Need to remind myself that I shouldn’t become too confident! I have been testing out the weight bearing (with crutches and locked brace) and it feels just fine. But I should still take it easy… plenty of time to push it after it has had a few days of healing.

Going into the surgery, I was worried about how anesthesia and narcotic pain medication would affect me. Some random musings on this:

• One of my first sentences after waking up from the surgery was, “can I give Dr. S a hug?” No mumbling, no shculpture shculpture. I was a little woozy but not totally out of it which was a nice surprise.
• Narcotic painkillers are known for making you… complicated. Senokot to the rescue. BUT, I guess I overdid it? My belly was NOT happy Saturday or Sunday going into Monday. It has calmed down a bit now.
• Oxycodone apparently works really well. I didn’t feel anything and decided I could stand to lower the dose, as I mentioned yesterday.
• I think oxycodone makes my face itch. I have to talk to Dr. S about whether this is a legit allergy. It’s mostly my face that’s itchy but also the back of my ears and sometimes my belly and sides. Could also be psychosomatic…

My support team is awesome!

D said it right when he said that I won’t be convinced that the nerve block has worn off until I feel pain. So… time to adjust the dosing of oxycodone. Instead of 2x 5mg every four hours, I’ll try every six hours. 

Mom & dad awesomely came up to visit and cook us tomato sauce! 🙂

[The nerve block is going strong. Maybe starting to wear off around 2:30… Nervous!]

Had a pretty decent night despite all the alarms. AND, D got me earplugs so I didn’t have to listen to the jungle outside. Here’s my nighttime setup:

Reconstruction day is finally here!! Here’s how it went:

• 6:00am – alarm goes off
• 6:36am – out of bed (lazy!)
• 6:40am – last shower for 10 days!*
• 7:50am – head to Waltham (BOSS)
• 8:30am – arrive and Dave gets a coffee and muffin. Bum! I can’t eat or drink. 
• 9:10am – get called to the back. I change into a gown, pee in a cup (pregnancy test I bet?), take Dr. S’s preop cocktail of 2 Celebrex and 2 aspirin. Then I head inside to my preop bed in a room that had maybe 6 other people. BP is 117/70, a bit on the high side for me. They put an IV into the crook of my right arm and start giving me fluids. They let Dave come back for a little bit and then send him back out to wait. The anesthesiologist (Dr. F) and Dr. S come by to do some paperwork, sign my knee with their initials and then swap my right sock from the grey to a red one. Then Dr. F comes back and gives me a sedative in my IV. Using an ultrasound to locate the femoral nerve, he gives me a local and then administers the nerve block. It was 3 syringes of something. The first one was pressure but nothing too painful. 
• 10:15am – I get wheeled into the OR, not wearing my glasses so I can’t see anything. The graft guy shows me my graft but I can’t see! Then Dr. F puts a mask over my face and tells me to breathe. I ask “don’t I have to count backwards?” He says no, and that’s the last thing I remember. 
• 1:00pm-ish – I wake up in recovery! Apparently I slept for about an hour after surgery. Once I’m up, they let Dave come back and then they give me lots of blankets because I’m shaking from the anesthesia leaving my system. That doesn’t help so they hook me up to Demerol. And saltines (choice of animal crackers, saltines, or Ritz — of course saltines!) and water. 
• They help me get dressed and move into a recliner chair. They go over a BUNCH of paperwork and have Dave sign. 
• Then we’re on our way! The nurse helps me pee and then brings me down to Dave with the car. Drive home and set up on the couch while Dave goes to get my drugs! 

PS – I think my first words were “can I give Dr. S a hug?” 

Hard to tell from the photo but my foot/leg was insanely swollen Friday night. Elevated and iced for an hour. It was better today but still not back to normal. Think it was sitting in the car for four hours driving down to NY?

Today at PT: (with Melissa)

• Massage — darn swelling
• Ultrasound — so great; I can bend my knee more easily afterwards
• Leg lifts — NEW! Melissa said that’s a good sign for my quads
• Walked with no brace and one crutch — NEW! Walked to the bike
• Stationary bike for 13 minutes — I SWEAT!!! Felt so good to do something like exercise. 
• Quad leg lifts — legs dangling off edge; Melissa said yey quads
• “TKE” squats! Have to concentrate on quads/core
• And ice — need to ice more…

At PT today:

• Heat and massage
• Hamstring curls, assisted and not
• Quad sets and heel slides
• Ultrasound
• Bike for 10 minutes (walk to/from w crutches)
• E-stim TKEs
• E-stim ball calf raises
• Ice

Bored with my exercises. Want to walk and do squats! 

Today at PT:

• First day with Maria, last day with Hillary
• No ultrasound
• Bike for 5 or so minutes
• Walk to/from bike without brace with crutches 
• No e-stim