I
decided it was time to update you on my surgery. For those of you who don’t know, it was
rough!
After
several cancellations I finally had the surgery on June 11th. Apparently, from what I have been told, my
knee was worse than anticipated. When I
was given the pain medicine I was overdosed and came this close to dying. They could not give me Narcan because it
would have taken all meds out of my system.
So, they just “worked” on me.
I
was scheduled to be in the hospital two days.
Instead I was there seven days. I
do not remember the first four days. The
next three are a bit of a blur. All I
remember is they tried to get me up to walk.
On the seventh day they decided I needed to go to a rehab facility.
That
turned out to be a bit of a problem.
Glad I had Renea there. She
called almost every facility in Alabama and Georgia. Ones that were close to us. As soon as she told them it was rehab for complete
knee replacement therapy she was told they only took patients for stroke and
heart attack. She finally found one in
Alabama. In fact, it was Canteberry
where her mother lives and where Jim was for his final days. I was there for ten days.
When
they took me to Canteberry Kevin called Jana and asked her if she could come
down and stay to help. Of course, she
said yes. Brian brought her down right
away. After all that happened, Brian
wanted to see me anyway. Jana and Brian
brought me food every day. I just could
not eat the food at Canteberry.
I
was really sick the first few days, but eventually got better. I received therapy twice a day. The Occupational Therapist came every morning. She helped me bath or shower, wash my hair,
even brush my teeth. She also helped me
with my upper body strength. The
Physical Therapist came once a day; sometimes in the morning and sometimes in
the afternoon. He really worked me
hard. I was usually in tears by the time
he was finished. The biggest problem we
had to overcome was that scar tissue had already started to form and it had to
be broken so I could bend my knee. It
was rough, but by the end of the ten days I was improving.
It
was now time to visit with my surgeon.
He was very pleased with the progress I was making. The staples were taken out of my knee and
sterri strips were put on. I asked him
how long I had to stay at Canteberry. He
said since Jana was staying with me, and I was doing good, I could go home that
day. Yea! I also had to start outpatient physical
therapy. When I stopped to set up my
appointment I asked if I could have the same therapists that I had for my hip. They said yes.
By
this time Brian had gone home. He had to
get back to work.
I
am going to physical therapy three times a week. Jana is driving, of course. I am not permitted to do so. I also have five exercises I do at home twice
a day. I am improving daily. I also put
ice on my knee several times a day. I
know that I will be going to pt three times a week through August 2nd. Then I will be re-evaluated. We are hoping I will be allowed to drive
after this, and Jana can go home.
I
am using a walker. Hopefully, I will
graduate to a cane soon. The pain is
slowly becoming less. I will be glad
when it is gone!
