A week ago I underwent surgery to repair the torn quadriceps tendon in my left leg. That was, as you might imagine, not one of the more enjoyable experiences of my life.
At this point, I’m doing better than I expected. While I do have some trouble sleeping (you would not believe the nightmares I had for a while-most involving my knee cap popping out of my leg) and my leg is immobilized, my outlook is still positive and I have not (as of yet) had any psychotic episodes. Since I’m a running fanatic and haven’t been able to run in a couple weeks, I am worried that it is just a matter of time.
Today was the day I was finally allowed to change the dressing on the wound. Fortunately, one of my close friends, Ron, is married to a nurse and she agreed to help out. As she peeled away the various layers of bandages, I vaguely wondered what horrors I would see. Fortunately, the bleeding had been very minimal and the incisions were already healing nicely. Of course, it was just a bit creepy to see shiny metal staples sticking in my flesh. Naturally Ron took a picture of the knee-he is a sensitive sort of guy.
Seeing that things were healing up nicely helped keep my morale up and being able to reduce the amount of gauze stuffed under the immobilizer has been great. This coming Thursday I am supposed to get the staples removed (I wonder if I can keep them…) and a hinged knee brace. Since I plan on using a stationary bike (thanks Dave!) to keep my cardio health up, it will be nice to have something that will handle sweat better. The immobilizer handles sweat by absorbing it and then getting stinky. Hardly an optimal solution.
I am supposed to be able to go back to work the week after next-I’m looking forward to that. Grinding through student emails, downloading student papers, and setting up two weeks worth of classes online has made me work way too much for someone out with an injury. On the plus, side, it has kept me busy and given me a continued sense of purpose.