Day 1 Post-Op

Well... it's officially all over!! I went into surgery with a smile on my face, and came out with one on too! We arrived at the hospital around 9:30AM, and there was barely anyone there. They took me back and got me all settled into my gown, and I just relaxed and met with some of the nurses. Around 11AM, they started my IV and before I knew it they were wheeling me away to the OR around 11:25AM. Surgery lasted about an hour and was a complete success! Everything went great!

I woke up in recovery... VERY loopy! Thanks to my little sister, I have some pretty funny footage of me repeatedly asking the same questions and laughing. I was in very minimal pain, probably thanks to the ice packs on my legs and pain killers. It was probably 45 min in recovery and I was up, dressed, and walking to the bathroom all by myself with the help of crutches. I was walking without any pain. I got in my wheelchair and in the car I went. Home sweet home to start my recovery!

I got home around 3PM, and was very comfortable and surprisingly not that tired. I actually stayed awake until midnight the first night before crashing. I was still taking my pain meds, and had my legs elevated on the couch. I got up for the first time during dinner, around 6PM. As I got up, I was feeling good and went to go and make my own dinner, standing all alone, no crutches. 5 min later I was lying back on the couch with a cold washcloth on my head and a throw up bag next to me... VERY nauseous! So it was a reminder that even though I felt good, I needed to rest. It wore off probably 20 min later and I just rested for the rest of the night!

I woke up this morning, Day 1 Post-op, and was doing again great! Still in very minimal pain, and I am up and walking to the bathroom and kitchen by myself, without the help of crutches. My legs are still all wrapped up with ace bandages and I have cold packs covering them. I also put on my compression stockings today. The pain meds have definitely kicked in today though, haha! I am sleeping every other hour so I figured I would get in my first blog before I crash again! The only thing is that I have not been very hungry since I got out of surgery yesterday! I am eating fine, just not too hungry, but very thirsty!

So far, so good! I feel great and I am so happy that the worst is over! I can't seem to wipe this smile off of my face. I truly do believe that smiles, laughs, and positivity go a long way in recovery! If you are going through this surgery, or are going to go through it, the one thing I will say is that ice will be your best friend, pain meds are good too, keep your legs elevated on the couch, whether you want to or not you have to get up and walk around, and while you are lying on the couch make sure you do your ankle pumps to avoid blood clots! The surgery is not anything to fear! You wouldn't even be able to tell I just have major surgery on my legs!

Here are a few pictures of what my legs look like after surgery:

1. My legs as they were right after surgery, ace bandages under, and braces with ice packs inside on top.

2. The bandages under the ice braces - legs are not that swollen! Ice works wonders!!

3. Putting my compression stockings on over the ace bandages!