Discharge Day!

Surgery to remove my (R) tibia hardware was yesterday. I totally underestimated the pain I would feel as a result of this procedure (thank you Kayla for telling me not to do this at the same time as my left knee surgery in December). I woke up in the PACU (recovery room) with 10/10 pain despite having received IV Tylenol, Dilaudid and Toradol in the OR while still under anesthesia. That meant that I was not due for more medication for almost 4 hours. Unfortunately, even when I was able to take more Tylenol and Toradol, it did absolutely nothing. So I have been in A LOT of pain since waking up from surgery. It is hard to distinguish what is post-op pain and what is CRPS pain but it is likely a combination of both. We are hoping that CRPS will settle down and return to a state of remission soon, but surgery can exacerbate the situation (which we knew going in but because the hardware reaction was the cause of the CRPS we did not really have a choice...it had to come out).

Plate (minus the 7 screws)

The site is covered with a dressing but is very swollen. I have a walking boot (as discussed in my previous post) because I have 7 holes in my bone. These holes will fill in over the next few weeks. I see my PCP in 2 weeks to check the incision. I will get a set of x-rays at 3 weeks post-op to make sure they are filling in. I will send the x-rays to Boston for review. I am allowed to weight bear as tolerated, which is important because my left kneecap is not able to support all of my weight at this point anyway (hence why I will be having another surgery in December to stabilize it).

Dressing and swelling

I did, however, have the BEST room in the hospital with amazing views of the city. It was HUGE. I also kept the hardware as I do with all of my surgeries.

Does not get better than this view

I had my favorite PT this morning to make sure I was safe while crutching. He was surprised to see my name on the list and also to see how much better I was at crutching with this admission vs. hip surgery December 2017 (where I could not advance my leg on my own).

Hopefully CRPS calms down soon, the post-op pain doesn't last too much longer and I can get back to baseline with this leg in the next few weeks.

A HUGE thank you to my uncle for taking me to surgery, waiting around all day and for several hours in the recovery room, and for picking me up today after being discharged. Words are simply not enough.

I return to Boston in mid-October for a post-op and follow-up on my left knee to finalize the surgery plan for December.