day after surgery

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!

surgery part I

Wow, surgery. Where do I start?

Friends of ours from down the street were so wonderful to offer to take Little I in and get her on the bus with their kids the morning of surgery. I will never be able to express to them how much this meant for us. To know that she was in good hands and going to have a fun morning before school, complete with chocolate chip pancakes too, made it alot easier for Big K and I to head to the hospital with less to worry about. Little I was such a trooper! She woke up, put her clothes on and got in the car. We dropped her off and I could tell that she was a little nervous. She was quiet and kept her head down as we tucked her in on the couch. I tried to be strong and positive for her. It was hard. I gave her a big hug and kiss and told her that I would see her later. I didn't want to leave her, but we had to go. Off we went.

It was still dark when we got to the hospital and I took my last Tylenol before surgery. I checked in and they called us back within a few minutes. It is kind of nice being in the first round of surgeries for the day. Doctors and nurses started to come in for their shifts as they were prepping me. I got the anti-nausea pill and the nurse took the water from my hand with a "just enough to swallow the pill smile". They placed the Velcro sticky strip on my head to prep me for anesthesia. It is supposed to measure your brain waves to make sure they regulate all of the meds properly, but all I know is that it hurts since they just mashed sticky Velcro onto my head. And of course Big K takes a picture for me to have as a keepsake. He was good at taking pictures to help me document the big day-even when I didn't want him too!

Everyone was very nice at the hospital. Even sneezy who ended up being my fellow. I saw him sneeze when he came in and then couldn't stop thinking about how he sneezed into his hands and then I never saw him wash his hands. This was not helping my anxiety level, but luckily they started the IV, rolled me down the hall and into the operating room. I got onto the new "bed" and goodnight...