Part III: Coming Home!
After three days in the hospital, we learned insurance wouldn't cover the level of care my husband needed following his knee replacement surgery. They decided to send him home and set him up for home care and home PT (physical therapy). At first I panicked because I knew he was going to be home alone about 12 hours a day and they seemed a little too eager to discharge him. So I went with him to PT and watched him walk with walker and crutches and manage stairs, etc.
I was literally trembling as I got into the truck to swing by the front of the hospital where they were bringing him. His pain levels were through the roof and getting him into the truck with the knee immobilizer on and the crutches was an ordeal. With sheets of exercise regimens in hand we headed home.
We got home and made it up the steps. He was a little off balance when the dog ran to greet him and I was glad to be there to support him and help him regain his balance. Just the ordeal of getting home tired him, so he settled into bed to rest. It is very difficult to sleep in a hospital and he was exhausted period.
From the start my husband had a very determined and motivated attitude. He was warned it was going to be painful, but he was not going to let it keep him from doing what he needed to do so he could get back to the business of living a "normal" life.
The first few days he slept a lot partly due to the pain meds and also because of the exercises he was doing throughout the day. He used the crutches and walked short distances around the house. He didn't push himself, but he exercised regularly.
Many nights my husband wakens with stabbing jabbing pains down his leg; and yet with so little restful sleep, he doesn't complain. He accepts it as part of the healing process. His visiting nurse and therapist feel he is really doing above the average in speed of healing in spite of the mess the surgeon found when he started his work. He did a wonderful job on the inside and out. We feel very thankful and blessed.
Part 1: Total Knee Replacement - One Man's Journey
Part II: Total Knee Replacement - The Big Event
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: pain management, knee replacement, recovery
I was literally trembling as I got into the truck to swing by the front of the hospital where they were bringing him. His pain levels were through the roof and getting him into the truck with the knee immobilizer on and the crutches was an ordeal. With sheets of exercise regimens in hand we headed home.
We got home and made it up the steps. He was a little off balance when the dog ran to greet him and I was glad to be there to support him and help him regain his balance. Just the ordeal of getting home tired him, so he settled into bed to rest. It is very difficult to sleep in a hospital and he was exhausted period.
From the start my husband had a very determined and motivated attitude. He was warned it was going to be painful, but he was not going to let it keep him from doing what he needed to do so he could get back to the business of living a "normal" life.
The first few days he slept a lot partly due to the pain meds and also because of the exercises he was doing throughout the day. He used the crutches and walked short distances around the house. He didn't push himself, but he exercised regularly.
Many nights my husband wakens with stabbing jabbing pains down his leg; and yet with so little restful sleep, he doesn't complain. He accepts it as part of the healing process. His visiting nurse and therapist feel he is really doing above the average in speed of healing in spite of the mess the surgeon found when he started his work. He did a wonderful job on the inside and out. We feel very thankful and blessed.
Part 1: Total Knee Replacement - One Man's Journey
Part II: Total Knee Replacement - The Big Event
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: pain management, knee replacement, recovery
2 Comments:
Hi Indie. I haven't mastered blogging/mailing here on Web MD but I have to tell you my story.
Tonight, I stumbled across one of your blog entries from January 16, 2007. It’s titled “The Pain of being Overweight”. Thanks for writing it; you took the words right out of my mouth. I ‘m a 32-year-old college student who is made to feel like a criminal for asking my physicians for pain medication. I suffer from multiple simultaneous kidney stones and gallstones. Last week, I requested a refill for Percocet from my new family physician and was told the next time I needed this prescription I would have to go to the emergency room. I use a filled, no refill, prescription of 30 every 70-90 days. It both amazes and disgusts me how I have been prescribed so many medications in my adult life without an inkling of concern except for when it comes to pain meds for a diagnosed problem.
In the wake of a terribly painful day, I decide to research blogging and put my story out there. I read “The Pain of being Overweight” and then see the published date. I wondered if you had some recent blogs, so I jumped to your newest blogs about your husband’s knee replacement. Sounds like your husband is doing well, that’s great. Very coincidental, my mom had a partial knee replacement 8 weeks ago. It’s been a slow recovery for her but she has returned to work and really stepped up her physical therapy so the horizon is looking better for her every day. Hopefully, spring will give her a good boost of optimism.
I just wanted to thank you for posting these blogs. Just knowing there is someone out there who feels the way I do is comforting. I tend to feel alone in the world at times even though I ‘m surrounded by people constantly. Along with being an “older” college student in pursuit of a future career in health sciences, I ‘m a mother of a two year old, a wife to a great man who unfortunately works to hard to take care of us, and a daughter who has opened her doors in support for her own mother.
Jen Kocik
jenleigh123@hotmail.com
Hello Jen. You are not alone. Please visit me on my Pain Management and Migraine Boards here on WebMD. I believe you will find many folks who feel like you do and have possibly experienced some of what you may have. I can sense from your post you are a very caring and considerate lady and those are beautiful qualities. I look forward to talking with you again soon on my boards. Indie
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