Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Building Bone

Along with more pain meds than anyone could ever need,  I was sent home from the hospital with a Healthy Shopping List.  The goal was to be certain I ate enough protein, since protein builds bones.

Now, I thought Wonder Bread helped build strong bodies 12 ways, and it turns out I was right.  Who knew that there were 4 grams of protein in the slice of brioche bread I ate this morning.  Add two hard boiled eggs, a glass of milk, the can of tuna fish for lunch and the apples and pears and cheese and nuts for snack last night and it seems that I'm doing quite well on the Protein Calculator's scale.

And that's without eating trout or kale, two items on the hospital's list that made TBG's face turn just a little green.  He's allergic to fish.  He and kale had an unpleasant, roto-rooter type experience several years ago that left him reluctant to try it again.  I can safely avoid these two triggers and still meet my daily needs.

As the swelling goes down I find myself regaining range of motion.  Nothing seems stuck underneath my skin.  Without the steri-strips holding the incision tight, folding my skin over on itself, annoying me with their stickiness and refusal to move when the rest of me decides it would be prudent to do so, I'm not only less encumbered physically, I'm psychologically lighter too.

Unfortunately, that lightness of being has not translated to my actual weight.  The prosthesis is heavy - somewhere between three and five pounds - and what they removed weighed far less.  There wasn't a lot of bone left in there, and I wonder if arthritis weighs very much at all.  There is still some swelling and inflammation; my ankle was swollen last night after a day of movement and massage (thanks to husbandly redistribution of the fluid from the incision area to the rest of my leg).  

In all, I'm looking for reasons to explain the unfortunate number on the scale.  Can it be that I have built so much bone that it's tipping the scale?  Probably not.  This is like my plan after gaining 47 pounds during Big Cuter's pregnancy - have an 8 pound baby, a 30 pound placenta, and lose the rest easily.

Would that it had been that easy.  Perhaps, as I did then, I ought to pay more attention to the foodstuffs going in, and match it with exercise and discipline and movement.  

How nice to be able to include movement in my prescription.  

2 comments:

  1. I have just now, once, again pledged to myself that I will work on my weight. I used to depend on movement, but now I am limited, which means I will have to eat less, and that's no fun.

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    Replies
    1. No fun at all. Pledging to yourself is a good start, though.
      a/b

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