Heres an update for you re my knee replacement surgery!
Everything went well and I came home on the 18th Dec after 2 nights in hospital. I was given the same pain meds as I was taking before my operation, Tramadol and paracetamol but upped the frequency to four times in 24 hours. I also had some oramorph for breakthrough pain in-between my other meds but that did nothing for me. They kept me in for an extra night as my blood oxygen levels were low.
Interestingly, I was on medication for high blood pressure before the surgery but my blood pressure is now low without taking any of the medication! As first it was “blamed” on the anaesthetics used but its continued to be low since I came home.
Food wise, I did not have much appetite for about a week but it’s back to normal now, I’m not taking Mounjaro though as I still need to discuss a date for knee surgery on my other leg so no point in starting again on a low dose only to have to stop again 6 weeks prior to the operation. As you might remember, I had bad diarrhea after every injection ( was on it for 12 weeks) so had discussed changing to a different WLI with the pharmacist but he said that all the injections
have diarrhea as a side effect so I need to think what to do. I am struggling a bit to regulate what I eat but that is partly due to my difficulties in cooking fresh meals while hobbling around in pain on two crutches! So I’ve eaten some high cal snacks because it was easier!
However, I’m now 3 weeks post surgery and progressing quite well, still taking maximum pain meds but able to weight bear on the operated leg which makes life a lot easier. I can keep pain levels to a bearable level most of the time although there are times when it really hurts, possibly after too much exercise as it gets swollen then. Ice packs are good though to reduce the swelling. I’ve not ventured outside yet apart from a trip back to the hospital to have the staples out - that hurt! My wound is being slow to heal and the scab looks a mess with still some bleeding but as I’m on blood thinners following a TIA in 2021 I do bleed a lot!
I had to inject with blood thinners twice a day for 14 days but I was a pro at that as they were single use pens just like the Mounjaro pens with the same very thin needles. The only problem was the dose was a lot more and it stung a little after the injection. However, i was told to only inject in the stomach and I had the most awful bruises and almost ran out of “fresh” skin to inject in! The nurses though were impressed on my injecting skills!
Weight wise, I cannot actually stand upright on the scales to get an accurate reading although I’m going to try again over the weekend. I suspect I have gained a little as at one point I was eating high salt foods like crisps and peanuts to try to raise my blood pressure but I’ve given up having them now. I will go back to my intermittent fasting regime very soon now that I can cook a little, I’m planning to make a batch of mushroom soup later today which will be a good start.
Im very bored though stuck in the house on my own so it’s very tempting to snack a lot but I’ll just stop buying the wrong things now Christmas is over! I do have a visit to the torture chamber aka physiotherapist to look forward to later this afternoon. As I cannot drive that means a taxi which will be fun as getting into a car is somewhat challenging when it hurts so much to bend your leg!