Hardware Removal Experience

*Warning - long, rambling post coming up!

Well the deed is done and the pins are out! So far, so good, relatively little pain and getting around slowly. This is how my surgery day went ....

Up very early, after not that much sleep, nothing to eat and just clear drinks until 7am. Then we left for the hospital, to check in at the day case arrivals for 7.30am. We were shown to their arrivals area, where many others and their relatives were sitting waiting too. It was bedlam there actually, nurses running around doing bits and pieces and doctors, anaesthetists and physio therapists popping in and out to see everyone before they were sent off the the operating theater.

First I answered the admissions questionnaire, then saw the surgeon who had come to draw an arrow pointing at my knee. Next a visit by the physio who had come to issue crutches and tell me how to walk on them - I told him I'd got my own and after 6 months, I think I'd got the hang of it by now.  Next, I was taken to a booth where I got changed into my theater gown and after my blood pressure was taken, we were left to wait for the "call up". My cousin is a nurse in theater and she text messaged me to say I was second on the list and they were waiting for me, so I wouldn't have to wait much longer now. Just as well, because my nerves were getting a bit wrecked by now.

At 10am I was taken down to theater in a wheelchair and my cousin met me there to check me in. She stayed with me whilst I was put to sleep and hers was the first voice I heard, waking me up just over 30 minutes later. She got me a warm blanket and some water to sip and then kept a check on me for a while. She told me the surgeon was pleased with the procedure and although some of the metalwork was a little bit tricky to remove, he did manage to get it all out without causing anymore damage.

As I woke up a bit more, I became aware of a stinging in my knee, well, more above and around where I imagined the wound to be actually. I told her this and she said I'd had a morphine shot but she would get me some codeine once I'd been taken to the day case ward to recover further. Once she was happy with my progress, she took me down to the ward to hand me over! I was given codeine and left to snooze it off for a bit. Apart from the stinging, my knee actually felt fine. Although I was apprehensive about when the moment arrived for me to stand up and walk!

After an hour I was given a dismal cheese sandwich to eat and a cup of weak coffee. I ate the sandwich dutifully, as this was the first step towards my discharge later that day. A couple of hours rest and a visit by the physio team and then I was allowed to dress and get up for a trip to the bathroom.The second condition leading to my discharge! Success again, a bit shaky when I first stood up but not too painful, just sore when I moved around the wound area. No bone pain at all. I walked to the bathroom and back, very slowly, on my two crutches and then in the light of this achievement, was signed off and given the ok to go home.

Waiting to be discharged from Hospital

My bandaged knee

By 4.30pm I was safely installed on my sofa, feeling very relieved it was over, and even more relieved that I was relatively pain free. Eating dinner, trips to the loo and generally moving around was all fine. I kept up the codeine doses for the rest of the day and snoozed on and off until bedtime.

On waking this morning I got quite a surprise! Immediately, my thoughts went to my knee, in search of the pain that would be there as I was due for more codeine by now. Nothing! No bone pain, no stinging, nothing! I tested the water a bit, wriggling my toes and flexing my muscles, still fine. And when my muscles went into an involuntary morning stretch, for the first time in 6 months I didn't feel like I had to stop quickly because my knee was being crushed in a vice of some sort! I was quite elated, and stretched away to my hearts content! Whoooppee, this was good news :)

When I got up, I did have a bit of stinging and soreness in my knee as I walked around but nothing too bad. I'm using my walker today, not because of the pain, but because I know I can move around more confidently with this and I want to keep walking about as much as possible. I've halved the medication dose but if this progress keeps up I will probably ditch them tomorrow and just take my ibuprofen, as usual, for swelling.

I've been given the ok to do some gentle heel slides and start bending it as far as pain will allow, keeping an awareness for the fact that the staples (yes, more staples again this time) go over my knee and will be restrictive at the moment. Static quads exercises feel fine and as these are the safest exercises for me to do at the moment, I'm doing them as often as I can whilst sitting on the sofa here. Tomorrow I will try some more tasks from my physio regime, reverting back to some of the stage one exercises and taking it very slowly initially.

Feeling very positive at the moment and definitely no regrets about getting the surgery done. I know there's still a way to go yet, but hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of a long ordeal. I think the information I've read and lessons I've learned since my injury are standing me in good stead, no nasty surprises and plenty of ideas for what I should and should not be doing, and more importantly, what works for ME. Happier days ahead!