I'm afraid life hasn't been quite as exciting as it was when we were traveling (and even then it still took me a long time to post...).
Key Updates:
KNEE SURGERY
I am about five days out of surgery and doing great. For those of you who didn't know for sure but picked up on the injured knee references in the blog during our Europe trip, I had ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament [ACL] playing soccer back in... Oh, I don't know, April? Maybe end of March? So after an upsetting visit to the orthopedic surgeon [OS] (who fixed my other knee, which I blew out a week before high school graduation) back in April, four months in Europe, an MRI and its follow-up visit, and six weeks of waiting after our return to the United States, I finally had a complete ACL reconstruction this past Tuesday. FINALLY, sheesh. I went in at 8:30am for prep for my 9:45am operation, then found out my OS was stuck in a previous surgery for longer than anticipated and my surgery was pushed back at least another hour. I think I finally made it into the operating room around 11:30am and by 3pm I was back home. My OS couldn't tell from the MRI before whether or not my meniscus had been damaged, so it came as a relief to me when I found out after surgery that my meniscus was fine - this means that theoretically I will be off crutches soon. I was extremely nauseous any time I sat up too fast or rode in a car, but that was really the only unbearable part of my first few days of recovery. My pain level has been very low for the most part. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being me screaming for the pain to stop, I was 3-4 during the day for the first two or three days. Nighttime was hard for the first two days because I couldn't get comfortable with the gigantic leg shackle weighing my leg down and pulling on the bandages, and because without fail, for the first two days, I would wake up at 1:30am with my leg feeling like it was ready to fall off. I was about an 8/10 the first night but didn't take any painkillers because I didn't want to wake up Steve to make me food and from what I remember of last time I was in this position, heavy-duty painkillers do not agree with me on an empty stomach. Night Two was even worse - at least a 9.5/10 - I was sitting up in bed ready to break down in tears when Steve woke up, took one look at me, and went into the kitchen to make me a midnight snack and fetch my painkillers. Surprisingly, since that night, my pain level has dropped both day and night (1/10, if that) and I haven't had to take any more painkillers (whoo!). I did have to go back in to the doctors office and get my bandages changed the day after surgery (more time in the car... ugh.) because blood and saline and general surgery goo was leaking out and my bandages were soaked through. Gross. But I am now able to bear 50-70% of my weight on my newly renovated leg (which means that I can get by with using only one crutch instead of two - double yes for the halved bulk) and I have an appointment in about a week to get my stitches out. Hopefully physical therapy [PT] will start the week after Thanksgiving.
CAREER TRACK
In January, I will begin work as a staff accountant at a CPA firm in town. Whoo! The timing is convenient for everyone, because the firm is currently in a bit of a lull before tax season starts and it gives me time to get back on my feet (somewhat literally) following knee surgery. I have sent my college transcript and application to the California Board of Accountancy and wait to schedule the CPA exam. More info on that as it comes; until then, I need to crack down and study because, as one of the partners at the firm reminded me, I won't have nearly as much free time once work starts.
Steve has kept an eye out for jobs in agribusiness in the area but so far no luck - which is convenient for me because I have a handsome, attentive nurse to look after me and drive me around while I recover from surgery. Once the holidays wrap up, then the serious job search will ensue.
HOUSING
We've been staying with my family for the past couple weeks since we moved up to Redding, but we have been on the lookout for our own place. My bedroom here was already full of wedding presents and all my old stuff, so when Steve set up a table for his computer, that took up most of the available space. *sigh* We've been back from Europe for almost two months (Two months?! What!) and we're still living out of a suitcase. One of the nice things about Redding is the lower cost of living - we've looked at places to rent in town that are almost twice as big as the place we rented in southern California for the same price or (usually) less. Awesome. We were originally going to try to find a place before Thanksgiving because a couple of our friends said they were going to come up, but at this point, that is very unlikely. With my surgery being last week and our friends flaking, it is more financially responsible for us to stay at my parents' house a little while longer. But stay tuned!
OTHER
Steve played in a full-field adult soccer tournament last weekend with some of our friends up here. He had four games, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. Watching soccer makes me a little sad because it has been so long since I've played and it will be much longer still before I play again, but Steve is so cute running around out there (although by the fourth game of the weekend, he was pretty tired...). He had fun (and burned some serious calories), which was good - it's been a while since he last played soccer, too. We didn't get many opportunities in Europe. He's also been playing on a 7aside team on Thursdays with my brother and some other friends of ours. If he wants to get his soccer fix, Redding is a good place to do it.
Not much else has been going on with us. Steve and I have been in extreme Dinosaur Mode the last few days, watching all the Jurassic Park movies (twice... :D ) and reading the books (and adding Jurassic Park: Music From the Motion Picture to Spotify, discussing evolution, debating on which dinosaurs are the coolest/cutest/most vicious, etc). I've done a lot of reading and Steve has played a lot of video games. A plan to go down south and visit is in the works, but that probably won't happen till Christmas-ish. It will depend on when we get a place of our own up here and how mobile I can get ASAP (so that poor Steve won't have to do all the moving by himself). We're having Thanksgiving with my family up here, which I'm actually really happy about because I haven't had Thanksgiving up here since I was in high school. I will say, though, that Steve's family makes a mean Thanksgiving dinner. Seriously, delicious. It was on my list of things to eat when we come back from Europe. It will have to wait at least another year though... or we'll have to make their traditional foods ourselves!
No comments:
Post a Comment