Post Surgery: Day 1

Highlights:

• I woke up feeling really good. At least 'good' considering the circumstances.
• I regained complete feeling in my leg at some point in the early afternoon, but I still can't move my leg very well. Flexing my thigh hurts. I mostly find myself using my arms to pull on my leg when I need to move it.
• I took a pain pill in the morning, even though I wasn't in pain. However, since I didn't have full feeling in my leg, I was still a little scared about what would happen once the anesthetic wore off completely, and I wanted to be ahead of the game in terms of the pain cycle. The pain turned out not to be too bad. My hip is a little sore, but it doesn't hurt too much, plus the soreness feels like it is mostly from where the holes were poked in it. I'm supposed to ice the area, but the bandage on it is is so thick that ice doesn't do much. 
• I'm sort of surprised that I've been able to get up and about quite a bit. It felt so good to not lie around all day. However, by the end of the day, my arms were just as sore as my hip. Prior to surgery, I had read rave reviews online about crutch pads from a company called Crutcheze (www.crutcheze.com). However, they are little pricey, and surgery is also a little pricey, so I didn't buy them, because I'm cheap. Well, as it turns out, it took less than 24 hours of crutching around my house before I broke down and ordered the crutch pads. LOL. Plus, after looking at the site several times pre-surgery, their ads keep popping up everywhere I go online, as if I need reminding that my arms. are. killing. me.
• I also have forearm crutches from my dad from when he broke his ankle while hiking in France about a decade ago. Forearm crutches are standard in Europe, whereas in the U.S. they are more commonly used by people who are long-term or life-long crutch users. These are surely better for avoiding the underarm abrasion associated with underarm crutches, but I also feel like they are more work. I need to get my arms in better shape and regain a better sense of balance before I can think about moving to those. Also, I'll admit that the crutches from my dad are rather overstated in that the cuff and the grip are purple, and I'm just not that type of bring-attention-to-yourself-with-flaming-crutches type of person. (My poor dad; he wasn't thrilled about the purple, either, but it was the only pair of crutches the pharmacy had that would work for him, and apparently France is a totally Buy Your Own Crutches type of country.)
• Speaking of out-of-shape arms, I have limited experience on crutches - only two stints as a teenager due to sprained ankles, and neither lasted more than a few weeks. (By the way, this is pretty unheard of for a gymnast. I always prided myself as being the 'never injured' gymnast, but apparently I'm paying for it in adulthood.) One of my stints on crutches occurred as a result of me landing half on and half off a mat doing a vault during warm-ups at a competition. It was a state-qualifying meet, so I had to compete if I wanted to be guaranteed to go to the state championships. (You can submit a petition, but there is no guarantee with a petition.) Competing probably wasn't the best idea, although I think a lot of things that are 'not the best idea' happen when you are victory crazed (which is also 'not the best idea,' in my opinion). Anyway, I'm pretty sure there were only a few weeks between the state qualifying meet and the state championships themselves, which I did compete in, so I can't imagine I was on crutches for more than a few days. My other stint on crutches occurred due to another ankle sprain in the off-season, so I think I took more time out to actually let that one heal. What I do remember from that injury is that my underarms hurt so bad from the crutches that they were actually on the brink of bleeding from being rubbed raw. So this time around, I was prepared for that. What I wasn't prepared for was how sore my arms would be just from supporting my body weight and hauling my 39-year-old out of shape body around. I mean, when I was 14, I was a badass athlete, plus I weighed a lot less than I do now. And when you're an athlete and have an injury to a lower extremity, you get even more badass upper body strength because there's nothing else to do. So while the crutches hurt my underarms, my arms didn't hurt from the work they were doing. Oh how things change in 25 years.
• The upshot of the previous bullet point is that if you are planning on surgery, I'd suggest: A. Sucking up cost of the crutch pads and buying them in advance, and B. Getting your arms into shape ahead of time. Neither of which I did, but hey, as a teacher, I teach kids all the time about stuff I never got when I was a student, and I think my ignorance helps me be a better teacher.
• I contemplated going outside into the yard today because I already feel a little stir crazy. I normally spend the maximum amount of time possible outside, and being inside makes me nuts. However, as I mentioned earlier, there is no easy way out of our house. The front way out involves fairly normal stairs, but with no railing. The back way out involves scary stairs with a railing, but with a possible tumble down into the basement if you have a misstep, or as Tim Daggett would say, 'a balance check.' I decided to pass on going outside for one more day. I was still a little scared/scarred from yesterday's fall, and since I already have an intense fear of falling down stairs, I chickened out. I think that was actually a good decision, for once.
• I was pleased to discover that there is plenty I can do on crutches, and I am a lot more independent and less needy than I feared I would be. The main thing is leaving a lot (A LOT) more time to get things done, as well as planning out things that in an able-bodied state do not require planning. 
• Also, while kids may be a concern when considering surgery, they can also be a great help. My eight-year-old was great today getting me water and carrying plates. :)
• It's the little things that are the hardest to deal with right now. Like... it was actually pretty cold today. I didn't anticipate needing socks, so I didn't bring any downstairs, and there is no way I'm going upstairs for a while. My feet were cold all day, and by the afternoon I finally decided to put on the gross socks that I was given to wear during surgery. But... how are you supposed to put on socks when you can't bend at the hip more than 90 degrees? The answer you have to wait for your husband to do it for you. LOL.
• I was really tired all day, as I didn't sleep much the night before. I think finding a comfortable position to sleep in will be one of the biggest challenges of my recovery. Between not sleeping and the pain medications, I felt sort of weird all day despite feeling mostly really good. I decided to try not taking the pain medication. 
• Overall, I'm feeling so good it is hard to imagine that I'll need crutches for a whole month, but I'm trying to be a good patient and be compliant and not overdo things.