Howdy Family and Friends,
It's now day 4 of bed rest. This morning earlier than I had planned on waking up, (around the 3 a.m. hour) my youngest son decided that he needed some cuddling time with Mom and Dad in their bed. All was well until he fell asleep and began to squirm and worm his way to comfort in the process kicking my still very sore and swollen knee smack dab in the middle. Needless to say, I woke up the entire household with the screech I let out. I finally found my way back to a restless slumber until around 8 a.m. Hoping that it would be a better day outside than the weatherman projected it would be, I glanced out the window only to be greeted by 5 inches of heavy wet snow and icy roads underneath.
I made my way back out to my perch on the couch, with the help of my sis who was still stranded here as a result of the snow storm. As I sat down and gazed out my window, my heart felt like it was going to break into a million pieces. I am so sick and tired of being confined indoors, confined to this couch, confined to crutches because my knee is too weak to walk without them. This was my day...the day I was supposed to go to the dr. to have another evaluation of my leg and the unending swelling that has decided to stick around. I should be starting PT tomorrow...instead I am stuck here, still lying on my couch, watching the snow slowly melt and my kids go stir crazy. Or am I the one who has gone crazy...because I am now stuck on this bed rest and laying low until I can get to the dr. NEXT FRIDAY.
Please continue to pray for the swelling to go down and for my perch on the couch to be able to disappear QUICKLY!
From my picture window to yours, have a great day!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Bed Rest Day 3...Knee Surgery Gone Bad
Howdy Family and Friends,
Welcome to day 3 of bed rest at the Busch household! Today my sister came from Kearney to help out with some household chores such as cleaning and laundry that have accumulated over the last week. Little did we know what the day would hold in store.
Rachel showed up at around 9:45 a.m. and just dug right in by helping out with the boys and whipping the kitchen into shape. I maintained my perch on the couch flat on my back, looking outside at a very depressing scene. It had been raining since the middle of the night and the only positive thing that the rain showed me was that there was at least some moisture and green grass starting to appear. Then about noon, snow started to slowly drift from the sky amongst the very heavy rain. Sure enough, slowly but surely, the rain stopped and turned to wet and heavy snow. School was closed at noon and the Busch boys were all at home full of more energy than I have had all week!
Around 2:45 p.m., my sister was making her way back to Kearney only to drive 3 miles outside of town to get stuck. Back she came to our home. The rest of the day for me was spent on the couch and Aunt Rachel able to enjoy her nephews for a few more hours.
Evening came and the snow continued to fall and temps continue to plummet lower and lower. Our neighbor Rob came over to visit and soon enough my eyelids were getting rather heavy and sleep was just around the corner...just another day on bed rest...still swollen and still sore...from my sleepy snowy picture window to yours, have a great day!
Welcome to day 3 of bed rest at the Busch household! Today my sister came from Kearney to help out with some household chores such as cleaning and laundry that have accumulated over the last week. Little did we know what the day would hold in store.
Rachel showed up at around 9:45 a.m. and just dug right in by helping out with the boys and whipping the kitchen into shape. I maintained my perch on the couch flat on my back, looking outside at a very depressing scene. It had been raining since the middle of the night and the only positive thing that the rain showed me was that there was at least some moisture and green grass starting to appear. Then about noon, snow started to slowly drift from the sky amongst the very heavy rain. Sure enough, slowly but surely, the rain stopped and turned to wet and heavy snow. School was closed at noon and the Busch boys were all at home full of more energy than I have had all week!
Around 2:45 p.m., my sister was making her way back to Kearney only to drive 3 miles outside of town to get stuck. Back she came to our home. The rest of the day for me was spent on the couch and Aunt Rachel able to enjoy her nephews for a few more hours.
Evening came and the snow continued to fall and temps continue to plummet lower and lower. Our neighbor Rob came over to visit and soon enough my eyelids were getting rather heavy and sleep was just around the corner...just another day on bed rest...still swollen and still sore...from my sleepy snowy picture window to yours, have a great day!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Bed rest...Day 2
Howdy Family and Friends,
Bed rest day two is a sort of continuation of bed rest day one. I found out some very interesting news though...never, EVER, underestimate the power of a two year old, a cell phone and his crazy Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Jonathan!
Around the 11 o'clock night hour, my youngest son Isaac decided to play with my cell phone. Since I was a little out of it due to my medication, it wasn't really registering that Isaac was actually calling anyone. I assumed that he was just pretending to talk to people because he would say some words and then say, "Not working" and shut the phone. Little did I know that he was using my speed dial function and calling people!
Dave related to me the following tall tale that I supposedly encountered.
Isaac called Uncle Jonathan on speed dial number 9 and talked to him for 11 minutes but Isaac hung up on him which is where the "Not working" must have come in and proceeded to call Aunt Kathleen who is on speed dial number 8. Once again, "Not working" was what I heard. The phone rang, Isaac answered and I had the hardest time getting the phone from him. Once I finally got it, Isaac started to cry and then Kathleen proceeded to tell me that she was Emergency 911 and asked if I had an emergency. I guess I told her no, and apologized profusely and tried to explain that I just had surgery and then told her that I had taken some pain killers.
The next thing I remember is that she wanted me to pick up some "Flea Yeast". I wrote it down on my computer so I wouldn't forget the next morning. When I woke up and saw the note, for the life of me I couldn't figure out what flea yeast was and finally emailed her. Thank goodness I got that all straight. As I said before, never underestimate the family and the power of pain killing drugs!
As for the rest of Day 2, today was cold and continued to get colder. I was able to get in some reading time while Caleb was at Preschool and Sylva brought her dog Mercy over to visit me this morning for two hours. This afternoon Isaac and I cuddled on the couch and fell asleep until around 3 and Joyce showed up and played Grandma to the boys so I could rest more. Isaac ended up cuddling with her for another 2 and a half hours until Dave came home from work.
I told one friend who called me that I felt like my backside had made a permanent mold into the couch. Not much fun to say the least! I am anxiously waiting for Friday to get here! It's just not coming fast enough for this gal!
From my still swollen and cold picture window to yours, have a great day!
Bed rest day two is a sort of continuation of bed rest day one. I found out some very interesting news though...never, EVER, underestimate the power of a two year old, a cell phone and his crazy Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Jonathan!
Around the 11 o'clock night hour, my youngest son Isaac decided to play with my cell phone. Since I was a little out of it due to my medication, it wasn't really registering that Isaac was actually calling anyone. I assumed that he was just pretending to talk to people because he would say some words and then say, "Not working" and shut the phone. Little did I know that he was using my speed dial function and calling people!
Dave related to me the following tall tale that I supposedly encountered.
Isaac called Uncle Jonathan on speed dial number 9 and talked to him for 11 minutes but Isaac hung up on him which is where the "Not working" must have come in and proceeded to call Aunt Kathleen who is on speed dial number 8. Once again, "Not working" was what I heard. The phone rang, Isaac answered and I had the hardest time getting the phone from him. Once I finally got it, Isaac started to cry and then Kathleen proceeded to tell me that she was Emergency 911 and asked if I had an emergency. I guess I told her no, and apologized profusely and tried to explain that I just had surgery and then told her that I had taken some pain killers.
The next thing I remember is that she wanted me to pick up some "Flea Yeast". I wrote it down on my computer so I wouldn't forget the next morning. When I woke up and saw the note, for the life of me I couldn't figure out what flea yeast was and finally emailed her. Thank goodness I got that all straight. As I said before, never underestimate the family and the power of pain killing drugs!
As for the rest of Day 2, today was cold and continued to get colder. I was able to get in some reading time while Caleb was at Preschool and Sylva brought her dog Mercy over to visit me this morning for two hours. This afternoon Isaac and I cuddled on the couch and fell asleep until around 3 and Joyce showed up and played Grandma to the boys so I could rest more. Isaac ended up cuddling with her for another 2 and a half hours until Dave came home from work.
I told one friend who called me that I felt like my backside had made a permanent mold into the couch. Not much fun to say the least! I am anxiously waiting for Friday to get here! It's just not coming fast enough for this gal!
From my still swollen and cold picture window to yours, have a great day!
Bedrest...Day 1
Howdy Family and Friends,
Welcome to Day 1 of bed rest. So far, it has been a very interesting time. I successfully managed only to get up off the couch one time for the whole entire day. (The above pic is of my very swollen foot!)
It was a dreary day outside today. Cloudy and overcast. Since my night was short due to the pain of surgery and a very swollen foot, I was able to snooze during the morning while the boys watched good ol' Nebraska Television...Sesame Street, Dora, ect.
Day one was definitely a hard day, but thanks to phone calls in the morning from family, chatting on email with my brother in law and the boys to keep me occupied it was ok. My afternoon consisting of Sylva Dixon coming over and sitting with me for an hour and then Betty Dearmont came at 2:00 and was here until 4:30...I ended up taking a pain pill at 2:00 so it was nice to know that the boys were in good hands while I slept.
My friends from both church and work have truly been a blessing to me as they make sure my family is fed. I couldn't do it without them!
Jen McBride, my neighbor down the street came and brought me a can of Diet Mug Rootbeer and read a story to Jacob. Of course I listened...as I drifted off to sleep again.
My foot is still the same size and unfortunately that is not what we want to happen. Continue to pray that the swelling would go down.
Surgery...and then this?!!?
Howdy friends! What an interesting week it has been. One week ago today right about this time (9:15 a.m.) I was dropping off into a nice deep rest induced by the anesthesiologist. I was having a knee scope on my left knee to find out what was going on inside there! Let me "take you back" to December 22, 2007, to Thedford, Nebraska...
It was a dark and cold night and the small community of Thedford was gathered at the Thomas Co. Fairgrounds to bid farewell to longtime community members Jonathan and Kathleen Busch and their two boys, Ronnie and Tanner.
I was taking pictures for them and for the story I was writing for the newspaper. I was squatting down on the floor taking an "upshot" photo and as I went to stand up, my left knee locked in place. Not knowing what was going on, I hobbled over to a chair, sat down and tried to rub my knee out. I really didn't think much of it other than it hurt.
Now, back to Thedford again this time on January 1, 2008 to the home of Jonathan and Kathleen. I was giving a room a fresh coat of paint, went to turn and freshen up my roller. As I turned, my knee locked up again and took me to the floor. Not a pleasant experience.
Fast forward to a snowy cold February Sunday after church. Innocently playing cars downstairs with my boys, crawling across the floor on all four, it locked again. For this gal, it was the final straw.
I visited with my boss about my knee, the Physical Therapist 3 times, and finally on Valentine's Day, I met with Dr. Wright. He performed several tests and it was decided that the next day I would have an MRI on my knee.
The results came back and nothing showed on the MRI, but the doc still felt that there was something wrong with the knee and I was scheduled for a knee scope. I wasn't sure about what to do--whether or not to have it, so 3 different occasions I changed the surgery date and finally agreed on April 3.
The surgery went as planned and I found out that I tore my meniscus in 3 different areas and have soft tissue damage. At least that gave me a reason for why my knee was hurting.
Upon arrival at home, I had supper with the ladies from my church at the Pizza Palace--where I enjoyed a piece of pizza and spaced out the meeting (thanks to anesthesia and percocet...but it didn't matter to me as I was doing what I do best...socializing! Friday, Caleb had Kindergarten round up so I ventured out of the house for an hour to sit through the round up session for parents. From then on, I spent the majority of the weekend on the couch.
Went to church on Sunday, led worship with Dave and about half way through service, ended up taking some pain killers. Needless to say at 11:30 I was in the nursery snoozing with my foot up.
Monday morning came, as far as I was concerned, life was back to normal and I was off to work at Valley Co. Chiropractic. I made sure that I kept my swollen foot elevated and iced as needed, but Dr. Fields looked at it and told me that my foot was not normal. I ended up calling Dr. Wright and he wanted me down in Kearney immediately! I didn't realize the seriousness of it until his nurse Kristine called me and told me that Dr. Wright was leaving surgery to find out what was going on with my knee and foot.
What a day! Dr. Wright came in and couldn't feel a pulse in my foot so he had to get a doppler and eventually found a weak pulse. Ended up in X-Ray for an ultrasound. They thought I had a blood clot in my leg, but the blood flow just wasn't optimal through the knee thus hopefully the reason for the swelling.
It was a dark and cold night and the small community of Thedford was gathered at the Thomas Co. Fairgrounds to bid farewell to longtime community members Jonathan and Kathleen Busch and their two boys, Ronnie and Tanner.
I was taking pictures for them and for the story I was writing for the newspaper. I was squatting down on the floor taking an "upshot" photo and as I went to stand up, my left knee locked in place. Not knowing what was going on, I hobbled over to a chair, sat down and tried to rub my knee out. I really didn't think much of it other than it hurt.
Now, back to Thedford again this time on January 1, 2008 to the home of Jonathan and Kathleen. I was giving a room a fresh coat of paint, went to turn and freshen up my roller. As I turned, my knee locked up again and took me to the floor. Not a pleasant experience.
Fast forward to a snowy cold February Sunday after church. Innocently playing cars downstairs with my boys, crawling across the floor on all four, it locked again. For this gal, it was the final straw.
I visited with my boss about my knee, the Physical Therapist 3 times, and finally on Valentine's Day, I met with Dr. Wright. He performed several tests and it was decided that the next day I would have an MRI on my knee.
The results came back and nothing showed on the MRI, but the doc still felt that there was something wrong with the knee and I was scheduled for a knee scope. I wasn't sure about what to do--whether or not to have it, so 3 different occasions I changed the surgery date and finally agreed on April 3.
The surgery went as planned and I found out that I tore my meniscus in 3 different areas and have soft tissue damage. At least that gave me a reason for why my knee was hurting.
Upon arrival at home, I had supper with the ladies from my church at the Pizza Palace--where I enjoyed a piece of pizza and spaced out the meeting (thanks to anesthesia and percocet...but it didn't matter to me as I was doing what I do best...socializing! Friday, Caleb had Kindergarten round up so I ventured out of the house for an hour to sit through the round up session for parents. From then on, I spent the majority of the weekend on the couch.
Went to church on Sunday, led worship with Dave and about half way through service, ended up taking some pain killers. Needless to say at 11:30 I was in the nursery snoozing with my foot up.
Monday morning came, as far as I was concerned, life was back to normal and I was off to work at Valley Co. Chiropractic. I made sure that I kept my swollen foot elevated and iced as needed, but Dr. Fields looked at it and told me that my foot was not normal. I ended up calling Dr. Wright and he wanted me down in Kearney immediately! I didn't realize the seriousness of it until his nurse Kristine called me and told me that Dr. Wright was leaving surgery to find out what was going on with my knee and foot.
What a day! Dr. Wright came in and couldn't feel a pulse in my foot so he had to get a doppler and eventually found a weak pulse. Ended up in X-Ray for an ultrasound. They thought I had a blood clot in my leg, but the blood flow just wasn't optimal through the knee thus hopefully the reason for the swelling.
Thank God, no blood clot was found. After almost 6 hours at the Good Sam. Hospital, I was finally on my way home to find out what a week on bed rest is like.
So, as you can tell by the previous statement, I am on bedrest for the rest of this week until Friday when we head back to Kearney to see the dr. again, weather permitting. Hopefully the swelling goes down and I can get off bedrest on Friday.
So, dear family and friends, welcome to the introduction of a daily blog as I look out my living room picture window...from my picture window to yours, have a great day!
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