This is Day 5 if you count my surgery day, last Thursday, as Day 1. That day was pretty much a blur, and I made an idiot of myself coming out of anesthesia, apparently suggesting to the nurse trying to wake me that I would be better off dead and asking if she might slip something into my IV to make that happen (I do not remember this)!
I do not deny that, for a few minutes, I probably felt that way, but I did not mean to be unkind. By the time I left, I was asking about her children and family and trying to assure her I am a decent person. I also complimented her in my patient satisfaction review.
How is this for modern medicine? I was in the surgery center at 8:15 a.m. I was home with my new knee at 2:30 p.m. Crazy.
I am probably going to go into this more on my Substack, but suffice it to say I came through surgery OK, and I am doing OK now. The pain meds are good, and I have been receiving outstanding care from my wife and three adult children who have each taken a shift to help her, for which she and I are both grateful.
The pain was and is as bad as I was told to expect, and Days 2 and 3 were rough. Really rough. Day 4, yesterday, I began to have glimpses of hope, and I have those same glimpses today. I had my first visit to physical therapy several hours ago, and it took Wife and Older son tag-teaming to load me up in the car, get me there, deposit me inside and bring me back home.
PT went well (it hurt) and my therapist says I am where I should be. Keep doing the exercises, he said, and "work through the pain."
I guess I don't have much choice about that.
Seriously, I want to get better, and I want to walk normally again, so yes, I will work through that pain just as hard as I can.
2 comments:
I had secretly hoped my dad might tell some deep family secrets when he was coming out of anesthesia for a new hip but alas, he held his tongue. Like you it seems, he sort of bottomed out at the end of day 2 and into day 3 until we could convince him to take his pain medications as prescribed. He started getting better. That was the week after this past Thanksgiving. Currently he is on his way out west to hike some rugged mountain trail for the next month. Not bad for a mid 70's man with a new hip. With perseverance, you will get there too Bob.
My thoughts are with you ❤️ Bob. Wishing you a speedy recovery and good health.
Post a Comment