My dear good lady! Did you think this was going to be little more than having a tooth out? You are barely 10 days post op. Stop being so hard on yourself. You have had a major MAJOR operation and it's going to take some WEEKS before you begin to get back any hint of your normal life. Anyway - who ever told you you should expect to be" doing everything"? Not the surgeon, I'll warrant!
Now this is to be your goal for the next month at least - rest, do your PT, lots and LOTS of icing, then rest some more. Take your pain meds. Look after you - that's you and everyone else to look after you! Get it?
If you are like any other mom I know, you've spent years running around looking after everyone else and now it's your turn. There's no need to be depressed, upset, guilty, feel like you're bothering everyone, getting mad at yourself or worst, wishing you hadn't had it done. Would you really have settled for the option of having your husband push you around in a wheel chair for the rest of your life?
Of course you wouldn't!
Someone on here once pointed out that it didn't take our knees a few weeks to get into the state where this needed to be done and it's not going to take a few weeks to get better again. Let your family and friends take care of you and make a fuss of you. They will relish the opportunity to do for you what you have done for them all these years. Don't deprive them of their gift of care to you.
Another thing, depression, or 'post-op blues', is very common. You spent weeks, maybe even months, building up to having this done. All the anxiety and stress, fear even. Looking forward to getting it done and getting your life back. Now it's done and for a while it seems like it's worse than ever. Well, sometimes things have to get worse to get better. That doesn't mean they WON'T get better. And getting better may take months. But don't fret about it. Set yourself small goals. Come and tell us when you achieve them so we can rejoice with you.
Most importantly, be generous with your pain meds. Take them regularly, take them before you go to bed. Take before you go for PT. Don't ever EVER think of cutting back on them because you think you 'should'. Some people need them for months. And if you try to tough it out, it will only restrict your achievements in PT and other goals.
Finally, come and post here often. You'll find a wealth of support and encouragement here from people who know EXACTLY what you are going through because they have been there before you.
God bless and be assured, you sound like you're doing fantastically well. You also seem to have a great family and you also have good friends on here. Use them!
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