Operation observations

So it's now my 'day three' (operation day being day zero) and I'm almost back to normal.  Sort of. 

The day of the operation went perfectly. I was in the OR at 9 am and settled in quote 'the best room in the whole hospital' with sweet and sour chicken by about 5pm (I think). I have been really privileged to have a private corner room with two huge windows and my own bathroom. 

The mixture of anaesthetic and morphine and who knows what else meant that day zero was pretty easy.  As soon as I was in the recovery room in my delirious state I was put on a physio machine that kept my knee moving and I had that all night and most of day one and over night. It kept me awake quite a lot, not because it was particularly painful but because my leg kept jumping off it (rebelling) and I had to keep readjusting. And it was noisy and quite annoying as is the call bell. It was much easier using the machine than trying to bend my knee manually though. Even now I can only bend about 30 degrees,  mostly because any further really pulls my stitches and causes loud expletives. 

On day zero,  I remember seeing lots of people including my mum and husband but don't really have a clue what we talked about. I hope I wasn't too obnoxious to anyone. I went to bed all out of it and then one of my wounds starting bleeding so I had to get all changed with extra sticky bandages that pulled my wounds even more. 

Anyway, on the morning of day one my consultant aka The Prof came with the registrar aka Tom and said that the operation was a success and they were really happy with how it went. 

From what I can gather, they broke my tibia (and left a gap) and femur (they took a bit of this away) and then 'made a line' to bring my knee straight. I have a t-shaped metal plate on my tibia and I'm not sure what shape the plate is on my femur but I think its pretty big. And then there are obviously screws holding it all in place. 

I have four wounds. A little one on the inside of my ankle and another little one on the outside of my upper thigh where the temporary frame was aligned while I was dreaming. Then I have a big curved wound on the outside of my lower thigh and another that I've not yet seen just under my knee cap. The one on my thigh is nicknamed Shit (because that's what I screech when I pull it) and is the most painful and quite swollen still. It hurts like hell to get on the toilet. I'm also covered in rapidly colour changing bruises but luckily they don't hurt.

Some of the staff seem pretty grumpy and I've worried about asking them for help as the call bell goes off like all the time. However,  while they are really busy, they've all been really helpful. Their skill at waking you in the middle of the night incredibly eerily to check observations and deliver meds is impressive. The tummy injection to prevent clotting is horrible though, it hurts for ages after and I've had it twice.

The catheter I had fitted while I was in theatre was a life saver. I have been so thirsty and drank gallons of water so am so glad I didn't have to keep getting up over those first days. I was pleased when they yanked it out though - despite it feeling like dragging tiny razor blades at warp speed out of  my urethra - as I was fed up of getting tangled in it. Similar to getting all caught up in my cannula, but having morphine IV at the touch of a button was a marvel! 

I knocked my original cannula out on day two so bled everywhere again and then the cotton wool came off the second one so I had to be changed again. I dread to think how much blood I've lost! It's a good job the food had been tasty and plentiful to help me regain my strength. 

Both tubes were taken away early on day two, so I've had to pee in the loo and take oral meds since then.. The oxy stuff is very different to morphine, the former is like clarity where the latter is sleepy time. I can't believe how quickly the days have passed and how easy it is to get into the routine. 

I can't touch the floor to the toilet because it's designed to be tall to support folk that have had hip replacements,  so I have had to take my foot stool back and forth from my sitting chair to the toilet with me. Last night I dropped my leg while trying to place it on the stool and I swear it was the worst pain of my life. I'm amazed I didn't black out. After that I was so worried about doing it again I requested a bed pan for later that night but that was incredibly difficult; trying to lift myself up and push the pan under/away with my tiny thigh length was a failure. So I just had to be super careful after. 

Talking of toilets, all the wonderful drugs they gave me meant that I wasn't in terrible pain but I went three days without doing a poo. That was really tough and such a relief when they gave me some stuff to move things along!!!

Having a proper shower on day two before my lovely visitors turned up made me feel so much better. I can't thank everyone enough for their support, and for laughing off the timing of my first bowel movement. 

Upsettingly, I only found out too late this morning that I could have had the special oxycodone 'controlled substance' drug every hour if I needed it. And I really needed it at 6am when I got tangled round my bedsheets and couldn't get up. Especially as I also found out that the compression tights they made me wear were too tight and cutting off blood flow to my ankles! And to top it off I had a massive nosebleed this morning exacerbated by the blood thinners I'm also taking. There were tears this morning. 

Minor irritation: the tv is only chargeable in some parts of the hospital. I could have been watching it all this time,  although I've been so tired/high I've not really noticed and I've read a lot of my book. I think it annoyed me more as it is one of the many things that you find out by accident. A 'welcome to your hospital stay' checklist or something would have made life easier!

Anyway,  I've been babbling. Today the physio came to see me to access my capability to use crutches and climb the stairs without weight-bearing and I passed with flying colours. All going well medically, I'm going home with various metal aids tomorrow! So good night and I'll catch up soon.