Did you ever think about how much your knees mean to your body? Your feet too but this is about my knees. With out them you have no ability to stand, sit, climb, walk or run! I know this cause for four long months I have been in pain and now after having a TTT (Fulkerson Procedure) done this past Monday Jan 21, I am in even more pain!
I am looking forward to my goal of mobility so I can go forward in my quest to loose the extra weight my knees do not need to have against them anymore. The surgery was successful and despite the pain (drugs are great!) I know eventually all this shall too pass.
I started this post a few days ago. I just haven't had the energy to complete it so hopefully I will tonight. For those that care, knee surgery like mine HURTS!!! I have spent the last 8 days in pain. Yes I have pain meds and yes I take them religiously but I always end up in pain. I am sure that soon that will change (I HOPE) but let me tell you something...
When you have an extremity hurting and your body doesn't and your head says I want to go do something other than lie here it is an emotional roller coaster!That is what I feel like I am on this past week. One minute I am fine, pain free and happy then next I am crying, in pain and frustrated.
I have had some good progress this week. I reach my one week post op and I no longer have "blood rushes". Blood rushes are when you stand after having your leg elevated for a while and all the blood literally rushes to the incision site. Oh man does it hurt. How to explain it...hmmm...ah I know. Think of when your foot falls asleep after sitting on it for a while. The pins and needles feeling you get well think of that feeling and multiply it like Niagara Falls! It is terrible. I can compare it to the worse contraction you can think of just before delivering a baby! It is so painful!
Thankfully that has dulled and seems to be almost gone. Thankfully! Now I have the aching of my bone where it was chipped and then had screws put in. I know this is all part of surgery so don't write and say you knew this. Cause honestly I didn't know I would have this kind of pain.
Not only am I dealing with pain from inside the leg but the outside is terrible as well. My skin 2-3 inches surrounding the incision is highly sensitive to touch. Which makes it difficult to have the brace on. It feels like a terrible sunburn I had once and had to wear a shirt on. Just plain hurts. Thankfully I can undue the straps on the brace to let my skin breath. My incision is doing well. It is 6 1/2 inches long and has 26 staples that will be coming out on Feb 4th. I am looking forward to that day!
Personally this has been life changing. I completely get that my weight problem is a MAJOR problem. It has effected my life in more ways than one. Although my knee problem is not due to my weight, it is due to mal-tracking patella, my weight does effect my knee and mobility. I have already taken steps to cut my calories and as soon as I am able I plan to get as active as I am able to. Right now I am following my PT's orders and doing what I can to strengthen my leg as well as my opposite leg. I am doing all I can physically to be active. It takes everything I have to just walk around my bed and get into the wheel chair in the hall. No one understand the energy I expend when doing this other than my PT. She fulls appreciates my efforts. She has pushed me to increase the exercises she has given me but let me tell you its not easy.
I am amazed at how much strength I lost in just an hour of surgery. The night before the surgery I was fully able to do 3 reps of 30 per each exercise, now I am working to just hit a 1 rep of 10. It is difficult but I know I will get there and beyond.
Last night was the first in many months that I was actually able to get a good nights sleep. Amazingly I was able to get comfortable and sleep. I would not go as far as saying I was pain free cause had it not been for my pain meds I probably would not of been able to sleep at all. But it was a good nights sleep. I felt good all day till I did my PT. Then the pain started in and was very uncomfortable. Ice packs are my best friend right now.
Oh and I can't go on any farther without saying THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!! Without their help last week I wold never had been able to have the surgery! They once again went above and beyond what needed to be done. Our kids loved having them here! (I will post a picture of all of them tomorrow). Also a huge thankful goes out to my loving and wonderful husband! he has been so loving, gentle and caring despite me biting his head off and yelling at him. He understands that I am in a great deal of pain. He is so good with the kids! He is doing a great job of caring for me and the kids as well as staying on top of the house work. I love him more every day and I can't thank God enough for placing such a wonderful man in my life! Without him I would not be able to handle any of this! I love you Seany!
So I hope to stay on top of the blogging from now on. I will try to post how I am doing daily and how I have improved or not daily. Please keep me in your prayers if you are reading this but also keep Sean in prayer just as much!
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