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Blogs by Jackie S Brooks
Seven Weeks On 12/9/2003 3:00:37 PM
On the 19th October I was admitted to Scarborough Hospital and my bilateral knee replacement was performed on the 20th. Yes, it was painful, at first. I was given an epidural, my choice, I didn't fancy morphine shots. For two days I could not eat, didn't want to eat, the anasthetic always makes me sick, even a drink of water made me throw up!(I could have forgone the anasthetic since I had an epidural, but I didn't fancy watching them work on my knees, and it was a long operation. I went down to theatre at 2.30pm and came back to the ward at 8.30pm) On my third day I managed to keep down a cup of soup in the evening.
I awoke to find all sorts of things plumbed into me, blood transfusions, saline drip, epidural, catheter, drains from both knees and a blood pressure monitor - my blood pressure dropped way to low during the operation and I was monitored for several days, eventually it reached 62/111 so they figured I was ok then.
On the Wednesday a physiotherapist came to see me and asked me to try to lift my foot off the bed. Ha ha! My hips were still paralysed from the epidural, but I could wiggle my toes and feel the pain in my knees. I tried to raise my right foot, it felt like I was trying to lift a fossilised tree trunk, the heaviness was unbelievable. Eventually I managed to raise it about 5cm off the bed and Vino the physio was thrilled, he told me a man in the next bay still couldn't get his foot off the bed and he had been operated on five days before me.
By friday Vino had me walking, or rather shuffling, on a walking frame, then that same afternoon I graduated to crutches. The surgeon wanted to keep me in for two weeks but after ten days they decided I was ready to go home.
Two weeks after leaving hospital, the physiotherapist at Malton Hospital decided I didn't need crutches anymore and gave me a walking stick. Yesterday, seven weeks since the operation, I handed the stick back, I hadn't used it for a week outside and didn't use it in the house at all. I can walk up and down stairs normally now and have 103 degree bend in my right knee and 105 degree in the left, the physio told me they aim for 100 degrees. Over the next few months that should increase even more.
My left knee is virtually pain free now and I just get the odd twinge in the right one, if I sit too long or stand too long they can stiffen a little so I have to move around a bit to avoid that. Eventually I will be able to kneel again but not just yet.
Today I saw my surgeon for the first time since leaving hospital and he is thrilled with the rapid progress I have made and said he wishes all his patients were like me. He just happened to have his digital camera with him and took some video footage of me walking towards him, as the hospital is to become a teaching hospital he wanted a record to show to the medical students!
In another six weeks I go back to see him again and they will x-ray my legs to make sure everything is ok. One thing I had not noticed previous to the operation until he mentioned it, was that the damage to my knees - caused by arthritis - had caused my legs to start bowing out. No wonder it was so painful and tiring when I walked just a few yards, now my legs are as straight as they should be and I swear I feel taller!!
I am glad I had it done and even more glad that I had both done at the same time. A sloping car park in town that used to leave me breathless, tired and hurting now doesn't bother me at all, I can start going for walks with my husband once more. That is success.
Apart from my surgeons skill, I put my recovery and rapid progress down to all the prayer, worldwide, that went up for me at this time. I know God was watching over me and had His hand on me and the surgeon.
