My Hospitalization and Recovery
The details described below purposely get thinner as the days go by. My intention is to relate the main events or unique aspects of the day, good or bad. There is much more to say but I'll save that for another post.
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Surgery Day
"...he's about 200 lbs. 1-2-3..." That's what woke me up.
They were moving me from the surgery bed/table to my home for the next few days, my bed. I was immediately wide awake. It was uncanny - one second I was in a deep dreamless sleep, the next I was awake. The time was 11:20 am. Turns out my surgery took 1 hour and 10 minutes.
After being parked in my stall in the post-op room, the first thing I noticed was I could not feel or move my legs. Was that ever weird. As hard as I tried I was unable to move a muscle. Made me consider the lives of those who are permanently paralyzed - very profound and impossible to imagine. For the next 2 1/2 hours I was chatty, wide awake and feeling no pain. Eventually the feeling and movement in the right leg returned, just as the dentist's freezing leaves our jaw and mouth area. They loaded up my left with anestesia, thankfully.
Then it was off to the Surgical Observation Unit - a 4 bed ward that is attended by at least 2 nurses full-time. I have to say I was blown away by the attention and quality of care!! Nurses, nurse practitioners, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and this is a public hospital, not private. From my bed I had a very Vancouver-ish view - mountains and trees! And I was immediately hooked up to the morphine machine - I could get 2mg blasts by the push of a button every 6 minutes if I wished. Life, on the whole was just fine.
The nurse popped by to begin the repeated message of the three DONTS!!
1. don't bend past 90 degrees at the waist
2. don't cross your legs
3. don't twist at the waist
"Sure, ok." "For how long?" was my innocent question. For at least three months. I received this messgae repeatedly by all staff. It got so we patients were repeating it with one aother.
Met the across-the-way-guy (still texting each other). "What'd you get done?", I asked. "Knee replacement. Second one since June." We went from there. I am in good company here. Turns out the woman beside me had her same shoulder done a third time, 2nd since christmas! I realized at the time that this ward was way better than a private room - I have people to talk with and we are all in the same boat. Besides I brought ear plugs from home, and they came in handy, though on the whole it was not too noisy.
Dinner time. Soup, jello, water, juice etc... But in order to eat it I had to sit up, so the nurse kindly showed me which button on the bed to push. So up I went. At this point I was full of anesthetic, full of morphine, had not eaten in about 15 hours, so weak but a bit hungry. I promptly sipped and spooned my way through a bit of the food. I said to myself, "take it easy, you are all goofed up." I did, I really did go slowly. Still, the next thing I knew I was searching for a receptacle to receive my return volley. Well done, no spillage and all was well. I pushed the down button.
That evening I did two things: I kept up to date on my girls basketball team I coach through text messaging - we won that playoff game and ended up coming second in Vancouver! I was tickled. At the same time I listened to the Canucks lose to the Canadians, and as per the ward's wishes, I reported constant updates to all. It was quite a social space, this ward. And then I tried to sleep. Good luck, I was wired.
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Day 2 (Actually Day 1 blended into Day 2)
Key activities this day were:
- breakfast, and a return volley once again.
- took my first blood thinner pill. I have to take these for 35 days to avoid potential blood clots or embolisms. I was extremely pleased to find out I did not have to jab myself in my stomach with a needle as is tradition, it seems. The pill version was new - a new level of admiration for my Doc ensued. It was only when I went to to the drugstore I found out it why its not so common, $300 for 35 pills! My insurance covers it.
- got a new fancy gauze bandage on my wound. I can keep it on for a week, and have a shower with it. Perfect! As it was being changed I asked my nurse for a couple of candid photos with my BB - I have them for posterity. I thought all in all it looked perfect - a great stapler was at work there! I have 27 of them.
- physio time: less than 24 hours after the surgery I used my leg. I learned 4 or 5 exercises in bed, 4 or 5 standing up, and out to the hallway we went for a short walker enabled walk. Thing about standing up for the first time was the dizziness and nauseousness. After my walk about I came back and had a seat for 5 minutes. More than enough - I was beginning to break out in a cold sweat. Then I had to learn how to get into bed - not easy, at first. . All in all, I was quite pleased with myself.
- lunch was tasty - I ate it all and it stayed where it was supposed to.Things are moving forward!
- it was about this point that I weaned myself from the morphine drip and opted for tablets given 4 times per day. Enough was enough - I took 2 kinds of anti-nausea IV so I could use the morphine drip, but while they worked, the Morphine was knocking me flat. The pills were perfect. They controlled the pain and I was able to focus...somewhat.
- I then crashed for 3 hours.
- Dinner and then a visit with my family. First thing I wanted to do was go for a walk. Bit of a show off and probably still juiced with all the drugs. So we went down the hall even further this time.
- my wife chuckled at the slipping eye lids. "what, I'm fine."
- so another flurry of texts and basketball game updates, and another attempt at sleep.
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Day 3 (only the major things)
- new room first thing in the morning. Just like that I was out of one ward and in another one - huge and empty. I thought I had it made!!
- more physio, more walking. But this time I got to go the "gym" for physio on steps - our house has stairs. I learned how to do the steps with crutches. Again, these guys are impressive. Feeling rather confident, I said "lets walk back." We did. Still more instruction on the way back, "How much weight are you putting on your leg? Remember heel toe." Seems my arms were bearing more of the weight than my leg was.
- snoozed and had a weird dream - I dreamt I felt the needles being inserted into my spine, just as I did prior to surgery. I flinched and in doing so moved my leg more aggressively than usual. A twinge of pain shot through the groin mucles, but it subsided.
- the occupational therapist taught me how to put on my underwear, socks and pants. I have to use my trusty grabber device, kind of like a spear gun with a clamp at the end - squeeze the trigger the clamp closes. Not easy! I have a sock-aid, and a shoe horn.
- got a new roommate, his knee half replaced.
- After dinner I rented a TV to watch the hockey game and had my bed curtains opened so my new roommate, Mr. Half Knee, could watch, had my old roommate, Mr. Full Knee, hobbled into my room. So there we were, three 50+ old men with varying levels of wounds and drugs running through our veins, drinking water with straws, wearing gowns, groaning and laughing, while watching a hockey game on a 7" TV screen. The Canucks won, but by games end, two of us were almost asleep and Mr. Full Knee had returned to his room. He texted me the next day, "who scored the winner?" "I forgot", was my reply.
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Day 4
- after breakfast, physio, a walk about and I quickly packed up to go home
- got my prescriptions, my last instructions, my first physio appointment set up, details this and that. Amazingly I remember it all!!
- finally my IV, which had not been used since the morning of day 3, was removed.
- one more lesson - getting into the car. We have a Honda CRV. I wondered, ok do I sit in the back? Nope. I get into passenger seat of the car almost the same way I get into bed. I back in. While ensuring my three donts it turned out not to be too difficult. The trick is to put down a slippery plastic bag or sheet on the seat so it makes sliding easier!! I think that kind of sheet should be a required piece of equipment to bring to the hospital.
- and one more pill - for motion sickness during the car ride home. Good idea.
Now it was on to home for rest, recovery and rehab.