Popeye Leg

I arrived this morning to cranky Justin.

So after yesterday morning, when the gestapo made me stand in the cold waiting for exactly 8:00 to enter the hospital (seriously to the second), I didn’t arrive today until about 8:15. When I walked in the door to Justin’s room, he had been watching the clock awaiting my arrival. He was frazzled, frustrated, uncomfortable, and agitated by anything and everything. 

This stage of recovery is always rough. Justin is off all the IVs, his bowels are awake, and he must rely on oral pain medication. Unfortunately, Justin is terrible at executing these responsibilities during the transition from hospital to home. He tends to get dehydrated, loses his appetite, and won’t ask for pain meds. When I got here today, he hadn’t had any pain medication since noon yesterday, and refused to take anything till after noon today. But after he did … bada-bing, bada-boom, he was happy, pleasant, and comfortable. (I’m not advocating for opioid use, just trying to better manage his pain and comfort while he’s still in recovery)

I’m force feeding a bit today, but he has had some latent heartburn from going hours and hours without food and the stress of his leg yesterday. 

I’m now happy to report he is eating buttered noodles, watching Hallmark Christmas movies (this is for me … when I got here yesterday he was watching some Chucky movie), and the heartburn is improving.

The IR doctor stopped by late afternoon. He unwrapped the ace bandage and we’re awaiting a compression stocking that will be Justin’s best friend for at least the next month. (see pic above)

We’re starting to hear more official rumblings of discharge. I’m hoping as soon as tomorrow. Fingers crossed