gently, persistently scrubbed. I followed up with gentle application of natural skin lubricants based on vegetable oils (petrolatum and mineral oil are for machines, not skin) preferably pleasantly scented, with gentle, loving hands*
After lunch, I went down to the cafe and had a cappuccino, quite good, actually. Sat and read Barbarians a bit, but found the terrace quite warm, so I retired to the room to have myself a little lie-down ... got the fan drawing in the last of the cool air before the sun hits the room's balcony fully. Have to move things around in about an hour or so, close curtains, move the fan so it's not pulling in hot air. Did I mention there's no AC in the place?
After a little walk and very nice cappuccino in the cafe, I came back to the room and chilled for a while, did my pulleyforme exercises a second time after supper, then spent the rest of the evening anticipating a treat that had been promised to me by the day nurse: then glory of glories, I got to SHOWER!!!!
Just before bedtime, the schwester changed my dressing for a waterproof one, and I got to scrub away a week's worth of hospital (at least from everywhere I could reach). Luxurious.
I passed on the pain meds at bedtime, only taking the sleeping pill. I'm really not in very much pain unless I do something wrong, then it's a twinge that goes away shortly. The sleepy meds are because of the noise and constant bustle here (and the schwester looking in on roomie every two hours.
Labels: Book Reviews, Hip Replacement Post-Op
posted by edge | 4:01 PM
2 Comments:
Oh YEAH!
I distinctly recall each and every "first postop shower" in my life.
I'll give up a whole lotta stuff but don't take away my running water :-)
hugs to ya
Hugs back at ya, Janet. Got stitched (faedern) out today, and will get to shower again tomorrow!!!
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