7/3/2014Woke up at 11:30 am and distracted another .25 to bring me to 1 mm of distraction. The physiotherapist named Mohini came but I wasn’t done with my sponge bath so she said she’d come in 10 minutes, but I had spent a long time coming back from the bathroom and getting ready so she eventually left without me doing my physio. It’s a shame too because she’s the physio I’ve got a thing for. A team of three physios came later, one lady trained in the US in Connecticut for physiotherapy and was the leader of the group. She told me that they noticed even before the operation that my dorsiflexion was below average and that I have a naturally tight fascia, so they were going to try and release it a little to improve the ROM of my feet. She put some cream on her hands and started on my right tibia where she felt around for a bit and then pressed down before spreading her fingers across the surface in various areas of the top, side, and back of my tibia. There was a deep throbbing sensation that responded to the physios work and when she spread her fingers across the middle of my tibia it felt like I had a really bad bruise that was sensitive to touch. After the session she saw with her measuring equipment that my dorsiflexion had improved by 8 degrees. She gave me exercises to do with my feet to add to the other physio exercises I’m required to do. I’m willing to do it as much as possible though because I want to fight this equinous before it happens.
So far things have been really good here, the only real annoyances I had were with a couple of the attendants. One of them asked a bunch of times for me to help him get a visa into the USA, and when I said I had no way of doing that he told me that I must have a way of knowing how he could get one – somehow he had the idea that I could make it happen. The rest of the day was kind of awkward when I told him that there was nothing I could do. The other attendant was just really... not too smart. Example, I walk to the bathroom on the walker and he straightens out the slippery rug for me to walk on instead of removing it. I’ll come out of the bathroom and he’ll have a bucket of water right by the door that’s too heavy for me to move. He’ll put a bucket with very little water in it directly near the toilet so I accidentally knock it down. He’ll insist on trying to put on my sandals even when I tell him I’ve got it. These are minor things I guess, but when you're in pain in fixators the smaller things tend to grate on your nerves a bit more. I think the only big complaint I had with the guy though was that he would just sit on the bed across from me and stare intently while I’m writing or using the laptop, even though he doesn’t have to stay in the room and at least has a phone with 3G access so he can occupy himself with something other than staring at me.
Some days when that second attendant was there, the scene would like like this for minutes at a time:
7/4/2014Continuing distraction. Left leg is very sore and I have lots of knee pain. Encountered a new kind of pain today that hurt like hell every time it happened. I find that if I am about to fall asleep and quickly regain alertness, or fall asleep completely and wake up in the morning, I end up getting a muscle contraction that tightens around all the pin sites and relaxes after a split second. The pain is very brief but hurts a lot, especially on the pins and wires by the ankles. Legs were in a lot of pain today even after getting two physiotherapy sessions and exercising to loosen up the muscles. The few painkiller tablets I took didn't help much either.
7/5/2014Woke up at around 12 o’clock with a really painful muscle contraction around all the pin sites. After washing and having breakfast, Mohini came into my room to do physiotherapy. I always like seeing Mohini. The thing I have for her makes any discomfort from the physio more tolerable. I had my second physiotherapy session at around 6 o’clock with Pratiksha. She taught me three new exercises, which were to help with back pain from lying down so much. Dr Divya came later and told me how discharge was going to work and had the chemist from downstairs meet me. Whenever I was to run out of dressings I would have to give this guy a call and order boxes in advance. I could get a discount of 100 INR ordering from him instead of going to the store. Ten boxes of dressings would cost about 600 INR. After everything was packed, I was taken in a wheelchair to the ground floor where I was put on a stretcher and into the back of the hospital ambulance. They took me to Maharana Inn and I had to use my walker to enter the elevator. The assistant from the room came with me and help set things up in the room. I was given a rate of $46.50 per night due to the extended stay. There was an even cheaper rom but they recommended this one as the other didn’t have any of the nice amenities and my stay would have been far less comfortable. They gave me a room closest to the front desk. Inside was a mini fridge, closet space, table, desk, bathroom with toilet, shower, towel and toilet paper, HDTV and internet access. Room service was all day and laundry service was available as well. Did physio on my own and had a Married...With Children marathon from the DVDs I brought.
X-RaysDr Parihar sent me my first set of post-op x-rays. I noticed that instead of a clean cut through the bone, it looked cracked or shattered. When I asked Dr Parihar about this, he said that he doesn't go in the surgery looking to shatter the bone intentionally, actually he prefers a clean cut. But he said not to worry about it. Sometimes the bone is just to solid to do a clean cut at the time of surgery and it ends up shattering, but the shattering allows for more surface area for healing. So I'm not really worried about it anymore. Dr Parihar is a very cautious doctor who tells it like it is, so I trust him that it's not something to be alarmed about.
Thanks for pioneering CLL with Dr.Parihar. He seems like the best option in India. Your experience will be invaluable for prospective LL'ers who are considering Dr.Parihar or India.
