Almost 8 weeks postop - back to work and physio time

I will be 8 weeks postop on tuesday. I had to return to uni and working on the wards at just over 6 weeks postop. It has not been a fun experience at all and I am struggling to maintain attendance if truth be told. I managed to complete one of my assessments which involved clerking and examining a patient and presenting them to the consultant on tuesday. Other than that, I am currently based on the gastroenterology (stomach/bowels) ward, supposed to be doing ward rounds, taking bloods, putting in cannulas etc and helping out the junior doctors as much as we can. I am getting mixed responses from doctors on the ward - the juniors are great and very helpful with the situation, the same cannot be said for the consultant who was on this week, she gave me the most disapproving look and a tut for leaving to go to physio on monday!

I did 3.5 hours on the ward on friday and that was enough, being very sore for the rest of the day and needing to spend a lot of the afternoon lying down. I am hoping to gently increase the hours this week, but will see how I go, as I don't want to push it too hard too soon. After all, I shouldn't actually be back for another 4 weeks yet! Although I have consistently found that people seem to assume that if you are back, you must be fine and not in pain and able to do everything you should be doing despite the crutches, they forget that you are still in pain and still in the early stages of recovery.

Pain - very much up and down depending on my activity. The more I do, the worse the pain and swelling is, as expected. I can tolerate about 3 hours before I am looking for a bed to lie down on! I am taking daytime and nighttime tramadol, 4 lots of paras and now arcoxia once daily too. Arcoxia is an anti inflammatory that is more specific so it has less stomach side effects. I have only started it this past 5 days or so, and I think it is helping to overall reduce my pain a bit. I tried to drop my daytime tram yesterday, went to sainsburys to do a shop. Unfortunately it was a bit much walking, as I was extremely sore all afternoon, and had to take my nighttime tram very early. I do find that if I let the pain get to a high level, it takes longer and is more difficult to get it back under control. So I am sticking to the painkillers for a while, with the hope that within a month or so, I will have cut them all down/out completely.

Physio - I had my first "assessment" on monday. It wasn't the most thorough check as she didn't even test my range of motion, just asked if I could do a straight leg raise (I couldn't move my leg upwards at all) and then declared my leg weak - well yes it is...! Her first comment to me was why are you still on crutches, as she thought I had had a scope. She didn't understand a PAO and never wrote that down on my sheet, so I am taking her in some info on PAO's and my op notes this week, as it seems a bit pointless having a physio who doesn't even know what muscles have been cut and moved etc.

Exercises - abduction and extension whilst standing. bending my knees about 30 degrees then squeezing a towel between my legs, bending my knee up and down whilst lying flat and clams - lying on good side, keeping ankles togther lifting operated leg upwards. I have been doing 3 x 10 of each, 3 x a day and already noticing a difference. I have also been using the Wii to try and improve my balance and get some more weight onto my left leg. Although I can only do a couple of minutes at a time, I think it will really make a difference as I get stronger.

I am using two crutches outside but I am now walking around the house with one crutch and sometimes hobble short distances without any, although I was told not to limp as I could damage my abductors, so I really have to concentrate on my gait and not dropping the operated side as I transfer weight onto it. I am aiming to go down onto one crutch outside next week, as I start my orthopaedics block!

xxx

6 week follow up - weight bearing time!

I had my 6 week follow up appointment and xrays last thursday. Great news, the bones are well healed and I can weight bear fully. The correction looks very good and I have lots of screws in there, which can come out after 3-4 months if they cause problems. I can come off the crutches once I am no longer limping, so I don't damage my abductors. Hopefully that will only be in a couple of weeks time as my abductors get strong enough to keep my gait even and not wobble all over the place. I can go down to one crutch now, but I lean terribly on one, and have been told by several physios in the past to use two then none. I have the go ahead to get on with moving it lots, physio and getting back to activities. If I had the time, I can go to the pool and start using a cross trainer, maybe in a few weeks when I can balance uni and rehab and everything is a bit stronger and less painful, I will be able to do that in the evenings.

Pain wise, I have gone back to a daytime tramadol, as now I am moving around and doing more, the pain has increased. I need to have the pain under control to do my physio properly and start back on the wards. I went back for the first time on friday, and ended up doing 4 hours, which left me in a lot of pain for the afternoon and evening. It was definitely too much too soon and I paid for it. So I am going to start a bit more gently this week and be strict about how much I can do, then increase it gradually. I have the physio number, so now its just a case of getting through, as they assess you on the same day you ring, then decide on your individual plan.

Its nice to be onto the next stage of recovery, although with having to start back on the wards, the next few weeks are going to be pretty tough! I am hoping to be allowed to try taking some NSAIDs again, as I really think these will help me, with the increased moving and exercise, I am definitely inflaming the areas and swelling up by each evening. Hopefully after a month or so, I can get rid of all the painkillers and be walking without crutches for the first time in months.
xx