I am well into the third week of wearing pajamas day and night; I’m not sure I’ve ever gone so long without Real Clothes.
I have started experimenting with walking without the cane, just around the house. Paul, finding the cane standing alone: “Surely a miracle has happened here!!” I still use the cane when I get up at night (many, many times), and first thing in the morning when I’m quite stiff and sore.
It is strange to me how much time I am spending on the care of my physical form. The careful feeding, the hours of exercise, the careful showering and lotioning/ointmenting. It feels even stranger because I am doing little or nothing for other people. I know this is the way it is supposed to be right now, and that it’s temporary, but it feels odd.
Commenters Meg and Kate, and also a couple of local friends, mentioned the importance of stool softeners after surgery, especially if narcotics are involved, and I would like to suggest that you file that information away in your heart under Very Important. Because of the urgent tone of their advice, I took evasive action and was able to avoid distress. I would add that it seemed to me the prescribed docusate did nothing helpful at all, and that it was a good idea to get Miralax and Senokot (or whatever your preferred gentle interventions may be) involved even before the medical professionals were concerned: that is, the medical professionals were saying not to worry until Day 5, and at that point to start additional medications; I would say start dabbling with additional medications by Day 2 or 3. I was concerned things could go too far the other way, but that has proved to be an unnecessary concern.
I also have a little pharmacy tip: your insurance can’t tell you what medications you can or can’t have, they can only say whether or not they will PAY for it. So for example, one of the pain medications my doctor wanted me to have was rejected by our insurance, which said it needed a prior authorization. We waited four days while doctor and insurance and pharmacy went around and around, before finding out that the cash price of the medication was sixteen dollars, so we just paid that sixteen dollars and took my medication home. (And over a week later, we got a letter from our insurance company REJECTING the prior authorization from the doctor ANYWAY.) Obviously some medications are going to be not sixteen dollars but sixteen hundred dollars, and that is a different story—but it is worth asking what the cash price is, especially if you are ill and/or in pain and not up to dealing with the pharmacy/insurance/doctor rigamarole.
“Surely a miracle has happened here!” — snort!
Hooray that you are recovering so well and walking around unassisted!
The insurance / medication issue fills me with boiling rage. Boiling. Rage. I’m really glad the out of pocket cost was workable for you.
I vigorously endorse the recommendation to be proactive in dealing with post-anesthesia constipation. Prunes, plus Metamucil, plus Colace were not excessive. Seriously.
I haven’t had a knee replacement, but I did royally trash my ankle during 2020 – broke all three bones and dislocated it, it was really nasty. Like they couldn’t even do surgery for two weeks until the swelling went down enough. Anyway, for months ALL I did was recover. That was it. Stretching, strength exercises, rest, lotion, dressings, physio, rest, medications, sleep. I made a special bullet journal to track everything – how long until surgery, how long I had to be in the cast, how long until I was out of the boot, number of steps, sleep hours, pain rating. Everything. Also I took daily photos of it. Because otherwise it felt like Groundhog Day and I had to hold fast to the sure knowledge that I was making progress and that this would get better.
I hope you’’Ll be feeling better soon.
Totally off topic but I remember that you recommended the books “ The Mysterious Benedict Society”. I read them and really enjoyed them a lot. I JUST saw that there was a series on Disney+ in 2021/2022. It’s not available in my country but maybe it is in the US? Maybe you don’t subscribe or you’ve seen it already. Also I couldn’t watch it so I don’t know whether it’s any good, but I was thinking of you when I stumbled upon it. Get well soon!
It’s hard work, recovering from that surgery. I’m glad there’s some measurable progress, even if small.
How are Paul and whichever kids are at home doing keeping the household running?
They are doing pretty well. I hope this is highlighting for them how many things I do.
That is a good point on the medication. I just started a new medication and was prescribed 90 days – partly because I will be traveling out of the country and need enough for that time. The insurance said I could only have 30 days given to me and then I would have to get the other 60 days mailed to me. I did the math, and that did not work because I wouldn’t be home to receive the rest of the supply. It turned out that they could run it without insurance and give me 90 days right then and they used a GoodRx coupon for me and the total was $11. YES PLEASE! I will pay $11 to not have to deal with it being mailed to me. I was surprised it was only $11 for them to just give me 90 pills there and then.
My son’s doctor prescribed a heavy duty steroid injection for emergency use. Our insurance wouldn’t pay for it and the pharmacy didn’t want to order it because the insurance wouldn’t cover it. I finally asked what the cost was thinking it was going to be hundreds of dollars. $25. It was $25. So I said order it. I will pay out of pocket.
I really like my pharmacists and their techs but this was one where they kind of dropped the ball. I wish they had mentioned the cost sooner.
I’m happy to hear you are making progress and getting better. I like to read your updates because you always have bits of knowledge in there that I will remember at the right time and think “oh Swistle mentioned that”. And then can learn from your experience.
This is how I felt, too: I wished the pharmacy had mentioned the cost earlier in the process. And I used to WORK in a pharmacy, so I know that at least USED to be PART of the process: before even notifying the customer, check what the cash price would be! It makes such a huge difference!
Thirded, I do not understand why they won’t tell you the price straight off if your insurance won’t pay. The few times it’s happened to me it’s been a crazy amount, but they also acted super weird that I even asked about the price.
Very belatedly, I’m SO glad you dealt with your constipation comfortably. After my first surgery they told me don’t worry until day 5, too! And I thought oh that means it’ll be fine if I only go on day 5. Except even though I was taking my usual Metamucil, I only DID go on day 5 and I was in a lot of discomfort before then, and in a lot of pain when I finally did go!
So I’m really glad you figured out the right dosages for you. I was worried about going too far the other way as well, when I took more laxative medication after my second surgery, but that didn’t happen for me either.
I’m really glad it’s all improving for you. Not so glad that you’re still in enough pain after *weeks* that it’s keeping you awake at night, horrors.