I recently had knee replacement surgery at the University of British Columbia hospital and had an adverse reaction to the pain medication they used to help me. As a result of the adverse reaction to he medication I was in hospital for 8 days and had two falls after the operation. The normal time in hospital for this operation is 3days/
For the first few days after surgery, I was feeling a bit of pain, and some nausea, but I was coping. I was coping but from time to time I did notice butterfly's and little people popping into my line of sight . They were not scary, just an interesting departure from the hum drum routine of the hospital. By the third day I had started on physiotherapy and was doing a bit of walking with the help of the physiotherapist, so in the middle of the day I decided I would practice walking by myself. Big mistake.
I got up using the walker, but I did knock something off the bed. So I decided that I should be the one to pick it up. I walked around the bed, bent down and fell, knocking myself out. The staff were there very quickly and I was rushed off for tests, but to calm me down they gave me more medication, to which I did not react well.
Two days later I woke up in another hospital strapped to a bed and wondering what happened as I had no recollection of the previous two days. Evidently (from what I could peace together from others) I had become very aggressive in trying to get up and walk, while under what ever medication they gave me on Thursday.
Because of my state of delirium, UBC Hospital felt that they could not give me the one on one attention I deserved, so they made arrangements to transfer me to Burnaby General on the Friday. I arrived at Burnaby at about 4:00 pm and my wife stayed with me. According to her I kept trying to get out of bed and I told her the reason was that I had no choice I had to get up. She left me at 8:30 pm after what I would describe as a horrific tiring day for her. At 10:20 pm I was able to get out of bed and try to walk. The nurses station was about 15 feet from my bed and I could only surmise that the staff could see me, but they were busy and did not pay attention to me, although they would have had notice from UBC hospital that I needed special attention. I did get it when I fell. My ward mates told me that it was very exciting when I fell. This time I did not fall on my head, I fell on my knee. I was given more tests and then tied to he bed so I would not try to get up.
By Saturday morning the drugs were out of my system and the I was made aware of where I was and what had happened. I set a goal to be out of the hospital by Monday and I was able to meet the goal.
The trip I had when I was on the narcotics, was fun for part of it but nasty for some of it. I now know to stay away from narcotics with morphine in them as they set me off on a trip of a life time. I was lucky and my knee is recovering as I think it should at this point, but I have worked hard to make sure that I follow the physiotherapist and the Dr. instruction to the letter.
I did not like losing two days of my life, but I feel lucky that I did not feel the pain of the second fall. I did write down some of what I remembered while I was in the hospital, but have not read it yet, so I may have more to the story when I get the time to read my own account of my trip.
For the first few days after surgery, I was feeling a bit of pain, and some nausea, but I was coping. I was coping but from time to time I did notice butterfly's and little people popping into my line of sight . They were not scary, just an interesting departure from the hum drum routine of the hospital. By the third day I had started on physiotherapy and was doing a bit of walking with the help of the physiotherapist, so in the middle of the day I decided I would practice walking by myself. Big mistake.
I got up using the walker, but I did knock something off the bed. So I decided that I should be the one to pick it up. I walked around the bed, bent down and fell, knocking myself out. The staff were there very quickly and I was rushed off for tests, but to calm me down they gave me more medication, to which I did not react well.
Two days later I woke up in another hospital strapped to a bed and wondering what happened as I had no recollection of the previous two days. Evidently (from what I could peace together from others) I had become very aggressive in trying to get up and walk, while under what ever medication they gave me on Thursday.
Because of my state of delirium, UBC Hospital felt that they could not give me the one on one attention I deserved, so they made arrangements to transfer me to Burnaby General on the Friday. I arrived at Burnaby at about 4:00 pm and my wife stayed with me. According to her I kept trying to get out of bed and I told her the reason was that I had no choice I had to get up. She left me at 8:30 pm after what I would describe as a horrific tiring day for her. At 10:20 pm I was able to get out of bed and try to walk. The nurses station was about 15 feet from my bed and I could only surmise that the staff could see me, but they were busy and did not pay attention to me, although they would have had notice from UBC hospital that I needed special attention. I did get it when I fell. My ward mates told me that it was very exciting when I fell. This time I did not fall on my head, I fell on my knee. I was given more tests and then tied to he bed so I would not try to get up.
By Saturday morning the drugs were out of my system and the I was made aware of where I was and what had happened. I set a goal to be out of the hospital by Monday and I was able to meet the goal.
The trip I had when I was on the narcotics, was fun for part of it but nasty for some of it. I now know to stay away from narcotics with morphine in them as they set me off on a trip of a life time. I was lucky and my knee is recovering as I think it should at this point, but I have worked hard to make sure that I follow the physiotherapist and the Dr. instruction to the letter.
I did not like losing two days of my life, but I feel lucky that I did not feel the pain of the second fall. I did write down some of what I remembered while I was in the hospital, but have not read it yet, so I may have more to the story when I get the time to read my own account of my trip.
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