Monday, November 5, 2012

OAP is Poster Boy for Joint Replacements!

OAP had a left knee replacement 2 weeks ago and is doing SO well in recovery that his physio is considering making him the Poster Boy for the op!  He was in a ward with 2 other men, one of whom had a hip replacement (OAP had that done 2 years ago) and the other a knee replacement.  They whined and moaned and pressed their bells every 5 minutes and screamed and whinnied with pain when they were forced out of bed by the physios. All the while shooting dagger-like looks at OAP as he happily ate everything put in front of him, did his bed exercises with alacrity and leapt off down the corridor each morning and afternoon in his zimmer frame.  Once home he used the zimmer when he went for a shower as it gives support under slippery circumstances otherwise it has become a clothes horse!!  He uses crutches in a way I have never seen before swinging each one forward with the opposite leg - most odd but it works for him!  He says there is no pain but at 11pm he does concede to take 2 Stopayne so that he has a peaceful night (and so do I!).  A friend of ours had a mole removed from his leg last week and could barely walk so I reckon we all have a different pain threshold and R's is sky high!

The hardest thing about the knee op is that he has to wear an elastic stocking and I have to put it on and take it off each time he showers.  As I put my back out a while ago this is excruciating first thing in the morning - I loosen up during the day but at first its all I can do to get MYSELF out of bed!  So there I am, lowering myself gingerly onto the floor, rolling down the stocking and peeling it off the foot, careful not to pinch a nerve in my lower vertebrae.  Then while he crutches his way to the shower i carefully ease myself up using the bed, chair or whatever to lever myself upright.  Once up I have to go to the shower and, door open 6 inches, wash his majesty's back while trying not to get wet and flood the bathroom floor!  He also insists on his legs being soaped - since when did THEY get dirty?  So it's back onto all fours in order to soap the royal calves and feet - 2 days ago i used the lavatory brush with the facecloth wrapped around the bristles and he LOVED it until he saw what I had done, then he couldn't see the joke and felt "used"!!!!!!  Actually I thought I was pretty darned clever!

SO we are in Joburg tonight at elder daughter's house and tomorrow he is supposed to have the staples out and new dressings put on (although the old one came off in the shower and I had to replace them myself) and more exercises given (including stairs I think) and also he wants to know if he can drive the car soon which will be such a blessing as he can then take himself off for a while to friends nearby and I can have a little "me" time with my iPod and my Game of Thrones!