CPM Sleep 7/27/14

Last night I slept with my CPM machine running.  The CPM machine is the contraption that hooks up to my leg and is electric.  It bends and straightens my leg continuously once it's turned on.  
I can adjust the angle that it bends and I have done some adjusting on it since I have used it in the hospital.  When the company I rented it from came over and gave me a demo he said I would most likely start at 0-45.  Well the first day they put it on me at the hospital the nurse said my order was written for 0-70.  At first I was thinking there is no way that's right, but then again I'm the patient and what do I know.  So the nurse put it on and the first couple bend and straightens hurt a little but then, like I've said in a previous post, it felt good.  I liked the stretching.  That same day when I was getting it put on again for another run of it, a different nurse looked at it and said, " you ran this thing to 70?" And I said yes and she said "you're a rock star!!"  That was pretty cool, made me happy to think I was doing better then they thought I could.  

I am suppose to be on it for 6 hours a day, and that can be in any combination that works.  I have pretty much been doing it in 2 hour increments.  I asked about sleeping with it on and was told it could only help if I felt ok with it on.  So I told Kev I wanted to try it.  He has to help me with it cause I can't lift it up on the bed and get strapped in.  I was all ready and hoping for some good sleep.  It actually felt more comfortable then just laying with my knee flat.  And the good news is, I slept.  I woke up around 2:00 to pee and was going to call Kev to come help me, but I managed to be able to reach the straps and could release them so I could get out.  When I came back to bed I could get back in and strapped like I needed to be and I started running it again.  Within a few minutes Kev came downstairs to see if I was ok, was I sleeping or needing any help.  lol  No problem, got it all worked out.  So I fell back to sleep with the CPM running and didn't wake up again til almost 5:30.  This was good news for me.  I haven't been sleeping good and this was the most straight thru sleep I've had in a while.  Plus when I actually was fully awake and unhooked the machine my leg felt great.  My knee felt relaxed and flexible.  Of course it tightened up and had some pain come back once I did some exercises and started working with it, but leaving it on and running was successful.  I am going to try it again tonight to see how it goes again.  I am still using it throughout the day, so I am definitely making it work.  Oh and I am up to 0-85!!! Which I think means I'm making great progress.  

No comments:

Post a Comment