Hey everyone I hope you're doing well, I have very mixed news and I'm not really sure it's been processed or not to the full extent.
Saturday came and I popped in to hospital to give the bloods a little early but I wasn't going to be late. Sat in the car a while and then in. All went how I had expected it to the day before and was there maybe 15 minutes, had no milk or food in the house so popped to the shop to get a small carton of milk and a meal for that night.
Pretty much everything was ready for me to go the next day, I would spend the night before at my parents before heading in to hospital the next morning.
They didn't say about stopping some of the tablets like they had for the previous one so I stopped them anyway to minimise hiccups. Came in and all was going grand, I was first in the afternoon and not too much of a wait. Taken down for the op and then out cold. I think it was about an hour and a half, I'm not certain on that though.
And was brought round to recovery, I think I remember being brought there so I must have woken up after the surgery before leaving there. Eventually I was brought round to the ward, it was one of the bays which I'm not really used to with my superbug and risk of infection, but there was only one other person there and he seemed ok.
My legs were still numb but it was gradually wearing off mostly on the right leg. Had an issue, as always, with the blood pressure being low. My normal is 90/60 and after anyone ever takes it they're "you need to drink more water" and so you're drinking gallons of water with no real affect and then they started pumping fluids into me, "are you dizzy? Light headed?" Nope... Anyway they ended up stopping my beta blocker and it went up to their normal.
Of course with all the fluids going in it also has to come out, I said no to the catheter so that it would mean I would be up and about sooner but with the low blood pressure and numbness I was bedbound and needed to use a bottle. They didn't tell me how to use it when lying down but I've already nailed that technique with previous experience.
Had a bit of a chat with the guy beside me but more formalities than becoming best buddies, seemed quite a nice guy and hope he's already home hopping about! The nurses were also very nice and helpful, I had been told they were quite strict and bossy but nothing like that.
That night was pretty horrible, new bed, surgery, fluids and BP's being done. It was just constant and little sleep was bad.
The following or continuing on into what would be when people wake up I noticed my left leg was still very numb in parts and I'd noticed the foot coming back and part of the thigh but it just stopped and it was the stopping was more concerning than the numbness itself.
I told the nurses and doctor and they were happy enough that it could still be time for it to come back.
I was brought out of bed with the physios and was able to walk and went to the loo as well, although there were a few times were my left knee gave way and if it wasn't for the crutches and them holding me I'd have been on the ground, but most of the time I was able to lock the knee and put weight on it and back to the bed, but could only leave with someone
At that point things started to go pair shaped, I was told I'd be moving wards, then I was told I'd be going for an x-ray and back another ward, then I was taken for an x-ray and back to the same ward to be moved after lunch, and then wasn't moved at all, which was grand, I knew the nurses and the layout and at that point I was the only person there.
That soon changed when the ones having surgery that day started turning up, first guy was grand, but the second person had a really bad phlegmy cough and I was instantly concerned, and had to say to the nurse about being immunosuppressed. After a while they ended up moving me to my own bay, but it was at least two hours and by that stage...
The surgeon came round that evening, he told me it had all went really well, minimal blood loss and the x-ray looked good, then I told him about the numbness and it hadn't changed from that morning that was a bit of a shock to him and he felt around where it was and said about the femural nerve possibly being bruised.
Skip on a bit to the morning the nurse was with me and I was moving from the bed to the chair and I didn't lock my knee properly and it gave way, down I went. I'm not really sure what way I fell but I was concerned about twisting my new hip, I think I was fast enough with my right leg to move it back and with the crutches to push me back, not that I was thinking to do any of that but I ended up with my head and shoulders on the bed and my right leg holding me up and then the nurse holding my waste up. I was stable enough that she could let go briefly to get help from the others to get me in to bed. I tried to relax to feel if I banged or hurt anything but I seemed to be really lucky and not hurt anything and the hip seemed ok, a little more tender but I think it would have been like that anyway.
"Was it the blood pressure, were you light headed?" *facepalm*
After that the knee thing was escalated and more people rather than just the surgeon were looking into it. The surgeon explained it all really well but basically during the surgery they need to move stuff out of the way and in doing so it agitated the femural nerve and it has refused to work since, there's no actual damage so should make a full recovery but it's not really known how long that'll take, by the sounds at least a month. But they have got me a brace for the leg which prevents it from collapsing so I'm able to move around with it on, but I can't put it on or take it off by myself and getting in and out of bed is a struggle but possible. Sitting is very uncomfortable and for a few hours after wearing it it still feels like it's on me. It's weird that I can move my foot and toes ok but the muscles around me knee are useless, when the foot dangles the feeling is what I would imagine the part in Harry Potter when the bone gets magiced out of the arm and it's all floppy.
Today the bed manager wanted me moved but the nurses were quite adamant that I wasn't going into a bay and wouldn't let me go. Eventually there seemed to be a bit of a compromise and the bay was empty before moving me to it as I'm now scheduled to be going home tomorrow. I was able to manage the exercises and obstacles with the brace on but it does take it out of me but that'll just take time.
The last couple of days I've noticed a few early signs of infection, it doesn't sound like much but I'm a big hyper paranoid and pick up on things as they normally end up being something, I had the early stages of a fever yesterday, having the jitters and the heat being centralised, but a couple of paracetamol sorted it, the temp ended being up a bit from normal. And today I had a similar feeling at a similar time and again later in the day and both times paracetamol has settled it, I've also had a tingly nose and I've sneezed twice and just the general urgh feeling. I just hope it's not the start of something and the next thing already, it would be nice for this to all settle a bit first.
That's this all up to date happy 29th of Feb it's a special day.