Like a Surgeon, Hey!

Just a quick post-op update on the knee.  My surgery was Wednesday and

as advertised, it took only about  20-30 minutes.  I'd intended to ask the doctor if someone could take a pic mid surgery for my blog, but as I'm sitting here typing, several days later, I can't recall why I didn't.  Not that I'd have actually thought they would do it.  I'm pretty sure that my phone has to be the nastiest thing in existence so there would definitely be sanitary issues!

So the doctor came out and told Mom that all went well, and that I'd be in recovery soon.  I, on the other hand, woke up feeling as drunk and druggy as I ever have.  You know, that "your head is too heavy for your neck" feeling and my brain was somewhat awake, but my mouth was unable to speak the words it was told to speak.  My peeps at work had high hopes that I'd "drunk text" them, but I don't think I could have even held the phone!  And by the time I had the phone, my usual self control had re-exerted itself.

After getting my snack of sweet tea (I'd earned the real stuff) and peanut butter crackers (NOTE: if you have dry mouth, do NOT choose peanut butter crackers as your snack), Mom packed me up in the party van and drove me home.  I got ensconced on the couch with my knee propped up and an ice pack on it and Mom left to go pick up my pain meds.  She also had instructions to go to the grocery store and pick up some Bunny Tracks ice cream.

Despite the pain meds and very good nursing care, that first day, I was pretty sure that I was going to die.  I tend to get maudlin after surgery - don't know if it's the pain, the drugs or the difficulties associated with getting up from the toilet.  I also had the mother of all headaches - a side effect from the anesthesia, one supposes.  The sad part was that none of the pain meds were even chipping away at the headache.  Thank God for Aleve - I popped a couple of those and laid down - upon waking it was gone. 

Thursday and Friday, each day the leg was better.  I still needed the crutches to motor around but, if I use the difficulty of getting up from the toilet as a barometer, I was definitely improving. 

 
Saturday, I was motoring around without the crutches.  I even took the elevator down (stairs are not something I'm ready to tackle) and walked around to the front of the condo to get the mail.... the sad part being it was all trash.  I even took a shower!  I do have to say that there were a couple of minutes of fright getting the leg in and out of the tub, but all worked out.

So, tomorrow morning, at (gulp!) 7 am... I really wasn't thinking when I scheduled that, was I?... is my first physical therapy appointment.  My friend Amy tells me that they are actually physical terrorists, so she suggests that I take all the pain meds as I can before I go.  The only problem is that I plan to go to work at least for a half day afterwards.  I'm not concerned about working on drugs, it's the driving from the condo to PT and then from PT to work.  I'll have to figure something out.