The hospital version of the 12th man

One of the instructions my surgeon gave me after surgery was that I had to use a CPM machine. CPM stands for continuous passive motion. The CPM encourages blood circulation to prevent blood clots, maintain/increase hip motion and decrease pain. While in the CPM, your hip/leg move back and forth and at a slight angle. Here's a picture that Kaitlyn took of me using my CPM this morning.

While I was in the hospital, I was in the CPM at all times, even while sleeping. I sometimes wonder how in the world I was able to sleep those 5 days. The CPM isn't noisy, but it's not super quiet either. I had my IV machine making noise as well. Another thing Dr. Mayo had me using was a machine that hooked up to a pretty snazzy pair of "booties" (I know there is a technical name for these but I don't remember what their called). I would place my foot on the bootie and one strap would go over my foot and another along the back. Each bootie had it's own little air pocket at the arch of each foot that would alternately inflate with air and then deflate after a couple of seconds. I was told the purpose of this high fashion foot ware was to make the blood flow in my feet better. I was told flow tends to slow after surgery and this would encourage the blood to move quicker.

When you turn all of these different pieces of equipment on at the same time and then add a nurse or two checking vitals or taking a blood sample every hour, you get a sound that is equivalent to the 12th man during a Seahawks game at Quest field. OK, so that may be a bit of an exaggeration but you get the point. I'm so glad to be home!