Things appear to be going very well, starting to cut back on the pain meds, yet increasing the diazapam a bit for muscle relief. Also on cumadan and celebrex. I have had my worst episodes of pain at night and am finding it damn near impossible to sleep on my back...Wedge dosen't really suit me, infact it caused such hoorible pain and discomfort immediately following surgery, to the extent I could not use it,nursing/doctor team allowed me to not use it. (been real careful on the percautions though, crossing legs etc. Personally I believe I've had such limited range of motion for so long (could only spread my feet 1 1/2 ft max prior to surgery) that my muscles simply have losses the memory/limberness required to use the wedge. Been very difficult to sleep at night, but able to nap some during the day, but, my butt is dragging.. Took a shower on my own this morning, got a tremendous amout of satufaction out of this small step forward.....
Now a question. how does one know if they are pushing it to hard. I mean. obviously some pain is involved in rehab work. I walked about 1 mile this morning on crutches * was told by surgeon walker or crutches for the first 4 weeks, but have yet to have a real sitdown Q & A session with my surgeon, post surgery, except I do know joint damage and osteophytes were a bit worse than expected. Next appointment with the surgeon is on the 19th.. My big question, understanding responses will very do to particular individiual siuations is.......
So my question is---How much shoud I push it? Pretty much blew through time with the walker, finding crutches much more easy to use, not to mention safer!! (g) Except at night, pain has been pretty minimal..Just walked about 1 mile with crutches and don't feel real sore, I'vw also been doing most the exercises outlined in the discharge papers and avoinding those that were crossed out. Been using the "sliding" strap when "sliding my legs etc.
So any opinions? I'm 12 days post surgery (surgery was on 7/22) And would like to push as much as I can without doing damage...Xray was talken prior to discharge from inpatient rehab facility/local hospital (different hospital from the one where I had the surgery performed. In fact I had planned to stay a week in rehab, but got discharged a day early.
Again, things for any opinions of advice. (Would like to be back pounding nails and doing gc work, by early- mid Nov.)
TIA..
Vt Waddling less