Hello everyone, I know this is for total knees but I hope you won't mind my being here... due to this injury, I've been warned that a TKR is probably likely one day, so I could be a legitimate future member soon.
But right now, I could sure use advice and encouragement. Two weeks ago I fell violently and fractured my tibial plateau in several places. I also tore a meniscus, my ACL and my MCL. And I tore my calf muscle and have some nerve damage extending down the bottom of the foot. I have a plate and some screws holding my knee together
I'm 30 years old and my husband and I just welcomed our first baby this summer. He's about 6 months old. I stayed home with baby but had just started tweaking my resume to go back to work and was interviewing daycares a few days before my accident.
It's been about 12 days since my surgery and I'm feeling really down. I've been on limited amounts of pain medication since I'm still exclusively breastfeeding my baby (the pain medicine was cleared by our pediatrician, my ob and 3 nurse lactation consultants but well, you know first time mom here) and my surgeon's goal is to be only taking Tylenol and ibuprofen by Wednesday. He already said he won't write me another script. And I agree. I have been taking 10mg Norco every 4-6 hours. Today I did 7.5mg every 5-6 hours and it was bearable for most of the day with ice on.
I'm worried about starting pt next week. Does everybody just use over the counter meds and ice? I'm just apprehensive of the pain. I'm not sleeping well though thankfully my baby is a trooper thru the night and only wakes for one night feed, usually. I'll probably sleep better when I am permitted take off my monstrous leg brace.
I also don't know what we are going to do as far as caretaking. My husband's got to go back to work soon and we live 1600 miles away from all of our family. Yesterday, we were told that I need to be completely non weight bearing for at least the next 6 weeks. I'm so unhappy that I can't easily get to my baby and I can't hold him unless I'm sitting down. Can't help much with bath time and someone has to bring me everything so I can change and dress him. We can't afford to hire a nanny --we made the decision that I'd stay home with baby for the first 6 months. I had just started looking for work again.
Right now, I've got a family member flying in to care for me and baby for the first 10 days of January. But we still have to get through another month at least! And once I'm allowed to put weight on my leg, I think it'll take a few days to get used to walking, right?
I've asked my surgeon about all this as all he said is that I'm going to need help for at least the next 10 weeks. He suggested the hiring of a nanny. But, like I said, I'm embarrassed but we can't really swing that.
I am not even sure what I am asking. The facts are that I'm not really able to care for our son by myself and can't really care for myself. We are alone in a new city. And everything really hurts. I'm afraid. I don't know what to do.
My husband's going to talk with his boss and HR next week -- he's got a great job but we need him working... in addition to the expensive city we live in, there are extensive medical bills now on the way. I feel so wretchedly useless.
Any advice? It's got to get better soon, right? I feel so helpless. I did not have post partum depression and in general I'm not prone to being sad. Before this happened, I was having the best year of my life.
But right now, I could sure use advice and encouragement. Two weeks ago I fell violently and fractured my tibial plateau in several places. I also tore a meniscus, my ACL and my MCL. And I tore my calf muscle and have some nerve damage extending down the bottom of the foot. I have a plate and some screws holding my knee together
I'm 30 years old and my husband and I just welcomed our first baby this summer. He's about 6 months old. I stayed home with baby but had just started tweaking my resume to go back to work and was interviewing daycares a few days before my accident.
It's been about 12 days since my surgery and I'm feeling really down. I've been on limited amounts of pain medication since I'm still exclusively breastfeeding my baby (the pain medicine was cleared by our pediatrician, my ob and 3 nurse lactation consultants but well, you know first time mom here) and my surgeon's goal is to be only taking Tylenol and ibuprofen by Wednesday. He already said he won't write me another script. And I agree. I have been taking 10mg Norco every 4-6 hours. Today I did 7.5mg every 5-6 hours and it was bearable for most of the day with ice on.
I'm worried about starting pt next week. Does everybody just use over the counter meds and ice? I'm just apprehensive of the pain. I'm not sleeping well though thankfully my baby is a trooper thru the night and only wakes for one night feed, usually. I'll probably sleep better when I am permitted take off my monstrous leg brace.
I also don't know what we are going to do as far as caretaking. My husband's got to go back to work soon and we live 1600 miles away from all of our family. Yesterday, we were told that I need to be completely non weight bearing for at least the next 6 weeks. I'm so unhappy that I can't easily get to my baby and I can't hold him unless I'm sitting down. Can't help much with bath time and someone has to bring me everything so I can change and dress him. We can't afford to hire a nanny --we made the decision that I'd stay home with baby for the first 6 months. I had just started looking for work again.
Right now, I've got a family member flying in to care for me and baby for the first 10 days of January. But we still have to get through another month at least! And once I'm allowed to put weight on my leg, I think it'll take a few days to get used to walking, right?
I've asked my surgeon about all this as all he said is that I'm going to need help for at least the next 10 weeks. He suggested the hiring of a nanny. But, like I said, I'm embarrassed but we can't really swing that.
I am not even sure what I am asking. The facts are that I'm not really able to care for our son by myself and can't really care for myself. We are alone in a new city. And everything really hurts. I'm afraid. I don't know what to do.
My husband's going to talk with his boss and HR next week -- he's got a great job but we need him working... in addition to the expensive city we live in, there are extensive medical bills now on the way. I feel so wretchedly useless.
Any advice? It's got to get better soon, right? I feel so helpless. I did not have post partum depression and in general I'm not prone to being sad. Before this happened, I was having the best year of my life.