Of course with every surgery there is pain involved, but I must say that compared to some of the others I've been through, this wasn't that bad. The majority of the pain that I felt in the begining was really due to the cast locking my knee up, or the swelling from inside the cast. There are however a few other types of pain that can occur.
When getting amputated, the majority of what gets cut is skin, muscle, nerves and bone.
The skin will most likely not cause you much pain at all after cast removal, and prior to, it may just be from swelling and constriction.
When dealing with damaged skin this changes but is still easily controlled. I had one spot with a lot of scar tissue that was quite sore. The soreness became apparent whenever it was touched. After the wound closed, I began to massage it and that pain went away. After the second amputation, I've experienced this pain too but much worse as that leg was BADLY damaged prior to surgery. It was almost entirely comprised of grafted skin, and scar tissue. I massage the parts that I can and they feel better for awhile, but need to be massaged many times a day. Since I haven't gotten my prosthetic yet, I don't know how this will change over time, but I have hope that after I'm walking again, the blood stimulation will help this issue.
The bone feels like any other bone break. Some light medication will ease it.
I cant say I've had much muscle pain at all.
The majority of the pain or sensation involved though is related to nerves.
The first leg was mostly just tingly. As long as I was distracted though, it wasn't that big of a deal. At night before bed I'd pop a pain pill just to chill it out so I could sleep. After getting my prosthetic the tingles practically vanished. With this leg I also experienced phantom sensation. I kept feeling my ankle. Totally normal to feel this for a few months. If it lasts longer, you should consult your doctor.
The second leg is not going as easy. Instead of tingles, I have sharp random pains, and intense tingles. During the first couple weeks I also experienced a sensation as if all of my foot muscles were contracting but that stopped. Some times theres a very strange sensation that I get (it's only happened maybe 4 times) and its quite un-describable. The best way that I can put it is, prior to surgeries and medical procedures they sometimes give you drugs through an IV that make your mouth taste like metal. You can't actually taste it on your tongue but you can taste it none the less. This strange sensation feels as though the insides of your leg can taste that metal. It's very weird...
My nerve meds have been bumped up twice to help control this. At this point, a month after surgery, I take nerve meds 3 x a day, and pain meds 1 x day. The second bump came today after I called my Dr.s office because I was getting tired of thids hassle with my leg. I will now take the nerve meds 4 x day and hopefully that will omit the pain meds from my regiment completely. I'll keep you posted.
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