Surgery today actually went really well. We reported to the hospital at 0545 - bright and early! Things moved along very quickly. I was checked in and prepped almost immediately. Then, before 0645 I was back in the OR Holding room to start my IV, etc. I was quite nervous (I don't do well with hospitals and needles) but everyone was really nice and caring. The only time I can say I really started to not feel well, besides basic queasy nerves, was the first IV bag of meds - I think the drip rate was way too fast. Once they slowed it down I was fine, but initially I started to feel very light headed, nauseous, and also very hot and sweaty.
I did opt to have a femoral nerve block along with the general anesthesia. It is supposed to block feeling to my leg and last longer than a general pain med. The doc was great about explaining it, taking me through it and showing it to me on the ultrasound. Essentially they give you some 'happy meds' so you don't even know what is going on, and they have a special injection that goes into a nerve bundle near your groin to block the leg to be operated on.
I was the first person of the day wheeled back into the OR. I believe I was into surgery just after 0700. Next thing I knew, it was just after 1000 and I was in the Post-Op Recovery room. The 'block' wore off a lot quicker than anticipated. I could move my ankles/feet/toes right away and needed meds quickly to dull the pain to make it manageable. Overall, I woke up and came to easily and quickly. The surgeon came in quickly, then went to talk to my boyfriend almost right away. The surgeon will call me tomorrow; he had to get to another surgery asap. He said everything went very well. Ligament was a donor and that portion of the MPFL reconstruction went exactly as planned. I did have significant cartilage damage though. Therefore he did have to perform the micro fracture on the lateral femoral condyle. (This mean he drilled small holes in my femur to allow blood supply to flow through and clot; it creates an additional padding since cartilage cannot be added or repaired). This means that I will be non weight bearing for 8 wks.
Soon after I was brought back to my room where my boyfriend was waiting for me. They tracked my vitals for an hour (which was required) and made sure the pain was manageable and under control. I was able to start eating and drinking right away with no nausea which was very good. They let me dress and try to go the bathroom. That was very hard at first - standing sent a lot of pressure to my leg. Also - trying to not bear any weight on my leg was difficult considering my whole body was tired and shaky from all the medications.
Around 1230 we left the hospital to head home. Got some food and I've been relaxing on the couch with ice since. I still feel quite awake and good. The soreness and stiffness is definitely starting to increase though. I'm sure that will be the hard part for at least the first few days.
My boyfriend and a few other close friends are going to begin moving my bedroom up to the main floor tomorrow. There is no way I'm going to be able to live downstairs and go up and down daily solely with crutches/no weight for 2 months!
Current prognosis: non weight bearing for eight (8) weeks, wear brace every day at all times for 3 months expect when doing range of motion stretching, start physical therapy (PT) right away (already made an appointment for Friday afternoon), take pain meds and elevate and ice 4-6x day.
My 1st week follow-up is Wed. May 30th. Luckily my boyfriend will still be here to take me to that which is great (before he leaves that afternoon). I will leave my dressing on and in place until that time. I can't see anything really. My entire leg is covered in an ACE wrap over the wound dressing and I have a nice, new and large adjustable immobilizer style brace. I'm interested to find out what the scar actually will look like.
I think that's about everything. Hopefully things will continue to get better from here. Today was what I was the most nervous about and that is now over. I'm hopeful that if I follow the doctors orders and take it slow I will make a full recovery by the end of the year (they have given me a 6mo timeline until full 'unrestricted' recovery.
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