On the day of the operation I got to the hospital bright and early at 6am and was the first person to get whisked away to get all my pre-op checks done - blood pressure, weight, any previous medical problems. Everything went really well and before I knew it I was waiting to be wheeled into surgery.
The last time I went into the operating theatre I was kind of waiting around in there for a while they chatted and fiddled with stuff. This time was completely different - I was wheeled in, moved onto the table and they had the drip in before I knew it. The anesthetist mentioned that the Device Technology guy said I had very thirsty cells and that I was probably sick and tired of needles and blood by now. I had time to mention something about vampire and needles before I got really really dizzy and gave in to the general. I was asleep much faster than last time.
Waking up was a little different to the last time I'd woken up in recovery. For one thing, there was no gentle wake up and happy chatting with the nurses. The first thing I was aware of was the pain in my leg. I was in so much pain that I woke up in tears - I remember the nurses asking if I was in pain or if I was relieved to have it over. I tried to mumble pain, but I was still really, really out of it. I also woke up with a migraine, so I kept trying to clutch my head. They gave me morphine for the pain and when it didn't fade away enough, they gave me 50mg of tramadol - which really knocked the pain on it's head.
Eventually they moved me up to my room where I stayed for the next 24 hours or so. It was pretty hellish. Whoever tells you that the post-op pain isn't bad is a liar. The pain is bad and it only gets worse if you're unlucky enough to have to go to the bathroom. I won't go into the details of trying to get me from my bed to the toilet, but it was embarassing and insanely painful.
The nurses kept me on a pretty strong regime of alternating drugs - mostly Endone and a mix of codeine, paracetamol and ibuprofen. To be honest though, although the drugs took the edge off they didn't do a lot for the bulk of the pain. Although there was a reason for that.
My surgeon came to see me around 9am the next day to check up on me and see how I was going. The surgery had gone really well - the legion was just as big and ugly as the last time he'd seen it and took up around 40% of my weight bearing area. The matrix patch had gone in well and as long as I kept of my knee for 6 weeks, he thought it would take really well. I mentioned that I was in a lot of pain and he mentioned that although they'd given me a local in my leg, it might not have been enough to dull the pain enough.
After he left the physio came in and taught me how to use my crutches properly. He also gave me some simple exercises to do, to hopefully keep my leg muscles semi-workable while I kept off it.
Then I got discharged and came back to my patents place - where I am now. I'm still taking a lot of pain killers as the pain was pretty bad for the first two days, but I'm feeling a lot better today. The Endone is giving me crazy CRAZY ass dreams. The most vivid and crazy that I've ever had. But other than that, I'm doing okay. It's really hard to get around on crutches and I spent most of my time lying on the couch like a lump, but I'm feeling better.
So, for those of you who are going in for MACI surgery - be prepared for post-op pain. You're going to be uncomfortable and it's going to really hurt...but you'll get through it. Each day things get better and easier. Just stay off your leg and don't try to move it!! Use the straps on the leg brace to move your legs around and keep it relaxed.
Other than that, I'll check in soon to let you all know how I'm going! I'm hoping to have 90 degrees of flexation in my knee by the end of the week, so we'll see how it goes!!
