I looked back at my last blog and realised it was something like 6 weeks pre op...and now it's currently 6 weeks post op number one. How's that for a little bit of a coinky? Just something I picked up on.
Anyways here I am weeks later having past questionably the most painful part of my recovery. But I will start this blog at the beginning, the day of op one.
So this was June 28th and I was admitted to hospital at midday. Mum drove me there and was nice enough to wait with me, which felt like forever. I didn't know how long I would be waiting pre op once all the paperwork was done and I was in a robe ready to go. But as it turned out, 3pm came and went. People prepped after me ended up going into theatre before me and I started wondering why I was being left till last. Mum left about 3.30pm and just before 4 I was taken into a side room waiting on a bed where my surgeon came to say hi and explained I would be staying overnight in hospital and I was left till last basically because I had the private insurance to cover for the stay. They drew on my leg and checked MRI scans and then left.
I didn't get wheeled into theatre until just after 5pm. I was almost relieved when they came to get me, I was so scared to go in but I was bordering insane with boredom by myself in that room.
Can I add here that my anaesthetist was extremely hot, and seeing him after being wheeled into theatre, I was quite relaxed after that. Super hot. I wasn't awake long, they moved me on a table and moved my blanket around and a nurse was being heart stuff on my chest when I heard a doctor say he was about to inject stuff and I'd go to sleep in less than 5 seconds. I don't remember much after that until I woke up in recovery The op went for just over one hour.
I remember a nurse calling my name and my throat feeling really dry and sore. The nurse told me I was in recovery and I asked immediately for Mum. She said she would call her and told me to rest more. I remember swallowing alot and feeling a little bit sick for bout half hour. The nurse told me that was normal and that it should pass. It did go away just before they wheeled me to my room. I had a neighbour in my room, this lady was unfortunate enough to suffer from vomiting due to the after effects of the anaesthetic. I feel really bad for her all night. She talked to me at times, she seemed like a nice person.
Mum and the girls came in to visit not long after I went to my room and they stayed for a couple of hours. I was very grateful cos I was still feeling shitty in the throat and just liked the company. Dad came too for a little while, and so did Karl and his girlfriend...who I happened to meet for the first time that night. I got flowers which was really nice and I was happy to have my family around.
My knee felt good that night, the doctor told me I had some kind of nerve shot in my thigh that would shut off the feeling in my knee so I wouldn't suffer through the night. I was very grateful they gave me that needle, and while I was still under too...cos it worked brilliantly It was my throat that bothered me the most. I didn't sleep much that night, the night nurse kept waking me up for blood pressure checks and more medications. I didn't mind too much, I just missed B and my bed.
The next morning Mum came up to see me, and I was waiting to get the ok from my surgeon to go home. The physio came in to get me out of bed and help me walk around on the crutches. Until then I hadn't been out of bed once...bed pans suck by the way. The physio got me up and I was walking around good and he was happy to give the all clear for me to go home. My surgeon didn't ring until after 12 and he told me he was happy with how the operation went and since I was out of bed and the pain was ok, I got to go home. Right before I went to leave though, one of the nurses was helping me back to my bed after a toilet trip and let my leg go too quickly and then the pain hit me like a ton of bricks. From that point on, the pain didn't stop for about a week. I got a morphine tablet before I left the hospital.
So as I mentioned before, the pain was quite bad the first week...but it was manageable with codiene and panadol. I needed alot of help getting around at first and sometimes it was quite a struggle just to do the simple things. Mum and girls helped out alot, especially Mum. She took some time off work to make sure I was alright and got me food and drinks through the day. The first few nights, I still needed help to get out of bed to go to the toilet, sometimes in the middle of the night.
I had some physio done 2 days after the op and from the get go it was clear it was going to be a long road ahead. Unfortunately I haven't had as much physio as I should have due to being poor but I've done my best with home exercises to try and make up for it. I know it's not really making up for it, but I went as often as I could. I wasn't really happy with the physio I had at the time, he seemed to disagree with my surgeon regarding my progress. As a result, I came very close to injuring it in the second week of recovery. I was instructed to keep my splint on for a further 3 weeks after that and I didn't trust my physio either.
I went to 2 others since and I'll be sticking with the last one I saw. He was very helpful and talked me through things and how I can help myself at home etc. Unfortunately I haven't gone since but I will be in the next week or so. I certainly felt the difference after seeing the new physio, and even though I've done everything he's suggested at home I know I will benefit better from more physio work.
I've seen my surgeon once more, last Tuesday and that's when the splint came off. Ever since, I've been in more pain and some days I'm a bit slower with exercises. Basically the goal now is to get the knee moving and mobile. Bending it is getting better, but I know without the proper physio I'm meant to be having, it's setting things back a bit further.
I went to see the psych for the first time since the op today. And I met the new one I will have from now on. Jenny's gone and now I see Bernadette. I like her more, she's more straight forward and she seems more in tune with what's going on with me. Kinda felt weird about how quickly she picked up things but I feel more comfortable around her and I know that's important so I'm happy with that. I go again next week and she wants me to finish my vision board. It's something I started ages ago but never finished. Beckee's got me thinking even more about my goals to study. I was already getting things in motion for that, but I'll be doing some reading up and hopefully preparing myself for what could be ahead.
That's all from me today.
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