Day 2 - Achievements

I'm quite proud today I reached a few milestones which I feel I ought to be proud of:

1. I had a reasonable nights sleep
2. I made it to the toilet by myself first thing
3. I managed to get UP THE STAIRS!
4. I had a shower (best news of all)
5. I made it all night without pain killers!

To the every day person, these seem like easy feats, but given that it takes me around 15 minutes to get to the toilet and back (which is only about 10 metres or so away) - this is all pretty epic stuff!

Showering was probably the best - I had preplanned and bought a little bench that goes in the bath/shower and has little sucker pads on the feet so it won't move around. So I sat on this and swung my legs over the side of the bath, propped up on something so they are still raised. My husband wrapped a clean towel around my feet to protect them and I used the shower head/hose to wash my upper body - this was AMAZING!!! I got to wash my hair, and get that horrible hospital feeling off me. Weird that such a mundane and everyday thing can bring such joy but it was brill!! It is a real struggle to get to the shower though as this means getting upstairs and I'm finding general moving around to be really painful, so I think I will have to limit this to once every few days as I don't want to over-do it.

At this point I must commend my fantastic husband for all the work he is putting into helping my recovery. He's been brilliant, getting anything I need and helping me with everything. I really can't express more highly how important it is to have someone physically able, and most importantly that you trust to help you. My husband has taken on the duty of administering my Clexane (blood thinning) injections as I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm usually fine with needles, but after the shock of having it in the hospital, have found the idea of doing it to myself really nerve-wracking. Hopefully I can pluck up the courage to do at least one however.

At the moment getting around is by far the hardest thing to do - the pain is bad, but so long as you keep your legs raised it is generally tolerable, at least with pain killers. As soon as you put your feet down to get to the toilet or anywhere, it is EXCRUCIATING - your feet just throb and feel hot and I can feel the scar/stitches stinging and stabbing - so my long long journey to the toilet really is hard work, and I'm not sure my technique is getting any better on the space boots as it just hurts so much.

I do have to keep reminding myself however that I'm still only 2 days post op so I need to be realistic and give it time.

The evening was good but again emotional, Mum and Dad were fantastic and brought round a roast dinner (they only live 6 houses away from us so not to tricky to do meals on wheels 😊) and I managed to get to the table and sit with my feet propped up on a chair with cushions on. It was fine but the pain was starting to come on quite strongly and I just started to feel really down. People were trying to remind me why I had had this done and how lucky I was etc. but it doesn't help. When you are feeling crappy, all you want is a hug and for someone to tell you it's all going to be ok. My advice for anyone who knows someone who has had this sort of procedure, don't make it out like they chose to go through this!! Yes, it is a choice, but only because the every day pain was so bad that they had to do it as the thought of living every day was so much worse. It doesn't make it any less painful or awful what is happening to you right there and then. You will feel down, I certainly have since this whole thing happened, I keep getting teary, I'm pretty sure it's normal - again, I am still only TWO DAYS post operative, you are bound to have some emotions going through you. So, yes whilst it is a choice (one you shouldn't have to have in the first place - not everyone has bad feet!!), it really is a necessity and it is a hard thing to deal with - so just a little piece of advice to any supporters or carers out thereto be gentle.

Mum and Dad were lovely and stayed to remake my little sofa-bed area as it was starting to get a little "worn" from my permanent existence on it. Took a pregabalin shortly before bed and thankfully drifted off easily and had another good night!!