Frugal Babe

A rich life without a lot of money

  • Home
  • About me

A Budget Knee Surgery Week

January 30, 2008 By Frugal Babe

My husband had his knee surgery on Monday, and it went far better than we had hoped.   They didn’t have to do as much to his knee as we had thought they would, and it’s looking like the recovery process is going to be a lot faster and easier too.   The surgeon is considered one of the best knee docs in the world, and his pt program is highly regarded, so we’re excited to be working with him.   They had my husband in pt within 3 hours of surgery.   Then we went back yesterday for two pt visits, one at 9am, the other at 5pm.   In between visits, he’s in a machine that moves his leg constantly, going from a straight leg to a bend of 50 degrees, and back.   We also have a little automatic ice machine that’s keeping his knee chilled to prevent swelling.   Overall, we’re feeling great about the whole experience.   The people all around us in the pt room yesterday were from all over – a couple from Europe, one NFL player, a lady from California… we didn’t meet anybody else as local as we are (the hospital is about a 3.5 hour drive from our house).   Luckily, we’re not having to drive back and forth every day, because my husband’s sister has a condo in a town about an hour from the hospital.   I’d much rather drive an hour each way than 3.5, especially when the day starts at 9am and ends at 7pm and it’s snowing.   So we’re feeling very lucky and grateful to her for letting us use the condo.

We knew we’d be up here Mon – Thurs, so I worked extra hours last week in order to avoid having to take vacation time this week, and we planned carefully to avoid having to spend any more money than necessary.   Both the town where the hospital is and the town where we’re staying are expensive resort communities, so we wanted to avoid eating out or passing time window shopping, etc.   We went to the grocery store before we left home and spent $30 on food.   On Sunday night, I made a lasagna and froze it, then on Monday night I was able to cook it after we got back to the condo, and that lasted us for two nights.   Yesterday, we had 6 hours between pt appointments, so we set up a little nest in a quiet corner of the hospital lobby.   We had my husband’s various equipment running the whole time, as well as the laptop so that we could get work done, and our cell phone charging nearby.   I had bread, almond butter and bananas in the car, so I was able to make sandwiches for us.   The hospital staff were quite amused by us – I think they’re a little more used to the jet set crowd that goes out for $50 lunches between appointments.   But we enjoyed our day, got a lot done, and spent almost no money.

Today and tomorrow we get to do pt in the same town where we’re staying – the hospital has a clinic here, and the surgeon at the hospital doesn’t need to see us again for a month.   So we’re having a much more mellow day today.   I took the dog snowshoeing this morning, then we went to our first therapy session and were able to just come back to the condo afterwards.   We go back again this evening at 5, then we’ll be able to come back here for dinner.   I’m in the middle of cooking a lentil/tomato/roasted pepper sauce to go over pasta, which we’ll eat when we get back this evening.

Since we’ve been here, we’ve spent about $25.   We did have one trip to subway, and we bought a gourmet hot chocolate mix for a hospital employee who went out of his way to help us over the last couple days.   We bought ice for the cooler that’s keeping my husband’s knee from swelling, and I bought us each a little piece of chocolate from a fancy chocolate shop – everyone needs a treat now and then.   But overall, we’ve managed to maintain our frugal lifestyle just fine.

We’re looking forward to getting home tomorrow night and hoping that my husband’s recovery continues to go as well as it has been so far.

Filed Under: our frugal stories, ways we save money 2 Comments

Comments

  1. Frugal Dad says

    January 30, 2008 at 8:36 pm

    Hope the recovery goes well. I had shoulder surgery last year for a torn rotator cuff and it still bothers me on occasion – usually when I try and do things the doctor advised against. Us men are pretty hard-headed when it comes to that kind of stuff, you know?

    Reply
  2. FrugalBabe says

    February 2, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    Yep, I know that Frugal Dad. As we were leaving the hospital right after the surgery, we saw someone on fancy forearm crutches who was hopping down four steps at a time with his crutches. My husband commented on how cool those crutches were and how he’d like to do that with his aswell… good thing you men have us women around to keep you safe :)

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Great eBooks:

Recent Comments

  • Kay on Still Here, Still Frugal!
  • BigMama on Still Here, Still Frugal!
  • Shel on Still Here, Still Frugal!
  • Frugal Babe on Achieving our goals, thanks to long-term frugality
  • Jean Lowe on Achieving our goals, thanks to long-term frugality
Shop for Fashion Dresses on DHgate

Organifi coupon

Recent Posts

  • Still Here, Still Frugal!
  • Goodbye, mortgage!
  • Achieving our goals, thanks to long-term frugality
  • Still here!
  • An update from our frugal corner of the world

Blogroll

  • Brave New Life
  • Budgets Are Sexy
  • Early Retirement Extreme
  • Green Baby Guide
  • Kristen’s Raw
  • Mr. Money Mustache
  • Nature Moms Blog
  • No Impact Man
  • Penniless Parenting
  • Personal Budgeting
  • Pleasantly Poor
  • Sense To Save
  • Simple Mom
  • Stop Buying Crap
  • Surveybag
  • The Good Human
  • The Thrifty Chicks
  • Tight Fisted Miser
  • Ultimate Money Blog


Limural Men's Electric Wet & Dry Shaver w/ Extra Replacement Blade $19.99

Genofo Open-Ear Bluetooth Bone Conduction Sports Headphones $19.79

  • See Store Coupons
    • Online Coupons
    • Apple Coupons
    • Boost Mobile Promo
    • HP Coupon Code
    • Newegg Promo Code
    • Office Depot Coupon
    • Target Coupons
    • Tire Rack Coupons
    • TurboTax Coupons
    • Verizon Promo Codes
    • Virgin Mobile Promo
    • Vistaprint Coupons
  • See Category Deals
    • Camera Deals
    • GPS Deals
    • iPhone Deals
    • iPod Touch Deals
    • Laptop Deals
    • LED TV Deals
    • Mobile Phone Deals
    • SSD Deals
    • Tablet Deals
7d698f36fc8e3980263e6f5a75f979f6-332