Recovery - Day 1

Day 1 for me started when I came round from the anaesthetic. This was officially on Wednesday night. The surgey kicked off about 3pm and apparently I was on the table for about 2 hours. I can't remember coming round from it quite as clearly as I can remember waking up from the hernia operation I had last year (is my body falling apart or what!), but I do remember having a nurse explaining what all the tubes going into my arm were there for.

The one on my left was for any drips they wanted to put in, and I think had probably been used during the surgery for fluids. There was also a green plaster on the back of my left hand which I think was where they put the aneasthetic in.

On my right arm was a tube leading to what was effectively an oversized syringe hanging around my neck. This was the good one. It contained morphine which I could administer whenever the knee was painful. Great stuff, it made my shoulders feel really heavy and then you could just drift off to sleep. It's set so that you can't overdose and apparently I used less of it then most patients - get in. Maybe a higher pain threshold, probably too lazy to press the button.

My right leg was also immobilised by a pressure bandage which was huge, and the knee had a drain coming out of it to drain off any excess fluid. Here are some photos off the leg with the bandage on - the one where I look in pain was just playacting - thanks to my sister Helen for these :-)












Anyway, my mum and big sister liz came to see me on the Wednesday night. I don't remember much about it as they were they at about 7:30pm and I was still well out of it. Apparently apart from introducing the nurse to my sister (who is also a nurse and they knew each other from another hospital) all I managed was some sarcastic grunts!

GRIZZLY BIT =>

Part of the aneasthetic was an epidural in my lower spine which took away all feeling to my legs. However, this also cause you to lose feeling in your bladder and makes your sphincter seize up (so I'm told). There is a danger that your bladder can fill up and you are unable to relieve yourself (or even know that you need to). They try and avoid this by not giving you too many fluids, but it still happens. I can remember a nurse asking me if i needed to urinate and saying I wasn't sure. There was a test by which they put pressure on the bladder, and then I could tell I did need to. So they gave me a bottle designed for the purpose. However, what with the morphine and other aneasthetics I was drifting in and out of conciousness (and I'm sure it was about 4am at the time - although I could be wrong). So like when you are standing next to someone at the urinals, I couldn't do it. They then had to catherterise me. This basically means putting a drain into your bladder through your uretha. Well, as a bloke this had never happened before and its not comfortable. I don't remember much about it happening as I was well out of it. And it does have some advantages as you don't need to get up and go to the loo ever again! But it's still very weird. The worst feeling is that if you move the pipe you can feel it all the way to your bladder and it means you stay very very still. It made sleeping at the end of day 1 a bit uncomfortable, but at the time you just don't care.

GRIZZLY BIT OVER

So the start of Thursday morning I was woken up with breakfast at about 7:45ish. This was a full on fryup. I wasn't sure if I was going to manage it as I hadn't eaten anything for about 36 hours. However, once it had gone done I felt fine. Although I was more restrained in the rest of my meal choices for the rest of the day (its always hard to pick from a menu when you are not really hungry).

After breakfast I was given a bed bath. Another interesting experience, but again, although it sounds embarassing at the time you don't care. What with tubes coming out of all sorts of places, I didn't feel I had much dignaty left, so youre just grateful that someone is looking after you. The nurse also managed to change the bedclothes with me still on the bed. A delicate process when moving the knee as it hurt and I didn't want to put any strain on it at all. But I was well impressed with this. The bed has these cleanable mattresses. So they have some plastic coating over which sheets are put. The matresses are well comfy though. Soft and firm at the same time. So, that was breakkie and getting washed.

The physio also visited during day 1, and gave me some exercise that involved moving my ankles to get the calf moving and one involving tensing the thigh muscle to stop atrophy. This one hurt a bit as it pulls at the wound site. But that just means that the exercise is affecting the correct place.

The knee hurt on day 1, as the aneathetist said it would when he stopped by. (He also apologised for the catheter as he'd been hoping to avoid it - I had been warned before going down that it was a possibility). This meant the morphine was used, so I was dozing a lot.

Lunch was a sandwich I think. They also gave me a lot of tea.

I whiled away the start of the afternoon by watching School of Rock with Jack Black. I wasn't up to reading or playing computer games as these required far too much concentration. By some impeccable timing at the end of the movie my Mum and Helen came in to see me for about an hour which was ace.

In the evening my friends Luke and Ralph both popped in to say hi and they were joined by my Dad who had swung by after work.

Oh yeah - I also got a call from Sara who rang about 9 in the morning. I was a little dopey during this comversation, but it was appreciated. I'd got text from loads of people as well, wishing me well, thanks to you all. It really helps to know people are thinking of you.

So all in all, not a bad day given I was totally immobile for the whole time.

Oh yeah - as for the other bodily function. Well the morphine slows down the peristalsis in your gut. So it wasn't a problem on day 1!