End of day 6. Pain is being managed with 2mg hydromorphone every 4-5 hours, with extra strength tylenol (1000mg) being taken in between, twice or three times/day. I am currently settling in for the night in my lazy boy, icecuff on and leg elevated with a long pillow. I’m not sure when I will try sleeping in my bed...this chair reclines almost horizontally, allowing my leg to stay elevated and having no danger of hurting myself while turning in my sleep (I am a side sleeper by nature). I think I’ll stay put for a few days yet. I think with my first TKR (which was a horrible, horrible first two weeks), I slept in this chair for almost a month!
I am able to get up and go to the washroom frequently now. While up, I try to do a slow lap around the first floor of our bungalow, taking care to pay attention to my steps, head up, focus ahead. I admit that I reduce to the easier hunching and shluffing by the end of the walk though, lol. I know it will get easier.
Tomorrow is my first PT appt. I am not yet able to raise my leg...hubby is the designated leglifter, haha. Lucky him. Straightening my leg seems good, but bending it is still painful. I still have swelling, so I know that hinders it. I also have a tegaderm dressing over my wound that seems to not allow the bend...it feels like it’s going to bust open when I try heel slides. So for now, I am trying to slide a little while sitting on a chair. We’ll see what happens with the PT tomorrow.
And I am being a total Goldilocks when it comes to pillow placement! My poor hubby! That one’s too short, that one’s too fluffy, that one’s too high, that one’s too hot! Oh my goodness...is anyone else this picky? I am enduring a LOT of eyerolls from my hubby, but I deserve them. I could not find a pillow flat enough for under my head (I’m in the recliner, remember), so I finally devised just the “right” one by folding a soft shawl into thirds and covering it with a pillowcase! Perfect!
I hope you all have a good night!