First Friday

I woke a couple of times to go to the bathroom. Then I was awoken at 6:30 for the daily blood-letting. 6:30, not 4:30. And the person was from the French hospital lab. Somehow I do not think they needed to take my blood at 4:30 for my benefit. It was for theirs. I had called for percocet about two hours ago, so I decided to loosen up my leg here in bed before getting up. I did some leg lifts, some knee presses, butt crunches and pulley knee lifts. I think these are good to warm my leg up enough so that when I do get up I will be in less pain and be less stiff. I have found, from the months of doing fairly simple exercises in the gym, that it all adds up. The bed is comfortable. I did sleep well. Admittedly I had hydroxyzine, Requip, and Ambien to help me along. I did not take any Ambien in the hospital. If I take it here will I be less able to sleep on my own? Worth looking into. I haven't felt anything like restless legs since the op I don't know if that means the Requip is working or that I simply am not having any episodes now. The combo of iPad and keyboard is working well now. However, editing on the iPad can be a pain. I have to put my finger where I want the cursor to go and it just doesn't always go where I want, so I end up erasing more than I intended, then rewriting. At home I have a little stylus - I forgot to bring it. That is a little more helpful. My challenge for the day: to get dressed. I would like to take a shower but I have to arrange that ahead of time (or pick a time when the bathroom is not in hig demand). I can get everything else on, but my right sock and shoe is a challenge. I discussed this with the occupatioal therapist and she brought out a grabber and long shoehorn. This combination does work. I could use another grabber, so may ask Maryann to pick one up. In any case, I doubt I will need it more than a week - for the knee. I will still find it useful at home for other purposes, though. I think there may be a window here for me to hit the bathroom with my bucket of supplies.