I got up with Chris at 4 am and went back to bed. Got up again at 10 to give him meds and his 10:00 shot. (Man, that shot sucks. It really hurts him.) Then I went back to bed and seriously didn't wake back up until 12:30. I think I was seriously drugged from non-stop adrenaline function for 5 days and then could finally crash. I stayed in my pajamas all day (because that's a good way to relax).
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| Snowy day out of my bedroom window. |
Meanwhile Chris was miserable. Everything hurt. His leg hurt as bad as the first day, he said. He had a terrible headache. He couldn't get comfortable. I knew that after all the activity the day before, he might crash today. And he did.
About 3:00, Sheree called. She couldn't find Miles and Nicholas anywhere. She'd dropped them off at the Junction near their house a couple hours earlier for lunch and they wanted to walk home after. She got worried when she didn't see them and drove the short route back to the Junction (a gas station/food place). She didn't see them and they weren't answering their phones. I got Marty and Dan to help me figure out "Find My iPhone" for Nick but in the midst of finding, Sheree called back and the boys were still happily sitting in the restaurant with a pile of food. She simply didn't expect that after an hour and a half they'd still be sitting there. Oblivious to the calls on their phones. Crisis averted.
At dinnertime, Dan took Courtney, Taylor, Marty and Nick to Porcupine Grill for a last Hurrah before Courtney left and I stayed home with Chris. He slept and I did too. And then I watched "A Man Called Ove" and cried through the whole thing. It's not even sad. It's mostly happy. But a good cry is so therapeutic. And watching a good movie is also very therapeutic. Bonus.
In the midst of all my recovering, Chris was really hurting. Crutching down the hall to the bathroom was making him light headed. He felt like he was going to pass out. Whenever he was awake, his leg was hurting a ton. He was getting pretty upset and frustrated. He slept a ton, but when he was awake he was miserable. By the time he woke up when everyone got home, he felt pretty hot and was running a mild fever.
Fortunately Taylor is an almost nurse. She said a mild fever was ok, but time to worry was above 101.5. I was concerned about infection and/or blood clots. Naturally either was a concern. The problem with infection was we couldn't see his incision sites because they were covered with bandages. And she (and previously Michelle and Brent) had said it wasn't a good idea to try to peel the bandages back to see the incision site because we could pull the stitches as well. So we didn't.
But what I did do was call Matt. By now everyone had gathered in Chris' room and were watching Harry Potter all together. I had a good chat with Matt who explained that a mild fever was normal during recovery. But he should be taking 10 deep breaths every hour when awake. (Which he said the surgeon would be very disappointed to know that no one ever told us to do while in the hospital.) Also wiggle his toes and rotate his ankles every hour. It's so nice being able to call Matt when we're worried! (The day before I'd texted him to ask if it was weird that Chris wasn't on antibiotics. He said no. He would have gotten two doses during surgery and after 24 hours it shows that they're not effective. Very interesting.)
Bedtime finally came. The shot was torture again. I took his temperature which was holding at 100.9 He took his pain meds and I rubbed his feet which has sort of become our nightly and naptime ritual. He had a good cry.
Hoping for a better day for Chris tomorrow.
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