Wednesday, Happy Year! It's a cold, snow covered day, but the sun is shining. It's been a long time since I wrote, they have been some tough days, emotionally and physically. I'm going to try to recall what I can from the last 5 days, exactly what I didn't want to have to do. That's why I started this dumb blog. Here goes.
Friday
The manipulation was at noon, and I think I was in recovery by 1. Not sure because you can't have your glasses. Putting the spinal in before the procedure was creepy as usual. Feeling a needle moving around in your spine is just weird. The doctor told me that is to target your right knee in particular, so that everything else will still work. I got up to use the bathroom right before they wheeled me out, and it was already starting to feel numb, hard to walk on. The nurse who came to wheel me to surgery asked if I wanted to be awake for the procedure, or totally out. I thought about it for a second, and then thought, what, am I crazy? No, put me out, just like all the other times.
I got in the room, and Dr Schinsky was there, and the physicians assistant Rob was there too. They had me scoot from the bed to the table, covered me with a warm blanket, and put an oxygen mask on me. The next thing I remember is waking up in recovery. The feeling in my toes comes back, I can wiggle my feet, and they finally gave me some ice chips. I was so thirsty.
After about 30 minutes I would guess, they said there was a room for me. I was the only one in recovery sitting up, looking around, talking. They finally got a room for me, and off we went to room 227. Wasn't that a tv show? I'll have to look that up. When I got to the room, I was freezing cold, I mean, teeth chattering, can't speak, curled up in a ball, cold. And as a bonus, I was in terrible pain. Color me surprised! Neither one of these happened the last time. And I didn't have an ice bag on my knee either. It doesn't seem like a big deal maybe, but the pain from swelling and bruising inside is very real. The ice bag thing is something that I asked for the whole stay, and nobody ever made that right. Cutbacks I guess.
Kym came in about this time, and she put all the blankets in the room on me, turned up the heat in the room, and actually covered me with her coat. All the while, people are asking me what my pain level is, and all kinds of questions. It reminds me of the way they question mothers during childbirth. Here, answer these questions, and make these big decisions, while you can't even control yourself enough to speak..... Eventually the chills subsided and we ordered lunch. I think I started on the cpm, continuous motion machine, to keep my knee bending. They wanted 8 hours a day. Still super hungry, haven't eaten for about 18 hours at this point. Hospital food is really good when you think you're starving.
So we spent the afternoon talking, and wondering why this time was so different. This was the first time a doctor said I would be in until Sunday. We were hoping to go home Saturday, like Dr Schinsky's nurse had told us in his office. This was not to be. We both spent a really sleepless night, being questioned and medicated every hour. Vital signs, etc. This is the reason we really don't like to stay in a hospital. How do you get better when you never get to sleep? Maybe 2 hours total for me.
Saturday
I think Saturday morning was when I finally had the foley catheter removed. The doctor who does the anesthesia came in about 8, and said it would be Sunday morning before he removed the spinal. He didn't know why we couldn't get the foley out. The surgeon came in next and said I needed to keep it it because of the spinal. He said I wouldn't be able to go to the bathroom until they removed the spinal. Hmm. Next came the nurse who agreed with me. So the nurse came back, with permission, and removed the catheter. That is really something. No privacy or modesty in a hospital bed with a gown on.
Next came the PT person who was going to help me get dressed. They don't want you getting out of the bed without help, and they actually set an alarm to catch me if I tried. So Kym helped me get some real clothes on, and that was much better. The Pt lady wanted to see me put on my socks, since I had done it before she came back with the walker. Ok. Then they put this belt around you so they can pick you up if you fall I guess. We went out and walked the halls with the walker for 15 or 20 minutes. Really good to get out of that bed. Me in the walker, with Kym holding the IV stand. We went down to the PT lab and got in and out of a car, went up and down some stairs, and then back to the room. I think they're used to dealing with older, way worse off patients than me.
Kym went home after lunch, she was totally exhausted from the night before. So for the rest of the afternoon, and most of the night, I watched TV, read some books, and watched YouTube. I was wide awake until about 2 am. I think I walked around the hospital 3 or 4 more times, anything to get out of that bed. It is totally a torture machine. Meds every two hours, vitals every hour, I was busy.
Sunday
Once I finally fell asleep, the nurse was waking me up, almost shouting in my face. Then I took some pain pills, and went to sleep again. I think they started cutting the spinal medicine about midnight, and by 6 am it was off. I think they came it and removed the spinal about 7:30. He just started pulling tape, and then the needle was out and everything. Kym was there about 7 am, and she was ready to go home. It was about 12:30 before they finally checked all the boxes, and we could go home.
We stopped to get lunch at Portillo's, that was nice! We picked up the pain pills on the way home, and got set up at home. Super sore quad muscles, and the stiffness started up again. By the time we got home, my knee was back to being bent again. Pretty frustrating....
Monday
Monday was the first day back to outpatient PT, that was good to get back to, but really painful. I think the range of motion limits were pretty much back to where we started. That's what I expected, and the really sore muscles made it difficult to work very hard. They spent a lot of time on massage before and after the exercise. I felt really good when I left, it was a nice day too. I guess it was mostly medication though, because as the day went on I felt pretty bad. That probably had something to do with getting by back adjusted, it was really messed up by the hospital bed.
Tuesday
I didn't have to go anywhere, so I did some very limited exercise, mostly stretching, and then it was really an uncomfortable day. I spent most of it with my feet up above my heart to try to contain the swelling. New Years Eve was kind of a downer for me this year. I tried to make Chinese food for the family, and get the food prep for New Years Day done at the same time. It was a lot.
Wednesday
Happy New Year! 2020. It was another slow start, I've been having some real intense pain on the left side of my quad muscle, like the worst pulled muscle you've ever had. I've also had some real problem with the right side of my knee, where the hamstring and the calf muscle attach. Having a hot bath seems to help some, and I've been trying to deep massage the back of my knee. These both seem to help some. The incision is looking really good, and so far nothing is breaking through. Last time after the manipulation is when I started having it open up. They said it was stitches coming out, I think it had to do with all the swelling of the left knee. Those open sores or wounds took forever to close up. I think I was almost back to work before they finally healed. Infection was a really scary possibility.
Thursday
So today I went back to PT, and ended up with 7 degrees of extension and 100 degrees of flexion. It took a lot of SERIOUS massage to get there. I think maybe I should take a stick to bite on. I started out on the bike, barely able to get halfway around. After about 6 minutes, I got it to go around all the way. Good news. I had to do 3 sets on the total gym, instead of 2. I also did squats all the way down to the table, a first for me. I feel like all the pain is in soft tissue and muscle, which I have some control over and can change. The bones don't hurt anymore. That's the best way I can think to describe it.
I guess besides the mental part of this, which is really hard some days, maybe the worst is right after PT I'm really wiped out. I spend a couple hours with ice and stim trying to get back to some semblance of normal. It never fails that as soon as I come home, something big or important comes up. It's really hard therefor to focus on anything but pain relief. Patience, I know it will come. Back to 3 times a week next week, and I really need to start to focus on security at church.
Friday
The manipulation was at noon, and I think I was in recovery by 1. Not sure because you can't have your glasses. Putting the spinal in before the procedure was creepy as usual. Feeling a needle moving around in your spine is just weird. The doctor told me that is to target your right knee in particular, so that everything else will still work. I got up to use the bathroom right before they wheeled me out, and it was already starting to feel numb, hard to walk on. The nurse who came to wheel me to surgery asked if I wanted to be awake for the procedure, or totally out. I thought about it for a second, and then thought, what, am I crazy? No, put me out, just like all the other times.
I got in the room, and Dr Schinsky was there, and the physicians assistant Rob was there too. They had me scoot from the bed to the table, covered me with a warm blanket, and put an oxygen mask on me. The next thing I remember is waking up in recovery. The feeling in my toes comes back, I can wiggle my feet, and they finally gave me some ice chips. I was so thirsty.
After about 30 minutes I would guess, they said there was a room for me. I was the only one in recovery sitting up, looking around, talking. They finally got a room for me, and off we went to room 227. Wasn't that a tv show? I'll have to look that up. When I got to the room, I was freezing cold, I mean, teeth chattering, can't speak, curled up in a ball, cold. And as a bonus, I was in terrible pain. Color me surprised! Neither one of these happened the last time. And I didn't have an ice bag on my knee either. It doesn't seem like a big deal maybe, but the pain from swelling and bruising inside is very real. The ice bag thing is something that I asked for the whole stay, and nobody ever made that right. Cutbacks I guess.
Kym came in about this time, and she put all the blankets in the room on me, turned up the heat in the room, and actually covered me with her coat. All the while, people are asking me what my pain level is, and all kinds of questions. It reminds me of the way they question mothers during childbirth. Here, answer these questions, and make these big decisions, while you can't even control yourself enough to speak..... Eventually the chills subsided and we ordered lunch. I think I started on the cpm, continuous motion machine, to keep my knee bending. They wanted 8 hours a day. Still super hungry, haven't eaten for about 18 hours at this point. Hospital food is really good when you think you're starving.
So we spent the afternoon talking, and wondering why this time was so different. This was the first time a doctor said I would be in until Sunday. We were hoping to go home Saturday, like Dr Schinsky's nurse had told us in his office. This was not to be. We both spent a really sleepless night, being questioned and medicated every hour. Vital signs, etc. This is the reason we really don't like to stay in a hospital. How do you get better when you never get to sleep? Maybe 2 hours total for me.
Saturday
I think Saturday morning was when I finally had the foley catheter removed. The doctor who does the anesthesia came in about 8, and said it would be Sunday morning before he removed the spinal. He didn't know why we couldn't get the foley out. The surgeon came in next and said I needed to keep it it because of the spinal. He said I wouldn't be able to go to the bathroom until they removed the spinal. Hmm. Next came the nurse who agreed with me. So the nurse came back, with permission, and removed the catheter. That is really something. No privacy or modesty in a hospital bed with a gown on.
Next came the PT person who was going to help me get dressed. They don't want you getting out of the bed without help, and they actually set an alarm to catch me if I tried. So Kym helped me get some real clothes on, and that was much better. The Pt lady wanted to see me put on my socks, since I had done it before she came back with the walker. Ok. Then they put this belt around you so they can pick you up if you fall I guess. We went out and walked the halls with the walker for 15 or 20 minutes. Really good to get out of that bed. Me in the walker, with Kym holding the IV stand. We went down to the PT lab and got in and out of a car, went up and down some stairs, and then back to the room. I think they're used to dealing with older, way worse off patients than me.
Kym went home after lunch, she was totally exhausted from the night before. So for the rest of the afternoon, and most of the night, I watched TV, read some books, and watched YouTube. I was wide awake until about 2 am. I think I walked around the hospital 3 or 4 more times, anything to get out of that bed. It is totally a torture machine. Meds every two hours, vitals every hour, I was busy.
Sunday
Once I finally fell asleep, the nurse was waking me up, almost shouting in my face. Then I took some pain pills, and went to sleep again. I think they started cutting the spinal medicine about midnight, and by 6 am it was off. I think they came it and removed the spinal about 7:30. He just started pulling tape, and then the needle was out and everything. Kym was there about 7 am, and she was ready to go home. It was about 12:30 before they finally checked all the boxes, and we could go home.
We stopped to get lunch at Portillo's, that was nice! We picked up the pain pills on the way home, and got set up at home. Super sore quad muscles, and the stiffness started up again. By the time we got home, my knee was back to being bent again. Pretty frustrating....
Monday
Monday was the first day back to outpatient PT, that was good to get back to, but really painful. I think the range of motion limits were pretty much back to where we started. That's what I expected, and the really sore muscles made it difficult to work very hard. They spent a lot of time on massage before and after the exercise. I felt really good when I left, it was a nice day too. I guess it was mostly medication though, because as the day went on I felt pretty bad. That probably had something to do with getting by back adjusted, it was really messed up by the hospital bed.
Tuesday
I didn't have to go anywhere, so I did some very limited exercise, mostly stretching, and then it was really an uncomfortable day. I spent most of it with my feet up above my heart to try to contain the swelling. New Years Eve was kind of a downer for me this year. I tried to make Chinese food for the family, and get the food prep for New Years Day done at the same time. It was a lot.
Wednesday
Happy New Year! 2020. It was another slow start, I've been having some real intense pain on the left side of my quad muscle, like the worst pulled muscle you've ever had. I've also had some real problem with the right side of my knee, where the hamstring and the calf muscle attach. Having a hot bath seems to help some, and I've been trying to deep massage the back of my knee. These both seem to help some. The incision is looking really good, and so far nothing is breaking through. Last time after the manipulation is when I started having it open up. They said it was stitches coming out, I think it had to do with all the swelling of the left knee. Those open sores or wounds took forever to close up. I think I was almost back to work before they finally healed. Infection was a really scary possibility.
Thursday
So today I went back to PT, and ended up with 7 degrees of extension and 100 degrees of flexion. It took a lot of SERIOUS massage to get there. I think maybe I should take a stick to bite on. I started out on the bike, barely able to get halfway around. After about 6 minutes, I got it to go around all the way. Good news. I had to do 3 sets on the total gym, instead of 2. I also did squats all the way down to the table, a first for me. I feel like all the pain is in soft tissue and muscle, which I have some control over and can change. The bones don't hurt anymore. That's the best way I can think to describe it.
I guess besides the mental part of this, which is really hard some days, maybe the worst is right after PT I'm really wiped out. I spend a couple hours with ice and stim trying to get back to some semblance of normal. It never fails that as soon as I come home, something big or important comes up. It's really hard therefor to focus on anything but pain relief. Patience, I know it will come. Back to 3 times a week next week, and I really need to start to focus on security at church.
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