Surgery today
The deed is done. Surgery at 10:30 this morning, pre-op procedures were fairly normal with a couple minor bumps, my veins are sneaky, so it took 2 sticks for success with the IV. The anesthetist came in to do the knee block, the IV delay put us behind so suddenly everything was hurried, the OR was waiting. He told me the OS ordered a popiteal but he was going to do a sciatica block, at that point I had already been given a ‘cocktail’ so I couldn’t seem to think straight enough to ask why. Off we went to the OR, I was awake while everyone introduced themselves and next thing, they were calling my name in recovery. Pretty intense pain, a 7 on their unhappy face pain chart. They said they had given me substantial pain meds during surgery and 3 more cocktails in recovery. The anesthetist was called in and guess what, he ended up giving me the knee block the OS ordered, substantial relief within minutes. The remainder of the recovery experience was up eventful, no nausea. I have a drain tube, wasn’t expecting that. Was sent home with 20 tubes to change out myself as they filled, we’re on -#7 already, I hope it slows down tomorrow or I will be calling to inquire. Pain is minimal, I’ve taken 2 rounds of vicodin (x2) I hope to reduce this tomorrow as well. Leg is substantially elevated, everyone says this is key and I intend to abide by it aggressively. Gimping to the bathroom in the middle of the night worries me but other than that, it’s been a pretty decent day.
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Glad it went smoothly. Yes, I agree. Keep it raised as much as you possibly can. Especially the first 2 weeks. After the 5 day I moved a little more and ate at the table. I didn’t have a lot of pain either. Now lots of rest.
Hey guys. I had surgey on May 18th and am almost five weeks into my recovery. I wanted your guys opinions. My family is planing a trip to Europe around August 10th and we arent sure if I will be able to withstand all the walking that the trip entails. I was wondering if anyone had experience with going on vacation 3 months after surgery or if anyone has done a great deal of walking post operation. My dad may have to cancel the trip due to unknown risk, I just don;t know how my achilles will hold up with all the sightseeing. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Greg - Big call. How long before you have to make a decision? Can you speak to your Doc or PT before you the decision is made? At 12 weeks you will still find a fair bit of swelling (some pain too) when you walk and you may start limping if you do too much. I was on the quicker side of the recovery curve and only started walking for exercise (putting some speed into it) about week 11. I could afford to stop walking if things got sore. Much will depend on you and how things progress in the coming weeks when you get back into shoes. If the pace is not too fast and you have time to rest then it may be OK. If you are going to be on your feet all day, or doing lots of hills or stairs then there could be a problem. I would say I walked a great deal during my recovery but I didn’t walk or stand all day at 3 months and only did slight hills. If given another month then it could be a different story. Don’t rely soley on opinion here though. Speak to you doc and/or PT to get a balanced view.