Hello again! Checking in to update. I'm pretty cheerful today
Side sleeping: I have only tried turning onto my side for very short periods of time. I can't lie on my incision side - it hurts - but I have had to roll the other way a few times to get my dressing changed so thought I'd try that to relieve the pressure. The rehab home visitor said I could if I was careful and stuck a pillow between my legs to stop my operated leg rolling down/crossing over. But it feels very precarious, so I'm not doing it much - just when being on my back gets intolerable. I'm getting more used to back sleeping: I put an extra pillow under my knees and that takes the pressure off. Lying with both legs elevated is also OK for 30-60 mins.
Anyway, generally I had a better night last night and a pretty good day today. I managed about 8 hours sleep in roughly 2 hour bursts, on top of the 4-5 hours I slept yesterday afternoon. The shortness of breath was pretty horrible, and at about 3am I ended up finding a 3-year-old salamol inhaler (which probably didn't work anyway!) and some menthol chest rub, and sleeping upright for about 90 mins. My doc today said it was probably a side effect of the tramadol, and has prescribed co-dydramol instead. I have only taken 1 of those so far, and it made me a bit breathless too, but not so badly... We'll see how I get on with it tonight.
I have remarkably little pain. Bruising is the worst of it, and I can feel it throbbing after I walk around. The incision itself occasionally stings a bit, but less than a graze would. I have a lot of numbness on my thigh, so I wonder whether they've killed off a lot of nerve endings?! If so, it won't hurt so much now, but might when they start to grow back?! My total pain relieve prescription is now 4 x 500/10 co-dydramol plus 4 x 500 paracetamol, which doesn't seem much, but so far I have been fine. However, since I got home, I have been spending 22-22.5 hours lying down, and 2-3 of those with my 'nose above toes', so maybe that helps? Ice helps too, as you all know.
I am moving around too. I've done my bed exercises twice today, chair ones twice, standing ones once, got up for the loo a few times, got up to a chair near my bed for lunch and downstairs for my evening meal, climbed a flight of 12 stairs down and up, and walked outside a few metres. I have walked very short distances (12-15 feet) with 1 stick and (6-8 feet) with no stick. My physio visitor pointed out that it's better to do exercises and walking slowly and
mindfully than quickly and wrongly! I have noticed that I have a lot of bad habits to break after walking with a heavy limp for about a year - especially my habit of transferring most of my weight off my 'bad' leg and essentially standing on my good one like a flamingo!
My other bit of news today is that the district nurse came to check my dressing and actually removed the steri-strips across my incision. I have no stitches or staples or the top layer of the incision, and have apparently been glued! She says I'm healing well. All in all a much better day.
What a difference a day makes!
Bye for now, hip-hoppers!
United Kingdom
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