Hmm..where do I start. While being wheeled into surgery I had a great discussion with "Mike the orderly" about motorcycles. He recently took a trip to Tennessee and rode the Tail of the Dragon in a full dressed Harley. That was awesome to learn. Oh and he reminded me that there is a helmet law in Tennessee...if you don't have on on you, you be forced to get a souvenir.
I woke up from surgery in pain. Deep, throbbing, just-cut-the-damn-thing-off pain. The anesthesiologist knew that on one occasion I woke up sick from a surgery. She said that they will be giving me things to alleviate that. I'm not sure what they gave me but I was sick for a few hours and then into the evening once I got home.
While in recovery I was given injection after injection to deal with the pain. Nothing seemed to help. I rated my pain at no less than an 8. Yes, it was that bad. The last shot was of morphine. I'm not a big fan of morphine....I was trying my best to wake up and feel better so I could home...but that just made me sleep more. Once again I was thinking of everyone around me....my children were bored in the clinic and my husband had things to do...I needed to get home. That last shot of morphine did help me sleep the entire hour long drive home...I did have one heck of a headache though. Still not a big fan of morphine. I never did get a nerve block that I have read about in other blogs.
The next day I had come to realize that my pain pills only lasted for 2 hours. It takes 45 minutes for them to kick in and I cannot take more for at least 4 hours. This sucked!!! I discovered a considerable amount of draining and bleeding on both sides of my splint that morning as well. I called the ortho department (wasn't open or staffed just yet) and was instructed to go to the ER in my town to have them evaluate me. Really??? It costs $800 to travel through the doors. While I work for my insurance company, I still have to pay for a lot of this stuff. I waited until the Ortho department called me and told them the scenario.
I was instructed to call my primary doctor and see if he will check it out. If he wouldn't, I would then seek help in the ER. I called my primary doc and his nurse told me, "I'm not sure why you are calling here, he didn't do your surgery, he's not going to know what to do with you or want to see your ankle." I mustered every single bit of kindness I could and explained to her that I would appreciate if she would at least ask him. She proceeded to tell me that she didn't know why she had to do this but she will call me back. There are things that ran through my mind that would scare old ladies and small children....I will keep them to myself.
Fifteen minutes later I got a call from my doctor's nurse saying that he did want to see me that day. I could be seen in 40 minutes or later if I choose. I chose to be seen early. I figured it would be best to just keep my opinions to myself with his nurse. I will assume that she didn't know any better.
Since I love my primary doctor...he's a fantastic guy to see...I felt it was important to be kind to his nurse. I can only hope that she knows she was quite the arse to me on the phone. What was really amusing is that while my doctor was in the room to check my incisions (he squeezed my incisions to check for draining...boy was that a not so pleasant feeling), the nurse asked me what I had done. I thought it was particularly fun to talk over her head. I still giggle over the dumb look she gave the RN and the doctor in the room. While I was being wrapped up, I described everything in lay terms I knew she didn't understand anything I said to her previously.
I went home with fresh, clean bandages on my lower leg, instructions to take a full 2400 mg of Ibuprofen in addition to the oxycodone during the day. I opted to take my meds in regular intervals to minimize the pain but really....this deep bone pain is something else!!! I really hope it stops soon.
Pictures are my waking up in recovery...my good leg was constantly stomping the floor...boy was that some pain I could live without! Also on here are my post op bandages that I bled through and my day one images before getting rewrapped. Fun Fun!!
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