Busy, busy week

I don’t know where the week has gone – somehow it got to be Thursday though I feel like it should only be Tuesday. The news is all good though. Pat got called away on business Sunday afternoon, so I was on my own from Monday through Wednesday evening. I survived just fine and actually enjoyed a few hours of peace and quiet. Most of the time I was either sitting in front of the fax machine or the computer getting stuff together for the mortgage and sale agreement we still needed to sign. Thank goodness for technology advances as Pat was able to sign from Baltimore, fax it back to me, I signed here in Somerville and faxed it off to the lawyers, realtors, and mortgage brokers. At last count I faxed 75 plus pages, and because the machine we have is old, most of this was done with me sitting on the floor feeding in a page at a time. The good news is that I discovered I can now get up from the floor should I find myself down there for any reason.

Anyway, that is all behind us now. It’s all going according to plan and we should be official home owners later this month. We really are quite excited about this, I’ve already been to Home Depot a few times to collect paint samples and figure out what colors we want to use. It’s a completely overwhelming process, but one we are very much looking forward to. And yes, that is a LOT of lawn that will need to be mowed. No more postage stamp sized yards for us! We’re going to try a standard mower for the first year and see just how much work it is. Many of you have already suggested we get a lawn service, but what’s the fun in that??? Maybe in a year or two when the novelty of our own grass wears off….

On top of all the house stuff, I had a bunch of appointments this week. I started regular physical therapy and after an initial bad impression, like my new physical therapist much better. He pushes me and doesn’t look at my history and feel sorry for me. He knows his job and should be good at getting me moving. On this front, I also had my EMG test on Tuesday. To anyone who says this test does not hurt - YOU ARE A LIER!!! I have a high pain threshold and I was ready to scream after the first five minutes. Those electrical pulses are annoying and painful, especially when they are concentrated in the same area for ten minutes or more. The whole test, including the needles they insert into your muscles, took about 2 hours. I was really glad my mother in law had come up from Rhode Island to accompany me, because I don’t think I could have made it home in a cab by myself. My poor right leg was completely exhausted and drained of any energy it might have. Electrodes, needles, and what felt like lighting bolts shooting through my body – yikes! But that’s enough complaining and I’ll move onto the preliminary results. The neurologist said it was definitely femoral nerve compression (as opposed to a severed nerve) which is what we have been thinking all along. A few of the test results were inconclusive, but he may have more information to pass along later. He also stated that he did not think I would ever regain 100% use of the leg. This news surprised me because no one else had said this to me. He did say that I would get enough use to be able to walk without a brace or crutch, but agreed with the general opinion that this is probably 9-10 months down the road.

I’ll be continuing with my physical therapy and my at home exercises and working on getting more strength in the leg. It is surprisingly strong which the doctors agree is a good thing, but the quadriceps muscle is still totally atrophied and the nerves have a ways to go. The measurement we took was 410 millimeter which comes out to 410 days to regenerate the nerve, however the neurologist said my initial burst of nerve regeneration was probably about 40-50 days worth of work and add to that the 60 days I’ve been working on it that leaves about 310 days of growth. Just where all the doctors tell me I should be.

I also had an appointment with Dr. Hanto this week for my last post surgery check up. The abdomen has healed very nicely and he was pleased to hear my catheter was out. He commented that I looked much better and stronger since my last visit and I agreed that the past month has been good. He gave me permission to return to work (3 days a week, which I will begin in July) and then I decided he needed a little guilt trip from me. I let him know what the EMG had shown and reminding him that 50 % of my job involved traveling, something I might now be able to do for quite some time. It had the desired effect – he is aware of my disappointment in the outcome of this surgery and the effect it is having on my quality of life. I don’t have to see him again, though he said he would like to be kept appraised of the progress with my leg.

I’m off to Arizona this week to spend some time baking in the sun. I hope to try out the pool and see how my leg works in water and also spend some time relaxing with my parents. I was up and moving when they last saw me, but it’ll be good for them to see me speeding around on my crutch and brace. Pat will have to hold down the fort in Somerville and perhaps spend his share of time in front of the fax machine. He’ll be updating his half of the site soon with more detailed information about the Pan Mass Challenge and our plans for a fundraiser and t-shirts for Team Appendiceal Wheels. Check back later next week for more info!