OK, here it is and I am waiting with my best game face on. The supposed "worst day" in the ACL reconstruction process. Stay ahead of the pain, stay ahead of the pain. At this point staying ahead of the pain meant sleeping, but if this is the worst, we're doing OK. I have a reasonably high pain tolerance, as evidenced by my past adventures, broken bones etc. so while I'm in a great deal of pain, I am trying to take it in stride. In the past I had been prescribed some pretty serious meds for injuries and never really ended up taking them. I am cautiously optimistic.
Time for the post op visit. If the saying "If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger" is true, I got a lot stronger at this point. I underestimated everything about this appointment. I was excited about seeing how things were going, but just getting there and back was a battle. Getting in and out of the car was the hardest thing I had done in a long time. I was in pain, sweating and getting really grouchy because of our lovely MI roads. The PA said that things looked good, surgery went well. He handed me of to one of the trainers to assess my starting point and take a baseline x-ray for the screws. I straightened OK, and flexed in the average range. "Can you lift you leg?" My brain says "yes" my leg says "hahaha that's pretty funny, but I will make the quad twitch. Remember, I'm stubborn". Out comes the home stim unit. WOOHOO! At least I get to shower tomorrow!!
Friends start to come visit with food and goodies that I will be eternally grateful for. The break it gave my poor husband with cooking and the emotional good it did for me to see people were very really treasures. Even if they just stayed for a few minutes, I felt like I was still connected to what was going on outside of this event. They didn't care that the house was a mess and I was a dopey mess. They were there anyway. They may never know just how much they did (and continue to do) to help with my recovery, but Big K and I will. I am very lucky to have such people in my life.
Pretty quickly, however, I realize that the level of pain that comes with this surgery can change quickly and significantly. Wow, Oxy is a very powerful pain med. One that I have never been prescribed or needed before. This is not good. I start to realize that when people said this was the worst pain that they had ever been in, they were serious. I have a new sense of respect for everyone who has endured this process. By this point we are almost done with what was supposed to be the "hardest day" and I'm not liking where it is going. Getting up to use the bathroom is seeming to get harder and harder. Maybe because I am so thirsty from the anesthesia, meds, who knows. The blood rush is feeling worse and worse. A bed pan is starting to sound like a nice idea. This is going bad, and it's going fast!
Time for the post op visit. If the saying "If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger" is true, I got a lot stronger at this point. I underestimated everything about this appointment. I was excited about seeing how things were going, but just getting there and back was a battle. Getting in and out of the car was the hardest thing I had done in a long time. I was in pain, sweating and getting really grouchy because of our lovely MI roads. The PA said that things looked good, surgery went well. He handed me of to one of the trainers to assess my starting point and take a baseline x-ray for the screws. I straightened OK, and flexed in the average range. "Can you lift you leg?" My brain says "yes" my leg says "hahaha that's pretty funny, but I will make the quad twitch. Remember, I'm stubborn". Out comes the home stim unit. WOOHOO! At least I get to shower tomorrow!!
Friends start to come visit with food and goodies that I will be eternally grateful for. The break it gave my poor husband with cooking and the emotional good it did for me to see people were very really treasures. Even if they just stayed for a few minutes, I felt like I was still connected to what was going on outside of this event. They didn't care that the house was a mess and I was a dopey mess. They were there anyway. They may never know just how much they did (and continue to do) to help with my recovery, but Big K and I will. I am very lucky to have such people in my life.
Pretty quickly, however, I realize that the level of pain that comes with this surgery can change quickly and significantly. Wow, Oxy is a very powerful pain med. One that I have never been prescribed or needed before. This is not good. I start to realize that when people said this was the worst pain that they had ever been in, they were serious. I have a new sense of respect for everyone who has endured this process. By this point we are almost done with what was supposed to be the "hardest day" and I'm not liking where it is going. Getting up to use the bathroom is seeming to get harder and harder. Maybe because I am so thirsty from the anesthesia, meds, who knows. The blood rush is feeling worse and worse. A bed pan is starting to sound like a nice idea. This is going bad, and it's going fast!
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