I should have said Gail aka melvalena.

Prayers and positive thoughts are extended to Gail/Melvalena for a speedy and full recovery.

Thanks for letting us know and keeping us informed.

Thanks Carrie! That poor woman, I bet she's in a lot of pain.

She said they had already advised her it would be a long process. She sounds good though, and will do what she has to do to get the job done.

I'm sorry to hear of Gail's accident. I pray she recovers quickly and completely.
Molly

Bless her heart. Yes, prayers heading her way.
All this time I thought her name actually was melvalena.

Please tell her we all wish her a speedy as possible recovery. Sorry to hear about her accident!

Melvalena
When you see these know that we are cheering you on. I am so sorry this happened and so happy that therapy can help. Wishing you the very best Cynthia

I thought her name was Melvalena too. ;)

My heart goes out to you Gail, and I wish you a speedy recovery. My knee hurts just thinking of your ordeal.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Gail.

She is in my prayers. Healing and good wishes go out to her. What a terrible ordeal it must have been for her.

Hi you guys!
I am so sorry its taken me so long to get here and provide an update. Thanks for the well wishes and it sounds like a few of you know exactly what I'm feeling and going through. Its been quite a ride so far!

My computer time is limited due to having to keep my leg elevated and sitting at this desk makes that hard to do comfortably. I am fine and will be fine, it will take a while to get back to what was normal though.

Quick run down: Late Thursday eve I slipped on a very wet slippery floor in the restroom of a restaurant. I knew instantly what my future would be. :(

Ambulance ride to hospital ER. arrived about 12:15am.
by 2:30am they had decided to admit me and put me on the surgery schedule.
5:00am I am finally moved to my room and pain meds started. Due to my allergies and severe reactions to codeine and morphine I'm put on dilaudid half dose. But they have to give me anti nausea meds and benadryl at the same time. I still itch all over and am quite nauseous from it.

Surgery didn't happen until late Sat afternoon I'm guessing around 5? Had quite the time with pain control and the meds. :( by Monday I begged Dr to just prescribe me some muscle relaxers and Tylenol. Tylenol is all my body can tolerate.
The muscle relaxer is so I can sleep at night. Thankfully he agreed to it.

Went home around 4pm Monday afternoon. I'm feeling much better each and every day.

So.. I split my knee cap in half horizontally. Usually this break happens in the middle of the kneecap. Mine broke in the bottom half. So he removed that little bottom piece and reattached the tendon to what was left of the kneecap with sutures. Nothing else in the knee was damaged but there was a lot of blood in there. No hardware, no pins, screws or bolts. :) I am not allowed to bend the knee at all. I am in a strap on immobilizing cast, able to put weight on it to walk though. I have a walker with wheels on the front. I'm not supposed to do much of anything for 2 weeks. If you know me... that is simply not possible! And of course I've already over done it. :(

Rehab: starts in 2 weeks when the staples are removed and I might get a different cast at that time. When asked how long this re hab process is he mumbled something about 3-4 months.... HA!!!

I get home and my body and mind clear of the opiates... I start looking around on line and reading... recovery takes more like a year than 3-4 months.. :) AND it is very painful and difficult. With tons of set backs along the way. OH JOY!! :( most people go 3x a week for PT

I can not drive a car, I have no idea how long that is going to last... months probably... :(

My kids and grandkids have been very helpful and the grandkids are going to be doing my house cleaning for me for a while. They are also going to get training on how to put my gardens to bed for the winter, how to take cuttings and haul things into the garage for me. :)

Friends of mine will be rotating getting me out of the house at least once a week. Hubby will have to take me to the grocery store and do all the errands and banking himself.

I do what I can and force myself to sit and do nothing. That lasts about 10 mins!
I have a running list of things that need to be done so when someone comes over and says what can I do... I have that list to read off to them. :)
I have a few photos if anyone _really_ wants to see them.. pre surgery and post surgery.

Melvalena/Gail

Oh Gail, what an ordeal! But thanks for telling us about it because we were wondering what happened and how you're coping. It's wonderful you have kids and grandkids to help, but it's never as much or how you'd do it yourself. Hopefully, you can entertain youself with reading and/or watching TV but I know how hard it is to sit for them. My mother watched so many lawyer and judge TV shows when she was down for awhile she said she felt qualified to hang out her shingle ... LOL.

Oh, and Gail I'd like to see your photos when you feel up to posting them.

ok.. here ya go.. Photo taken in the ER with my phone just before they put the immobilizer on me.

here's the after surgery one, not sure if it was Sunday morning or Monday morning: Photo taken with my mini IPad:

Dang, it was kinda' swollen, huh? The cut for my knee replacement was not that long. I'm just thankful we live in a time and country where these kinds of surgeries can be accomplished. Accidents and surgeries take a few months out of our life, but these things happen to the best of us and we just get through it the best we can. May the recovery be uneventful and shorter than usual. Amen.

Yes Roselee... you are absolutely right!
Each time something like this has happened to me, I thank God I am where I am when I am.

Looking at the big picture, the time it takes to go through this is not much at all really. :)

Hugs to all... and keep moving! :)

Wow, Gail..................doesn't look like a dance in the park to me. But .................. I know you, you will make it work and make it work to your benefit. Hats off to you, girl, you hang in there. You will be in my prayers and always, always positive thoughts coming your way.

Oh, that looks terribly painful! I am so glad that you have grandkids big enough to help with the plants and housework. They'll probably grow to love horticulture as much as you do!

I know that the hardest part will be to rest the knee, do the best that you can and forgive yourself if you can't.

I'm pulling for you and sending warm, healing thoughts and prayers your way.

Pam

Prayers and good wishes for you set back free recovery. If they tell you to stay off the knee, the stay off it. They are serious! Good luck with the rehab also-- that you may do better at doing slightly less than the therapist instructs. It will depend on how well the knee heals and how well you tolerate the therapy. You really, really don't want to set yourself up to have to start the recovery over from the beginning by not minding instructions

UP DATE:
my DR released me way back in Jan. I asked if I could continue with PT he said sure, he'd keep sending me as long as I wanted to go.

Today the therapist has run out of ideas and things for me to do.

My dance partners last night declared me healed and back to normal. So my therapist has turned me loose. :) She says those people have known me for 20 yrs, they know what my normal feels like and looks like, so if they say I'm back to normal then its time to move on with my life.

I'm on maintenance now. For a small fee, I come and go as I please and work on the machines without their supervision--but if I have a problem or issue they are there to advise me.

Of course my knee is not back to normal, but I can do most anything I want to do, just not as much or as long as I used to. The rt knee will never feel like the left but I'll get used to it and be fine with it. I will have good days and bad days, esply with weather changes and cold.

I will continue to work on rebuilding muscle and stamina-- which takes a while and progress is slow BUT I will get pretty darn close to where I used to be.
I am already doing more than either of them thought I'd be able to do in the beginning. I'm way ahead of the curve.

Its time to Celebrate! Just in time for my first hummer sighting (last night) and spring with its warmer weather is finally here.

Yay! Thank you for posting this

You can dance on it! Whoo hoo ... :-)

We're celebrating with you.

I'm glad you are making such good progress. You keep at it and you will be back to normal again.

Well this is what I get for ignoring the computer for so long. I missed the injury announcement, the surgery details, the recovery and just logged on tonight and perused the whole kit n caboodle. Gail, so glad there was a happy outcome for you. I've had a couple of surgeries on my knees and they're no fun. Hey to you all up there. I'm still toddling along here in Springtown gardening when I can. I'd love to see you all if I get the chance to get up that way maybe this fall for the brug pruning extravaganza. Pam I hope to see you at the Trinity Park swap.
Cheryl

I am so happy to hear that you can dance again! Who cares if it was 'slow dancin' :-)

Cheryl, I'll be looking forward to seeing you too!

So glad to hear that you're back on your "A" game, Gail! Shows what determination can accomplish!