Observations/tips two days ish after LL surgery

Edit Post

Making some progress on the clicking techniques, found a way to do it with just one pillow + using a strap to assist with the second (inward leg movement) click, should be able to do it on my own soon

I have found that because its so hard to turn to your side, you'll be sitting on your butt alot of the time, which is alot of heat and pressure

I've found a small handheld fan useful so I can tilt to one side and fan one butt cheek at a time to relieve at least the heat part of this

Edit Post

Psychologically, the pain and frustration today (alot of which came from the difficulty of moving, feeling heavy thigh'd in bed, constant pressure on butt) caused these thoughts: "man I don't care about 7cm vs 5cm, I'd be happy to do just 5 cm just please let me walk again normally" and "I don't care about doing LL a second time, I'd be happy to just get 5 cm and be done with this"

I don't know if these thoughts will continue but I felt these thoughts more strongly today

Edit Post

Unlike the first two days after surgery, the quads are just so tight and sore now that it make it difficult to stand up with the walker, alone I get maybe one out of 8 attempts at standing up from bed to walker, spaced out over an hour

If I can resolve this problem, I feel I can remove alot of the misery of the current experience, alot of which is from the constant unrelenting pressure on the butt from sitting down and a feeling of not being able to escape (very difficult to rotate to the side without causing some pain/weird feeling deep in thigh)

That and if I can accomplish some toilet transfer unassisted that will also go a long way in making me feel less trapped and more free

Edit Post

Quote from: SpeedDialer on September 21, 2022, 06:07:00 PMMaking some progress on the clicking techniques, found a way to do it with just one pillow + using a strap to assist with the second (inward leg movement) click, should be able to do it on my own soon

I have found that because its so hard to turn to your side, you'll be sitting on your butt alot of the time, which is alot of heat and pressure

I've found a small handheld fan useful so I can tilt to one side and fan one butt cheek at a time to relieve at least the heat part of this
Is the nurse still assisting you with clicking?

Edit Post

Quote from: thankscience on September 22, 2022, 12:40:29 AMIs the nurse still assisting you with clicking?

yes

Edit Post

I think I might have found a way to make the experience alot less miserable

When I sleep, I am on top of the bed normally (on top of bed lying on my back, parallel to bed like the normal sleeping position) (because I am following the instructions I was given of having a suitcase under the feet end of the bed mattress in order to elevate the feet)

BUT, given that the feet end of the bed is slopped upward (due to the suitcase under it)..

I'm finding that after waking up, it is a bit better for me to be perpendicular to the bed more of the time when I want to frequently do stretches. Can more easily sit at edge of bed, hang legs off edge of bed to stretch quads, lay back with legs hanging off bed to stretch quads more, sit back up and use a nearby chair next to my desk table to help stretch my hamstrings, quickly be able to go from bed to walker to practice that transfer many times, decreases the amount of time I am just on my butt -> no longer constantly putting pressure on butt -> alot less miserable, feel less trapped

I feel morale increasing and feel more confident I can do this

The improvements I made with clicking last night also helped me increase morale

Edit Post

Good to hear that man,
The first week at the hotel is the hardest. Next week you'll start feeling much better. Good job

Edit Post

How long are you stretching for each day? I'm glad to hear your morale is increasing - I'm sure it will keep going up from here.

Edit Post

Quote from: thankscience on September 22, 2022, 05:01:24 AMHow long are you stretching for each day? I'm glad to hear your morale is increasing - I'm sure it will keep going up from here.

I apologize, I should be more disciplined about knowing this but I find myself sort of doing light hamstring and quad stretches for like 20 minutes, then I take a nap, then later when I wake up a few hours, I do it again

I think maybe I should be stretching more but I haven't found my rhythm yet

Edit Post

observations on clicking:

- lean your upper body in the same direction your arm is moving -> then gravity is on your side, you can just relax your whole body more and the weight of your arm on the leg will help to push it into the right position when clicking

- don't entirely stop when you tense up right before click (risk accidentally going backwards in position and then have to push more later, just prolongs the pain), I think keep applying light pressure but try to relax the muscles as you are still applying pressure

- I've found that one big pillow under the leg seems to work well for trapping the heel/keeping the heel still. A strap helps alot for helping to position the feet we are finding

Mediterranean food, including Greek food, seems to have alot of cheese, tomato sauce, and lemon to flavor food, its not quite my jam but I'm certain that eventually I'll find some food I like at the hotel

I guess I should be more disciplined about finding more foods to eat but it is somewhat easy to just eat the hotel breakfast and then a cheap ice cream bar from them later

Alot of omega 3 supplements and omega 3 containing foods like flax seed seem to interact w/ blood clotting so I've been too afraid to eat them for fear they will mess w/ the xarelto I'm taking

Eventually I should probably find some fish dishes to eat that don't have lemon, there's gotta be alot of options, its Athens, its near the sea