A Sandi Update--Wal-Mart

After being on leave for fourteen months due to a knee injury, a serious stroke, and a brutal battle against two forms of cancer Sandi returns to work at Wal-Mart tomorrow morning. She is thrilled.

Sandi's Knee

Knee doc gave Sandi a clean bill of health on her knee. A little more therapy but she is pretty much done on that.

But (and there is always a but) she has developed severe shortness of breath the last few days so she will be seeing her primary doctor tomorrow morning about that issue. Hopefully nothing serious is going on with that.

Sandi Knee Surgery Update---Physical Therapy Edition

Sandi finished her seventh session of therapy today and was reevaluated as she will see the doctor this Thursday morning.  The physical therapist thinks she is doing amazingly well at this point. Not only has she been relatively pain free--what pain she has had has been minimal---she has regained a significant amount of her strength in her leg. Range of motion has come a long way though it does have a bit more to go to get back all the way.  He is very positive about her progress.

We shall see what the doctor says Thursday morning. We know for sure she won’t be back to work at the end of the month from a knee standpoint like she wanted, but she is hoping it will be soon. Until the doctor deems her 100 percent and that she can go back she remains on unpaid leave.

Sandi asked me to thank everyone that has donated to us or gone to her store at  http://www.ioffer.com/users/sanditipple  and purchased something. Not only does it help us financially because every dollar truly does help but the sales and making stuff has also been excellent therapy for her mentally. 

She is not one to stay home and the limitations caused by her knee and then the strokes have been very frustrating for her. She is one that needs to be out and about every day and being confined to home has just about driven her nuts.

On behalf of both of us--thank you!

Kevin

When it rains, it pours

Been a very long and very hard day full of setbacks in many areas. I won't bore you with all the pathetic details. Please believe that we truly do need your help.

Sandi starts physical therapy tomorrow. Considering how bad her knee is now hurting, I don't know if PT is a good thing or a bad thing.

Sandi's Knee--An Update

Been a very long and hard day so I am late with this. Sandi is 17 days post surgery at this point and things don't look as good as they did last week. Since Saturday she has had significant pain in her knee again and we really don't know why. It is not at the level she was at before surgery. But, the pain is back and she is feeling it a large part of the time.

She is staying positive and still making things for sale at  http://www.ioffer.com/users/sanditipple where she has holiday as well as everyday items like quilts, baby blankets, stuffed animals, etc. over there. The pictures below shows something new that is not on the site yet. She is calling these things "arm wristers" and they are for women. The pair will sell for 13 dollars including shipping once she gets them listed on site.

They run about seventeen inches long.

They allow the fingers to be free while keeping the arm warm to above the elbow.

In addition to the colors you see here she has the completed sets in purple and white. Other colors on request.


Kevin

Sandi's Knee

Today has been an exhausting and brutal day. But, I did want to give everyone a brief update as to Sandi's knee.

Her knee is doing really well. Beyond really well. He described it doing "incredibly well."

The stitches are now out and she is to remain off of it. Supposed to start physical therapy next week for two to three times a week for the next 10 weeks. This is in addition to her continuing to work her knee on the CMP machine until insurance cuts it off on October 21.

At this point he says she is doing remarkably well and far better than he expected.

In about seven weeks he will evaluate her again.

Sandi asked me to pass along to everyone her thanks for all the prayers, well wishes, etc as she has dealt with the strokes and now this. From both of us---thank you!

Kevin

Ten Days Post Surgery (With Pictures)

Ten days post-surgery at this point and she seems to be doing really well. Pain has been minimal and she is back making things for sale at  http://www.ioffer.com/users/sanditipple where she has holiday as well as everyday items like quilts, baby blankets, stuffed animals, etc. over there. The picture below shows her working this morning while doing the rehab work thanks to the CMP machine. The machine is at the ninety degree mark according to the little digital hands device located at the end of the machine.

As of today, she is up to ninety degrees of flex in the knee having gone up five degrees every day since the day after surgery. What pain she has remains very low and only happens on the inside of her knee cap. She sees the doctor Thursday to have the stitches removed and discuss where she goes from here. When he did the surgery, he said she would be on crutches for four weeks and could not put any weight at all on that leg. She wants to be rid of the crutches now!

                                                                                                                          

And, of course, her cat, Duncan, likes to sleep in it now when she isn’t using it. He also does not much care for being woken up either.

Kevin

Recovery Mode

As a few folks already know, Sandi had her knee surgery yesterday morning. Once we realized Thursday morning we were safe rent wise another month thanks to numerous and much appreciated folks, we took advantage of a cancellation at the surgery center for Saturday morning. While her ACL and MCL were fine as expected, the doctor confirmed the fact that arthritis is very present on the knee and that the meniscus was pretty much gone. So he cleaned that out, poked little holes in what remained of her cartilage to help the new stuff bond in and build, and then pumped the joint full of the replacement stuff.


At this point, over all, she is doing pretty well. The anesthesia is not clearing from her lungs as well as it should be so she is using the inhaler they sent her home with as needed. Her pain level is down significantly from where it was pre-surgery. As I write this, she is comfortably using the CMP, a knee flexor machine, that manually bends and straightens her knee to prevent scar tissue and aid in moving the new stuff around in the joint.


So, she is doing really well and seems to be at a good place in her recovery mode.


Kevin