We have had the week from hell! Things got from bad to worse over the weekend and by Monday DH was feeling really really ill, and in pain. I am not writing this to scare the hell out of you all, but I want to encourage you all to ask a lot more questions and find out what to expect and what things to look for if things are going wrong. I know I have read a lot of posts where guys have the SSR and are back to normal within a few days, unfortunately we are not one of those, but things could have been a lot easier and less upsetting, if I had know what to look for and who to contact. I am sorry, this is a really long post!
DH had the op on Wednesday 1st Sept, on Friday he was feeling really well, he was eating, downstairs, even sat in the garden and did some canvas painting! He was quite swollen which we expected.
Saturday he started to feel Flu'y but the swelling had gone down, Sunday worse.
Monday- much worse, one ball now 3 x the size of normal, he felt like he had proper flu without cold part, but he was in much more pain. I called the hospital but no-one would speak to me - I had to go to the doctor, had the normal challenge to get an emergency appt, this was then booked for 3.50 that afternoon, but at 3pm, DH went for a wee and could barely make it to the ensuite, he was wincing/growling in agony. I called the GP again and had to beg the unhelpful receptionist to get someone to call me back, which they did and they told him to take double the dose of the Ibuprophen just so he could get in to the doctors!! Which we did and he managed to get there -DR said it looked like an infection and gave him antibiotics, did not comment on the flu'y symptoms!
Tuesday, worse still, but waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. Tuesday 9pm, he was really ill, now being sick, still swollen 4 x the normal size - really red, feeling worse flu like, could barely move, I tried to call the hospital, every 11 of the numbers I had were all office hours, I tried the doctor but constantly engaged, I am now crying my eyes out! I had to search on the internet to get the NHS Direct number, called them - poor lady had to deal with me trying to explain whilst crying!!! She did well and said someone would call me back in about 1 hour!!! "What I need someone now"! Bless her she went and got a nurse to talk to me. This finally calmed me down as she gently explained, that the flu symptoms are part of the infection so to be execpted, not something else as we were thinking, the sickness is due to taking Co-codamol for so long, so stop taking them and use paracetamol instead, the swelling should go down or at least be the same at 48 hours after starting to take the antibiotics. They then got our out of hours GP to call me back, she was prepared to do a house visit, but we decided there was nothing more that could be done then.
He is now much better, we had a check up yesterday, the swelling is now gone down to nearly normal size, and a week later he has finally made it back downstairs and is a bit more mobile. Thank god, it has been the worst week of my life, I am absolutely nackered, I have hardly slept, and feel like I have not stopped running around after him and trying to work from home in between!
If we had known what the symptoms were of an infection, I think we could have picked this up on Saturday, and he would not have gotten so bad. The hospital just seemed to kick you out and give you Ibuprophen and Co-codamol and say take it as per the packet says. This was not sufficient pain killers, as there are not enough tables to make it through the day! They send you away with no "what to expect" "how it should look" "What to look for if things are going wrong" and "who to contact" - nothing.
I am writing this to encourage all of you who are heading for this op, to really plan ahead and ask for as much info as possible - and take notes so you can confidently refer to it later. It is very unlikely you wil lhave the same experience as me, as I am sure most guys are back to work within the week. But you need to be prepared for - what if things aren't healing like they should. We went into this far too casually, thinking it would be an easiy ride with a couple of days of pain I couldn't have been more wrong. You need to ask who you can contact, day or night if you have a question, how it should look after a few days, and what to look for if things aren't normal. What you can do to increase the pain killers, and what side effects come from taking them for several days. You also may want to consider sleeping seperately so he can spread his legs out, you may also want to tell your job that if things do go wrong you could be off work too for over a week. Also have someone locally who can help you if things get too much for you, I could really have done with someone to call that night for support and help and another pair of eyes! And someone who could have dealt with my husband less histerically - as I expect I did not help him!
Please don't feel scared by my experience (remember if you don't have the op - you will never know!), the worst of my experience was not being prepared, if I could have expected some of this, it would have been much easier to deal with and we could have dealt things quicker. Just take my advice and ask the questions, and even if he doesn't recover so quickly, then at least you are prepared.
I am just so pleased now that we are (Hopefully) on the home run now, we are even venturing out of the house this afternoon!
Good luck to you all, and fingers crossed you get the result you are all looking for.
If you want to ask any questions, then please do I am happy to help anyway I can.
With best wishes to you all
Angela
XXX
