Surgery... Yet again

Alot of my friends know that I had a knee surgery almost two years ago now. I had torn my left ACL in my knee in a high school sports class. I waited three years to have it fixed and in those three years what was left of my ACL became a ball of scar tissue that wreaked havoc on the inside of my knee. So I have permanent damage to my cartilage and meniscus, which leads to my current surgery. I had a meniscus tear repaired on 9 June. The surgery was only 45 minutes long compared to the 3 hours of the ACL reconstruction. Recovery is already going much better. I am out of my anesthesia coma already and can put a little weight on my leg. I am very thankful that one tear was all the orthopedic surgeon found. There was talk of multiple and that was going to intensify the recovery time. But I should be walking in about a week and swimming in three. Running and sports won't be for about 5-6 months. And I was just beginning to love tennis, thanks to my friend Amanda.

Lets see... right now my knee has a hole the size of my finger tip from the tube that was removed this morning by my wonderful and brave husband. The tube was a part of the drain which drained the fluid and blood out of my knee to help speed healing. I have an ACE bandage wrapped from about two inches above my knee to about 5 below. I have no idea what is underneath it. There is also four sticky pads that connect to a electrical device to supposedly help with the pain. It however looks and feels like the electrical device that was used to keep my muscles in good shape while I was incapable of walking last surgery. I am using it now and have been for most of the day. It hurts sometimes, but I either turn it off or lower the current. I want to recover fast for my sake as well as my husbands. Speaking of my husband, I woke up from surgery asking for him. All I can remember is calling for him over and over again. He says that when he walked in I said his name then took a deep breath and did this about 15 times.

Yesterday I tried to put some weight down on it since the nurse said that as long as there was no severe pain and that I could control it I could try weight bearing. With only one crutch was too much for the first day. So later I attempted it with both and trying to correctly walk heel to toe. That was how I was walking up until right before we decided it was time to pull out my drain. I had noticed this morning that the area right around the tube was no longer completely numb. Yikes, was my first thought. Then I went in to panic mode. I yelled at my husband to go get me some cold ice packs. However, there weren't any. Lovely! So he was awesome and made me one with fresh ice. The goal being to freeze the area so that I wouldn't feel the tube. I also called my mother so I would not be screaming at my husband for he was trying so hard. Out came the tube and no blood. What a relief! All I felt was something similar to a pinch and then a feeling I cannot describe. Weird. I don't really know how it felt. I have never felt it before. So we bandaged it up with some gauze and taped it down with band aids. We had no tape that would stick to the skin, so what was the next best thing-- band aids! Without the tube, my leg did not feel stable, so I chose not to walk on it for a few hours.

I also slept for about 2 hours total today. Big difference from yesterday. I slept most of the day, but I guess I was sleeping off the anesthesia. However doing more today and the smaller amount of nap time has me feeling tired right now at 8 pm. I think the percocet is causing a little bit of the sleepiness as well as the nausea. But I only feel the nausea right after I eat and when I move after sitting for a long time. I can hope that tomorrow all these things will happen less.

Very productive day!

Today was another free day for me! I am loving it. Yesterday I was bored. I worked on my cover for my scrapbook, but was having problems completing it, so I posted it on Splitcoast and got a reply that helped a lot. Thanks Jzig! I also baked 2 batches of cookies = 50+ cookies, that I took to my husbands shop. Those boys dug in and they were gone when I left 5 minutes later! Guess they were good.

1. So today I seemed to have so much time. I started the day with a bowl of cereal and got to crafting. I checked splitcoast and read my reply. I then got to work on it. I added a few things. I think its done. What do you think?

BEFORE:I used the brown and yellow paper from paper sets I got at Walmart. The circles are of the same yellow paper as it the backing of the bracket. The letters are stickers from Basic Grey and another paper set. The bracket was created with VersaMark ink and a stamp from a company whose name I cannot remember (because I threw away the packaging) and covered with embossing powder in mustard from American crafts Zing!. All of which is set upon a manila folder.

AFTER:I added the ribbon first. The color seemed to bring out the blue in the paper by DCWV. I then added the flowers. I used a red to add a pop of color to what seemed to be becoming a very brown & green cover. I used a brown square brad from The Paper Studio. And lastly I added the names of the grand-kids and two red flower brads from The Paper Studio to coordinate with the flower.

2. I also worked on the back of the book. Took a lot of time, but was fun to create.

The stamp is from Stampin' Up! in SU! chocolate chip ink. The flowers are from a set from SU! called Greenhouse garden and the leaves are from the same unknown set as before (Ugh, really annoying that I use it all the time and cannot reference it!). They are stamped on manila folder with VersaMark and covered in embossing powder from American Crafts Zing! in Denim, Apricot, Powder, Blush, and Cricket.

3. I also started a card which took two tries to get it here:

I messed up the stamp. Its a little crooked. Stamp from SU! On your Birthday set. Ink is basic black. I used a white gel pen to add shadow letters to try to offset the crooked stamp. White pen also used to add dots on edge. The stamps are once again from my unknown set. Stamped with VersaMark and covered with Zing! in Charcoal. Paper and buttons bought a while back. Buttons would be from Hobby Lobby in a large mixed pack and red paper is printer paper from Walmart. All based on premade card from Best Occasions from Walmart.

4. When I quit the first attempt at the card I went and watched a movie with time to spare! Its amazing how much time is in the day when your husband is working 12 hour shifts. Now I need to go cook dinner and get ready for cuddle time!

PS. I think I now have the hang of embossing!!

Here Comes the Bride pages

These are the last two pages I have finished. I don't even remember when I finished them. It was in April sometime.