Foot patterns in room the leg patterns

Day of Surgery

Preliminary work

Woke up a 4:00am as I was the first surgery at 7:30 am. Had to be at hospital by 5:30 to check in. Molly Flowers was with me and was to be my advocate, the person to ask the questions that I forgot about. Advocates are very important!

After check in we went to a room with the pre-op nurse who was to get me ready for surgery: Gave me medications, shaved my leg, and got an IV needle in me.

It was interesting that she had trouble getting a good spot to get a needle in me because most of the time in my past it has been easy for them.  I also was getting cold and starting to shiver.  My theory is that since I had been telling my subconscious not to bleed during surgery, I was vasoconstricting already. I think this might be why my blood pressure was a higher than usual (although going into surgery could raise most peoples blood pressure). I have not heard from the surgeon if bleeding was an issue or not so I have no way to validate any of this.

Next the anesthesiologist came in and explained her procedure. We were going with an spinal for the legs and something else to put me in the twilight zone.

The Operation

I was wheeled into the operating room It was nice to see the seriousness of the operating room. Nurses and PA stretching and physically getting ready for the day.

The spinal was given, I was rolled on my back. I had my iPhone in airplane mode and my HemiSync recording set up. I got the noise canceling earbuds in my ears, was trying to adjust the volume and was instantly out.

The next thing I remember being conscious of was talking to a group of people in a space with no walls. I was trying to figure this out when all of a sudden I woke up in the operating room. I woke up clearly to the bright lights and color which I thought was odd. It was an incredibly fast shift on one place to another.  They said all went well and moved me into the recovery room

Recovery

While laying in the recovery room I placed the HemiSync post op recording on.  Slowly the feeling began to come back to my feet and I was able to move them. As I was in there for a while until I got more sensation back. While I was lying there I allowed my body to spontaneously do some non-directed movement as described by Marilyn Beech in her book Unexpected Results: Exploring the Edges of Consciousness. I could feel my spine wanting to readjust by doing some very small intrinsic movements. Basically you just allow your body to move while you witness it without controlling it. My spine started to unwind itself for about ten minutes. It felt great.

Out of the Recovery Room

I was then moved into a room and Molly joined me. I was told that all went well and I was kind of amazed at how good I felt. Slowly the epidural ran its course and I started to feel my feet first. I could move my feet as a unit, then as the spinal wore off I could move the toes and finally the toes independently. Soon I was able to do the Structural Awareness foot patterns. It took longer for sensation to come back into my upper legs and hips.

Rescue Remedy anecdote:I had Molly place a drop of rescue remedy Bach flower essence on my forehead.  According to Molly I was out of it and my complexion was yellow. As soon as my the rescue remedy hit my head my forehead became pink and then in the next 15 minutes the rest of me looked more pink.

I got hungry so Molly went to Chipotle and got me a Burrito Bowl. So far so good.

PT and OT came to check me out see how I moved and got me to stand up, use the walker, and showed me how to go to the bathroom. I was really surprised at how my foot and ankle worked under my much straighter leg. I was also surprised at how much I was able to move. The feeling was still coming back to my hips and legs.

Next went to X-ray. They wheeled me down to get X-ray of my knee. But before they wheeled me down I started to feel a full crampy feeling in my lower abdomen. I had no idea what it might be but I though if a guy could have menstrual cramps then that is what I was feeling.

After the X-ray was taken I was left for a while waiting for someone to wheel me back to the room.  Then I noticed I was lying in a wet spot.  Cramping problem was solved. I could feel a full bladder but the nerves that tell me I needed to pee where still sedated.

So then they ultrasounded my bladder to see how full it was. Then I peed again and it was empty so that was considered a success.  Soon the awareness of the need to pee came back online.

More PT and OT:   Since I peed my pants I was shown how to put on pants with a bad leg. Then I walked down the hall with a walker,  and up and down a flight of stairs. Was quite amazed at what I could do.

It was decided that I could check out and go home. The drive home was fine. Was able to get out of the car and into the house just fine.

Iced and went to bed

Sleep was like an hour on and an hour off with standing up and lying back down.

Day 2

More swelling Stiffer. More pain but still able to get around. Felt a little more out of it than the day before. Lots of short naps. Constipated from the opioids. Drank lots of water and took the senicote to get things moving. No result except for abdominal cramping.  Got some prunes and started to snack on them.

Home Nurse and PT came to evaluate me. Everyone though I was doing fine.

Day 3

Was still blocked up in the bowel area, so I solved that problem.  It was amazing the difference I felt.  For more of that story READ THIS.  I also started drinking a tea consisting of hot water and dried Mango slices and a Prune or two.

relearning how to walk/re-education lecture

Prune and mango tea

Pt and nurse

Ice

Noticing habits

Day 4

Stretching out the oxy

Rain and sleep like a champ 5hrs straight   Catch up on sleep more sleep

Great PT session

Bowel success

Day 5

Massage and lymph drainage Cville

Soreness

Bowels ok

Taper pain

Day 6

More bowels

PT walk outside

Work in kitchen

Day 7

More PT

Extended walking and standing

Restful naps

Off narcotics

Bandage irritation

Day 8

Change of bandage.  Incision looks amazingly healthy

Still tired.

Description of pain. Hurts lying down but not so much standing up.

Old patterns

Hallalulya

The post Post Surgery Journal appeared first on Scott Gauthier MS.

So you want this moving smoothly and soon after surgery.

And what are two of the worst things for your bowels? Antibiotics and Opiates. Both of which you get during surgery.

Let me tell you the Halleluja! moment I had after my surgery. This will contain poop stories so be warned.

The morning of surgery, I had a movement but it was a little rabbit pellet like which means I was slightly dehydrated, probably from the restriction on food and liquids before surgery. So I was sub maximal going in.

The day of surgery, with the spinal and all might make it almost impossible to poop the day after surgery. Since I got to go home that day, I was home on the day after surgery and still no movement. Which is strange for me, Mr. 2-3 times per day. So that evening I took a Senecot which is a stimulant laxative and it felt like it got the entrance part of my colon going but the exit part was still slow, resulting in a crampy, uncomfortable feeling.

Two days after surgery, still nothing moving in the morning. My general pain level had increased and my brain fog was rather high.  Feeling dull. Feeling still blocked.

So I decided out was better than in and that I should administer myself (with the help of Molly) and enema while seated on the toilet. (If I would have had access to a good Colon Hydrotherapist, I would have gone to them. The professional equipment is much nicer.)

Using warm water with just a tablespoon of epsom salt to a quart of water. I proceeded with irrigation. After a couple of fill ups and wash outs this way, I felt some relief, but not much clearing of the bowels. So I laid down and did two more fills and flushes where I could get a little more water in and let it set a little more.

On the fourth try, boom. I felt like the dam let go. Major relief!

With in five minutes, my brain was clear again, not feeling dull. This was actually one of the most amazingly quick changes in consciousness I have ever experienced. Perhaps it was the absorption of water and magnesium from the colon along with the elimination of toxins. I have no idea what it was but the world was alive and full of color again.

And the swelling in my leg went down significantly. Not sure the mechanism for that* but I guess a full bowel may hinder the flow of lymph out of the leg.

Went from a pain level of 7 to a pain level of 4. It was an amazing experience to feel that much better that fast.

So in hindsight, before surgery, I would have eaten a lot of prunes during the pre surgery week. I would have done more probiotics. I would do whatever it took to get the drain moving in tip top shape.

* When fecal matter sits in the bowel too long, you get a situation called endotoxicity, which is recirculation of toxic wastes and metabolites across the colon wall and into the bloodstream. Basically, the body’s sewer backs up. This increases the burden on the liver and other organs of detoxification. Because these toxins recirculate in the bloodstream, symptoms appear throughout the whole body, which is why clearing his bowel relieved his brain fog as well as pain and swelling in the knee. (For more information, check out Dr. Jensen’s Guide to Better Bowel Care.)

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Integration

Woke up around 3am the night before surgery eve. Had an epiphany about integration.

I am realizing that I am not just saying goodbye to my knee. I am saying goodbye to the whole of me that is designed around the wounded knee. The wound of the knee is not just localized but spiraled through my being. The instability of my right knee determined who I am, how I moved, what decisions I made, how I related to world and others.  I needed to function around that wound. In changing that, I am changing who I am, and there is some fear and some sadness in losing this “who I am right now.” I am the best I can do right now. And losing this “me” is scary even though the future me may shine at many higher levels.

In literature and media there are instances of quick change and how difficult it is to integrate into the new from the old. Gregor Samsa, from Kafka’s Meatmorphosis has such a challenge. Waking up as a beetle from a human experience, he struggles to accept his new way in the world, superimposing his old beliefs upon the newness. The Dr. Who syfi series has the main character transmute into a new self every so often and in confused for a while until his/her new self becomes established.

This impermanence of the self seems more real right now as it will be drastically changed soon. Perhaps this is why there is so much time needed for healing. If one changed so significantly overnight, they might not recognize who they are anymore and such a shift could blow apart the ego, or the sense of self that we cling to.  Integration is sometimes not so easy when the change is great. We can adapt easily to a small amount of sand in our shoe but it takes concerted effort to adapt to a pebble. The reverse in probably also true. When moving around an obstacle has become a habit, how do we recover our freedom when the obstacle is removed? Perhaps this is why healing is slower in older people. They have a more ingrained sense of self, they think they know who they are. The body may slow things down so that the psyche can catch up.

My integration into my wounded knee self has been an journey of 40 years with incredible successes and failures each determining who I perceive I am. So how do I integrate into who I am with a more fully functional knee? That journey awaits me.

Last minute work

Had a wonderful osteopathic session with Francis Demmerle D.O.. Trying to get the body in tip top shape so as to process the trauma. Freeing up the vascular and lymph systems so that they can do their jobs. Freeing up the fascia so it can adapt to the coming change. She also got into my cranium and my brain opened like a soufflé. Bodyworkers will understand that feeling.

Then a last minute acupuncture session to get my chi full and ready.

Late afternoon had a wonderful walk around our property looking at changes of spring: the blooming redbud trees, the almost blooming crab apples, the fields of violets, the sprouts in the garden.

Some slight fear/excitement/anticipation coming up. Using some EMDR to clear out what it is.

Asking for others to energetically connect

Placed postings on Facebook asking others to surround me and the surgical team in a green blanket of love for the surgery. Getting lots of wonderful and helpful responses.

The post Day by Day appeared first on Scott Gauthier MS.

So I have:

• Quit fish oils and omega 3’s two weeks before surgery to reduce bleeding
• Removed vitamin E and other supplements that increase bleeding
• Started washing with antibacterial soap a week before surgery.

The post Stuff the Doctor Says appeared first on Scott Gauthier MS.

Lymphatic drainage massage is a form of gentle massage that encourages the movement of lymph fluids around the body. The fluid in the lymphatic system helps remove waste and toxins from the bodily tissues.

Since the surgery will cause damage to blood vessels, and, antibiotics and anesthetics are placed directly on the tissues during surgery, it makes sense that this system of moving fluids through the body be functioning at as high a level as possible.

I worked with Brian before the surgery. It does feel like something happens from this gentle work. There is usually a slight increase in urine volume and consistency. Definitely something is coming out of the body.

After surgery I did several short sessions with Brian. After the first one, I felt like there were some anesthetics that were removed as I could feel a slight drowsiness and nauseousness after the session. Drinking a lot of water afterward cleared it up pretty fast. I believe it helped keep the swelling down.

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I did intensive work with Janney Li to see what could be resolved before committing to surgery.

Cali Gaston did more of an energetic balancing act for me pre and post surgery.

Working with my acupuncturist, Cali Gaston, before surgery, she came up with this rationale:

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Another dosing opinion for homeopathic use for surgery

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The MAP Program is from the research of Machaelle Small Wright at Perelandra. It is based on some of the work developed at Findhorn.

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