We arrived at the hospital at 6:00 AM. We were shown to our room and I was given a gown to wear. If you’ve never worn a hospital gown, it isn’t exactly designed with privacy in mind. After that a nurse came and started an IV. They like to do this before they get you into the operating room, because they can then administer medicine to you via the IV tube without having to repeatedly stick you with needles.
Unfortunately my veins are apparently difficult to pin down because it took three tries and two nurses to finally get the IV inserted correctly. (They tried my right hand, then right arm, followed by my left hand). The first two attempts were extremely painful as the nurse had the needle in my hand and was wiggling it around trying to make it go into the vein. The third attempt by the nursing supervisor didn’t hurt at all and went right in.
After the IV was started, another hospital worker (I think that they are called orderlies), arrived with a transport bed (a bed with wheels), and took me to the pre-operating room. Here my wife and I talked with my doctor about the surgery and what he was planning on doing. I also met the anesthesiologist as well as the nurse that would be assisting.
At every stage they reverified my identity, which leg was being operated on (at one point they made me write my initials on the leg with a pen), and if I had any allergies.
Finally it was time for the surgery. The anesthesiologist injected my IV with some medication that he said would make me a little drowsy and prepare me for the sedative that they would give me in the operating room. The nurse began wheeling my bed towards the operating room, I don’t remember ever getting there.
The next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room with my knee wrapped in bandages and wearing a
knee immobilizer. I wasn’t in any pain, but I was a bit groggy. The nurse at my side would occasionally offer me an ice chip which I gladly accepted as I was really thirsty. She told me that the operation had been a success.
After a few minutes of being awake, they took my back to the room I started in. There I was allowed to call room service to order lunch, and I had an cryo-cuff wrapped around my knee. The cryo-cuff is basically a wrap with a tube connected to it. The other end of the tube goes to a cooler. There is a small pump that pumps the cold water from the cooler into the cuff. This helps keep swelling down.
The doctor came in and gave me the details of my operation and told me that all had went well. I was to see the physical therapist in a few days and have a followup appointment with him after that.
After he left, the hospital’s physical therapist came in and fitted me for my crutches and a cpm (continuous passive motion) machine. This machine I was told to use for 8 hours a day in 2 hour increments. (2 hours on, 2 hours off) for about a week. It basically just moves your leg up and down. The purpose being to make sure your joints don’t freeze up during your immobilization. The physical therapist said that after the doctor told me to stop using it, I should call the number on the instruction sheet and the manufacturer would send someone to pick it up.
Finally, after several temperature readings and blood pressure readings, I was sent home. My wife pulled our mini-van around and I tried (unsuccessfully) to get in the front seat, but finally had to sit in the middle bench. The car ride home (about 20 minutes) wasn’t too painful, but having my leg not lying flat caused it to ache a bit.
After arriving home the biggest trouble was getting up the porch with my crutches. I finally had to sit down on the porch and have my wife help me spin around and stand back up.
During the surgery, after I was sedated, the anesthesiologist gave me a femoral nerve block which basically made my entire leg numb. Unfortunately this started to wear off shortly after I arrived home. I took one of the pain pills that my doctor subscribed. However an hour later I was still in agonizing pain. My wife called the doctor and his nurse told her that I could take another pill along with some motrin, but that I shouldn’t keep taking two pills as that can lead to bad side effects. I took the second pill and the motrin and felt much better after about 15 minutes.
In retrospect the “feeling better after 15 minutes” was probably the first pill finally starting to kick in. When I asked the nurse before leaving the hospital when I should take the pain medication, he said after I get home. I probably should have taken it before I left the hospital and this would have saved me a lot of trouble. Since the pain medication says “Take 1 every 4 to 6 hours as needed for pain”, I made the mistake the first couple of times of waiting until I started to feel pain before taking one. Well the problem with this is that vicodin takes about 45 minutes to start having any effect. (According to our doctor). So by the time it started working I was already in a lot of pain. Subsequently I just took one every 5 hours. This has kept the pain away.
I should add that while there is no really excruciating pain, there is a constant sort of ache in my leg, along with some sharp pains in my knee when I try to stand up or sit down.
The other thing that happened today that was alarming was the post-operative bleeding. The discharge nurse told me that there would be some bleeding later, but not to be alarmed unless it had a foul oder (meaning a likely infection). However I wasn’t prepared for the amount of bleeding. The bleeding soaked through the bandages, even getting on the immobilizer. I was a little alarmed at this, even though there wasn’t a foul oder, so I called the doctor to double-check. He said not to worry, that it is normal in the case of arthroscopic surgery as there is apparently a lot of fluid that leaks out. The bleeding subsided that evening, and the doctor told me that they will change the bandages when I come in for my followup appointment.
I was afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to sleep, since I was now restricted to sleeping on my back with my leg absolutely straight. (Normally I sleep on my stomach) However the pain medication has a nice side-effect of making you drowsy. So I soon fell asleep without much trouble.
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Filed under: ACL Recovery
Today I was also able to take a shower without a plastic bag on my leg. Since we have a hand-held shower head, I decided to try it by myself. The hardest part was getting myself into the tub. The important thing is to remember to have everything you need within sitting reach before you start getting in. Once that part was over, the next hardest part was getting out. Overall it was great though.
