So the operation happen a couple days ago and my goal is to document the process and my post operation experience so that others can learn from my experience.
The procedure was outpatient and I was scheduled to arrive in the morning. The facility was only a mile away from I live so I decided to walk. I knew it would be the last time I could walk for a few weeks so why not. I arrived with plenty of time to spare and relaxed in the waiting room. After a short wait, I was called back, filled-out some papers, and got dressed for the operation. On the bright side, I didn't get one of those thin gowns. Instead, they had these insulated ones with an attachment for and air hose to help stay warm.
After a short period of time, my doctor and anesthesiologist stopped by and I knew it about to be show time. I walked into the operating room and I was out pretty quickly.
I awoke about 90 min later in the post op room and was told my ride would be here soon and that everything went well. Sure enough, within a few minutes, my ride was there and I changed and was loaded into a car for the way home. Seeing as I didn't know what the next few days would hold, my friend volunteered for me to stay at their place and mentioned they would help out if I needed anything.
For the first few hours I felt great. Ok, I was walking with crutches and with a big leg brace but everything felt not too bad. I was told to move around and then hold my leg up. I did both throughout the night but in general was thinking this isn't going to be too bad. Well, I was a bit to optimistic.
After dinner, I felt a little bit of pain and started to take my pain meds, Norco. I took two and new I was going to take a sleeping pill in a couple hours and that would knock me out for the night. I made it up the stairs to my room, took an ambient and then read a few pages as I anticipated falling asleep soon. The entire process started around 10 and by 10:30 PM. I was hoping to fall asleep. I tried but just could get comfortable. My doctor mentioned I could take the brace off when I sleep if that helped so I tried that and couldn't get comfortable. Even worse, now my knee was starting to really hurt! I spent the next 2 hours changing positions and putting my brace off and on in hopes of getting comfortable and falling asleep. Unfortunately, it wasn't happening. I took two more pain pills and hoped they would kick in and kill the pain. No such luck. By 1AM I was screaming in pain into my pillow and hoping/praying anything would change. It didn't.
In my desperation, I thought I needed ice and maybe that would be the silver bullet. When I started down the stairs, my friend say me and innocently asked, "do you need some help?" I said, "Yes." I was truly suffering and hadn't anticipated it. I We made it down stairs, she gabbed some ice and helped me get onto the couch.
After seeing all the pain I was in, she called the doctor to ask for help. He said he couldn't do much because increasing my meds required special triplicate forms and it just wasn't going to happen. He did ask where the pain was and said the pain being all around my knee was from swelling and I had to get it down or the pain wouldn't stop. We prompted my leg up with 5 pillows and then placed ice everywhere. My friend was honest with me and told want I needed to hear. The pain will lessen but not anytime soon and you are just going to have to deal with it. Let's turn on the TV and it will help to pass time.
Somehow, when we turned on the TV, it was on Comedy Central and was showing a preview for Jackass in 3D. It brought a smile to my face. The pain returned but I knew I just had to find a way to make it through the next few hours. I told my friend to go back to bed because there was nothing she could do. If anything happened, I would wake her up and she could help. A few minutes later, she brought over a piece of bread to eat with the next pain pill and walked upstairs to go to sleep.
I spent the rest of the night, watching bad TV and wishing I could get some sleep. By 3 AM the pain had decreased enough for me to get a few minutes of sleep, 15 min, and then I would awake in pain. I repeated that a few times and by 5 was able to extend to 30 minutes before waking up.
The next morning came and she came down I was doing better. The blood had left my foot and the swelling as going down and my body was adjusting to the pain. It still hurt but it was not the screaming pain of the night before. We talked for a bit and it passed time before she took-off for work.
I called the doctor and got my medication increased. I still couldn't sleep more than 30 min and it was getting old. They doubled the pain killer and after a couple doses I was able to sleep for up to 60 min before the pain took over. By that evening, I was doing better but felt really bad between the lack of sleep and pain. After dinner, I stayed downstairs this night and had keep my leg elevated almost all day to reduce the swelling. To heck with the nurse telling me to move around, I needed the pain to go away.
The second night was infinitely better. I was able to sleep in 60 min segments all night long. I would only be awake for 15 to 20 min and then I was back asleep. The human body is an amazing thing. By morning I felt great! OK, the pain was present but after some sleep the world looked much better.
It was Friday and I was scheduled for physical therapy. I made it to my PT place. I was a little late but not too bad. The therapist was a little surprised I was there two days post operation but I was. After a few strengthening exercises, I underwent some electrostim and I was set to go home.
We stopped at Rubio's on the way home hoping a burrito would cure everything. It tasted great going down. However, the stronger meds had killed my stomach. After 3 hrs it was still sitting in my stomach and it come out. Not good! I ate soup and some yogurt that evening and couldn't even hold it done. I hate pain meds. They didn't help me when the pain was bad and now they had totalled fried my gut. On the bright side, I sleep great Fri night....I will get some images up soon so have patience...
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