Starting day 6 so far so good. I say that with caution with my luck and (Murphy's Law) I don't want to jinx any progress LOL Swelling has gone down tremendously and my pain level is around a 1. As far as pain medication goes, taking one 5 mg oxy at night and Tylenol every six hours during the day. 325 mg of aspirin as a blood thinner 2x a day. Light exercise and of course, icing and elevating for 60 minutes 4x a day. Restless leg syndrome is starting to subside thank goodness. Still sleeping on my comfy recliner and my duration of sleep are getting longer as the nights go by. Starting to get back some of my ROM (range of motion) that I lost during this past surgery.
I took a few unassisted full weight bearing steps on my new knee yesterday and I have to say my knee feels super strong and most of all, pain free. Putting in a larger spacer was a good call on my OS part. I can feel the difference before and after replacing the spacer. Before my knee felt wobbly, unstable and locking when my knee was all the way back. Now I feel confident it's not going to give out.
Waiting to heal is so hard. We all know that it takes time, but sometimes it feels like eons. I remember after my last two surgeries wondering how long the incision would need to heal, then the internal muscle and soft tissue, then my strength and so forth. Sometimes I couldn’t sleep, I felt so impatient. I wanted to be well again, to be able to stand, walk and have my strength returned and get on with life.
But somehow, I started understanding that I needed to practice patience in order to heal. I was exhausting myself with my impatience and I needed that energy to focus on resting and recuperating. I refocused on smaller amounts of time, like just one day or moment by moment. While I couldn’t do anything to accelerate the process, by focusing on doing the current activity well (such as resting, eating, or exercising) it helped me see the gradual process and stop feeling so impatient and anxious.
Talking about patience LOL I think the poop fairy forgot where I live or either is on vacation LOL On top of doubling my daily dose of stool softener I added eating whole avocados 2x day for the extra fiber. Love avocados.
I was given a handful of written instructions when I left the hospital. Today I can officially remove the bandage on my incision. Can anyone say hot shower LOL Yes
@Josephine I will thoroughly wash and sanitize my hands before I removed the bandage and check for open wounds and scabs LOL
Wishing all my Bonessmarty friends a quick recovery.