Day 3- the day of sleep

I have never slept this much in my life! I slept from 6-8:30 last night, then fell back asleep from 10pm until my mom showed up at 7:30 this morning (only waking up to take pills). After breakfast, I slept a few more hours. Then I slept again after lunch. And I'm getting drowsy just typing this. The good news is I'm gaining more independence. My mom was only here today as a precaution. I made lunch for myself and have been doing my exercises okay. I moved from the love seat to the long couch since I don't need to elevate my leg anymore. That has helped my comfort level a lot. I still get some sharp burning pains in my knee, but I'm also getting the urge to itch. Hopefully that means things are healing! Tomorrow I get to change the dressing and I'm going to get cleaned up, so I will make sure I take pictures of the incision for everyone.

Day 2 of recovery

Today has been a sleepy day. I did not sleep for more than 2 hours at a time last night, and ended up waking up at 4am and staying up till my husband woke up at 5:30. I had a scare getting up to go to the bathroom. I got up too quickly and almost passed out. I had to hurry back to the couch with my husband holding me up. It happened again later in the morning, so I've started sitting up and waiting a few minutes before I get up on the crutches. My mom came to take care of me today so my husband could go back to work. She kept trying to clean my house because my dog sheds so much. We watched 'Twilight' and 'New Moon' because she had never seen them. I think she's hooked now. I made my follow up appointment for next Thursday the 1st at 9:30am. Then I talked to Dr. Scheid's nurse and a nurse from OHI. They were very nice and answered my questions. I get to change my dressing on Thursday, and Dr. Scheid's nurse told me not to push the straight leg raises yet. Overall, it was a good day until about 4. I started having a really sharp burning pain in my knee then, but it's almost gone away now. I just took my pain pill about 30 minutes early to head off the pain. Well, I think I'm going to sleep some more.

Home from the hospital, Day 1

Well, I'm home and doing well. I got to the hospital at 7am, 30 minutes early, and they took me straight back. They had me sign my life away and then took my vitals. At that time I warned the nurse that I freak out with needles. I think I scared her into thinking that they were going to have to hold me down to do the IV. I just told her I have a phobia and can come close to passing out. So they come back to get ready for the IV. First they tried my left hand, and it was a no go. She was digging around and it HURT. Then she had the other nurse that was in the room give it a go, and she tried my left arm elbow crease. That time they had it in and taped up, but then it came out. At that point, I was getting a little mad. I told them several times that they normally use my right arm when they draw blood, but they kept trying with my left arm. So they went and got a THIRD nurse who was no nonsense. Within 3 minutes she had the IV in my right arm and was taping it up. So that was the most pain I had at the hospital. After that I talked to the anesthesiologist about my nerve block and then Dr. Scheid about the surgery and stuff. Then bam, they were wheeling me back to do the nerve block and get started. That's when I said bye to my mom and dad, and my husband. I almost cried, but hung in there. When I got back with Dr. Trout (very funny guy) they gave me a sedative that made me feel really good and then did two nerve blocks to completely numb my leg. Then I hung around in that room for 45 minutes to let the block set. I kept poking my leg and I could feel NOTHING. It was cool. Then it was time to go to the operating room. It was FREEZING in there and they were playing Guns 'n' Roses "Welcome to the Jungle", so strange (is this a Dr. Scheid thing?). Then the last thing I remember was them putting a mask over me and sending stuff into my IV. When I woke up in recovery, it was just like waking up from a nap. I remember asking the nurse "is surgery over?" I was awake in recovery for about 45 minutes to an hour. They gave me two doses of morphine and checked my drain (which I was hardly draining at all). After the first dose of morphine I dozed off a bit until I heard the nurses talking about an order for me for Lovenox. I woke straight up and told them I did not want it and the doctor did not say anything about it before hand. So they kept trying to reach him and by the time I got to post op and made it to the restroom, the dr said I didn't have to do the Lovenox-I could just do aspirin. That was the best news all day. I hung out in post op a little while longer just so they could keep an eye on my drain and was discharged at 2pm. LONG DAY.

So as for recovery, I'm just laying around today since I can't feel my leg. But then starting tomorrow I have to bend my leg every hour and do straight leg raises every two hours while I'm awake. I can do 50% weight bearing tomorrow, but I have to wear a brace while I'm up walking. I can't get the dressing wet, so I don't know how showering is going to work. I'll be going for a follow up appointment probably next week to take the stitches out and get more instructions. I'm just so happy it is over, but now the hard part is going to begin.

One week

I can't believe it is only one week until my surgery now. I am totally freaked out about it. I'm still worried whether I need it done or not, and I don't want to change my routines. I'm worried about the strain that this might put on my marriage. I'm worried about the recovery, whether it will be easy for me or last forever. I'm worried that this won't fix my knee problems, or it will make my hip problems worse. Too much to think about and I have to make it through another week of work. I hope my husband can help distract me this week...

Pictures

I finally had my sister take some pictures of my knees.

4 weeks

It's about four weeks to my surgery now. Getting a little scarier to think about it, because I really have to plan for it now. I emailed my principal yesterday because my days off request hadn't been approved yet. I'm also sorting out who will be around to help me that first week. My husband has the day off for the surgery to take me and help me out. Then hopefully my mom will be able to come up the next day to help. After that--I don't know if I will need or get help. My sister is still living with us right now, but her new job is during the day. So I will be home alone with two crazy dogs a lot. I don't even know where to begin planning for when I go back to work. My classroom is on the first floor of the school building, on the opposite end of where my students' rooms are. Plus, their classrooms are on the 2nd floor. Thankfully there is an elevator, but I will have to procure the elevator key each morning and give it back each day before I leave. Right now I pull small groups into the hallway to work and many times we sit on the floor. That will not be a possibility for me in April...so I have to figure something out for that.

As for knee pain...it is definitely increasing. This week was the first week that I've really needed pain pills daily, and they do not last me all day. I could not go to my favorite gym class on Wednesday night because of knee pain, and had to push myself to go for the rest of the week. I want to strengthen as much as I can in the next month to hopefully make my recovery a lot easier.

6 weeks...

Yesterday marked 6 weeks until my knee surgery. Eek! I don't really want to think about how close it is. My legs are really sore lately, so I know I need the surgery, but it's still scary. I've been keeping up with my exercise and working hard at building my muscles up. I've also been sticking by my diet and have lost about 8 pounds so far.