Jun
16
First 2 Weeks After Surgery
June 16, 2015 | |
This has to be the toughest part of the journey. It’s a crash course on patience and mental stability.
Getting home from surgery, it starts to set in how difficult it is to do things around the house. Having family around is so helpful because things like preparing a meal or getting something to drink is so challenging while you’re on crutches. I was in so much pain that I had to lie on the couch in a certain position just so I could be somewhat comfortable. Pain meds only helped so much and wore off after an hour or two even after doubling the dosage. When having the use the bathroom, I’d stand and get my crutches only to find my leg pulsating and throbbing with unbearable pain. I’d stick through it but eventually I resorted to using the urinal cup that the doctor gave me.
Days were just filled with watching movies and documentaries, reading, playing video games with my kids, and staring at the ceiling. The NBA playoffs are also going on which is both entertaining and depressing to watch, yet I still watch because I love watching the NBA. The only silver lining I could take from the situation is the fact I had been able to catch up on reading, movies, documentaries, and anything else I could consume to feed my mind. Before the injury I was always doing active things so it has been nice to see and read good things. I definitely have a newfound appreciation for movies and documentaries now.
With that said, it’s still tough going from an active lifestyle of running outside with my kids, playing basketball, and working out to a couch potato lifestyle. I’d find myself rotating around different moods of happiness/goofiness (my normal self), focus (on whatever thing I’m reading/consuming), depression, and anger. The thing that’s tough about the situation is that I know what to do, yet there’s only so much I am in control of. I know that I will have to do physical therapy at some point, but that’s not the current task or challenge. Right now the thing to do is to wait. That’s it. Doc says that I need to wait 5-6 weeks to heal from surgery and doing nothing but waiting has been driving me crazy!
I kept thinking of things that I couldn’t do. I can’t play basketball. I can’t walk. I can’t run around with my kids. I can’t blah blah blah. It especially got me down because summer had just started. Eventually I needed to change my thought process and focus on things that I could do.
I still have my hands and my upper body so I found it therapeutic to workout. There would be afternoons where I’d just be so pissed at my situation so eventually I asked my wife to move my weights and bench in the living room. Once those were in place I started to lift whenever I’d be down on myself. I feel like I’ve been able to push myself even harder because of this. When feeling weak on the last 2-3 reps, I would just think about my achilles and all of a sudden I’d have enough strength to push up 4-5 more reps.
Towards the end of the 2 weeks of post op, I feel like it has been an eternity, but I’ve learned how to be more positive about the situation. The active things that I love to do will be there waiting for me, but I cannot focus on them right now. I’ve found other things to focus on like reading the other cool blogs here, working out, and watching movies so I’ll be okay for now.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this experience so far, it’s that this whole journey will be a grand test of patience.
Comments
2 Comments so far
Go Lakers! lol…You’re towards the end of the most trying times of this injury with the whole coming to grips and NWB part. I look back at the past 18 weeks since my injury and I am amazed at how fast time flew by. I know when you’re in the midst of it, it doesn’t seem to fly by at all. What I learned early on was that I had the find the beauty in this journey. I have come to appreciate everything more and my mental strength has grown leaps and bounds. I am non surgical and am walking freely with not much of a limp at all. I can run a bit now, but still taking it slowly. You will be back on your feet in no time, believe me. I’ll send prayers your way. God bless
I did the same thing early on- I was so active, it was hard to not work out. I started using you tube videos and focusing on seated upper body around week 3. By week 5 I was back in gym and on the recumbent bike ( while wearing boot). Definitely made me feel better and getting back to normal. It does get easier so listen to your OS and PT when you start, and I am sure you will continue on your road to recovery. Good attitude definitely helps.