Post-op Check-up

I went in for my post-op check-up today. I had hoped to see the surgeons because I have some questions, but they weren't there. I suppose it is normal to see the physician's assistant for check-ups though, the surgeon's time is much more valuable and in demand. The PA did say she would have the surgeon call me though, so it seems I can still ask him my questions.

I didn't understand my discharge instructions, but luckily I didn't do what I thought I was supposed to do. I was somehow under the impression that I should do as much as I could, just don't put any weight on my right leg. My leg has been pretty swollen though, so I have been spending almost all day and night in bed with my leg up. I went to see my therapist yesterday and stopped at a small park for some fresh air before heading home (I have been going a little stir-crazy in bed for 2 weeks now). I had planned to attend my group yesterday afternoon as well, but I just wasn't up for it. My leg was so swollen after only 2-3 hours of being up on the crutches that I couldn't see a couple of my stitches and my arms were shaking from using them to support my body weight. I'm glad I have been listening to my body rather than blindly following instructions that were incorrect and could have been harmful to me.

Me at the park after therapy. While I probably shouldn't have been up and around, I think the sunshine did me a lot of good.

Today I learned that I should actually be spending about 23 out of 24 hours each day in bed with my leg up. Sadly, I will need to keep doing this for another 2-3 weeks until the swelling goes away. I am glad to have clear instructions now though. It reduces the amount of anxiety that I experience around what I am and am not supposed to be doing. They also want to raise the level of physical therapy I participate in as an attempt to offset the level of inactivity I am forced into right now. The home physical therapist has only come once so far and they want me to be doing more than just once a week. That means I will have to be going to the clinic for therapy, but  it will be nice to get out of the house for a couple hours.

While I was at the clinic today they removed my stitches and the suture tape strips and replaced them with new suture tape strips. Well, she removed all but one of my stitches. My very top stitch was so tight it was causing pain last night so I carefully cut it and removed it myself. When she looked at it she said she could tell it was too tight and it was fine that I removed it. (What could she really do about at that point anyway?) I no longer have to keep it covered with bandages after today either. I just have these suture tape strips now and when they fall off on their own, I won't have anything on the incision at all.

Still pretty swollen after my trip to the clinic today. There were 14 stitches alternating with 13 suture tape strips. Looks really good.

I was also told today not to use the Smart Crutches I bought for myself until I am able to start putting weight on my leg. She normally loves them, but right now they don't allow me to go completely without weight bearing. They are advertised as being able to be used for non-weight bearing- a strong, healthy young man even demonstrates in the video on their website. Unfortunately for me, I don't have the upper body strength to actually pull that off. Until I am able to start trying to walk on my leg I can't use them. Other than not having the upper body strength to use them completely non-weight bearing I think they are superior crutches to the "armpit" ones.

The good news I got today is that I should be able to start putting weight on my leg (thus able to start using my new crutches again) much sooner than expected. The PA told me today that I am healing so well they are hoping that in 3-6 weeks I will start trying to walk on it a little bit. I really hope they aren't getting my hopes up for nothing here. I am not going to plan on it or even expect it. I will just keep doing my best to heal myself and let it be a nice surprise if I am promoted to weight bearing sooner.

Some more good news today is that our laptop got fixed so I can work from bed now! It is none too soon either. I have to finish a workshop on Ableism/Differently Abled Oppression and I have a couple of articles to write. I have a short non-fiction book that is almost ready to publish that I am really excited about. But none of these things could be done from bed and I my leg swells too much if I try to sit at the computer (like what happened when I wrote I Survived Surgery!). It feels good to be doing something useful again, I have been feeling like a slug doing nothing except scrolling through Facebook on my phone.

Me, happily writing this blog article on the laptop with my leg up!

The next steps from this point are buckling down to work hard in physical therapy and in  3-6 weeks I can start trying to put weight on my leg. That is when we will find out how well this thing works. It looks so good I am afraid that it won't work as well as it did before surgery. I am glad that now I can recognize that this is all just fear and anxiety trying to upset me. I don't have to let it.