Home Modifications

The end approaches for regular posting on this blog. I am very excited about tomorrow when I go to the orthopedic surgeon for my big checkup. I'll get x-rayed, and he'll push, prod, pull, and bend my knee to make sure it's working right. I'm relatively sure that all will be in order, but it will be gratifying to have official verification. I can hardly wait to report in tomorrow night!

In my continuing effort to wrap up this blog, I'll comment tonight on furniture and home modifications. We did virtually nothing before my surgery, but if you read the first few entries of this blog, you'll realize that we had little warning of my surgery and were gone until the day before it occurred, so we had no opportunity to research what might be helpful, and even if we knew what we should do, there would not have been enough time to do it! So, we winged it.

The most important thing is to prepare a place to spend the first two weeks. This should be on a floor in your house (if you have more than one story) which requires no stair-climbing, and which has easy access to a bathroom. It would be nice for that bathroom to have a shower, but if it doesn't, it doesn't matter that much since you can't bathe until your incision is totally and completely dry.

You will want to have a place to spend your days. I spent most of my days on the couch in our family room. Stan moved the coffee table against the wall so that he could put a card table by the couch. On the card table, he put my laptop so that I could web browse and keep up with email (and write my blog!) while watching TV and looking out the window. Make sure you have a nice place to spend your days so that you can "do" things and take a nap, all in the same place.

I found it very helpful to have lots of pillows, mostly to build a "ramp" for my leg which would keep it well above the level of my heart. I was much colder right after my surgery than I usually am, so I would advise several light blankets which can be added to or subtracted from as necessary. Have a sizable night stand next to the bed with a lamp, a phone (that can be muted!), books, a charger for your cell phone and for your Kindle, and all the other knick-knacks you need (gum, water, lip balm,comb, etc.).

One of the things that was surprisingly helpful was a shower bench and a shower wand. I'm not sure that I could have stood up to shower the 2nd and 3rd weeks (and maybe even the 4th week) so the shower bench was a great help. Likewise, something beside a toilet to help you balance and stand up is essential.

There's probably no way to avoid getting a walker for the first 10 days to 2 weeks, but after that it's useless. If you can borrow a walker, do so. Your insurance will probably pay for a walker OR a cane, so if you can borrow a walker, get the insurance to buy you a good cane.

Having good, sturdy railings on both sides of stairs was, and continues to be, a tremendous help. Again I can only say, thanks, Stan! It was so good of you to install that extra handrail to help me get up the stairs!

Lots of ice packs--big for your swollen knee, smaller for your swollen ankle--will be used over, and over, and over for weeks. I still come home and ice my knee after a day of sitting at my desk. Using ice on my knee will continue for several more weeks, I'm sure, so get at least 3 ice wraps so there will always be a really cold one in your freezer!

I'm sure there are other things, but that's it for now. Tune in tomorrow to see what happens at the surgeon's office!