My ankle surgery went very well (according to my surgeon). I spent one night in the hospital. I was admitted to 10NW (my wing) and was happy to see many of my nurses. Thankfully my blood pressure (although very low immediately post-op) was stable when standing for PT. The pain wasn't horrible and was easily controlled with Tylenol. The best part was waking up with very little knee pain...something I was concerned about before going in for the ankle. I expected my knee pain to increase due to positioning in surgery. I was also concerned about the pain I had in my ankle pre-operatively but am happy to say that that pain has resolved. My surgeon examined the area during surgery and said that I likely have tendonitis due to the repositioning of the tibial tubercle in my knee surgery. I can deal with that!
Unfortunately a little incident occurred when leaving the hospital. After getting into the car the door slammed into the bottom of my operative ankle. OUCH! Apparently my leg was not far enough in. Later that night the comfortable/minimal pain that I was discharged with was gone and replaced by a throbbing ankle that started to swell. I started losing sensation in my toes which was a sign that my ankle was too swollen for the cast. I called the on-call Ortho doctor and was instructed to elevate as high as possible. If that did not work he told me to come back to the hospital. I also e-mailed my surgeon to see if I could get a fast response (which I did) and he told me to come in if it didn't get better. Well, the next morning my ankle was still huge, I couldn't feel my toes and my ankle was throbbing so we went back to the hospital. The orthopedics department has an urgent clinic (in the same department) for emergency appointments. It worked out perfectly because my surgeon was the on-call surgeon and I was able to see him.
He personally assisted in recasting my ankle because he said he likes to do the positioning himself. Not many surgeons rip plaster and cast their patients. It's nice to know that my surgeons take patient care very seriously. However, the recasting process was so incredibly painful...I cried and screamed! I was asleep the first time it was casted so didn't have to experience the pain of a newly reconstructed ankle being positioned and manipulated. Thank God that is over!
He doesn't believe any damage was done to the ankle when the door slammed into it. However, it did aggravate it. I am still having problems with swelling but thankfully it can easily be fixed with elevation. The pain has been improving by the day. I am just hoping for no more set backs!
I am so happy to be home! I got to spend time with my boys last night. Mick and Roo kept me company and snuggled with my during the Celtics game! They are so special and I love them so much.
 |
| Roo keeping me company... Isn't he the cutest? |
0 comments:
Post a Comment