ACL Day 1 + 2
TLDR
1) Hydromorphone SUCKS and makes me very nauseous. Have a vomit bucket ready at all times after.
2) Cryo cuff machines make your icing MUCH easier
3)
Day 1
I went at for 7 am, groggy but ready. There was another ACL surgery patient, a teen girl. She and I were ushered into a changing area where we were given hospital gowns, robes, cap, green socks and paper booties. Our respective nurses and surgeons came in to review with us our procedures. I could hear the other patient's doctor chat with her for awhile. My surgeon, Dr. Brookhill, came in with a confident smile, introduced herself to my partner who was accompanying me, signed my leg (ABH) with a marker and said she would see me soon in there. My nurse came in to check my weight, go over some confirming questions including asking my name, birthdate, if I react to anesthesia (I said I didn't remember, and much later recalled I react quite badly in fact) and what surgery I was having. I assume to have verbal consent that I knew what was going to happen. She then brought me into the surgery unit where I would be operated on. My eye were hit with the bright lights in the typical surgery room that cast no shadows. The nurse that brought me turned to her colleagues and said in a firm informing voice, "She is having a hamstring graft". The other nurses looked a bit surprised and confused for a second before saying "Ok, we will have to get the other tools" or something along those lines. I must have looked alarmed, not surprisingly, as the nurse led me to the bed and assured me " don't worry, you're getting the hamstring graft".
Meanwhile, the anesthetic doctor, Dr. B? introduced herself and inserted a needle into my left hand.
Dr. Brookhill came in, and conferred with the nurses for awhile. I could hear them going over my paperwork, confirming the type of graft I was getting. Dr. Brookhill turned to me with the same confident assuring smile she had earlier and said, "You're getting the hamstring graft" and then added to the nurses to give me a little more TLC, which I wondered if that meant get me under anesthetic soon before I started to freak out.
The other nurses went back to preparing their tools and talking about a particularly disturbing episode of Breaking Bad. I could feel something cold flow into my hand through the needle. The first nurse came over and put an oxygen mask over me, telling me to take some breathes. The anesthesia must have started being administered as I felt a wave of tears well over and emotion overcome me. I briefly noted how odd I was crying in a surgery room. In my head, I called out and then...
The next thing I saw was a nurse next to me. I was in a different darker room, the after surgery area. My throat hurt, my mouth was dry and I was very dizzy. When I came to, she asked me if I react to anesthesia, and the look on my nauseous face gave her the answer. I was felt very sick. She told me to try to get some rest, but there were some people chatting loudly closeby and some loud sirens that kept going off so I couldn't. She administered some gravol and something else through my IV a few times as I came in and out of consciousness. I asked her several times when she would call my partner. I could feel my PTSD coming up and between that, the drugs' effects and my nausea, my anxiety was rising quickly. Though they didn't usually allow visitors in the ward I was in, she saw I was in pretty rough shape and made the exception. When I saw him, I felt a sense of relief, followed by more waves of nausea. The hospital kept me there for a longer time to allow me to rest a bit before getting ready to go to the car.
I don't remember how I got to the car but I must have gotten there and in the house somehow. I spent the rest of the day and night hugging myself, blankets and a blue bucket which I vomitted everything that I tried to put into my body and then some. The drugs SUCKED. While my knee didn't hurt at all, the Hydromorphone made me feel like shit. I switched to half tabs of T3s later instead and spent the night squirming uncomfortably unsure if I was going to vomit or finally fall asleep. Drugs sure make my waking dreams/nighmares even weirder.
Oh, and my knee also made this weird sloshy water sound whenever I moved. It sounded like a bag of water. I was told later by someone in my ACL Support Whatsapp group that it could be from the saline the surgeons injects into the knee.
Day 2
By morning, the big painkillers were wearing off though I could still feel them in my head, which meant more pain but less vomitting. I was able to swallow a small ball of rice, hoping it would act as a buffer for the T3s.
The rest of the day has been ok so far. T3's, icing, and eating more. I can defnitely feel the pain, and while the T3's don't make me feel very good, they aren't as strong or awful as the opiates. Three friends dropped by separately, bringing hugs, food and plants. I am warmed by all the messages I received the last couple days and today wishing me a good surgery and following up on how I'm doing.
Between slow trips to the bathroom (Peeing is an epic trek with many breaks within the 3 meters), and the rounds of meds, icing, etc. The cryo cuff makes icing so much easier. You just put ice and water in this little ice chest thing that is connect to a tube and water cuff and it cycles the cold water around wherever you put the cuff. The ice even stays cold and frozen overnight.
I've been spending the day working on my website and cleaning out photos...and resisting unecessary Black Friday purchases. Though I am drawn to buying some wide legged jeans from KOTN since I mostly have fitted pants and feel like I will need some looser bottom coverings soon. Plus, I love a good social impact effort and they announced all sales this weekend go 100% to building 2 schools in Egypt.
What do you think? They're on sale,...probably for a reason. I can't decide if these dip jeans are fun or tacky. Truth told, I'd rather run down to Random and pick up a pair, but...I'm stuck carving out a butt dent in my couch for awhile.
