Stuck in Bed

On our way home from the hospital, I called my job to tell them how it went.  Apparently the pain meds made me silly because I had my whole office laughing.  I can't recall what I told them but I must have been slightly out of it, although I felt normal.  When we reached the house and the 3 steps to get inside, I knew there was no way I could get in on my own.  I had a splint up to my knee, and could not do the crawling I was used to.  I was unable to use crutches or a walker to get up the steps. Luckily my sisters' boyfriend, Jimmy was there.  He is a strong man, (he lifts heavy things in competitions) and he picked me up and got me into the house.  Little did I know that that would be the last time in 2 weeks that I would be able to be outdoors.

I managed to get into my moms room where I would be staying during the recovery process.   My mom and Damien (my boyfriend) came up with a chart for my meds that I had to take through out the day.  The commode was set up next to my bed.  I felt good, I was ready to recover and become normal.

I ate dinner in bed.  Damien ate next to me sitting in my wheelchair using my commode as a table.  It was quite comical.  Things weren't as funny the first time I actually had to use the commode.... Damien and my mom had to physically lift me up and on to it.  It was very difficult and frustrating.  Doing that multiple times a day was exhausting. It knocked the life out of me.

I felt great until that first night home.  They warned me that the nerve block and anesthesia would wear off so I had to make sure I took my meds on time and hourly.  Well at exactly midnight I screamed in pain.  It felt like a metal slab was being hammered into my foot.  After a few hours it went away and that was the only major pain I felt.

Looking back it was tolerable, at the time I thought the pain would never leave.   I was not allowed to take advil, or alieve.  I had to take (2) Percocets, every few hours with food.  400 Mg of Ibuprofen every 8 hours for 3 days straight, (1) Enteric coated asprin for 42 days straight, Lyrica (for nerves) for 5 days, and Zofran (for nausea) 3x a day.

The first 3 days I needed to rest & keep my foot elevated at all times. My family were my on call nurses.  Damien slept upstairs and he and mom took turns getting up throughout the night giving me my pills and a snack.  The Percocets were weird.  I could not see how people could be addicted to a pain pill like this... I mean all it did was make me not concentrate and I got sleepy.  I could not watch tv or do anything for more then a half hour at a time, I'd doze in and out of sleep. I was kind of pissed off by this because I thought I would be able to read or watch movies, and my attention span was gone.  I was not bored because I just napped.

After about 5 days when I stopped the percocets, (or slowed down with it) I was trusted enough to go to use the commode on my own.  I had built up arm strength and I was no longer dazing out.  On day 5 I realized I had not pooped in almost a week.  It did not phase me because I felt fine.  I was never constipated before and did not think it would be a big deal, until I finally had to go and nothing would come out. Damn percocets! I was warned about this, and although I drank lots of water, coffee etc nothing worked,  It felt like a brick was trying to come out of me.  My mom had to get me laxatives etc.
The whole situation was terribly humiliating.

Once I was able to concentrate, I used my sisters Laptop and started going on line, and checking my email and becoming more social.  I still had no real pain until at night, my heel felt like it was being drilled into.  I knew my surgery consisted of midfoot incisions, and a piece of the side of my heel would have been scraped out and used in the fusing of bone.  This did not match the feeling.. It felt like my heel was rubbing on the fiberglass splint (cast).  I could feel it being cut. It was very painful but if I positioned it correctly I would be ok.  I knew the splint was loosening up from wear and because I was continuously loosing weight, perhaps this was the cause of the pain?  Regardless, it was bearable and I knew it would go away.  The other feeling I was getting was a numbness/tingly sensation in my foot.
It would come and go and was very annoying.  It sent chills down my back.  Again, I noticed it mainly at night when I lay there trying to sleep.  My lack of sleep at night was becoming bothersome.  I was getting frustrated and would sleep the best in the mornings.

My day consisted of waking up, my mom bringing me breakfast in bed, my sister lending me her computer and me reading a book.  Somewhere in between I would have lunch in bed and continue either selling stuff on ebay or reading.  I sold a ton of stuff while I was stuck in bed.  I took pics in bed, and listed items online.  I made myself some cash while I was stuck at home.  I never in a million years would have thought I was capable of reading.  I always had difficulty focusing long enough to remember what I read... I guess because my head was clear and I was stuck doing nothing, I was able to read.  I read 3 books in a few days, and was very proud of myself.

During and after the surgery

The morning of surgery I felt sick. I was scheduled to have surgery at 8am. I had to be in the hospital at 6am to prepare.  When we (my mom and boyfriend) arrived, we were greeted by a pleasant man at the front door.  I felt like I was going into an airport. He offered to take my bags and wheel me around.  My first impression was positive and I felt as comfortable as I could going into a hospital.  The Waiting area was beautiful. Spotless, clean and empty. I expected to see people laying on hospital beds, disfigured or very ill. Luckily because it was so early the place was empty and I could freak out internally on my own.

The waiting time was rough. I was anticipating everything that could go wrong.  I filled out a bunch of paperwork and must have said my name, date of birth and social security number a zillion times.  When I got into the room, to be prepped, It was just as I had expected.  A few beds with curtains and lots of equipment.  A sweet nurse came out and asked me questions and went over a few things with me. After she left someone else came and washed my foot with the yellow stuff. I got a heavy duty gown (which I feared) and disposable underwear! I was panicky because of everything else, now I had to show my body.. I do not even wear a bathing suit in front of my friends... these poor people having to see my rolls and stuff.

About 5 other people came my way, telling me the procedure and what to expect etc. When I finally saw Dr. Levine in his scrubs, I felt a sense of relief.  I stressed to everyone that I was very scared so he told me I would get a little cocktail to calm down.  The nurse that gave me the IV made me laugh, he was a character. I give him major props, he gave me the IV and I barely felt it.  I feared this because my previous doctors have trouble finding my veins, and getting the blood to actually flow. This guy was a pro!  One of my fears.... gone! The anesthesiologist was the last to come in.  She gave me the cocktail and as I was talking to my mom, I felt really sick for a minute, like I was extremely drunk ready to pass out. I remember saying I feel really dizzy... Next thing I know I'm being rolled into a room where I saw some one with purple and green hair...

I wake up and it is all over. I could not believe after 3 1/2 hours I went through it all and I was fine. I felt no pain except my bladder was killing me because I had to pee so bad.  My mom came in the room with me and helped the nurse with the bed pan. I was ready to explode that I only felt embarrassed after the fact.  My leg had a nerve block so It was numb. I had to pee a few times after and I went to the bathroom with the help of my mom.  When I got out of the bed, I noticed it felt like I pulled a muscle in my thigh.  I figured if this was the only form of pain I have, I am lucky.  God only knows what type of position they put my legs into in order to operate on my foot... After checking it out a bit more I could see where the tourniquet had imprinted itself.  Another nurse came in and had me practice using a walker.  I had a giant splint (or as I called it a cast) on I was basically practicing to hop.  Not easy!

My boyfriend came in to join us..   During the surgery he went downtown to Billy's Bakery and picked up some of my favorite cupcakes.  I was so happy! They gave me a turkey sandwich in the post op room because I had not eaten anything. I took some more pain meds (Percocet) and the nurses checked on me to make sure It did not make me sick.   It was already mid afternoon and I could not wait to get home and dig into the cupcakes.