Recovery though has been a different story. Today is day 6 post-surgery. According to calculations (assuming a 6-month speedy recovery), I am only at 3.27% of being recovered. Sigh. The doc did say that unfortunately it will take making my knee worse (with surgery) before it will become better.
The first 36 hours post-surgery were... indescribable, excruciating pain. It radiated from every, single pain receptor of the innermost knee and throughout the calf and thigh. Even with max dose of oxocodone, the pain was relentlessly sharp, burning, and stabbing. There was no relief, and as painful as it was, if I tried in vain to move to find a more comfortable position, intense throbs of pain attacked leaving no nerve untouched in the wrath. If flexed any muscle.. again surging, intolerable pain. I ran a low fever at 101 and went from feeling hot to cold. All I could do was recall my hypno-bithing mantras to make feeble attempts at mindfully pleading with my leg to not move and let the pain engulf. Managing child birth was successful. Managing ACL reconstruction.. failed. It made child birth seem like a walk in the park.
Break-through relief came after I was able to get a few hours of drug-induced sleep at which point I knew the drugs were finally working. The pain was still present, but felt more manageable. Day 4, I was able to stop taking pain meds all together. I choose to get off meds early because I don't like the side-effects. However, it means I have to tolerate the lingering throbs of pain and frequent sharp twinges randomly in all areas. In hindsight, maybe I should have stayed on the pain meds longer... Day 4 also allowed us to remove surgical dressings and see the extent of the damage. Yikes! It is definitely one unhappy knee right now. Swelling is still very much present in the entirety of the leg and lots of bruising.
It is now Day 6 post-op. I started rehab on Day 3 by spending 2-3 hours a day using a Continuous Passive Motion (CPM) machine which automatically bends and extends my leg. I also have a list of exercises to do with the first initiative to reactivate my muscles and work on range of motion (ROM). The quads, hamstring, calf muscles have pretty much shut down due to the trama from the surgery. So until they start taking orders from higher up (aka the brain) versus the nervous system over-ride, I am pretty much still very limited. Standing, walking, even sitting upright can only be done in short spurts. Lying down with the leg elevated, while uncomfortable, is still, at this point, the best I can do. I'm fully understanding now why they say recovery typically takes 6-12 months... it's definitely been tougher than I imagined.
Posts
Good luck getting back to ninja'ing Cons.I hope you rush for over 2000 yards next year!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sam! You know, in an uncanny way, a good note is that this brings back nostalgia to freshman year of college when I met Christina. I also recall her carrying me up and down the stairs of Galathea. Ah.. the good ol' days... =)
DeleteI'm a bit late in catching up on the blog so you're hopefully well into your recovery by now, but dang, your experience sounds awful. Childbirth is like a walk in the park compared with this??? I haven't experienced either and thus can only begin to imagine the pain.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear that everything went successfully though. I think you'll be ready for the Alpha Warrior next year!