As expected, today was definitely more difficult and painful than yesterday was. After coming home from the surgery yesterday afternoon I was sore, but it was tolerable and I stayed awake the entire afternoon and evening. I took my pain meds every six hours as prescribed. I was due for another dose at 1am - I knew I wouldn't make it through the whole night without them. I tried going to bed around 11pm...but set an alarm for my meds. By midnight I was already uncomfortable in bed and took my Lortab an hour early so that it would have time to kick in.
I did get some sleep, but woke up at 3am in a lot of stiff and pressure type pain. I had to wake up my boyfriend so he could get me wrapped up in ice. That alleviated some of the issue. I stayed awake for a good hour before I was able to doze off again. I made it until almost 730am when I needed another dose. Elevating the leg really does help. And for as much as it hurts to be standing and having the pressure and weight of my leg/bandage/brace it is necessary to change positions as much as tolerated so the leg doesn't lock. I've been doing my best to keep my foot and ankle moving to keep up the blood flow and prevent additional swelling or potential blood clots.
Once I ate breakfast and got back up to the couch I was a little better. I did doze off more often today. I'm much more tired and sore. I can feel more pain in the area of the incision and have been taking the meds closer to every 4 hours. I also started to feel some of the nausea. It's hard because you need to eat with the meds - but you also don't want very much either. I also have noticed I'm a lot more shaky and irritable (the lack of sleep probably isn't helping either!).
Tonight we attempted a shower...it was so difficult because I can't get my leg wet. Good thing I just got a nice hand held shower head and that I have some good core strength! My boyfriend had to help me a lot. I did my best to leave my bad leg out of the tub and sit on the edges. Then trying to do my hair without washing tons of water out and all over the floor was quite a challenge. The whole ordeal exhausted me. Hence why I am currently back in bed awaiting some dinner with my leg wrapped back up in ice.
Hopefully I will sleep through more of tonight and tomorrow will be better....
The doctor who called to check on me earlier today said that if I take the pain meds - followed by the nausea medication (even if I'm not nauseous) 2 hours later - the combination should enhance the pain medication and also put me to sleep. I'm going to try that before bed because I have yet to get any kind of deep sleep since 2 days before the operation.
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