Discharge day! My favorite day! The residents, pain service and nurses were encouraging me to stay one or two more days but quite honestly I could not have stayed another minute in that hospital room if I'd been drugged with Vitamin K. And I'm not talking about potassium.
My roommate was A.W.F.U.L. She had a broken tibial plateau fracture (basically the top of the tibia, right under the knee cap/joint space) and had surgery the day after me, so I only had a private room for one night. After that I had to share my room with....her. She complained and swore like a sailor and begged for her pain meds literally every 20 minutes (I timed it out of boredom). She called the doctors and nurses liars when they said they couldn't give her any more meds. She screamed at them for "moving" her leg when all they did was hold it steady while she moved. She stated they hit her and pushed her and mistreated her. Everyday she'd start a phone conversation with her aunt or sister "Well it's just another day of being mistreated and neglected. No one helps me or does anything for me here." She refused to get up, she refused to do therapy, she refused anything but the bedpan, eventually needing the foley catheter put in 3 times. She should have been discharged the day after her surgery but because of her actions, she stayed longer than me. I could not handle it. She stayed up all night with lights on and the TV on and moaning and complaining to whomever would listen to her on her phone. It was high time to get out while the getting was good. Her aunt and sister were super sweet and very apologetic and in secret had apologized to me and my family about her. So we kind of knew we were in for a bit of a rocky stay.
Anyway, on Saturday I had all my ducks in a row. PT and OT had signed off on me the day before and my walker and CPM machine were both delivered and approved by insurance and ready to go. My MIL just needed to fill my prescriptions at the hospital pharmacy and once that was done I was outta there! I had showered and walkered (in 15 minutes, yahoo) so I felt fresh. Dr. Z came by to see me and say good bye and happy holidays. He was a bit concerned with the left leg being so hard to control pain wise so we may be starting PT at 2 weeks rather than 8 weeks. I will find out at my first follow up appt, which will actually be 3 weeks d/t him being out of the office.
The drive home was cake. I stretched out in the back seat after I medicated and got pillows around me and I slept off and on the 3.5 hours home. No problem. Doing the walker into the house was fine too. Going up steps, I was taught you have to go backwards. It was scary in the hospital at first, but at home we only have one step up into the house and that's it. So we were home and I was fine. It was probably the best homecoming out of all my surgeries. Once I was in the house, I was relegated to my recliner and told to stay there and just relax. And that is what I have been doing a whole of since. Merry Christmas!
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