Pretty gross to be honest but it was actually worse than that a couple of days ago. The incision covering is peeling a bit because of showering but so far I think it is all ok.
Day 4
Up at six, slept on the couch, took meds at 7 AM getting slightly easier to get off the couch, but body still reacting very strongly to getting up with swelling and being out of breath. Cleaned the ice machine which made me very sweaty and tired but at least I feel like I accomplished something. Noticed that besides the big bruise on my side above my incision there is a lot of bruising everywhere on my lower abdomen, inside of my thighs, outside of my quads and up along my hip. However, I did manage to brush my teeth, which I did not yesterday and that was disgusting. I have spent quite a bit of time on my feet today which is good. Hopefully I haven’t overdone it. It’s now halfway through the day and the pain is significant but manageable and my mobility is definitely increasing. I can lift my hip up to the third hole on my crutches, which is a lot further than I could do yesterday. I had a shower and was able to put my underwear on without the grabby tool so that was pretty impressive. I guess the bruising makes sense because the amount of muscle that they would have to move to get to your spine is actually quite minimal and the amount of muscle they have to move out of the way to get to your hip joint is enormous. That pretty much explains why I have bruising everywhere from my knee to my groin and up towards the back of my ribs. Bowels moving along just fine but I had a headache again today which is really just a minor irritation.
Day 5 Monday
I slept on the couch again last night. I might try getting into bed today to see if it’s any easier now. Was up at six took my medications at seven. The morning is the hardest part because I don’t have any painkillers in my system and everything is cold from sleeping, so that’s difficult but once the painkillers kick in and my body is a bit warmer it seems to be OK. Still lots and lots of swelling. Still icing my quad but it doesn’t really seem to make much of a difference to be honest. Was going to try and walk a little more today, but frankly, I just don’t think it’s gonna be possible. Moving to a cane from crutches still a number of days away at a minimum. Showered again however now it seems that the bandage covering my incision is peeling away a little bit not sure how I’m supposed to remedy that I know she said quick showers, but I am being as quick as I possibly can. We found the cane in the front hall closet, so that’s great but I am having a very hard time working with it. I am now able to lift my foot up to a stair but only just which means the strength is slowly returning. Baby steps…
Tuesday Day six.
Took medication at 6 AM, and shortly after I was able to get in and out of bed without as much pain as before. My weight is 244 on the dot it was 246 the other day so I think at least some of that is swelling. Today was the first day skipping pain medication, I didn’t take my morphine at 10 or two it’s 3 PM now and I might take some now and then at seven because there is still dull aching through the hip joint. Less painkillers means I actually felt pretty normal today in my head so I guess that’s a good thing getting back to feeling normal but it does mean I’m probably gonna get back to being frustrated and bored not being able to do stuff.
Wednesday day seven June 26
Woke up early again took my meds at 6 AM was able to go to the garage twice once for decaf pods, once for cream. Not without it’s pain but mobility is certainly improving. Pain is maybe a two or three at this point and mobility around a 3. It is actually quite nice to be off painkillers because my head clears quite significantly. Once I take my two painkillers in the morning I can tell what a drastic effect it has on my brain fog. Today things are going OK it’s been a week so I am trying to think of ways to start quantifying my improvements. I’m doing exercises, but I think I need to start getting outside and walking if only for a few minutes at a time. To that end, I managed to get dressed and make it across the street to the other sidewalk and back, but it is a very different feeling walking to go somewhere rather than just walking around the house. I guess we’ll find out how much that’s gonna hurt later.
Day 8. Updates now are repetitive and boring, so this will be the last daily entry.
Over the course of the next few days I managed to get off the painkillers completely, now I only take one if the pain is too much to sleep comfortably. The biggest issue I am having now is sleeping and having restless leg syndrome. I find that regardless of how much I do during the day my legs are a constant issue preventing me from sleeping. Medication doesn’t help, so I end up walking around the house trying to get them to stop twitching. Very frustrating. By day 9 the exercises are now too easy. I can lift my leg almost 2 stairs now which is a great improvement. Day 10 I stopped using the crutches completely, using my cane instead and it seems to be just fine. I haven’t yet tried getting into the car but that is something on the list for next week.