Well it has been a long time since I posted anything and so much has happened. I had a complete knee replacement done on my right knee a week ago last Friday and I can't believe how much this little piece of your body can hurt when it wants to but let me tell you . . . it HURTS! I don't think I've ever had anything in my whole body hurt like this and to think I get to do it all over again on my left knee next summer. I can hardly wait.
They put an epidural in my back and then something in my IV to make me sleepy. They said I wouldn't be knocked out but I wouldn't remember anything either. While I was asleep they put another epidural in my groin right at the top of my right leg. This one dripped morphine onto the new knee cap and I assumed it would take all of the pain away. While it worked really well and kept me numb for the most part, it never took the pain completely away and I've had to deal with that.
I was in the hospital for four days and then I came home on Monday evening. Bob was such a trooper and stayed with me whenever I was awake. I appreciate his help so much, I couldn't have done this without him or Amy. Amy has taken such good care of me during the day while Bob's at work. I'd be a mess without her help.
They sent me home with Loritab 7.5 mg which isn't very strong. Not even as strong as what I was taking for the pain while I waited for surgery. Needless to say, I was in continual pain which was not any fun. I called the Dr. on Tuesday and told him that they just weren't cutting through the pain so he asked me if I'd ever taken Oxycontin. I told him I had taken it when I had my rotater cuff surgery but I really didn't like it. The problem was that I couldn't remember why I didn't like it so he thought I should try it. He called some in for me and Brooke went and picked them up for me. I took two just like it said to and went to bed around 10:30. I woke up about midnight and had a really bad headache. I took some Tylenol with codeine and went back to sleep. Then I woke up an hour later with a full blown migraine headache. Now not only did my knee hurt but my head felt like it was going to explode. Before I could even think about what to do I was in the bathroom trying to throw up, but since there was nothing in my stomach to throw up, I just sat there and dry heaved into the toilet for a half an hour.
I couldn't help but have Bob awake by now so he came in and asked if there was anything he could do. I told him to wait a minute and I'd be out. I asked him to give me a blessing which he gladly did. I fell asleep finally and when I woke up my head was much better but my headache was not completely gone. Now I remembered why I hate Oxycontin. I called the Dr. Wednesday morning and he said he wasn't going to mess around with the pain anymore and put me right on Dylated. It works a little bit better but it still gives me just a touch of a headache so I have to be really careful. I tried to call the home health nurse assigned to me yesterday but she never called me back. I wanted to know if I could take the Loritab and alternate it every two hours with the Dylated, kind of like you do with Ibuprofen and Tylenol in children. I called her service twice and never heard back from her so today I just did it and man, do I feel so much better. I cried through my exercises yesterday but when I did them today it seemed so much easier. Don't get me wrong, it still hurt like nothing else, but I didn't cry even once.
I'm going to go to school in the morning for a half day. We have a faculty meeting at 8:30 and I really need to go so Cheri is going to pick me up and Amy will come and get me when I'm ready. I have had really high blood pressure since my surgery. It's consistently been up in the 170's over lower 100's which is really not good. Danielle was going to call my doctor and keep him aware of it so we'll just have to see what happens.
I'm really tired now and I think I'll try to take a little nap before dinner. I haven't been sleeping very good at night because I keep this dang machine moving my leg all night long and so I'm tired a lot lately. I'll try to keep this up to date so that next summer when I have to go through the whole ordeal again I'll remember how I felt. There's something to look forward to aye? Real fun!
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