I have a drain coming out my knee, calf compressors going up and down my calves and I am sick of lying on my back...already!
I had some great nurses, pain relief...check, anti nausea medication...check, knee iced and elevated...check, and they would do it all again and again without question, i'm not sure what face they pulled as they left my room or what my handover report would have sounded like but these nurses tried to fix it, they tried to get the balance right between pain medication which is important but being able to tolerate oral fluids is also important. I ended up staying an extra night in hospital as the balance was tricky, i would sit up and have like a feeling of this isn't going to end well to being asleep in 2 minutes. The body has amazing measures to try and get you to rest.
Interesting as a nurse myself i have been under the misconception that just because you are asleep doesn't mean you don't actually have pain, sometimes i just had my eyes closed because i couldn't keep them open and other times i think i was asleep but was woken by pain. I cant describe the pain but throughout all my knee complaints this is the absolute worst pain i have ever had. I have had a normal vaginal delivery of my little boy 6 years ago and a caeserean for my little girl 8 years ago, I know pain but this pain, i don't think anything could have prepared me for this. The weird thing also though was i had a numbness all down the outside of my shin, the anaesthetist didn't mention doing any kind of nerve block so i was a little worried, i was reassured this was fine the i had a general anaesthetic and local anaesthetic block.
I think it is also important to mention that pre-op i really didn't have pain, occassionally yes, so panadol and nurofen ...every now and again was the most pain relief i have ever taken.
Pain score is a difficult measure and by all means your pain score compared to mine will be different.
But as much as I wanted pain relief to get my pain below the 4/10 that the nurses wanted, i was happy for it to be higher as i didn't want the nausea. You have to do what works for you and whilst i realised that i wasn't going to be up and walking about i took that on board, enjoyed the pain relief and the 'lost head' feeling and asked for anti nausea meds to combat the nausea.
It is a shame that for my 2 nights in hospital i had all meals prepared and i could hardly bare to look at it.
My husband and sister visited after surgery...i think....yes they did, I felt even worse as i couldn't even hold a conversation with them, but it was lovely to know they were there.
There was another issue on night one, i normally sleep on my belly, well if you don't normally sleep on your back this is very uncomfortable and i just wanted to get off my bottom for a little while. Those nurses again to the rescue and whilst i wanted to go up on my side they explained their concerns, the main one being i hadn't had a brace fitted and they weren't keen to move the leg. Ok i played the nurse card and threw out my concern i had been at least 8 hours on my back...pressure sore concern. So we compromised and put 2 pillows between my legs and rolled me onto my unoperated side...oh bliss!! THANK YOU NURSES!!
I was checked , rechecked, offered pain relief, offered anti nausea medications all night and i'm sorry to the nurse i upset as i only wanted dry biscuits and ginger ale as a post op meal, i promise that is all i wanted, it was all i felt like.
This post is a shout out to some amazing nurses on the orthopaedic floor of the hospital, your compassionate care and observation throughout the afternoon, evening and night, meant my almost unbearable night was bearable. THANK YOU xx
I wonder what is under the bandage and I hope i pass the physios crutches stair test to be able to go home....
Liss xx
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