Kenny, age 28
After the surgery, I was taking Motrin every six hours and Oxycocet every twelve hours.
I could tell when eleven hours had passed. I would start to feel a throb or a little bit of soreness. Nothing major, but I knew that it was time for more medication. They had also given me some Percocet in case of extraordinary pain, but I never had to take it.
By the next day, I could take care of my basic needs myself. I could get around on my crutches. I could make myself dinner, go to the bathroom, whatever needed to be done. But the first two weeks, I spent most of the time on the couch with my knee up.
I was icing constantly. They gave me an ice machine. But it has some drawbacks. It needed to be constantly filled up with ice. My refrigerator didn’t make ice fast enough to keep up. I ended up going to a medical supply place and buying two cold packs. One in the fridge, one on the knee. It worked very well. Then my physical therapist recommended a zip lock baggie with a solution of alcohol and water. That was even better.
The first two weeks, I slept a lot. Day or night, it didn’t really matter. I could have pulled my blinds down, and it wouldn’t have made a big difference. Except for physical therapy, for the most part I was confined to the house.
After about ten days, I went to see my surgeon. But I went in without my crutches or my brace. They hollered at me for this. I said, “But you told me to bear weight as tolerated.” They said, “Yeah, but you can’t do that.”
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