So it is done, right knee is replaced, and I am so tired and so sore. But it is “fixed." I am healing and started my first rehab appointment ... so I can take the quotes off the word fixed.
Regardless of my limitations during this healing stage, the hospital experience was exceptional. Mercy Hospital is run by a religious order called the Sisters of Mercy in Baltimore. It is a large city hospital with an excellent reputation. In fact, although I didn’t shop around for a doctor, I landed in the hands of an excellent orthopedic surgeon. When I was asked by 4 others who was doing my surgery (2 of my specialists, my physical therapist and the hospital intake RN) all said the same thing. He is a quiet man, one of few words and a very competent and gifted surgeon. The RN also said he has a pretty large practice in fixing other doctors’ mistakes from around the state. It is an example of an important consideration in where to live - living close to high value and well respected quality health care services is as important as any other consideration - maybe even more so.
And my favorite memory is that I got to meet Mako, the robot who shared the spotlight with my surgeon. In 2023 my kidney was removed by a robot partnered with a surgeon. I wanted to meet that robot as well, but as I was being rolled down the hall to the surgery, the anesthesia staff had already injected something into my IV line. I never even saw the doors to the surgery suite. But this time was different. I was rolled into the surgical suite in a wheel chair. There were 4 or 5 staff there - all gowned and masked up. They all introduced themselves. That was a first for me. Finally I asked where was Mako. I want to meet Mako - and at that very same minute they were rolling her (? him ? ? it ? ) in. I got a chance to meet the robot that already had all the measurements of my knee in its memory banks. She knew things about me that I didn’t even know!! She was the guide and the guardian of my surgery. Yes, in hind site - she had to be a “she.”
Now I am suffering from expected post-surgical knee pain which, at some point, will subside - unlike the pre-surgical knee pain which only got worst. The first night I tried to sleep in my bed without success. Once again, sleeping in my lounger was the best choice - as it was when I had my kidney surgery. I was prescribed the typical opioid meds as well as some suggested over-the-counter ones. But there are no shortcuts to managing pain in the early healing stages. While I can’t get to a pain free level, skipping pain meds is also not a good choice. Earlier this week, I slept through the night without pain - until I moved to visit the bathroom in the morning. I was reminded quite profoundly by my leg that I had major surgery on this knee and that skipping pain meds is a bad thing. It hurt like hell! And playing catch up with the meds doesn’t work either. If you don’t keep to the schedule and take those pills, you learn quickly that skipping any scheduled pain pills is a mistake. My daughter, who noticed my increased pain level (and after consultation with her brother by phone,) reminded me that she hadn’t heard my phone alarm and she was pretty sure I had a missed a pain pill cycle or two over night. She gently reminded me to set that alarm and take my meds - even over night. Of course I know this! It is the same advice I give anyone who is having surgery. Apparently I am good a giving advice but not following it. 😂 And now that I am following my own advice - and taking those darn pills, my colon has decided to go on vacation! *Sigh* You fix one thing and another thing breaks!! But that is a story for another time ... maybe! It is just nice to know that my kids are acting like a safety net - and as a team apparently. (I must be a difficult person to manage 😂😂😂😂😂. Who knew??)
My first rehab session was yesterday, and all the pre-surgery exercise work I did - exercises done for years to avoid this surgery - paid off after this surgery. Now, after this surgery, I can still extend my leg to almost 0 degrees - or entirely flat to the floor - which is one of the rehab goals. The second goal is how well you can bend your knee. I don’t know the “passing grade” for this, but before surgery - laying on the floor - I could bring my heel up to my butt to within an inch or two inches, even when it was swollen a bit. That angle of bend is far above the goal standard. Now my success rate is much reduced. My bend is a bunch of inches shy of my previous achievement. Of course while some of it is due to surgery swelling, it looks like there is work to do. But the PT tech was very impressed with how far I can bend my knee (while I, at the very same time looking at the very same knee, was appalled by at how much bend I had lost.) Mind you, both demonstrations were achieved with considerable effort and teeth grinding on my part. (Apparently I am such a competition “junkie.”) But it appears that I aced that first PT visit.
So I am finally on the right side of this journey and it feels really good!
Getting my swelling down and producing a poop are my next goals!! (Oh my, TMI?? Maybe, but the simplest things are important too.)
Till next time.
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