Week 9
It's a funny recovery, this one. I "skip" downstairs in the morning with a knee that feels new and "different" and for the first part of the day, apart from some very minor discomfort, I feel pretty good. The tight band feeling has all but gone. By 4 pm the energy drain starts to impinge on every part of my being and I know I have to just let it ride and wash over me. I've been there before with previous surgeries, after all.
I have started taking paracetamol every 6 hours in an effort to level out all the aches, stiffness etc, throughout the day. We'll see how it goes! My sleep pattern if anything, has got worse. It doesn't help that I'm probably going to bed too early. By 8 or 9 pm I'm fidgety and uncomfortable and tired and longing for my bed. And there I lie till well past midnight, where that much longed for sleep completely eludes me! I read until I'm dropping off but still can't sleep. I feel like I've been drinking coffee all day (I am caffeine sensitive) but I haven't. I wonder if the codeine (4pm) and tramadol (8pm) have something to do with this. I know I need it though so I'll just have to put up with it.
By 4 pm, my knee often starts to ache and sometimes those nasty stabbing pains under the inside of the knee cap return. (ODIC threatening to suck me in!) I've read all this is normal so it doesn't worry me as such; its just tiresome! I don't feel I can do any less during the day without losing my sanity!
I'm still doing my 15 minute toddle round the block. Yesterday I found a duck pond I didn't know about (we moved last June) and my 15 minutes turned into 17, watching a squirrel. 2 minutes too much perhaps, but it was worth it. I also tried to work longer and managed 6 hours before enough was enough! I love my job but it takes a lot of concentration and the laptop is a nuisance. I'm not ready to sit at my desk so it's sitting on my good knee.
It's hard to explain to those who have never had surgery that the knee is only a part of the problems we face. The energy drain is horror. The discomfort that comes with having to keep the knee happy whilst sitting is a pain too. On a good note, my emotions are 90% back under control although it doesn't take much to make me cry. The last episode was after watching " Supervet" when they subjected an Alaskan Malamute to a BTKR and kept saying "he isn't in pain". Hah! I have my own thoughts on the pioneering veterinary surgery being carried out on animals. Animals have played a huge part in both my professional and personal life and I feel I have a good understanding and empathy of their needs, as opposed to our needs!
Anyway, onwards and upwards! The control freak in me that used to let me stay awake for 48 hours at a time, nursing sick horses, is letting go. I cannot fight this, I can only go with the flow and let my baby knee dictate its needs, hour by hour.
I keep telling myself that life will eventually return to normal (minus arthritic knees) although it'll be a while; knee number 2 beckons later this year. In under 3 weeks we shall be returning to my beloved Dartmoor, my husband's birth place. Although we won't be able to walk the magical moor, it's close proximity will be healing.
United Kingdom
I have been using Tylenol PM to help me get to sleep....now if I didn't have to get up to pee a million times a night I would be set. With all the medications they have me on these days (infection) I have to drink a lot of water for the kidneys.
