My night in the hospital

I am glad that I was admitted into the hospital for the night. My boys needed someone to be home when they got off of the bus and the last thing I want was my wife needing to babysit me postop. I have to say that the staff at the Michigan Orthopedic Specialty Hospital were great. From preop all the way to my discharge. They were very attentive to all of my needs and I never had to hit my call light once.



My room was a private room with a nice flat panel TV. I was placed on a Morphine PCA pump. This is patient controlled analgesia pump that allowed me to push the button and give myself morphine when I needed it. In addition to the pump I also had pain pills ordered. The first night I did not even attempt to get out of bed. I took a picture of my legs with my cell phone camera. They wrapped them in Ace Bandages and with only a couple of layers, my calves look huge.

If I can give one word of advice for those considering this surgery, do not feel that you need to be brave with the pain meds. The first 24 hours can be very painful, and there is no reason that anyone should have to suffer. The staff at the hospital that I was at had a goal of keeping patients pain level at a 3 or below on a 1-10 scale. I was a 2. Very comfortable, only hurt when I tried to move. Another word to the wise, Morphine can cause urinary retention. I found it difficult to urinate. I literally had to push hard in order to pee. The nurses told me that this is very common with Morphine pumps.

When I woke up this morning, I had breakfast and then the Physical Therapist came in to get me out of bed and see if I could walk on my two "carved up legs". I swung my legs around off of the bed and grabbing the walker stood for the first time. I surprised the PT who thought she was going to need to help me up, but actually the pain was not that severe. It is surprising how good you legs can feel after a night of Percocet and Morphine. I walked with the aid of the walker down the hall about a hundred feet and climbed some stairs. When Dr. L came in that morning he was surprised at how well I was doing. He was very hesitant on doing two legs at once because if I had no pain tolerance, how would I walk.

Dr. L talked to me about the surgery. He told me that the Superficial Peroneal Nerve in my left leg was totally entrapped in scar tissue. He told me that he cleared all of the scar tissue off of the nerve and hopefully the numbness I have been feeling in my left foot for several years should go away. The rest of the surgery was smooth with no issues.

I was discharged at Noon today. I went home with a bunch of prescriptions. Vicoden(pain), Ambien(sleep aid), phenergan(nausea), colace(stool softener) and Motrin. I am currently sitting here watching TV with Ice Bags on my Ace wrapped legs. I get to take the bandages off tomorrow. I have been constantly elevating and using ICE so hopefully the swelling wont be too bad.