Before the surgery, be organized and make whatever preparations are necessary keeping in mind that you will be mostly useless and miserable for the first 10 days after the procedure. For me, since I have a retail business, I needed to stock up and over load shelves in advance knowing that carrying things will not be easy when I first returned to work. I also ship items to customers, so I pre-packed a lot of popular items in advance, so all they needed was a shipping label applied. I also piled those pre-packed items close to where the UPS guys pick-up, so I'd avoid any unnecessary carrying and walking. Just think through your work routine and be prepared.
Once you're procedure is done, you'll spend maybe three nights in ICU where they will monitor your vitals every two hours including a Doppler which checks the blood flow in your feet. It's very important that the bypass works and blood is flowing.
The first thing I noticed as I came out of the anesthesia was... there was a tube in my penis. That's not fun. It also makes your every move much more gentle so not to disturb that tube too much. They removed my tube on day three, but you're still unable to get out of bed to get to a toilet. Now your next little inconvenience is peeing into a plastic bottle... and because you're still receiving intravenous fluids, you are peeing like crazy. Like most men, I generally pee standing up. Peeing in the sitting position does not come naturally for me. If I could go back in time, I would literally practice peeing in that sitting-up-in-bed position. Don't laugh. It's not that easy.
Another thing that's not easy for me is sleeping on my back. You'll have tubes stuck everywhere and sleeping on your back is the only option. Again, going back in time, I might consider practicing trying to sleep on my back. It can't hurt. They say sleeping on your back is very healthy. And frankly, it will be a couple weeks before you can even get to even sleeping on your side.
I try to be prepared for everything and I anticipated that having a bowel movement would be another challenge. I was operated on a Friday and my first BM was not until the following Monday.... not my usual pattern, and you don't want to be backed-up longer than four days. On the Wednesday before the surgery, I took a laxative (ex-Lax) and completely evacuated my system on Thursday. It was a smart move which made waiting until the four day for my next BM not so critical. Consider it. And they won't let you go home unless they know your insides are working.
The first day you're zombified. Just accept being flat on your back. It may be the same for Day 2, but you should start right away trying to stretch the leg. I'm not sure how the surgeon would feel about this, but I started to stretch my leg straight very soon after the procedure. I would trap the Achilles of my operated leg between the big toe and long toe on my good leg... and lift it up gently. I could feel it stretch out the swollen area behind my knee. Then I'd drop the leg to the bed, shift to my left butt-cheek, and using the heel of my good foot, I'd place it against the lower shin of the operated leg, and gently pull my lower leg back in order to get my knee to bend. The swollen area behind your knee will prevent any deep angle bend, but it starts the process of getting that leg to bend. Be gentle, but committed. After a moment, I switch back to stretching the leg straight, then back to bending the leg, back to stretching straight, etc etc. I did sets of 10, three times a day, especially the last two days prior to getting out of bed and walking. You don't want to wait until day 4 before trying to bend that knee.
Here's some last thoughts about the hospital stay. You will need a walker. Don't rely on the hospital to provide one. Just have someone bring your own. Also, avoid taking pain meds. I took a Percocet on Day 3 and it was a mistake. I misinterpreted being uncomfortable for being in pain. It's not the same. Had it not been for how groggy the pain Med made me, I might have been able to get up and walking a day earlier on Day 3 and possibly could have gone home one day earlier. There is a lot of discomfort, but the pain level was not that high for me.
And lastly, don't expect any privacy. I had never been hospitalized before and it was a constant struggle to keep my maintain a certain level of dignity as you pee in a jug, talk to strangers about BMs, and forget to cover up your man parts half the time. It was a blessing to get out of there.
Once you're procedure is done, you'll spend maybe three nights in ICU where they will monitor your vitals every two hours including a Doppler which checks the blood flow in your feet. It's very important that the bypass works and blood is flowing.
The first thing I noticed as I came out of the anesthesia was... there was a tube in my penis. That's not fun. It also makes your every move much more gentle so not to disturb that tube too much. They removed my tube on day three, but you're still unable to get out of bed to get to a toilet. Now your next little inconvenience is peeing into a plastic bottle... and because you're still receiving intravenous fluids, you are peeing like crazy. Like most men, I generally pee standing up. Peeing in the sitting position does not come naturally for me. If I could go back in time, I would literally practice peeing in that sitting-up-in-bed position. Don't laugh. It's not that easy.
Another thing that's not easy for me is sleeping on my back. You'll have tubes stuck everywhere and sleeping on your back is the only option. Again, going back in time, I might consider practicing trying to sleep on my back. It can't hurt. They say sleeping on your back is very healthy. And frankly, it will be a couple weeks before you can even get to even sleeping on your side.
I try to be prepared for everything and I anticipated that having a bowel movement would be another challenge. I was operated on a Friday and my first BM was not until the following Monday.... not my usual pattern, and you don't want to be backed-up longer than four days. On the Wednesday before the surgery, I took a laxative (ex-Lax) and completely evacuated my system on Thursday. It was a smart move which made waiting until the four day for my next BM not so critical. Consider it. And they won't let you go home unless they know your insides are working.
The first day you're zombified. Just accept being flat on your back. It may be the same for Day 2, but you should start right away trying to stretch the leg. I'm not sure how the surgeon would feel about this, but I started to stretch my leg straight very soon after the procedure. I would trap the Achilles of my operated leg between the big toe and long toe on my good leg... and lift it up gently. I could feel it stretch out the swollen area behind my knee. Then I'd drop the leg to the bed, shift to my left butt-cheek, and using the heel of my good foot, I'd place it against the lower shin of the operated leg, and gently pull my lower leg back in order to get my knee to bend. The swollen area behind your knee will prevent any deep angle bend, but it starts the process of getting that leg to bend. Be gentle, but committed. After a moment, I switch back to stretching the leg straight, then back to bending the leg, back to stretching straight, etc etc. I did sets of 10, three times a day, especially the last two days prior to getting out of bed and walking. You don't want to wait until day 4 before trying to bend that knee.
Here's some last thoughts about the hospital stay. You will need a walker. Don't rely on the hospital to provide one. Just have someone bring your own. Also, avoid taking pain meds. I took a Percocet on Day 3 and it was a mistake. I misinterpreted being uncomfortable for being in pain. It's not the same. Had it not been for how groggy the pain Med made me, I might have been able to get up and walking a day earlier on Day 3 and possibly could have gone home one day earlier. There is a lot of discomfort, but the pain level was not that high for me.
And lastly, don't expect any privacy. I had never been hospitalized before and it was a constant struggle to keep my maintain a certain level of dignity as you pee in a jug, talk to strangers about BMs, and forget to cover up your man parts half the time. It was a blessing to get out of there.
No comments:
Post a Comment