Thursday, December 3, 2009

Let The Rehab Begin

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate PT? Ironic, I know, I guess I should clarify and say I hate being the patient in PT. Today was my first PT visit.

The day started off pretty crappy, I woke up nauseous, which made me panic. The first thing I did was run (ok, not run, but limp) to the Zofran. Next I put the Vicodin out of reach. This can not be happening. I also quickly called my OS office to have a new Scopolamine patch called in. I don't really know if it is working or not, but the placebo effect is powerful enough for me! The Zofran helped and my pain wasn't too bad today, so no Vicodin all morning. For whatever reason, the Zofran made me very lightheaded.

My PT appointment was at 2, so my mom and I decided to go out for lunch. I wore my oh so gorgeous brace since I am trying so hard to be compliant with my restrictions. It definitely helps me, but on the flip side, people stare like you are from outer space. It makes me really think twice about wearing it again, except when the possibility of ruining my newly repaired capsule comes to mind. I don't have plans to leave the house again until Saturday night so I will re-evaluate the brace situation then.

PT was simple today. My old PT P has left the practice, I chose C to be my new PT because she has helped me a lot in the weeks leading up to surgery, and she is significantly older than the other therapists I work with, so I figured she has a lot more experience. The rehab for this surgery can be tough, if I feel like it is not going the way I want it to, I will see one of the PTs my OS recommends.

My exercises for now are: heel slides, glut sets, bridges, hip abduction in supine, trying to perform hip abduction in side lying, seated long arc quads, standing hamstring curls. She also did some gentle PROM into flexion, abd and a hamstring stretch. She also had me do ankle exercises to help with the swelling.

I am in a lot of pain now and went back to the Vicodin. I may have overdone it with the abduction because I am having a lot of ITB pain, even when I am in bed. I feel like I have to put even less weight on my foot now and have to be super careful when I move. I may also have a touch of bilateral greater trochanteric bursitis.

Any advice on sleeping? The boots are killing me. This is how bedtime goes for me: J puts me into the boots. 10 minutes later I begin to feel claustrophobic. At 12 minutes my heart begins to race and I begin to be on the verge of a panic attack. At 12 1/2 minutes the left boot is off and I feel better. J then has to move the bolster that goes in between the boots to the outside of the right boot. I will fall asleep on my back for a little while. Then I wake up and NEED the right boot off. The boot comes off and the pillow comes back. I then sleep on my left side for a bit with pillows in between my knees, until the bursitis on the left begins to act up. So as you can see, sleeping is no fun for me!

4 comments:

Sloan said...

Hang in there Sue, you are my hero. The worst is over.

Anonymous said...

try tylenol pm when you go to bed. but you cannot take it with the vicoden as the vicoden has tylenol in it. so if you need the vicoden, then take 2 benedryl with it. i find the benedryl really helps take the edge off of me at bedtime.

i know what you mean about people staring....i look like a total freak in this hip abduction brace. everyone asks me why i had knee surgery. i'm like...can you not tell that this brace is not on my knee?????

soccermom

Susie said...

people are so dumb, and most lack even a hint of discretion!I a going to the store today (my big outing) and plan on wearing it because I am sooo scared to ruin something!

Anonymous said...

The boots are so clausterphobic. Try wearing them sort of loosely on the non-surgical side and tighter, but still loose on the surgical side so that you COULD pull your feet out if you HAD to. Knowing I could kick them off made a huge difference for me mentally. And that's what it is--a mental game.

I have no sympathy for you
Black Bledsoe Brace wearers. My ortho's office had never done a surgery on someone as short as me, so they didn't have a Bledsoe Brace to fit and couldn't get one in time. My brace was WHITE and HUGE and cut down from a hip replacement brace or something.

So as people stare, remember: it could be worse!!

CJ