Friday, August 21, 2009

CUI

"A woman was apprehended late yesterday afternoon after she was caught carving under the influence of narcotics. While the CUI charge poses no physical danger to the public, it's results are, nevertheless, disastrous, and should be treated seriously. A friend of the young lady, who wished to remain anonymous, said that she was very sorry for this crime, but that she 'just couldn't help it'. As this is a first offense, she will be fined and released later today."
On one hand, I have wanted to carve Da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" in some form for a long time. On the other, waiting a week or so wouldn't have been a bad thing. I did clean the image up a bit more this morning, so it looked a tad better, but I still wasn't completely satisfied with it. Norco and straight lines don't play nice together. This is the logo for ATI physical therapy where I am doing my rehab.

The whole "Shebang". Warning: The last photo may be a bit much for some people. Feel free to bail out now. Sorry about the glare. M took the pictures and we forgot to close the blinds and I didn't feel like photoshopping it out (remember, one of the side effects of pain killers is that you just don't care).

This is the "Velcro Octopus", or knee immobilizer. There will be great rejoicing the day I get to get rid of this thing. Right now, I'm not even allowed to put my foot on the floor without it.

My new Best Friend For Life, the Polar Care. It's basically a $200 igloo, but it circulates icy water around my knee and makes me very comfy. The good news is that is has stopped smelling like dead fish.

Lovely, I know. Be thankful that the picture is from yesterday. Today, it is much more colorful and significantly more swollen. Here is your road map, from left to right: There is a 3 inch, diagonal incision from where they harvested the hamstring; then there are two small symmetrial holes, one on each side (or top and bottom from your perspective) just below the patella where they used the arthroscope, and a third hole above on the right (out of the picture) for the guide pin for the graft. Finally, above the knee is my surgeon's initials, because, of course, DD couldn't wait until we had washed the betadine and marker off before she took the pictures.

Oh, and get this: They sent off a piece of my cartiledge to somewhere in Boston, so that if I need it anytime in the next two years, they can grow some for me. Creepy, huh?

That is all for today, but I promise, I will return tomorrow and torment you some more.

5 comments:

  1. Wow, looks just like my husband's knee (he had the same surgery 2 months ago). But he didn't have one of those cool polar care things - wish he had, because I was kept pretty busy running back and forth with ice packs ;-))

    Don't worry, the immobilizer will be gone before you know it, and your best friend will be your knee brace - have you ordered it yet? I understand it comes in a variety of cool colors - hubby chose basic black.... I would order RED!!!

    Hope you feel better soon!!!

    PS - this is really Kay, of the Little Foxes - my son seems to now have a google account......!

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  2. Oh, I'm sure glad you have your Norco... I'd need it! I think it's a great carve and would never know you were CUI! lol! :o)

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  3. Surely you know that most would love to be able to carve that image with or without help from your . . . well . . . you get by with a little help from your friend, right?

    Your sense of humor in the midst of your circumstances is a breath of fresh air.

    May you recover quickly!!

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  4. Wow...ouch! You're awesome, my friend. Great carving despite the narcotics, too :-)

    Consider me duly tormented...

    :-)

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  5. So as a scientist, I just gotta say that I think it's pretty darn cool about your cartiledge. :)

    Glad you're feeling better!

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