As I sit in my recliner, the cryotherapy machine pumping cold water around my knee, I figured I have no excuse not to get started on an update. Quite honestly, I really haven't been up to doing much other than sit and ice my knee but since I can only get up for 5 minutes every hour, I have no excuse...time to get at it!
With the car fully loaded, we left Friday morning (May 16) just after 10:30 heading down island to our son's place. We made a quick stop at Deb and Ray's in Lake Cowichan to drop off some handicap equipment and food staples we will be needing when we return after my surgery. As I mentioned in our last blog, they have graciously offered their stairless basement suite to us...a perfect spot to recoup for a week immediately after my knee replacement surgery.
It was going on 3:00 when we arrived at Rob and Angie's. Rob was home with the boys since they had a "Pro D day"; Chris, Angela and Isaac had been on the 9:00 a.m. ferry so had arrived just before 11:00...Angie was the only one who had to work today.
Rob cooked a roast beef on the barbeque rotisserie for dinner...
Saturday morning (May 17) Steve and I went into Sidney for a short walk along the waterfront. When we got back, Rob was getting a campfire going. The weather wasn't forecast to be very nice this afternoon but Isaac really wanted a fire, so he decided to go ahead even if it was just for an hour or so. Well, it turned out to be a fabulous afternoon!
Bryce and Isaac...
Cousins!
12 sec video of Mr. Owl...
Rob had made quite a "jungle gym" in the yard for the boys. They are getting a little big for it now but Isaac enjoyed playing on them. Here he is on the zipline...
A 6 sec video of Isaac ziplining...
A big hit was Rob bringing out the Gel Ball Guns and teaching Isaac to shoot beer cans. The Gel Balls come in a small package and look like extremely tiny beads. After soaking them in water they expand and look like fish eggs, and at night they even glow. They are also harmless to the environment...
Everyone had to take a turn...
Grampa and Conner...
Isaac and Bryce...
And off we go!
Saanich Inlet in the distance...
Arbutus trees in bloom...
Sidney By The Sea...
Angela, Angie, and mwah...
Conner, Chris, Bryce, Steve, Isaac, and Rob...
That was a great hike and the last one before my knee surgery.
I had a very uncomfortable night, not getting much, if any, sleep. My room mate, Delia, had the same kind of night so we were both awake with the window blinds open bright and early letting the sunshine in Wednesday morning (May 21). Delia also had a right knee replacement too, as a matter of fact she was on the stretcher beside me in the pre-surgery ward. After taking our vitals, our nurse asked if we'd like a cup of coffee...you bet, please! So she brought us each coffee and digestive cookies...breakfast wouldn't be for a while yet.
Grampa's turn...
After spending the whole afternoon outside by the fire, it was time to go back inside...and have a Crokinole competition. Angela and Chris...
Sunday morning (May 18) we all packed into 2 cars and made the short drive to one of the many trailheads in Horth Hill Regional Park. You can walk the trails from the house over to the park but that would be just too long of a hike.
Checking out the trail map...
Ahhhhhhh! I'll save ya!
Cousins...
Time to continue on...
Isaac likes to look for treasures so we had him look for a geocache we had found previously a few years ago...
Success!
What a beauty!
Chris, Angela and Isaac are heading home on the 5:00 ferry back to the mainland today. But before they left, they all went to a nearby beach. Great picture of our 2 sons...Rob and Chris...
Shortly after 4:00, big hugs were exchanged by all and they were off. Such a wonderful time with great memories made! Looking forward to the next time we are all together again...in just over a month!
Monday morning (May 19) we met our good friends Rob and Nancy at Mary's Bleue Moon Cafe for breakfast...something we try to do every time we're here. No picture this time but it's always wonderful catching up with them!
A 23 second video of Bryce practicing his drumming...he will be performing at school next week...
Tuesday (May 20)...surgery day! We arrived at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria at 8:30 and after checking in at the Admitting desk, we were directed to the surgical day unit where we waited for about 40 minutes. I was then called in...Steve was told it would be around 4:00 by the time I would be moved to the Orthopaedic ward...and I said goodbye to him. See ya later!
I changed into a hospital gown and then the nurse came in to take my vitals and ask me "10 million" questions. When that was all done, she gave me a "handful" of pills...pre-surgery meds to get me into a relaxing mode, and then I was left to lay back on the stretcher and wait until it was my turn. My surgery time was 11:30, so shortly before then they wheeled me over to another section of the pre-surgery ward where I met an Anesthesiologist who did the final prep for surgery...an IV was started, he administered a 'nerve block' and finally the epidural. I was then wheeled into the operating room.
(Steve got a call from the surgeon at 12:40 that the surgery went well.)
I woke up in the recovery room feeling 100% better than I did when I had my other knee done in 2019...thankfully! I had been in a lot of pain back then and they had a hard time getting the pain under control. I was completely frozen from the waist down from the epidural and given "sedatives and pain medication to relax and reduce pain, allowing me to remain awake but feel comfortable and not aware of the procedure"...called conscious sedation. The whole surgery took less than an hour...surprisingly!
I'm not sure how long I was in the recovery room but after monitoring my blood pressure, etc. for a while, I was wheeled up to my room where I would spend the night. I was feeling pretty good...but then I was still frozen from the waist down. As I began to "thaw", of course, the pain started and I was given pain meds.
Steve was given the okay to come see me at 4:00...but had a heck of a time finding my room. I guess there are different wings of the hospital each with the same room number...I was in the north wing.
Before we can be discharged, physio must come and go through the home exercises we are to do...and the final "test" is to climb stairs. Since both Delia and I had the same surgery, the physiotherapist took us through the exercises together. Well, once I was up and doing the chair exercises, I got very woozy, hot and dizzy...back to bed I went. Suddenly there were four or five other people in the room, one taking my blood pressure and another wrapping a cold wet cloth around my neck. I was bound and determined to get out of the hospital today, so the physiotherapist said she'd come back in an hour. Long story short...I managed to do what was necessary to get discharged!
Steve helped me get dressed and then went to get the car. (It was like dressing an overgrown grandchild! Steve 😂) I was taken down to the discharge lounge by a nurse who waited with me until Steve came and then helped me into the car.
I had a very uncomfortable hour and a half drive up to Lake Cowichan and Ray and Deb's. I was so happy when we finally got there and I was in a recliner chair with the cryotherapy machine icing my knee...ahhhhh! But the work had just begun for Steve...he had to unpack the car and organize our stuff.
The following week went fast and is kind of a blur...I managed to get onto a regular schedule of meds and got the pain under control for the most part. For the first two weeks after surgery, you're to limit the time on your feet to 5 minutes each hour. So needless to say, the comfortable recliner became my friend...a lot of snoozing and watching TV.
My view out of the French doors as I sit in the recliner...
Thursday (May 22) was our 43rd Wedding Anniversary...Steve promised we'd celebrate it later when I'm up to it. Steve went into town for some grocery's and returned with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
OMG he's the best, I'm so lucky, what did I ever do to deserve such a handsome and caring specimen of a man ! 💕(Can you tell Steve wrote that last sentence 😂)
Steve helped Ray with odds and ends...here, I believe they were checking to ensure the fire water pump worked. With a campground one house over and the ever present danger of wildfire these days they wanted this as a just in case. Ray had cataract surgery on one eye and will be having the other one done June 3rd, so with one eye done, he removed the lens from his glasses. Arrgh Matey
Saturday (May 24) was an absolutely beautiful day! Ray and Steve went fishing.
Over to Steve...
Later Steve helped Ray take a load to the dump/recycle centre. On their way back they went for a hike at the Spring Beach Rec area...
19 sec video of Spring Beach Rec Site...
While they were gone, Deb took care of me and set up a chair outside so I could enjoy the sun and view with her...
Later that afternoon, we all sat outside...
Steve took some pictures of our home for the week...a great suite! The living, dining and kitchen area (the bathroom is down the hallway beside the fridge on the right...
The view from the kitchen...the door on the left goes into the bedroom...
Bedroom...
Tuesday morning (May 27) Ray and Steve were out on the water by 7 a.m. going up to Shaw Creek where the fishing is better.
Steve here: It's about a 40 minute run to Shaw Creek toward the far end of Cowichan Lake, which is 28km/17 miles long. The red balloon is Ray and Deb's and the arrow is Shaw Creek...
Goat Island...
1:32 minute video of fishing Shaw Creek...
Regardless it was a great morning on the lake!
It's miles of logging road to get to this beauty!
Others fishing off the cliffside...
Scotch Broom bush in bloom. An invasive species introduced to Vancouver Island in 1850 by a British Sea Captain...
We never tire of this view!
View from our suite...
As usual Deb was at beck and call should I need anything while Steve was out.
That afternoon, we managed to sit outside again...
A canoe filled with Indigenous school kids came by and waived...
Wednesday morning (May 28) Steve had the job of packing up everything and getting it into the car. We were quite full when we got here but now we have his large tackle box, 2 fly rods, (left here on our previous visit) my walker, toilet seat booster, and tub bench to add. After a week, it was time to head home. It was sure wonderful and greatly appreciated having the opportunity to stay in Ray and Deb's basement suite for the week immediately following my surgery. Not having stairs to contend with, not to mention the extra room I had to move around, made the world of difference! Thank you so much for your generous hospitality Ray and Deb!
We had a 2 hour drive home, and again, I was happy to get into my recliner...with the cryotherapy (ice) machine wrapping my leg. And again, Steve was busy! Not only did he have to pack, up the car, he now had to unload it and unpack our suitcases.
And so goes the next week...Steve having to take care me. Something I truly appreciate but I'm sure he will be very happy once I'm mobile again.
I had my first physiotherapy session on Friday (May 30). The exercises he gave me, along with the ones from ReBalanceMD are all designed to strengthen the knee muscles and get the new knee to bend. I must say they are not a lot of fun...some are very easy movements but others more strenuous and hurt like hell. All I can say is thank goodness for the pain meds! The exercises are to be done 2 to 3
times per day...and I go to weekly to the physiotherapist.
Steve has been going out daily to pick up groceries...I did do an on-line order that he picked up the day after we got home. But he has been going out to pick up odds and ends...and ice, lots of ice...$7 a day!
And that pretty well brings us up-to-date. I don't foresee much change in our day-to-day life over the next week or so but I am improving daily and hopefully things will get back to "normal" in the not too distant future. Poor Steve needs a break! 😀