Mama's Got a Brand New Knee!

That doesn't have quite the same ring to it as "Papa's got a brand new bag" - what does that saying even mean? Anywho, that is not what this post is about. This also isn't a post to apologize for not blogging for a month, so if you're looking for an "I'm sorry," TOUGH! I was at home for a week to play nurse for my mom who just had reconstructive knee surgery, and considering the circumstances, I had a great time. She's had three orthroscopic surgeries on both knees and that wasn't doing the trick, so it was time to just suck it up and do the big surgery. The scariest part for my mom was that she wouldn't know what kind of surgery she was able to get until she went under the knife, but the surgery went perfectly, and she only had to have an Oxford partial knee replacement, so her recovery time will be cut in half. I apologize in advance for making you look at this.


Mom's knee about 3 days after surgery. 17 staples. She's rad.

While I was at home, my general duties for my mom were:

Morale Booster: It's never fun to be a Debbie Downer when you've just had major surgery. The more you can keep your mind off it, the better... I brought home about 20 movies, and we only watched two: Fargo and The Hangover. Have you watched Fargo recently? It's not all just funny accents and snow. It's mostly killing and swearing. That was fun.

Walking Assistant: She had an awesome walker that helped her walk around on her own just fine, but getting in and out of the bed was a pain.

Cribbage Loser: We played 9 games. I lost 8. The win was probably a fluke. I was not just being nice to the temporarily crippled.

Pharmacist: I was in charge. I had a list of all the pills, when to take them, when we took the last one, alarms set to help us remember, and a small drug factory running out of Woodinville. My mom wouldn't let me take the extras though, I could have made a fortune selling to RHS kids!

Waiter: Drinks, pills, books, magazines, DS, pillows, ice machine - whatever she wanted, she got! I must say, she was an easy patient. She would try to get most of it herself when she'd get up to use the bathroom.

Chef: I must say, my Mom ate in style her first week down for the count. Gourmet Sloppy Joes - courtesy of Rachael Ray, slow cooker pulled pork sandwiches, porkchops and rice, and fruit dip. Not to mention the cake balls and chocolate chip cookies I made for dessert!

Hair Stylist: My mom is the Queen of clean hair - she can go 3 days without washing her hair, and it looks like she washed it 5 minutes ago. My sister Denise and I got our hair from our Dad. 5 minutes after a shower and it looks like we washed it 3 days ago. I helped Mom wash her hair in the sink and she was good as new!

Schedule keeper: Pills every 4 hours. 8-10 hours in the CPM Machine a day. No more than 2 hours in the CPM machine at a time. No more than 2 hours at a time with the ice machine. Up every 2 hours walking around. Exercises 4-6 times a day. I don't know how people do this on their own, there was so much to remember!


Sleeping Buddy: The couch and I became good, comfy friends that week. Rather than set my alarm and walk downstairs to get my mom her pill or help her use the bathroom, I just slept next to her and she would wake me up when she needed me. Jean says it's because I'm young, but it was pretty easy for me to fall right back to sleep after a bathroom break at 3am every night.


Sanity checker: Jean's the best, don't get me wrong. But, he has a lot of energy and can't really sit for long periods of time. I am the exact opposite. I can sit for hours on end and don't really like getting up. Mom and I hung out. Jean worked upstairs and stayed busy. We all were happy and sane doing what we do best. I think Mom would have liked to be up doing more though, because about Day 4 she was ready to rip out her hair, she was so bored!

I was more than happy to help my Mom - she did the same thing for me 10 years ago when I had ACL surgery on my right knee. I was having crazy sympathy pains for her, but she was a trooper!

Now that it's been a while since the week with my Mom, I'm happy to report that she is doing VERY well! She's off the walker, she can walk around all by herself now, her mobility is looking great, her physical therapists are happy with her progress, and she feels great! She still has quite a bit of physical therapy ahead of her to be back to a healthy knee, but she's moving in the right direction. Keep working hard Mom!