Postoperative Information | Knee
After Surgery-Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU)
After your surgery, you will be moved from the operating table to your bed, and the anesthesiologist will take you to PACU. In PACU, the patient must be "settled in" by the specially trained nurses. Your blood pressure, heart rhythm, and dressings will be checked frequently. There will be other patients in PACU. It may be one or three hours from the time the surgeon talks to your family before you are discharged to your room.
Waking Up From Surgery
When you wake up from surgery you can expect to feel tired and groggy. Your knee will be covered with thick, bulky dressings held in place with elastic bandages that wrap around your leg down to your toes. This helps to control bleeding and swelling. You will be wearing surgical hose on your non-operated leg.
Drainage Tube
You may have a drainage tube that will come from your knee. Your operated leg will be placed in a "space boot." This holds your leg in the proper position and helps prevent pressure sores on your heels. This boot will be removed when you're comfortable without it. However, if at any time your heel begins to burn, or if you have difficulty moving or lose feeling in your toes, you should tell the nurse immediately.
When you wake up in the PACU, you will notice that a catheter (tube) was placed in your bladder. This is to drain urine and will be in place for one or two days.
Pain
Surgical pain is felt differently by everyone, and you should expect to feel some discomfort after your surgery. After surgery you may have a Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) machine ordered. This machine allows you to give yourself your pain medication. Once you are awake enough, a button will be placed within your reach. When you feel pain, you just push the button and the medicine is fed into your IV. There is a limit so you cannot take too much medicine. Pain medication works better on mild pain than on severe pain, so do not let the pain get too severe.
The nurses will be asking you to "rate" your pain. "0" means you have no pain and "10" being severe pain. Pain medicine is available throughout your hospital stay.