MY ACL STORY: The week when I'm lazy.......

Hello everyone :)
Week 1:

My leg, with the knee brace that had
just been put on.

Welcome to my first weekly update that was discussed here. This week included my stay at the hospital, my first day at home, and then all of the days that followed which were spent being incredibly lazy..... But hey, it's what the doctor ordered ;)

The last thing I remember before being put to sleep was an Eastern European anaesthetist saying "Sweet Dreams" to me before I completely blacked out - talk about terrifying! However, the actual reconstruction of my ACL went really well, and the surgeons were really happy with how everything turned out. Although, there was a tiny mishap with a needle being pulled out of my knee and some of my blood splashing up onto a surgeons face (#TypicalJess, it could only happen to me!). And so I had to have a blood test to check me for any diseases, just to be sure for the surgeon's safety. But it was all fine and he lived WAHEYYY!

My first week of recovery has been.....challenging, to say the least. I was only in hospital for one night, so once I was able to walk safely with crutches and bend my leg I was ready to come home on the Thursday. I went on a walk around the hospital on my crutches and my physiotherapist said to me "We can get a wheelchair for you on the way back if it's too much?". But I absolutely refused, I was determined to walk on my own aha! I was then given the all clear to go home and endure 2 weeks of absolute nothingness, oh how tragic.

I was on quite a lot of strong meds, so once I got home I just slept until Friday. The worst one was definitely Tramadol! Now I had never heard of this before, but once I started getting some dodgy side effects I decided to have a little google (as you do) to see how other people found it. And most people had the same sort of problems as I did; nausea, dizziness, drowsiness etc. So I immediately stopped taking this and just got by on Paracetamol - it didn't take away all of the pain but it was much better than all of the side effects I was getting from the Tramadol.
The worst part of the pain was the staples, even when I was just lying in bed I'd feel a big pain in my leg and it was from the staples - and then the more I thought about them and pictured them, the more it all started to hurt. Let's just say I can't wait to get these babies out!

Exercises.... This was where the real recovery began!
I started doing my exercises every hour from Friday, although not the one where I had to rest with a tensed leg for 10 minutes with a rolled towel under my ankle, as I attempted and failed, and ended up in a fit of tears. The other exercises were going really well though, and the bend in my knee is getting progressively better! My knee brace is now squeaking with every move I make, so I guess that could be a sign of confidence?? Or maybe moving ahead?? I don't know, but I'm quite proud of my squeak for now aha!
After the exercises, I like to put the CyroCuff onto my knee. Now, the CyroCuff is one of the world's best inventions, let me tell you! It is full of icy water and it gets placed in the fridge, and then it is ready to use whenever you feel like it. The main use of this is to keep the swelling down, which it is slowly but surely doing - I can now start to see my kneecap! But yes, the CyroCuff has been a great relief of pain too.
I also thought that stairs would be an issue but they're probably the easiest part! I was shown a safe way to use crutches on the stairs and I'm only supposed to be up and about when I need the toilet anyway. So I'm not using them too much, but they are relatively easy!

So this week has just been a lot of bed rest, sleep, movies, little exercises and kitten cuddles (which can help anything!). Hopefully after the first few weeks, my recovery will be coming along thick and fast and there'll be no stopping me!
Feel free to leave me a comment if you've been through this (because I could use all of the advise and knowledge), or if you just feel like leaving a comment :)
Stay positive and keep on being you x