Home At Last
When last we met, I was crying in my hospital bed because my pain levels had escalated to 9, on that scale of 1-10, where 10 is the worst pain you've ever felt.
I was put on 12 hour morphine pills, along with the double dose of Oxycodone (Percoset) every 4 hours. By midnight things had finally calmed down enough that I was able to fall asleep. I thank everyone for the extra good wishes, prayers and hugs. I know that they helped. Usually, once the pain gets away from you, it become very difficult to get them back under control. So I'm very lucky there.
Saturday morning, Nurse Heidi woke me up at 7:45 to say that I had OT at 8:00 and was supposed to have PT at 8:30. Ot came timely, and I was given the go ahead to take a shower. Yippee! PT came at 8:50 just as I was heading in to the loo. We asked her to come back in 5 minutes. She finally came back at 10:30. (Sigh) But when we finished that PT session, I had done a complete flight of stairs, down and up, as well as walking farther than we had the day before. And, I was given the green light to go home! Cheering!!!
So home by 12:30. It was so good to see Lycan, and she was just beside herself with happiness. Man that tail can hurt when she's in full wag. =)
Stopped at Walgreens to get 3 prescriptions filled, home and snuggeled up in my recliner while Michelle & Bonnie took Lycan to the dog park.
Even though "they" (Surgeon & PT) said that knee #2 would probably take longer to heal, because my physical resources have been so recently depleted, I think the opposite might be true. I'm not really sure if it was because the new Anesthesiologist (Dr. Hinde) said that he was going to try a different anesthetic, because I still had significant nausea issues last time. But I really feel that has something to do with it. I'm not nearly as tired as I was before (even though I am falling asleep between sentences as I write this. I've been able to stay awake for multiple hours at a time. My right leg is not as swollen as the left was at this stage, especially not my thigh, it is still pliable, not rigid. The result of that is that I can more easily move the leg, and bending the knee a little more. I did gain 7 lbs while in the hospital, and I know it's all water. The scopalamine(?) patch I had behind my ear gave me pretty severe dry mouth, so I've been drinking ice water like it's going out of style. That means I have a lot more peeing in my future. I can't wait to start eleminating solids. Any day you poo, is a good day!
Off to bed now for me. The home health care Physical therapist is comeing to evaluate me Sunday at 11. Let it begin!
One more thought. While still on the morphine drip, I had no problems reading my normal books. Now that I'm on the Percoset, drowsiness is increasing and reading comprehension/focus is fading. Good thing I stopped at the library Wed. afternoon, and checked out about 20 chapbooks about animals (Vet volunteers, more Junie B Jones, and then a few harder/longer books). So I'm set for reading material. Also, I ended up pulling another all-nighter Wed night. I finished all of my tasks at 4:00 a.m. and we had to leave for the hospital at 5:15. Just enough time to take a shower with that horrible anti-bacterial soap. Now, off to bed!
I was put on 12 hour morphine pills, along with the double dose of Oxycodone (Percoset) every 4 hours. By midnight things had finally calmed down enough that I was able to fall asleep. I thank everyone for the extra good wishes, prayers and hugs. I know that they helped. Usually, once the pain gets away from you, it become very difficult to get them back under control. So I'm very lucky there.
Saturday morning, Nurse Heidi woke me up at 7:45 to say that I had OT at 8:00 and was supposed to have PT at 8:30. Ot came timely, and I was given the go ahead to take a shower. Yippee! PT came at 8:50 just as I was heading in to the loo. We asked her to come back in 5 minutes. She finally came back at 10:30. (Sigh) But when we finished that PT session, I had done a complete flight of stairs, down and up, as well as walking farther than we had the day before. And, I was given the green light to go home! Cheering!!!
So home by 12:30. It was so good to see Lycan, and she was just beside herself with happiness. Man that tail can hurt when she's in full wag. =)
Stopped at Walgreens to get 3 prescriptions filled, home and snuggeled up in my recliner while Michelle & Bonnie took Lycan to the dog park.
Even though "they" (Surgeon & PT) said that knee #2 would probably take longer to heal, because my physical resources have been so recently depleted, I think the opposite might be true. I'm not really sure if it was because the new Anesthesiologist (Dr. Hinde) said that he was going to try a different anesthetic, because I still had significant nausea issues last time. But I really feel that has something to do with it. I'm not nearly as tired as I was before (even though I am falling asleep between sentences as I write this. I've been able to stay awake for multiple hours at a time. My right leg is not as swollen as the left was at this stage, especially not my thigh, it is still pliable, not rigid. The result of that is that I can more easily move the leg, and bending the knee a little more. I did gain 7 lbs while in the hospital, and I know it's all water. The scopalamine(?) patch I had behind my ear gave me pretty severe dry mouth, so I've been drinking ice water like it's going out of style. That means I have a lot more peeing in my future. I can't wait to start eleminating solids. Any day you poo, is a good day!
Off to bed now for me. The home health care Physical therapist is comeing to evaluate me Sunday at 11. Let it begin!
One more thought. While still on the morphine drip, I had no problems reading my normal books. Now that I'm on the Percoset, drowsiness is increasing and reading comprehension/focus is fading. Good thing I stopped at the library Wed. afternoon, and checked out about 20 chapbooks about animals (Vet volunteers, more Junie B Jones, and then a few harder/longer books). So I'm set for reading material. Also, I ended up pulling another all-nighter Wed night. I finished all of my tasks at 4:00 a.m. and we had to leave for the hospital at 5:15. Just enough time to take a shower with that horrible anti-bacterial soap. Now, off to bed!