So...Part 2: The Recovery.
So, post-surgery, the first 24 hours home are awful. So much pain, can’t sleep, can barely move on my own. Well, because in the hospital I was on 75mg of Oxy - yes, Oxy. I know, a dangerous road for me. “Use it, don’t abuse it,” I keep saying to myself - and yet they only sent me home with 150mg to last 10 days until I see the dr. How could I make that last? So I wasn’t allowing myself enough & it was sending me on a path that would lead right back to the hospital. My arthritis pain alone just from being 95% bed-bound for 4 days was off the charts. So I came home the day after Thanksgiving & by Saturday night, I gave in & called the on-call line. I luckily got a resident dr who saw me in the hospital & was like, “No, no, take whatever you need, we will get you more. We got you on this.” So glad he recognized that one size fits all does not fit *me*.
Once I started allowing myself the Oxy, I started sleeping & within 48 hours, the worst was behind me. I mean, my leg was still hella weak & hurting, but I’m functional. After the first few days home, I find the worst pain to be coming from my calf & foot. I’m concerned w how heavy and half asleep it feels all the time, not to mention the screaming pain if anything bumps that foot. I call the dr about it and am told, because of my locked knees & the requirement to keep my leg elevated post surgery due to swelling, that it’s probably positional, my foot more of less dangling off the pillows my leg is propped up on. I’m told it’ll get better as swelling goes down. It only gets very mildly better over the next week. It was honestly excruciating & non-stop, like I was constantly experiencing a feeling like someone hitting my lower leg/foot on a funny bone. (Later my surgeon would refer to it as Funny Bone Foot, bc it’s apparently a thing). It wasn’t until my appt with the dr 10 days later that we discover I have nerve damage. They actually lengthened my leg by stretching out a bunch of scrunched up stuff while they were in there. Which is cool, except it often angers the nerves. And boy did it ever! They can put me on a medicine to help with it, but...wait I’m already on that medicine! It’s neurotonin, I take it for my fibro. Massage is recommended, epsom salt, anything I think I can tolerate. It’s been 3 weeks now & it’s still lowkey a problem, but much better. I go back to PT next week & I suspect after a few sessions there I’ll be clear. I hope. Doc did say it doesn’t always go away.
I’ve also lost some mobility in my foot that’s linked to that calf muscle tightening up that traces back to that being where the bundle of nerves are that suffered damage. So, try pulling your toes, just your toes, towards your head. Yeah, I can barely do that & certainly not without pain. PT should help with that too. So surgery was on a Wednesday & by Tuesday, Sis was back to work & I was home alone. I could slowly & carefully lift my leg in and out of bed, - we did move my bed around to make it more accessible - can take myself to the bathroom with the help of an assistive device, and can take care of my own meals bc Sis leaves a cooler next to my bed filled with food. (Now 3 weeks out, I no longer need the dressing stick or the cooler, but we’ve left my bed in the middle of the room until we are sure I’m good to go!)
The last major issue is that yes, my liver levels spiked. Not horrendously, but they did. And the risk here is that if solely going back on my liver meds doesn’t bring them back down, they’ll have to use steroids and I always get brittle bones on steroids - that’s how I broke my femur & pelvis. I just had follow up labwork, after having been back on the meds for a week, so I’ll know in a few days if the medicine alone will do the trick.
So yeah, a few rough days to start, some nerve issues I could live without, losing stamina from being bed-bound, and some worry over my liver - but the hip itself...Doing great! Strength coming back, mobility increasing, wound healing over nicely. I have pics of my leg with the staples in and then an after-shot of when they were taken out - if anyone’s interested, it’s gross but cool, I could post the pics, they were a huge hit with the niblings. Currently the biggest issue is that I’m feeling well enough to be tired of being tired and edging on bored. I have lots to do, but not quite the brain power to do it just yet. So I’ve been rewatching Parks & Rec and Numb3rs and reading easy to digest fanfic. That is what has been going on with me! (Thanks for hanging in on these long posts).
How are all of you? Tell me something about what’s up with you!
This entry was originally posted at https://dodger-sister.dreamwidth.org/247972.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Once I started allowing myself the Oxy, I started sleeping & within 48 hours, the worst was behind me. I mean, my leg was still hella weak & hurting, but I’m functional. After the first few days home, I find the worst pain to be coming from my calf & foot. I’m concerned w how heavy and half asleep it feels all the time, not to mention the screaming pain if anything bumps that foot. I call the dr about it and am told, because of my locked knees & the requirement to keep my leg elevated post surgery due to swelling, that it’s probably positional, my foot more of less dangling off the pillows my leg is propped up on. I’m told it’ll get better as swelling goes down. It only gets very mildly better over the next week. It was honestly excruciating & non-stop, like I was constantly experiencing a feeling like someone hitting my lower leg/foot on a funny bone. (Later my surgeon would refer to it as Funny Bone Foot, bc it’s apparently a thing). It wasn’t until my appt with the dr 10 days later that we discover I have nerve damage. They actually lengthened my leg by stretching out a bunch of scrunched up stuff while they were in there. Which is cool, except it often angers the nerves. And boy did it ever! They can put me on a medicine to help with it, but...wait I’m already on that medicine! It’s neurotonin, I take it for my fibro. Massage is recommended, epsom salt, anything I think I can tolerate. It’s been 3 weeks now & it’s still lowkey a problem, but much better. I go back to PT next week & I suspect after a few sessions there I’ll be clear. I hope. Doc did say it doesn’t always go away.
I’ve also lost some mobility in my foot that’s linked to that calf muscle tightening up that traces back to that being where the bundle of nerves are that suffered damage. So, try pulling your toes, just your toes, towards your head. Yeah, I can barely do that & certainly not without pain. PT should help with that too. So surgery was on a Wednesday & by Tuesday, Sis was back to work & I was home alone. I could slowly & carefully lift my leg in and out of bed, - we did move my bed around to make it more accessible - can take myself to the bathroom with the help of an assistive device, and can take care of my own meals bc Sis leaves a cooler next to my bed filled with food. (Now 3 weeks out, I no longer need the dressing stick or the cooler, but we’ve left my bed in the middle of the room until we are sure I’m good to go!)
The last major issue is that yes, my liver levels spiked. Not horrendously, but they did. And the risk here is that if solely going back on my liver meds doesn’t bring them back down, they’ll have to use steroids and I always get brittle bones on steroids - that’s how I broke my femur & pelvis. I just had follow up labwork, after having been back on the meds for a week, so I’ll know in a few days if the medicine alone will do the trick.
So yeah, a few rough days to start, some nerve issues I could live without, losing stamina from being bed-bound, and some worry over my liver - but the hip itself...Doing great! Strength coming back, mobility increasing, wound healing over nicely. I have pics of my leg with the staples in and then an after-shot of when they were taken out - if anyone’s interested, it’s gross but cool, I could post the pics, they were a huge hit with the niblings. Currently the biggest issue is that I’m feeling well enough to be tired of being tired and edging on bored. I have lots to do, but not quite the brain power to do it just yet. So I’ve been rewatching Parks & Rec and Numb3rs and reading easy to digest fanfic. That is what has been going on with me! (Thanks for hanging in on these long posts).
How are all of you? Tell me something about what’s up with you!
This entry was originally posted at https://dodger-sister.dreamwidth.org/247972.html. Please comment there using OpenID.