top of page
  • Paul Fink

Splatt update: Few nervous moments…


The operation was three weeks ago and the surgeon was very pleased with the progress. The first 10 after the surgery I had (expected) pain in my wound and the heavy painkillers medication were doing their job. After that, I was feeling good with minimal pain, continuing non-weight-bearing, sleeping through the night, not taking any medication and continuing to elevate my leg at any chance I get. But it was a very interesting last week for me. Two things happened that made me nervous. Luckily, all's well. 


Firstly, on last Sunday I had a shower and I totally forgot to cover my plaster cast 😬🤦🏻‍♂️. It was not saturated though so I was not really worried and stopped my shower prematurely - after three minutes - when I discovered my mistake. But speaking to the surgeon, he was keen to get a closer look because if not checked, it is possible to affect my healing. Given that I have very poor sensation in my leg, I was ‘flying blind’ because I had no idea that my cast was wet or dry in the leg. We went to the surgeon's office on Thursday and he confirmed that the cast was a little bit wet, so he removed it and made a new one. He was happy with going to his office - earlier than I expected though - because it is important to maintain the cast and prevent getting wet. 



Secondly, the next day (Monday last week), I had lunch with my father in law - a great burger place in Bentleigh - and sitting there, I was keen to elevate my leg during lunch. I was using a small stool but the stool gave way and my leg dropped down on the floor of the hard concrete floor. There was a very loud sound hitting the cast on the floor, but the cast was so strong that I never felt any discomfort or pain. Obviously it was an accident, but I was really disappointed in myself for having to be in a vulnerable situation. Still, without any pain, I thought I’ll be okay, however on early Tuesday (like 2:30am) I woke up with some pain. The pain level was less severe compared to the few days after the operation, but I was pretty worried and I was cursing myself that I could setback my timeline recovery or could affect my healing from the wound. So I started using the painkillers again. 


Before seeing the surgeon on Thursday, I was struggling because of the anxiety or stress of the unknown - I had a few bad nights of sleep. I used a few methods (like deep breathing, listening to soothing music) to calm my nerves and try to continue being positive, but for a few days I was very nervous because if you read my blog before the surgery, you would know that this surgery is a huge step in my overall recovery and has risks for my quality of life. 



Fortunately, the surgeon was very happy with me and my leg - especially for the very minimal swelling after removing the cast. Beside the jolted incident on Monday, he complimented me on the way I did care about my leg (eg. elevating it a lot) and he was not concerned at all the jolt. It was a huge relief. He made a new cast, and one of the good things about seeing him earlier is that he allowed me to wait-bear the leg now so I am practising standing up with two legs evenly.  


This weekend, I will commence my rehab Epworth Hospital - starting with removing the cast, using a new custom-made AFO and staying in the hospital for two weeks. Currently I am still using a wheelchair and hopefully I will transition to walking at the hospital. In the meantime and more recently, I am enjoying my book, a few Netflix shows, live sports, I connected with the Stroke community online, I went out a few times with my mates, I went to two kids school functions and tomorrow I am going to the footy with my wife - Go Dees!! ❤️💙


All the best 

Paul 


Listening to the 2023 Stroke conference




295 views

Join our mailing list

Never miss an update...

Email

Media
Social Media
Stroke of Luck Podcast
bottom of page