Day 6! The bruising! Ugh!!
Just got back from my 1-week followup appointment, just here to share my experience and help spare fellow bruisees from anxiety and discomfort. The pain and swelling from the bruising started on day 4 and it hurts worse than the initial pain after surgery! Whenever I stand up, it's like I feel all the fluids flowing and tugging on me under my skin and I want to throw up from the pain. I have been icing and elevating on schedule and taking pain meds, but I was disappointed because I had all but weaned off the opiods until yesterday. It's warm and uncomfortable everywhere there's visible bruising. Yesterday I called the doctor's office to get some advice and I must have said the magic combination of words because they told me to go to the ER to get checked for a blood clot :-[ I knew it probably wasn't but once the doctors says go to ER, you go. I'm fine, and this bruising is normal and expected after the surgery. So is the uncomfortable warmth. The thing that actually helped me mitigate the pain experienced while standing was *compression* around my calf and knee. Compression sleeves or Ace bandages work. Other than that, I'm doing fine and the doctor was pleased to see me able to fire my quads so well. Every day gets a little better guys, we can do this!