My husband is now home, hopefully, he is going to continue his recovery. I have seen some pretty dramatic and disturbing mood swings and they are going to have to be addressed at some point. He needs to commit to regular exercise and I am not going to be responsible for making him do that, I will supply him with the things that I use. Supposedly, he did wonderfully at the rehab center but he says they stopped doing anything last Friday. I am not sure how firm a grip he has on the days and I really never know if he is going to explode. Yesterday, when I was driving him back to the facility after the home visit, he was seriously angry...apparently with me. I had asked him if he had his seatbelt on, I didn't want to pull out if he didn't. He reacted like a volcano exploding and he was hurling obscenities at me and acting threatening. I chose not to engage and took him to the door of the facility where the occupational therapist met him and made sure he got out of the car safely. I went back there later to bring him clothes to wear home and he seemed to have no recollection whatsoever of there having been any kind of discord between us. I have done some research and found that some patients DO have significant personality changes for a while after this surgery, some longer than others. I am hoping that being at home will help his mental recovery. He made himself a sandwich for lunch and he is keeping his leg elevated which he needs to do. He seems very calm at the moment.
This is a bit of a tense time, to say the least. No, I have no desire to smoke. I cannot even imagine what that would be like. Our son is planning to keep a close watch on things...he has called me already to be sure things are okay. He is aware of what happened yesterday. My sister said that her father in law became very aggressive and threatening toward his wife after this same surgery, it did not resolve. She was the only person he exhibited that behavior toward. Might be a long road but I know that this too, shall pass.
Many thanks and much love to all. Perhaps, I will be able to get a part of my life back soon.
Ellen
