Almost there!

Miki is one day away from being able to drive - yahoo!! The DD is very happy, as is the patient! Off to physio just one day a week now, the other day is pool exercises at and with Mary Lois in her lovely pool (thanks, Mary Lois!!). Still doing daily exercises twice a day, but she is not using the walker or even a cane to get around. She can go for walks now, and Nurse Ratchett (ah, Dafni) encourages her to use her nordic poles for stability. Yesterday for the first time she was able to walk to the Point at the cottage, with the assistance of 9 year old grand daughter Vanessa!

Will try to add some more pics soon - I am not there much to get pics during the day, but this would be a lot more interesting if there were pics as well as words :-( We had a gathering of our up island friends last weekend, one of whom had had a full knee replacement a day after Miki's, but in Nanaimo. She is doing just as well, and is even driving already! Go Moira!!! Another friend, Chenda, is scheduled for her knee replacement on October 18, so she got lots of encouraging stories from Miki and Moira.

Healing therapy..!

Miki had a wonderful healing touch session with friend Ingrid before her surgery, which she swears is why she felt so calm going to the operating room. Now, 3 weeks after surgery, Ingrid did another wonderful session with her - AND with Nurse Dafni, who was able to shed all the worry of being all things all the time.










Then we moved on to less serious forms of therapy - red wine and Wii - here is Ingrid trying to bash a soccer ball around,
and Maggie and Miki had a rousing game of ping pong (or is that table tennis....) although as you can see, if was not all that strenuous, being played from a sitting position.

Next day the therapy continued as 9 of us went to the Ship 'n Shore in Deep Bay for
Fish and Chip Therapy - did us all a world of good, except this dedicated little blogger forgot to take a picture of us all.....:-(

Healing energy!

Sept. 5. One of the more healing things that happened this week was a visit from our Rosie from Fort McMurray.

Miki was so much better that she can now go out for longer periods, so we were able to enjoy a long leisurely dinner at El Greco, where she could put her leg up on the bench when she needed to.




Ms. Miki is doing so well even Nurse Daphne got to go play this week, joining friends Louise and Maureen for drinks and appies at the Rialto!

Miki update

Aug. 31 - Sept. 4 Miki had a great recovery week at Mary Lois's, Nurse Par Excellance!! (thanks Mary Lois) and got out and about every day, into the parking lot, off to physio and just down the hall.

She went to physio twice a week, and saw her surgeon on Thursday who gave her a gold star for all her hard work. She has graduated now from the walker to a cane (thanks Ter!!) and only uses that outside.

We spent a great week at Sharon's (thanks Sharon!!!) in her lovely master bedroom and ensuite and Miki was able to take her first solo shower there.

















She is doing so much better, we are able to move home to the cottage, where she can move around and look after herself quite handily. Of course Nurse Sitges gave her a "you're back already?????" look and then promptly settled in to play Nurse Sitges, making sure Miki is comfy on the couch with a blanky.

Two weeks ago today!

Aug. 29 - 31 Two weeks ago today was Miki's surgery! She is doing so well! She exercises twice a day faithfully, goes to physio twice a week and sees the surgeon later this week to get her next marching orders. We went to the cottage for the weekend for the first time since surgery and she did great - even hobbled around the yard a little.

Terri took her to physio and an xray of the knee today - see how well she is doing!!

Walking with the bars - this one hurts!!!! Bend that knee....ouch!

Working with the wedgie....pull hard! Every day her walking is better, her flexibility is better and she is that much closer to dancing.....:-)

Aug. 24 - 26. Physio at Royal Jubilee Hospital started on Monday - a great Scottish gal named Emma is Miki's therapist, and gave her a good workout and sound advice as to what to do at home. She will go twice a week up to 12 appointments.

She is moving around better every day - in and out of bed easily, not putting full weight on the walker now, just using it to steady herself, but still finds sitting up for any length of time tiring. The body has been through a trauma and is letting her know it needs lots of rest!!

On the 26th we move to Sharon and Jenny's in Langford, and will try to get some of the pics I have taken onto the blog soon. Miki thanks everyone for all the kind words and support!

The patient goes to a party - with her nurse!!

Sunday, August 23 was a joint 65th Birthday party for Sharon, Jenny, Marilyn and Barb! Friends gathered in Marg and Sandy's gorgeous back yard to share food, games, laughter and birthday cake!!!

Lovely neighbour Isobel agreed to let us drive down her driveway so Miki would have a shorter walk to the yard. Here she and Sue are sharing their "disclosure" lists! We set Miki up in a good solid chair complete with footstool, and everyone came to her for visits!

A day at home

Aug. 21 - 22 After a good night's sleep in a real bed, Miki did her exercises, iced the knee, took her meds, got up and around the condo and generally had a good day, supervised lovingly by Mary Lois.

I made a nice baked ham with the leftover scalloped potatoes, and we all had a nice evening. Saturday was her first home shower - a bit of a performance getting her bad leg over the wall of the tub, but fine once she was in. Then she had a nap and we went for about a 20 minute walk - to the elevator and outside in the sun as far as the parking lot.

Another big nap after that little expedition, but around 4 pm Miki thought her thigh above the knee looked even more swollen. I made a big veggie burger with corn and salad supper, and then we headed off to emerg to check things out - better safe than sorry. Back to VGH around 9 pm, and I found a wheel chair and took her right to the 5th Floor - the ortho ward where she did her recovery. She saw the great nurse Christina who said we should probably go to Emerg anyway just to check it out.

Off we roll, and after seeing intake, an ortho nurse (who knew there were such things), a med student who was about 17 (he said he was 24, but we didn't believe him) and finally the doc on duty, Dr. Penner, they all agreed she had probably just done too much that day, but that everything was fine.

Home again, off to bed and M had the best sleep she has had yet...! Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that we actually shared the bed for the first time....:-)

Recovery is a slow process - it will be good to hear what the physio has to say about how much when on Monday!

Free at last!!

Aug. 20 Mary Lois picked Miki up at the hospital at 10 am, after which they spent a brutal 2 HOURS at Costco (Miki in the car with her foot swelling like a balloon, and Mary Lois in the line-up) getting prescriptions....!!! Got settled at home, slept all afternoon, and then got up for a good home cooked dinner of pork chops on scalloped potatoes, broccoli, carrots and salad. Watched some TV - Nights at Rodanthe (chick flick) and then Miki got to sleep in a real bed for the first time in a week (thanks Mary Lois!!!).



Physio starts on Monday, and depending on how mobile she is feeling, we may go to a party on Sunday.....???? Time will tell. In the meantime, she will be taking her meds, doing her exercises, and expanding her walking time bit by bit. No photo this time - some people can see them, some can't, so will add them when I can!

Miki's knee surgery!

Day 3 was even better! Lots of walking around during the day, physio of course, since
Day 1, and her fever is all gone. Day 2 she had developed a low fever as a result of all the crap in her lungs from the anesthetic, so they gave her some antibiotics to clear that up.







Tonight after dinner we walked all the way to the lounge and watched some TV - she will sleep well tonight! Mary Lois will come on Thursday at 10 am and take her to the condo, get her settled in, and we will start the next phase of recovery.

We have been SO impressed with the medical care - every one from surgeon Dr. Stone, the nurses, the aides, and even the food servers are competant, cheerful, caring, patient and professional.

Miki's Surgery

So Day 2 was even better. Here is the surgical leg, with its unicompartmental knee replacement under there somewhere. Pain is under control with regular pain killers (Tylenol, Dilaudin and some Gravol) and Herself has a new bed with a nifty lifting device over her head which really helps moving around.

Here is Miki walking down the hall - looks like a pro with her walker, eh.....but don't get too used to it, we have dancing to do, darlin!!! Wed. when I got there (with a latte) she had had a great day - lots of walking around by herself, getting in and out of bed alone, going to the bathroom, down the hall, etc.
She had dinner in her chair again but was not all that impressed with the mushy shepherd's pie, but at least she has no nausea!!!!

Miki's Knee Surgery!

Monday, August 17, we went to Victoria General Hospital at 11 am. Sunday night we had stayed at Mary Lois's condo so Miki could do her Big Antiseptic Shower before bed and again just before we left to go to the hospital. They checked her in, gave her a most attractive gown (???) and put in an IV line. At 5 to 1 they took her off to the operating room. Someone introduced her individually to every member of the operating team (impressive!!!), including the wonderful Dr. Stone, and in true Miki fashion she thanked them all for all their hard work just before she went under.

At 3:45 Dr. Stone called me on my cell and said everything had gone really well, and did I want to talk to Miki....?? So there she was all chipper, awake and happy. Around 5 pm they brought her from the recovery room up to the orthopedic ward and settled her in Room 508. For about an hour, she was all happy and cheerful and then suddenly her anesthetic started to wear off and within 20 minutes she went from no pain to about an 8 out of 10. They gave her an injection of Dilaudin and just as it started to work about 20 minutes later, she turned paper white, started to shiver violently, and was freezing cold!!!!!! The nurses treated her for HYPOTHERMIA and said she was the 3rd person to come up from surgery that day to have that reaction - either to the meds, the shock of the surgery, or.....?? So they applied hot blankets, oxygen, and tried to warm her up in a hurry. About 20 minutes later she felt terrible nauseated, so they gave her a shot of gravol, which mercifully helped both the pain and let her sleep. Her colour started coming back, but every time they gave her a shot, she had terrible nausea and then vomiting (just bile, of course, as she had not eaten in 36 hours). It was a very long night - they kept her out of pain, but the nausea and poor colour was miserable. I brought her sips of water, ice and did some healing touch with her, and she did sleep off and on.

By 6 am I had to leave to go to work, and when I got back there after work at 4:15 there was a whole new Miki!! They had slowly given her some food and had changed all her meds to pills rather than injections, which really did the trick. This woman doesn't take any medications other than the occasional advil for her sore knees, but I think it was just too much too intensely for her system. So she had had some breakfast, some lunch, been up to the bathroom, used the walker a couple of times and even sat in a chair to eat. Wow - what a difference a day makes! She had lots of company that evening, with Mary Lois, Terri, Rick, Helen and I coming by. Off to sleep now, pretty lady, let's hope day 2 is even better!