My brother came with me and my Mom to my first post-operation appointment. It is quite involved to get me into the car because my brace is still locked at zero so I can’t bend my knee and I am not supposed to put any weight on my right leg. After this operation, this was the first time I have ever sat in the backseat of my car. It’s not comfortable!
Once I checked in and the three of us were in the office, my brother took a seat in the far corner and I rolled up to him and put my leg on the table. I feel pressure when my leg is not elevated and the table was a good height. It made my knee feel a lot better!
I was called back and my Mom accompanied me. Once in the room, I extended my leg on a stool without wheels and my mom helped me to open my brace up and pull my compression sock down to expose my knee. I met with Dr. Frush!s P.A. I met with her before surgery. She looked at my knee and thought it looked great!
The Friday before, I had a reaction to the pain medication I was given after surgery and had to discontinue it. Two weeks after surgery, I am only on extra strength Tylenol so it feels like I’ve had surgery! She pulled the Steri-Strips off and cleaned up the dried blood and pulled the stitches out of the sites, cleaned them, and replaced the Steri-strips. I explained to her how I’ve been keeping it elevated and constantly icing.
She was very pleased to hear this and told me, looking at my knee, it looks like I haven’t even had surgery! That felt great! I was doing a good job with tons of help from my Mom! I felt like we were getting A pluses and gold stars! I thought for sure she would unlock my brace. However, this was not the case.
She explained to me that I would need to only put 50% weight on my right leg. She further explained that having MS and I am wheelchair-bound this would mean anytime I transfer from my will chair elsewhere. She said that transferring is twisting the knee and it would be impossible for me to make sure I was only putting 50% of my weight on my right leg. She said, because of this uncertainty, she was not going to unlock my brace and I needed to continue doing what I have been doing.
I didn’t really LIKE hearing that but I understood it. It is for the best! This really makes me feel limited and dependent on other people.but, this is what’s best for my knee. I will do whatever is necessary because I do not want a THIRD knee surgery!
Once I was in the car, I told my brother about pulling the stitches out of the sites. That kind of hurt but my brother and I laughed when I told him that I had“one stitch” in each site. We repeated the line from the 1987 movie, Adventures in Babysitting , just like the doctor did when Brad got stabbed in his foot. We laughed and laughed.
My mom thought there were two stitches in each site but saying that there was only “one stitch” was so much more funny! On the ride home from the doctor’s office, my knee really begin to hurt and I realized AGAIN that this recovery is going to be a VERY long road!
After I was home, and my son came home from school, I told him the same “one stitch” story. I made him watch the movie with me when he was younger so he knew the reference. It was definitely more funny than saying “two stitches.”