I had my knee surgery last Wednesday, and it ended up being a slightly more in-depth procedure than we expected. I was expected to be under anesthesia for 1.5 hours, instead I was under for 3 hours, and woke up in a knee immobilizer with a prescription for 4 weeks of non-weightbearing. Quite the deviation from what was originally going to be a routine scope.

Anyway, I’ve since had to learn to rely on other people for almost every basic need. Thankfully, I can shower by myself, but it takes an extraordinary amount of energy and time. But I can’t walk my dog. I can’t drive. I can’t do laundry because it involves a flight of stairs. I obviously can’t work. I feel totally helpless.

Sounds like some other patients I’ve worked with, doesn’t it?

I’m also starting to understand pain from a level I’ve never experienced. I’ve had knee scopes before, and they do hurt. But I have to say that this 3 inch incision up the side of my leg (which is still small compared to the patients I take care of) hurts quite a bit more. I have to be careful not to make any wrong moves. Thankfully, my immobilizer helps, and I’m even to the point that I prefer wearing it to not wearing it. I also happen to be one of those people that is probably having pain even when it doesn’t look like I’m having pain. Bad pain for me is a 4-5, because I’m afraid of “using up” my 10 on something that’s not actually a 10. Now, I’ve always held  a decent respect for treating pain, but like I said, now I get it even more, especially incisional pain, and pain that makes you want to sit perfectly still and not take deep breaths or use an incentive spirometer…

Now that I’ve got my RN license, I really want to use  it, but I suppose being completely laid up like this is a great lesson just before I begin my career. I guess I should be thankful that my surgeon put me through this. What a great career move. Thanks, Doc!

Tags: knee surgery, nursing, pain, RN, surgery

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 8:44 am and is filed under first year, icu, nursing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.