After the Operation: Day 2

Didn't sleep badly once I got off last night, but activity on the ward woke me at six am, we all had bloods taken, and I felt too alert to go back to sleep.  Breakfast came, then the ward manager and head of nursing did a ward round, and then an anesthetist did a round, then my surgeon did one.  My dressing was changed and the wound cleaned and checked - it looks very tidy but is bigger than I first thought.We were waiting for the physiotherapist and I kept dozing off - I think the three of us operated on yesterday did this.  Eventually our physio de jour, Maddalena, arrived and one of us was got out of bed and sat up in her bedside chair.

Then, it was lunch time and afterwards it was my turn.  Initially it was hard to move my operated-on leg, but with the assistance of a leg-mover (see below) I managed to move it a bit, and practiced some exercises before I got off the bed.

Then it was the turn of the walking frame, and I managed to use it to walk as far as the bathroom and back to my bay, to sit in my bedside chair.  It wasn't as difficult as I had feared, nor as painful,  The most painful element was getting of  and onto the bed or chair, which I guess involved the most traumatized muscles.  But, I managed to do it!  So this meant the catheter could be removed, and I could be less encumbered.  It was tiring and so I managed to keep dozing off during the afternoon and was woken again for dinner which I ate on my chair.  I used the frame again to visit the bathroom and then ventured out of our room and down the corridor to the nurses station to tell them I had left them a gift in the bathroom (output is monitored for a while pot-op and post catheter0.).

I was heartily relieved when the drugs trolley came round and I was given this colourful collection of medications: analgesics, anticoagulant and a potassium supplement, as this morning's blood test showed I was a little deficient.  I'm back on the bed now, but really quite pleased with my progress today, and very thankful for all the messages of support I've received - it so helps morale.

After all the dozing during the day, I hope I will sleep well tonight, but I suspect I will!  It's been hard work.