I began using ice at night last night, all night, with the ice machine cooler thing. I also took 800 mg ibuprofen, and when I woke up my leg felt fine.
The hydrocodone makes me feel nauseas as it leaves my system so I really don't like it. I had stopped using ice after my 1st phys. therapy session b/c the therapist told me to keep the knee warm so I could practice bending it, etc. But I was in a lot of pain on Day 10 and had only taken one pain pill that day. I really want to be off of them. It looks like icing at night as well as ibuprofen will set me free of the narcotics.
I can walk around pretty well - just a little limp but am still using crutches to naturalize my gait when we go on a trip out somewhere, like the supermarket or meetings. The back of my knee still feels hyperextended when it is not quite straightened.
Also, I talked to the dr. on Friday and can take showers with no plastic bag wrap anymore, which is nice.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Sunday, April 1, 2007
4 days post op
I am feeling pretty good today. Sophie ran her very first running race, the Morgan Hill
Wildflower Run and I did not want to miss it. I had to walk pretty far on crutches, the farthest I've ever gone so far. Overall, I was a bit tired, but felt fine.
The day of surgery, Wed Mar 28, I could barely wake from surgery. It wasn't until 4pm that we actually started to leave the hospital and everyone else had come and gone from recovery! We literally closed the place down. I just felt paralyzed with fatigue. I knew in my mind I had to get going, but I felt like a lead weight. Whenever I moved, I felt nauseated. I did not eat all day long.
It wasn't until 12 hrs post-op, 11pm at night, that I finally felt like the anesthesia had gone away.
Day 1: The next day, I still was not 100%, but I continued to stay on top of my pain meds. I also have 3 machines to aid my recovery. I have a CPM machine which my leg fits into, and it bends and straightens my leg. I have to do the machine 6 hrs per day. I have an ice machine that circulates ice cold water thru a patch on my knee to keep it cold, and I have an electro-stimulator that I use to keep my quad and hamstring stimulated so it doesn't atrophy.
I don't have much of an appetite and it caused trouble for me with my FA program sponsor. But ultimately, I have to do what I feel is right for me and if I can't eat all my food, so be it.
I had a follow up appt with the dr where they changed my dressings. It's pretty gnarly looking - a bunch of bloody holes in my leg.
Day 2: Friday I feel a bit better still, but am constipated from the pain meds. I can get around on my crutches and can even put some weight on my bad leg. This is all OK with the dr.
Day 3: Saturday I went to my FA meeting and it really made me tired. I got home and just laid down and I slept til about 3:30pm. I finally went to the bathroom which was great. My appetite is slowly coming back.
Day 4: After Sophie's Wildflower run, I came home and napped for the better part of the early afternoon. When I wake in the morning, I feel sore from laying in the bed so long - my back is what is sore. And I sleep very lightly. When I hear the baby cry, I wake right up. I am down to maybe 2-3 pain pills per day.
Wildflower Run and I did not want to miss it. I had to walk pretty far on crutches, the farthest I've ever gone so far. Overall, I was a bit tired, but felt fine.
The day of surgery, Wed Mar 28, I could barely wake from surgery. It wasn't until 4pm that we actually started to leave the hospital and everyone else had come and gone from recovery! We literally closed the place down. I just felt paralyzed with fatigue. I knew in my mind I had to get going, but I felt like a lead weight. Whenever I moved, I felt nauseated. I did not eat all day long.
It wasn't until 12 hrs post-op, 11pm at night, that I finally felt like the anesthesia had gone away.
Day 1: The next day, I still was not 100%, but I continued to stay on top of my pain meds. I also have 3 machines to aid my recovery. I have a CPM machine which my leg fits into, and it bends and straightens my leg. I have to do the machine 6 hrs per day. I have an ice machine that circulates ice cold water thru a patch on my knee to keep it cold, and I have an electro-stimulator that I use to keep my quad and hamstring stimulated so it doesn't atrophy.
I don't have much of an appetite and it caused trouble for me with my FA program sponsor. But ultimately, I have to do what I feel is right for me and if I can't eat all my food, so be it.
I had a follow up appt with the dr where they changed my dressings. It's pretty gnarly looking - a bunch of bloody holes in my leg.
Day 2: Friday I feel a bit better still, but am constipated from the pain meds. I can get around on my crutches and can even put some weight on my bad leg. This is all OK with the dr.
Day 3: Saturday I went to my FA meeting and it really made me tired. I got home and just laid down and I slept til about 3:30pm. I finally went to the bathroom which was great. My appetite is slowly coming back.
Day 4: After Sophie's Wildflower run, I came home and napped for the better part of the early afternoon. When I wake in the morning, I feel sore from laying in the bed so long - my back is what is sore. And I sleep very lightly. When I hear the baby cry, I wake right up. I am down to maybe 2-3 pain pills per day.
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