All of the well-wishes from my BoneSmartie friends are working! I'm going to write a detailed accounting of my recovery as of the morning of day 5, mostly because before my surgery I really wanted to know details and what to expect.
This whole experience has been at least 50% easier than I was expecting. Each little success along the way is so exciting! For example, I was worried about the ride home. The PT told me to sit in the front seat, but my ortho-surgery-experienced niece told me to slide into the back seat so I could leave my legs up. Getting into that position was a piece of cake, and I was totally comfortable for the 1/2 hour ride. Next, getting up my front steps: easy! Good foot up, bad foot up, good foot up, bad foot up. Didn't even hurt. Then the first time I put weight on my surgical leg, it felt exhilarating. I was so used to arthritis pain when I put all my weight down, and now it feels strong. Yea! As I lie in bed and look down at my legs, I feel overwhelming gratitude that the universe has allowed me to now have a perfectly straight, non-bowed leg. My poor great aunt had to suffer the last 30 years of her life in pain because at that time there was nothing that could be done to help her.
Since recovery, I've only had a few short periods (like 15-20 min.) of nasty pain. Accompanying that, I go for long periods at a 1 level. I've been icing round the clock, 30 minutes on, 30 minutes off. My smart ortho told me to do whatever feels good as far as ice and elevation and leg position. Generous of him! Last night I didn't need to bother my wonderful caretakers even once, despite needing a couple bathroom breaks, and 4 different pill doses. I can independently get to the bathroom and back in bed. (I have a leg lifter) Freeze water bottles, and fill up a cooler with them. I leave a fairly bright night light in my bathroom, and I sleep with an eye mask so that light doesn't bother me. I've been able to sleep for decent stretches between bathroom and pill breaks. Yesterday I (!) removed the catheter of the pain pump in my upper leg. Amazing. I was afraid I'd be in pain after that was out, but 12 hours later and I haven't noticed a difference.
I have not been able to eat much at all, so I started drinking the Naked Juice Protein Shakes (can't remember which BoneSmartie mentioned that, but thank you for the suggestion!). I have chicken broth, a scrambled egg, Gatorade laced with Miralax and that's about it. Actually, I never take a drink even of water that isn't laced with Miralax. That really works great!
Lastly, thanks to
@Tabbycat, I've been listening to guided meditations for healing on YouTube. I've never meditated in my life, but these are really great for keeping my head in a good place. They talk about the wonderful healing ability of our bodies, and how every cell in the body is constantly moving us toward healing and health. It really is remarkable. I've been very emotional, and I cry several times a day. The thing that makes me cry isn't the pain, it's that I finally moved ahead and am addressing my mobility problem. It's tears of relief and gratitude. I can't say enough about how reading everyone's stories has been reassuring - otherwise I'd be concerned about the numbness, my inability to move my legs after surgery, etc., etc. I have a good handle on what's normal because others have shared their stories.
The PT came yesterday, and thankfully all she did was take my vital signs, check my meds, changed my dressing, and watched me walk to the bathroom to make sure I was doing it safely. No exercises yet. She told me to continue doing the hospital exercises on my own, which are heel slides (which I can barely do!), glut squeezes (easy) and attempt to contract my quad muscle to push my knee down flat on the bed. One thing I'm worried about is one where you put a towel roll under the knee and try to lift your lower leg off the bed. I put all my concentration into it, and the leg just lies there like a limp dead fish. My quad muscle just isn't firing.
I was told I could shower immediately because my incision is glued on the outside and stitched on the inside, but that was revised when I wouldn't give up my pain pump. That's an electric gizmo - not too good in the water! So I had my first shower today, and I actually thought it was good that I hadn't tried it before. I was more painful and uncoordinated a couple days ago, and today I was more capable of the required shower maneuvers.
So all in all, thus far things are going well. I am going to do my best not to have PT screw that up tomorrow! I love
@Josephine 's suggestion to do shorter exercises throughout the day rather than a long major session, so I'm going to tell my PT that. Thank you, thank you, thank you BoneSmart friends! You have contributed greatly to my experience.
United States
what fun
![[Bonesmart.org] Happydale got her new knee](https://data.bonesmart.org/attachments/43/43745-6c098646dfb0a303c362683f0b9a1de8.jpg?hash=bAmGRt-wow "[Bonesmart.org] Happydale got her new knee")
![[Bonesmart.org] Happydale got her new knee](https://data.bonesmart.org/attachments/43/43751-7e7f8f5ec4301a7b38e35f3105d05277.jpg?hash=fn-PXsQwGn)
