I'm still alive, albeit barely. The surgery ended up lasting 6.5 hours instead of the 5 that was estimated and I don't know what they did to me in that extra hour and a half but I have been pretty miserable since. I've been home for about 24 hours now and am beginning to feel better but still am experiencing a lot of pain. I had a femural block that is supposed to block the nerves going to my whole right leg. It isn't supposed to block all of the pain but it must have been blocking a lot because when it started to wear off this morning I was really in bad shape. The pain has subsided some since then to a more manageable level thank God. In addition to feeling like my leg had been crushed, I continue to have an unpleasant sore throat. The anaesthesiologist stuck a hose down my throat while I was under and in addition to drying it out, I suspect scratched it up a fair amount as well. It remains painful to try to eat or drink anything. To top it off, for several hours yesterday my right arm was killing me, which the doctor attributed to 7 hours of wearing a blood pressure cuff. Thankfully that is now approaching normal.
I don't know if it's because of the pain or the medication but I've gotten hardly any sleep. I feel very tired but can't sleep for more than half an hour or so at a time. I am really hoping to be able to get some sleep tonight and hopefully wake up in the morning with less pain. A few other quick notes: this is my second surgery and both times I have felt deeply resentful of the nurse who woke me up. When I am really groggy and all I want to do is sleep, harassing me to get me up and out of the office doesn't endear you to me. The operating room had blood stains on the floor and as they wheeled me in I felt like I was about to make my appearance in the next Saw sequel or some other torture porn flic. The way I've felt since being wheeled out of the OR I'm not sure I wasn't tortured. The doctor was very pleased with how the surgery went, although I suspect they say that to everybody regardless of how it goes. Still I hope he was being honest. He took some before and after pictures with the arthroscope and if I can get a copy of them I might post them. He showed them to my parents while I was in the recovery room but I haven't seen them yet. I have next to no appetite so far and don't know how long that will continue but at least it means less agitation getting up to go to the bathroom. For the record, trying to crutch my way into the bathroom while I'm whacked out on narcotics isn't a lot of fun.
In unrelated news, the Perseid meteor showers have been making an appearance this week, and tonight at 10:00 they are expected to be their most spectacular. I'm not planning on getting up to see them, so go out and view them on my behalf.
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2 comments:
How are you doing this all on your own? I know you said your parents were at the hospital with you, but is someone staying with you to cook and help you around??
Oh, good lord, I can't do anything on my own right now. My parents are retired and are staying with me as long as I need them. I'm more or less bed ridden for now. The only time I get up is to go to the bathroom and just doing that is painful and exhausting.
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