Me and My Walker, First PT Visit

So here I am a week after surgery. Can’t believe a week ago about this time I was finally getting out of recovery. Surgery took an hour longer than expected and I had lost a good amount of blood. I ended up staying in recovery longer due to elevated heart rate. The next day I had to get a couple pints of blood and felt much better and my heart rate went down. You should of seen the nurses in recovery when I woke up. All I wanted was to see my husband and they kept saying no visitors are aloud in recovery, and I kept demanding. All I wanted was for him to hold my hand. Finally one of the nurses caved and let him come in. Thank you to her, having him there just made me feel better.

For the last week I have been resting, icing and elevating my leg. That is the golden rule. There have been a few days where I have felt good, and a few days when I have felt…. well miserable. It’s like an emotional roller coaster. One minute I am feeling fine and the next I am crying for no reason. The swelling in my thigh and knee has been pretty intense and along with that comes muscle spasms. Pain medication helps for about an hour or so after I take it, then it is just pushing through until the next serving of meds. I know the pain will go away and it will be better in a month. Let’s just hope my family can put up with me for that long.

I had my first physical therapy (PT) visit today. Rob is my PT. I remember being at Shriner’s hospital as a kid and we would call them physical terrorists. That still holds true today. First thing he had me do was get on a NuStep machine. I asked him if he was crazy. I mean come on, I can’t lift my leg and you want me to what????? I did it though. Most of the exercises are to strengthen my quad muscles. I really thought my leg would be much stronger than it is, but he said due to the extra work done during surgery it will be weaker. He pushed me through the exercises and now I am exhausted and icing away.

Above is a picture of my walker. Yes I am the old lady with the walker and two cats, and a dog. I have been a little nervous to go anywhere with it. I know I shouldn’t worry about what other people think. Who cares right? It’s bad enough that the other patients at the clinic where looking at me weird for using a walker, imagine the looks I would get at the store. I am hoping by next week I can switch to a cane and then I can go out into public again.

So take care out there and keep each other safe.

Merry Christmas