Mummy Confession: I’m not certain much is different, as life seems to have moved on. A new normal will just have to be normal for now!
It’s been three months since I had a stent placed in a collapsed vein. Three months since I woke from surgery with pain registering on the scale of 9-10 and had to slowly wean off of painkillers when the pain became a bit more manageable. Three months of wearing compression stockings, taking daily blood thinners and sleeping restlessly during the night with a pillow propped between my legs. Three months where I feel so exhausted after too much “activity” (read, walking around) and pain if I’m too active.
This is my new normal.
So far, my progress…
-The back pain from after surgery has nearly gone. It’s more a discomfort at times and only occasionally painful (when I overdo it).
-My daily injections turned into daily pills after three weeks and the bruising has disappeared (hooray!).
-My stomach is no longer aching because of the injections.
-I have less “pin and needle” feeling in my legs and less feeling of them being cold.
-My leg is far less grey/blue than it was. And has returned to normal size, I believe. It’s still occasionally “purple-y” after a shower without my compression stocking (the only time I’m without it).
-I can walk for a bit of time now without my leg hurting. It still hurts if I walk too much (just the left one)
-I still get reeeeeally tired if I walk too much. Like, take a nap tired.
-Exhaustion has gotten less, but still is something I seem to fight on a daily basis.
-My appetite has gotten slightly better with time.
-I can sleep on my stomach, my back and my left side (and usually switch a fair bit through the night), but my right side is still the most comfortable.
-I don’t wake up in pain for the most part!
-I sleep with a pillow between my legs (think pregnancy style) and need to keep my left leg straight because of the compression wear. Otherwise, I feel like I’m cutting off circulation to my leg.
-When I sit down, I need to keep my legs active, changing position or propped up to feel “ok.”
-The stockings make for an interesting way of sitting and walking. If something bunches up or I keep my leg bent for too long, circulation is a bit worse.
-I can’t sit on my left leg anymore. It hurts.
I was told it could take around 12 months for everything to “settle” back down, and I also know that people who have this condition, even with the stent placement, seem to say a lot of the exhaustion, sleeping and activity related changes are their normal now.
So, for now, that’s pretty much everything that’s changed. As far as long-term things that will be happening, I get to have a chat to my doctor pretty soon to see what the future holds! There could potentially be other more permanent changes, but those will need to be discussed after a period of healing and recovery.
