I finally decided to get up about 7am or so since I couldn’t really sleep all night. With my wife’s help, put the CPM machine to work on the bed itself (the surface needs to be flat for this one). However, I didn’t know what to do with the brace. After trying to see if we could loosen the hinge on the brace, we just called the surgical center. A nurse called back and said we should remove the brace and everything else except the bandage before using the machine. See – important details such as these get ignored in the process of filling ‘un’necessary paperwork. Anyway, set the machine up to start at 10% flexion and went up to 30% within an hour or so. No issues, it went as well as it could. Felt I could easily increase it.
Finished the morning chores and wanted to take a shower. This was probably the most difficult activity. Covered the brace with a plastic bag and put a towel on top – just in case. Our shower has a sliding door and is about 6ft long. So, I kept my leg on a step stool just outside the stall and I sat on a lawn chair inside. Got another bucket of hot water with a mug and turned the shower on. As difficult as it was, I was at least able to get a decent shower. Got dressed and came down the stairs which was not too bad and I was quite happy there was no pain. Did the CPM for another hour or so and went up to 40% this time. Had some friends over and chatted for a while and slept on and off on the lazyboy during the course of the day.
Now the gross part. Everyone was scaring me about bowel movements and since the surgery I hadn’t had one – so, I ate a few prunes (friends’ suggestion) and took four spoons (!) of milk of magnesia (MOM) – which is the dosage for adults. I ate some cereal, had coffee, and ate more later in the day. About 7pm or so, I began to have the ‘movements’ and it continued several times for the rest of the day. I may have overdone it by taking too much MOM but it did make me feel much better.
All this while, I was feeling fine and had been taking one Vicodin every six hours. Towards the end of the day, I started to feel throbbing pain in the leg where they made the holes (I think). Especially, when I got up, it would start to throb! So, I was being more careful getting up. I did the CPM for another hour around mid-night and went up to 60%. I figured I would just sleep in the lazyboy instead of going upstairs. So, I went to sleep in the living room – quite an uneventful day, although it seemed to be a very long day.
After many years, I just sat around the whole day observing what was going on. First thing I need to acknowledge is how much my wife took care of me and everything else. The biggest problems in a relationship, I think, are due to taking each other for granted and not acknowledging each other enough. I just hope I can convey my gratitude to my wife for all the things she has been doing since we met, especially during this period in my life. The other aspect is how the children behave when an adult gets incapacitated. Even though they are old enough to express themselves, it is almost as if they are unable to cope and instead, exhibit stressful behavior. These are topics have been discussed for eternity and I don’t intend to add to this literature. I just want to express my thankfulness to my family and my mother, and lest I forget my siblings (their families) and friends, they have been very helpful and were there for me during this ordeal.
How amazing is this human body! We should be thankful that a human being has not designed nor created the human body. Can you imagine how many problems there would be if this was a human creation?
BTW, while I was going through the paperwork, there was a card from ‘LifeNet Health’ which made this ‘allograft’ available for me. The card indicated that I may choose to send a letter which they will pass on to the family. I want to thank the person and the family that donated the graft and through this writing here is my expression of my deepest and heartfelt thanks.
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