Post Op Day 14 "The haze"

Whew……I cannot believe it has been 2 weeks since the "under the knife" thingy happened.  And for the most part, the last 2 weeks have been somewhat of a blur.  Well, definitely the 1st week post-op.

Here's how I remember the whole surgery day…….up very early.  A lot like race morning.  In fact, the whole day was kind of like race day.

Surgery Day:  Nervous and not supposed to eat.  I didn't.  Even when that evil nurse tried to trick me.
Race Day:  Nervous and must eat.  But usually can't since I'm nervous.

Surgery Day:  Morning clothes bag!  Except I had to get completely undressed and wear a silly gown with a silly hat.
Race Day:  Morning clothes bag!  But no nakedness.  And no silly gown.  Although you could argue the swim cap is a silly hat.

Morning clothes bag and silly gown and cap

Surgery Day:  Medical bracelet.
Race Day: Race bracelet.

Surgery Day:  Morning cocktail aka sedative.  And a completely goofy Michelle after that.  Yes, there is a video.  And no, I'm not going to post it.  Suffice it to say, I was completely whacked out.
Race Day: Morning cocktail of Osmo.  Caffeine buzz.  Totally sober.

Dr. Feelgood on the right, next to me.  

Surgery Day:  Race begins errrrr surgery begins.  I somewhat remember being wheeled into the operating room and looking around at all the nurses/assistants in there.  And thinking wow, lots of people…..and that's all I remember.
Race Day:  Race begins and I remember EVERYTHING!!!!  For the most part.  Unless there was an epic bonk.

Next thing I remember is post-op coming around and talking to my murse (man nurse) who was da-bomb.  Seriously, I may have professed my undying love for him.  But things are really fuzzy.  And then Sonja came in.  And we talked to the anesthesiologist (I spelled that right the first time!!!!) about racing and sport and he got in trouble cuz he talked to us too long.  Cool guy from Austria.  Dr. Stull came in (right?) and went over the surgery.  He's awesome by the way.  As we knew, MCL was just fine.  He did the ACL reconstruction without any problems, and shaved the 5-10% lateral meniscus tear.

And then it was time to go home.  I was feeling awesome.  Really.  No pain and completely high on whatever anesthesia was left in my system, the femoral block was working wonderfully and they may have started me on the percocets.  Don't remember.

So I went home.  To my second home…PIC's casa.  PIC came through big-time for me since I didn't really have anyone to watch over me after surgery.  I wanted to stay with my sis but she has an office job and Sonja/Troy work from home and there were a lot less stairs there than at my sis's.  I'm soooo glad she and Troy were up for the job.  I don't think I can say Thank You enough!!!

Now, here's the funny part.  I had surgery Thursday morning.  I left their place on Sunday.  And I just don't remember much in between.  There was a trip to Great Clips so I could have my hair washed.  There was frozen yogurt when I thought for a moment I was going to be sick.  But basically, I slept.  I listened to music.  I watched some movies (but don't ask details please).  I couldn't read since my vision was blurry.  PIC kept feeding me. And every 4 hours, Sonja would

give me percocets.  Every. 4. Hours.  And yes, we set the alarm for the night time.  But I had enough people scare the shit out of me to stay on top of my meds.  So I did.  And the weekend and much of the next week is a blur because of it.

Annie, Sonja and me at yogurt.  Annie is such a sweetheart - she looked in on me all the time!!

BUT…..I really had NO pain.  Seriously.  NO pain.  Certainly never got above a 5 on the 10 pain scale.  It was awesome.  So, thank you to everyone who told me to stay on my pain meds!!!  It can be argued that I may have a higher pain tolerance than most but whatever….NO pain!

I weened myself off the percs pretty quickly - by Tuesday night and was just taking advil at that point.  I really wanted to take a shower.  There was a lap around Target on Monday to get me out of the house and feeling like I was kind of human. PIC and I went to see a movie on Tuesday.  I know I tried to work and fell asleep on  a conference call after an hour.  Looking back now, I don't even know why I even tried to participate!!  I don't even know why I tried to work!!  (as an aside, sorry to my athletes that may have received backward swims, treadmill runs on your hands, and trainer rides featuring 100 push-up between sets)

In the meantime, I spent hours on the CPM machine (the passive motion machine).  I missed my kids.  And I tried my best to take care of myself.  I googled how to shower after surgery and then took a blissful shower.  I ditched my crutches because honestly, they were more of a pain in my ass than trying to hobble around without them.

By the second week, I was seriously starting to go a bit mental.  I mean really, I cannot stand being non-moving for so long.  Fortunately, good friends reminded me that I just needed to get through this week and things would start looking up.

OK, this post is getting long.  First PT appointment post coming up!