Here I am, back home again, after surgery and two weeks of in-patient therapy. I am the proud owner of a new knee. The journey from painful gimp to heroic less painful gimp was a wild one, to be sure. My original surgery date was supposed to be February 9th but I was in so much pain I called and asked for it to be moved up so it was moved four days earlier. I went in on the 5th.
Now, in Kenosha, depending on who you talk to, you hear so much about the quality or lack of quality in the local medical professionals. I have never found the latter to be true. I have a great GP who is caring and challenges me to take better care of myself and it's been working. And my surgeon, Dr. Slimak, was amazing! I opted to use the old hospital downtown too because I am familiar with it and am comfortable there. Everyone there was so nice and, honestly, I was in and out of surgery in a flash! I woke up and wasn't even aware that I had gone in! And the best part? No pain! Now, of course, at the time I was still under sedation and I had been given a nerve block in my left leg so naturally there was no pain! But it was like heaven. I woke up feeling like a million bucks - and with so much energy! Because I use a C-Pap for sleep apnea the doc wanted me to spend one night in Critical Care - just in case - so off I went.
The care I got in the hospital was stellar. The RN's and the CNA's were so attentive. Anytime I called, they were right there within seconds asking me what I needed and making sure I was well cared for. They got me standing within the first day of my surgery which was amazing. Still no pain! I was using a walker to navigate the room from bed to commode and back again. The PT department came and worked that leg and showed me how to work it on my own. After that one night, I was moved to the regular surgical floor. I had a private room both times. The funny part was in CCU I had a huge flat screen TV and was looking forward to watching the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead on it but in my new surgical floor room I had the tiniest TV ever! Still, it was a nice room and I didn't have to share it. I did have one mishap one night. I called the aides when I had to use the commode and they helped me to stand. When I was finished one of them handed me some toilet paper and I absentmindedly took it in my left hand letting go of the walker and my knee buckled under me and I started to fall. The male aide was fast and he gently guided me to the floor so I didn't actually fall and everything was fine. I was half asleep and not thinking and neither was the aide who handed me the paper. My knee still had some nerve block in it and I didn't have full feeling back in it yet so it just gave out. It was scary but no harm was done.
After that, everything went smoothly. I was up and walking almost daily. I was doing laps around the nurses station and eventually using the regular bathroom and washing up in the bathroom on my own. I had opted to go to an inpatient rehab for more PT because I had to be able to climb several stairs to get into my apartment and I wasn't sure how I was going to do that. Now that I was healing so well and could see how easily I was taking to therapy I was having second thoughts on that decision but I decided to go ahead to go anyway.
I was admitted to Hospitality Manor on February 9th - ironically, the original surgery date. My first day there did not go well. I was greeted by a kind nurse who checked me in and I was taken to my room and that was pretty much it. I was left in a wheel chair and no one came to answer my call for the next three hours. I was so frustrated. I had to use the bathroom! They did not give me a walker, no way to get there on my own, and when an aide would ask me what I wanted she would tell me she had to get help and never return. Once she came back, after telling me she getting assistance, and she was passing out ice water instead. I blew up. I was pissed! After a time, Alex came in and I just burst into tears. He knew something was wrong. The nurse returned and he went and got a social worker and I filed a complaint on my very first day there. It was horrible and not a good way to start.
But, it got better...and I'll go more into that in the next installment of A Whole New Knee!
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