My Hip Blog » Work

Phew!

Jess — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 08:09:29 +0000

Ooops, so I’ve neglected you guys a wee bit! It has been a pretty busy week for me so here’s a rundown.

Monday: morning physio at the gym, then the relaxation class which was really quite good, I will be going again tomorrow. Worked 4 hours.

Tuesday: I worked a 9-hour split shift at work, went for a swim at lunch time and then a bike ride after dinner (the same route as Sunday). Then I remembered that I was supposed to do a gym session on my own before I met my physio next, which I thought was Thursday but upon checking discovered it was Wednesday, so didn’t have time to fit that in unless I wanted to do two sessions on Wednesday!

Wednesday: Physio was very happy with me doing a swim and bike ride on Tuesday so not worried about skipping the gym and we made some changes to my program, mainly just adding in some extra sets where things were a bit easy. Told me to try a longer bike ride on the weekend. Worked a 9-hour split shift.

Thursday: I slept in and had a day off exercise. Worked 6 hours.

Friday: I had an appointment with the psychologist who was very pleased with how things are going. It’s amazing what a difference diminished pain levels coupled with a feeling of well deserved normalcy and harmony among peers can make to ones mood! Worked 6 hours. Went to a fund-raising silent auction for my cousin’s rowing team. Managed to buy myself a pair of awsome Roxy snowboarding boots…ummm, never been snowboarding in my life but they were a BARGAIN, winning bid of $80 and they are worth $350! One guess at what I am going to do this winter…and if I don’t like it I can sell the boots lol.

Saturday: I biked to Nanna and Grandy’s for scones and coffee then back home, a 22km round trip. It was good having the break in between. Came home and did some gardening/loading garden waste onto a trailer to take to the dump and felt pretty good afterwards.

Sunday (today): Sleep in, took half an hour to find clothes that fit, argh! Glad to be able to exercise again and ready to put in the hard yards! Sushi for lunch at the mall, grocery shopping then off to the gym with hubby for an hour and a bit. Managed to jog for my warm-up today (first time since surgery) with the treadmill set to intervals for 10 minutes. NO pain on impact, a nice and very welcome surprise! Did all my exercises then 5 minutes on the bike to finish off.
Yummy home-made Balinese curry for dinner at my inlaw’s and now a nice hot cuppa as I recline on the couch and blog

I am really pleased with the way things are going at the moment. I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere. The hardest part of my physical activity is the flexion exercise on the hip machine at the gym which still causes a reasonable amount of discomfort but I’m sure it will just take a little time to sort this out.
I am nearly off all medications. Pain killers are stored in the cupboard (except for the emergency ones in my bag) and haven’t been touched at all during the week.

Life is good

1st Glorious Bike Ride!

Jess — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:00:11 +0000

I have done it! Nearly 14 weeks post op I have just come back from my first REAL road ride and it was great, I want to go again! My friend biked over to join me despite having a tummy bug which was really nice of her. We did a 13km loop ride and it took us 35 minutes. I had NO pain. The little swelling becomes apparent on the bike because I can feel it in the groin area when peddling where the other side feels normal but I’m not worried, it doesn’t cause any problems, just feels odd.
The best thing about this ride is the amount of time on the saddle. My longest (indoor) bike ride until today had been 10 minutes so I am just absolutely stoked at lasting 35. I maintain that real cycling is easier than cycling on the trainer!

On top of that I have endured and survived a 42-hour, 7-day week at work. A huge jump from 6 x 15 hour weeks then 22 hours last week. 30 is my normal and will be back to that this coming week. I have not taken pain lollies all week as the hip has been great! A little IT band snapping but NO aching whatsoever. The only problem I have now is aching feet so I need to buy some formthotics or something for my shoes this week.

So that’s my week, I feel like I’ve won the lottery

I am meeting my physio at the gym tomorrow to sort out my strengthening programme then have a relaxation class to go to at the hospital which should be interesting.

One Big Day

Jess — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:02:01 +0000

Well, today was a HUGE day at work. When I arrived I checked the appointment list to find we only had two appointments booked and both in the first slot, oh NO I thought, today is going to drag on. I even txt the boss to tell her we only had two appointments as she was coming in to help me.

We are open from 10am til 1pm on a Saturday. I arrived at 8am as we had a dog in the hospital with a badly broken hind leg and I wasn’t sure what sort of a state his kennel would be in, plus there were 11 cats up in the cattery for me to sort out before we opened. At 8:30 a man shows up to buy a bag of cat food so I ran downstairs and opened the door for him. Had not long been back upstairs and somebody else comes with their cat for a 9:00 vaccination appointment that didn’t exist because the appointment was actually for Monday morning. Went back upstairs, finished off the cats and came down at about 9:45 to a woman and her child (still in pj’s!) bringing in their poor beautiful black cat with a terribly swollen and degloved back paw, he had been hit by a car (HBC). I had time to settle the cat into a cage, take some TPR’s and reassure a very worried owner that her cat was in remarkably good shape and stable despite his ghastly injury, then the vet arrived.
As the vet had a look at kitty and talked to his owner, the flood of people came in and in true Saturday fashion, all without appointments. Luckily we didn’t have a full morning so we were able to fit them all in with minimal waiting time.
So, after the anal glands, nail clips, vaccinations and other various consults were dealt to we started our first surgery, a large cat bite abscess that needed lancing and a penrose drain inserted. Kitty number one waking up and we start on the xrays for our HBC cat. Luckily there were no internal injuries visible and his blood results were also clear. Unfortunately for him, he had no feeling in his paw as it had started to turn gangrenous, leaving amputation as our only option.
The surgery took about an hour including the prep and went very well. He was awake, sitting up and ate a few biscuits before I left at 2pm.

So I was buzzing around like a blue arsed fly today, not a chance to stop and think of sitting down. The boss was just as busy dealing with people out the front, it was amazing.

I picked up Subway for lunch on the way to Nanna and Grandy’s place. Spent a couple of hours there and after a few cups of tea returned to work at 5pm to feed the cats and tend to the new amputee (who gladly scoffed a decent amount of meat off my hand ) and his neighbour the fracture dog who keeps drinking but won’t pee!

I came home, took some precautionary pain lollies even though I wasn’t particularly sore and painted some window frames (yes, we’re still painting…had a break while I recovered from surgery and xmas etc.). So far so good. Total time at work 7 hours on my feet plus 2 sitting/kneeling painting. No real pain, just a little snapping laterally. Hoping for a great night’s sleep tonight!

Another Week Of Being A Bum

Jess — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 06:25:24 +0000

I actually went to a cricket game today…ME at CRICKET! haha usually I find it booooring, but I was asked to go by a friend and it was just a 20/20 game so not too long. To my surprise I actually enjoyed it too. There is something to be said for actually being there out in the sun and in the atmosphere of all the fans, though I did have great difficulty following the ball and couldn’t read the score board so maybe I need new contact lenses or take a mini TV with me next time lol. It was a tense ending to the game and had us on the edges of our seats…the last ball decided whether we won or lost…we lost.

I’ve had a nothing day today. I had another sore night last night, have been rather sore all day (not helped by sitting for three hours at the cricket and walking up and down the embankments) and haven’t done a single exercise since last night. The swelling is still present and fluctuates between 2-3.5cm, I don’t think it’s anything to be worried about, I have been doing quite a lot lately so it’s probably just telling me to ease off.

I bought some Bio-Oil to massage my scars with as these are still quite sensitive and an ugly purple colour. I love the Bio-Oil, it smells nice and it is really smooth to use. I have also been using it on my old scope scars as they are a bit ‘lumpy’ feeling so hopefully the massage will help break down the scar tissue.

I have another week off work. I wanted to go back doing short evening shifts (three hours) this week, which is only an hour longer than I’m currently doing unpaid but the boss wants to clear it with my physio first which is fair enough. The only thing I have struggled with so far was when I was stuck as the only nurse downstairs on Friday night and we had to sedate a dog to remove a grass-seed from its paw (the 4th for the week apparently)…being a Westie it wriggled and wriggled and I just didn’t have the strength to restrain the small dog on the high table and occlude the vein for the vet at the same time. Help had to be called down the stairs to hold doggy’s back end down while I dealt to the bitey end…I wanted to give it a go, but safety has to come first. So it looks like the extra week might be a good idea. Though I just realised today that my next physio assessment at work and another appointment are both booked for Friday morning so something will have to be rescheduled. Fingers crossed for a return to PAID work on Monday the 18th, I really need it as the reduced pay I’m getting from ACC is really hitting us in the pocket.

Hip Scope Recovery Week 8 ~ Swelling

Jess — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:05:39 +0000

Yesterday I took a break from the bike and pretty much everything except my normal exercises. It was a blob out day and it was great. I took two Codeines an hour before I went to bed and actually had a great sleep, still woke up stiff but that’s nothing new.
This morning I took Grandy to QE2 for some aquajogging and did my other pool exercises in the wave pool whilst dodging the hundreds of screaming, splashing children…gotta love school holidays!
I gave the bike another go when I got home and noticed when I put my bike shorts on that my left hip looked slightly bigger than the right. Thought maybe I was imagining it, so got out the tape measure and measured around my leg (at the greater trochanter) and sure enough, the hip is still swollen, 2cm larger than the right. Don’t know if this is still normal or if it is really significant, it doesn’t seem a lot but proves there’s still healing to be done I guess.
Work went well tonight. I spent an hour and a half of my two hours upstairs feeding the cats and cleaning which worked out well because both the other nurses were busy with consults and reception.

Back To Work?

Jess — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:25:11 +0000

My physio called this morning to say that she had called and spoken to my boss. It looks like I will be going back on a ‘work trial’. So basically nothing changes except I go into work as an extra person, I stay on ACC and work doesn’t pay me. I am still waiting for a phone call from the boss to let me know when to show up…I guess I’ll be calling her tomorrow as it is now the weekend.

My new medical certificate arrived yesterday but it was a little vague as to the duties I can do (this part was left blank). I had to go to my GP to have the counselling put on it so she just wrote me a totally new one with all my restrictions so there will be no confusion. It also states that I CAN return to work.

T Minus 16 Hours

Jess — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:36:15 +0000

Eeeek! I have finished my last shift at work and thankfully it was super busy with a surgery thrown in so didn’t even have time to check my watch! Took morning tea in for everyone tomorrow because they are going to have to cover my shifts as our scheduled locum nurse got a full time job at the last minute…I feel really guilty about everyone having to work so hard but there’s nothing I can do about it now….thankfully food and chocolate go down well at work and it will soften the blow. It was nice that everyone actually made the effort to wish me luck and give me a hug because until now I have felt like it’s been a bit of a sore point.
I have tidied the house and have heaps of space to move around. Our lounge suite will be arriving on Wednesday, just in time for me to sleep on it if I need to…better late than never.
I didn’t get much sleep last night between nerves and the head thinking too much when it shouldn’t be. I couldn’t get comfortable, it rained and the down pipe outside one window had been removed for painting so the water dripped onto the garage roof below and on the other side the other down pipe was wrapped in plastic sheeting and was rustling in the wind, plus the neighbour was snoring exceptionally loudly (we share a common wall) so I was laying awake for what seemed like an eternity…never mind the fireworks at 12am argh!
Anyways, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, just gotta pack the toilet-bag and I’m ready to go.
Thank you to everybody who has passed on well wishes, it means a lot
TTFN

Ferrymead Vet Clinic Do It Again

Jess — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:02:31 +0000

We passed our Best Practice audit today! YAYYY. So glad it’s over. There is so much paperwork and stupid rules to post up everywhere, but now we are done for another two years!
The assessor we had was the same lady that did our audit the first time, four years ago, back when our clinic was a one-man practice and less than half the size it is now. She couldn’t believe what she saw when she came in today and was super impressed. She said it was obvious we all have a good working relationship and are relaxed and noticed as soon as she stepped foot in the clinic.
We’ve all put in hard work and it has paid off. It certainly helps to keep the standard up…a lot of clinics just spruce things up for their audits and let things slide again but we pride ourselves in our high standard of cleanliness, care and customer service all year round and it definitely makes a difference.

Dork of the Year

Jess — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:09:19 +0000

We have a notebook in a draw at work. It is labeled “Dork of the Year”. Throughout the year various staff members will do any number of stupid and embarrassing things that earn them the honour of a mention in the book. An example. “A certain staff member showed up to work in her slippers and thought she was locked out when the door was unlocked, luckily had spare pare of shoes in the car!” You get the picture.

So at the end of the year, all the dork entries are read out and we have a jolly good laugh. We all vote on who gets the award (the ugliest blue plastic flower that sings the buttercup song).

This week is the first normal week of the year and already I have got myself two entries into the dork book for the exact same thing…at this rate they’ll be needing more prizes! The cattery is full at the moment so I need to be at work a little earlier to have it ready by 8am, so yesterday I showed up at 6:30 only to discover that it was my rostered day off for the week as I am working the weekend…now, I ALWAYS work Monday morning and when I work the weekend I get the Friday off, so I didn’t even think to check my roster, I went home and back to bed. So last night I double and triple checked today’s shift until I was happy I had it right…I showed up this morning at 6:30 and yet again somebody else was there…she had swapped the shift with me a couple of weeks ago and I hadn’t written it on my copy of the roster…so, home I trotted again, very red-faced.

Needless to say I am the biggest joke at work this week

Happy Outcome

Jess — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:25:24 +0000

The week didn’t end on a bad note. On Saturday night I got a call from the After Hours Vet clinic where we’d taken the wee tabby. They had been dropped off a tiny kitten around the same age as the ones we’re already looking after by the SPCA and wanted to know if I’d take it on. Of course I couldn’t say no and it wasn’t like it was any extra effort since we were down to two. The new boy is grey and fluffy. I think he is a bit older than the other two as his beady little eyes were already open when I picked him up, though he is less than half the weight of the biggest kitten. He was very noisy and demanding at first, but has settled in nicely with the other two like they were his own litter-mates They are now about 12 days old and are getting very FAT!

Oh, oh…I forgot to mention that little “Buddha” nearly has some teefy pegs, he likes to chew on me lol