2. Recovery at Home
Recovery, Stage IV
Accepting Responsibility
Arriving home until the end of first month post surgery
I was home, wrapped in a warm poncho and sitting, legs elevated, in my recovery chair in the middle of my nest. It was the same room I had prepared before I had left for the hospital, and yet it felt different – possibly because I felt different. My first TKR was much more difficult than my second. Perhaps that was because over the intervening months I had learned to recognize the rhythm of recovery – that I would have good days and I would have bad days, but that even on the bad days I was making progress. Or it could have been because I had had physical therapy several times a week from mid-September to mid-December, and other issues that had affected my legs, and especially my gait, which had been resolved. But whether or not experience was the handmaiden of acceptance, I returned home after the second TKR more relaxed and prepared for what was to come. After each surgery my nest contained the following:
Ready for reading when the mind clears
1. A high backed chair that held my legs correctly elevated, by which I mean I had no cushions or pillows bunched up under my knees or calves. That type of compression – directly under the knee – might result in blood clots, especially in the days immediately following surgery. However, it would be acceptable to have pillows under my ankles if that would help to straighten my legs.
2. Small tables on either side of that chair held what I would most need, day and/or night, to be comfortable. That included water bottles, my cell phone and phone charger (connected to a nearby outlet), eye shade (for napping during the day), my journal and pencil, a place for dishes and books and my laptop (also connected to the outlet). In addition, there was an ice therapy machine close by, and a place for my crutches and extra blankets if I were to need them.
3. A table had been placed in the middle of the room to hold all the pills I was taking and a diary for writing down what had been taken and when. In addition, there was a stack of family photo albums to look through, some travel guides I had bought for inspiration and additional reading material. This table also became the island around which I practiced walking.
4. My ice therapy machine was nearby; I highly recommend using one if it is available to you.
5. My crutches, resting upside down with the wide tops on the floor for increased stability, were also close at hand.
6. On another table nearby was my indoor garden – positioned so I could easily watch the bulbs grow and eventually flower.
During my first month at home post-surgery I felt weak and, at times, discouraged. All my energy and coping skills had been drained away. I lost my appetite, needed to nap frequently and had trouble concentrating. I also had difficulty sleeping. These reactions (to be expected in someone just having had a TKR) flipped my normal personality. I became lethargic and depressed. In addition the books piled on my table, which I had looked forward to reading, remained untouched during the entire period of my recovery. This was due, in part, to my inability to focus and partly because I had little free time. Audiobooks and a husband who enjoyed reading out loud helped compensate for my reading failure. Other ways of passing time between exercise and sleeping sessions included listening to music (as noted in the section on prehab) and watching TV.
This would have been the perfect time to have read letters of encouragement written to myself before surgery. They would have been a bridge from the optimism I had felt then to the self I hoped to become during the next few months. While I could easily remember my reasons for having surgery - I needed surgery because I couldn’t walk - it was more difficult now to assess where I was going and how long it would take to get there. A list of goals written during Prehab would have also enabled me to better connect with my long-term ambitions, such as walking my favorite pet.
Goal: Walking my favorite pet