Living & learning...

Well I'm 6 weeks tomorrow post-op (1st one) and I have to say that I am quite pleased with my progress so far. Seeing my surgeon again on Tuesday when I hope he will give me the OK to start hydrotherapy at my local hospital. So what have I been doing this past week...

Tablets & pain - well I've managed to cut out two more painkillers this week which means that I'm now taking approx. 50% the number I was when I first came home. I take the 'full monty' of painbusters (2 Tramadol, 2 Paracetamol & 1 Diclofenic) at 8am and again at 11pm and a booster at 4pm. Not so sure it has been a good idea to cut these pills as I have been getting some breakthrough pain late evening and during the night but I am going to persevere if I can. I will be sensible though and stay at this level for a couple of weeks. Coming off all these drugs is part of my roadmap... Pain in the leg is 'shutting up' slowly but I have had some weird sensations in and around the wound site - one night I felt as though the area was one giant pin-cushion - I was up for a couple of hours in the night not exactly in pain but in discomfort. I've also experienced the 'fizzing' my Pilates friend talked about - it's like rice krispies (snap,crackle & pop) under the skin! My friend says it's where the inflammation is going and the nerves are crackling back into life. Whoa!

Exercise - I have upped the amount of daily exercise now to include exercises such as sciatic nerve mobilisation (hamstrings), side-side knee rolls, lying in extension and flexion (legs) in lying - these exercises in particular help with stiffness caused by surgery, restore muscle & tissue length and reduce scarring - damaged tissues can heal up and become short and less flexible.

Anxiety - I talked about this in my last post. Things haven't improved this week I'm afraid - in fact, I have experienced a number of anxiety attacks this week with one developing into a full-blown panic attack. This is frightening for me as well as for Dr Vic who has to get me breathing properly again and calm me down. I feel like I've got a million and one things going round in my head - stupid I know, I'm going to mention this to my surgeon on Tuesday just to see if it's 'normal'. Maybe it's just that I have too much time on my hands to think...

Out and about - sadly I missed my graduation ceremony and a dear family members 70th - it was optimistic of me to even think that I could attend either event. BUT I did manage to do some christmas shopping in the Fraser sale. I was under strict intructions from Dr Vic - I had 45 minutes to shimmy (well hobble with my stick!) around and get some gifts. Felt really pleased with myself as I got loads of nice bargain stocking fillers (most of my shopping has been done on the Internet). Mind you the exertion combined with all the drugs made me sweat profusely, so much so that one assistant actually asked me if it was raining outside. My goodness, I looked like a drowned rat but boy DID I enjoy myself!!!!

So for both of us, this week has seen a small return to something resembling normality... I know I still have a mountain to climb but it was wonderful to enjoy the moment and see a huge smile on Dr Vic's face again, he's been so worried about me...