Boobie Babble

Today was my first PT appointment post-op.  It went well, gnarly, but well.  As expected, bending my knee was the most difficult part.  My therapist said that I had regained more whole body movement (rolling to each side and even laying on my stomach) than she had expected.  However, my hamstring has begun to atrophy as well as the other major muscles in my thigh.  She used several electrical devices to stimulate my muscles and help me to make them contract.  Needless to say I was VERY sore and swollen when all was said and done.  I had planned to go get Reese from school today.  I have been released to drive and can with great difficulty get in and out of the car wearing my immobilizer but I can only drive if I don't have pain pills in my system.  The first thing I wanted to do when I got home from PT was take a pain pill!!!...and I was utterly exhausted.  My father-in-law agreed to pick Reese up for me today.  I mu...

Just remembered that the pre-op nurses gave me something they called a nerve block .  From what I heard it sounded allot like a epidural just without a lingering needle.  I must say that it was more uncomfortable to get than an epidural.  The must concentrate on a specific nerve.  When they hit the right spot my left leg started twitching like it was being electrocuted.  Post op I had a great amount of pain at the injection site but no other side effects since then.  If it helped with the post op pain I would have HATED to experience  it without it. Read more about it HERE. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/83237-overview

Slowly getting better.  There is a constant dull ache but not the unending FIRE that was there before. The pain subsides now as long as I do not move.  As long as I keep it elevated and still, it is ok.  But as soon as I need to go potty, change positions, sit up to eat or drink the pain is excruciating.  And a new symptom began night before last.  The pain must still be VERY real when I am unconscious--I am now waking myself up from a sound sleep with a reoccuring nightmare (with well-matching pain) that my knee is dislocated.  Not fun at all.  My whole body jumps.  I yell and then realize that the pain is from surgery and not a dislocated knee.  Very strange sensation.

Not good at all.  I spent the first 24 hours writhing in agony, screaming at every movement and crying each time I realized I needed to go pee.  Had to increase pain  pills to every 3 hours instead of 4 and had to add 4 advil 3 times a day.  Finally today I at least feel lucid.  I am not going to lie--yesterday I questioned myself if I had made the right decision.  No dislocation that I have ever experienced hurt as badly as I hurt yesterday. This trumps childbirth BY FAR!!!! But the doc did tell Jason that the first two days would be hard.  So I am trying to stay positive and remind myself that it WILL heal with time. We still havent unwrapped dressings.  We will do that tomorrow while girls are at school so that Jason can bathe me and put clean bandages back on my leg.  Curious and scared at the same time to see what it looks like.  It burns.  At the incision sites--burns like fire.  Pray for continued healing and relief.