About 1.5 hrs before the scheduled surgery time (of 11am), I was called into the pre-op room and asked to change into a gown and put on these nifty non-slip socks. I've come to appreciate these socks on crutches.
After signing some more papers, the pre-op person (not a nurse? maybe a nurse?) called up an anesthesiologist. This was me, waiting:
The pre-op person explained to me the entire process. IV, signing papers, talking to the anesthesiologist team, talking to the doctor, the "two glasses of wine" relaxing injection, the operation and then the two phases of recovery.
After a little while in the pre-op room, I did begin getting nervous and was looking forward to the "two glasses of wine." When the time came to inject that, the anesthesiologist joked that it was more like a six-pack of beer. (We then joked about what kind of beer it would be.) This stuff worked pretty well and pretty much instantly gave me that "happy yay!!!" feeling. Thumbs up!
I have great veins, as per the anesthesiologist. Hence, she used a 16 gauge needle, in my hand. Damn, 16 gauge is the gauge of speaker wire! (that I often run here and there)
A rep from an orthotics company came over and fit my knee brace to me. It's a Bledsoe OR Post-Op Knee Brace. It's a pretty nifty brace in that it has pretty simple controls for extension and knee flexion limits, as well as a locking mechanism.
This picture shows a touch much leg, so close your eyes, lest you be blinded by the pasty whiteness:
Of course, I had to test drive it:
An assistant to the surgeon came out, for some Q&A. This was when the correct knee was marked and I ended upt having to ask the surgeon whether they mark the correct knee.
Having had only 5-6 hours of sleep, the tiredness began hitting me, but I was ready to rock:
The "six pack of beer" injection took place, my the surgeon, the rest of the team and the interns observing the surgery all gathered round. They carted my jolly self off to the op room.
I remember helping them transferring myself over on the operating table, complying with a "move just a bit over" request and then, bam, I was out.
Post-operation, I woke up in the recovery room, phase I, my knee sore and hurting a darn good amount. Even though there was a tube inserted down my throat, but my throat wasn't (and still isn't) sore.
The surgeon gave me two Percocets (the painkiller prescribed to me) and then gave me an IV painkiller. The pain didn't seem to be coming down sufficiently fast over 15 minutes, so a little more painkiller was administered over IV. This seemed to do the trick enough to make the pain closer to tolerable.
I was then discharged into recovery room II. At this point, the pain became tolerable. I had my CryoCuff ice machine on and the nurse refreshed the water. My sister was called back in and the taking of the photos resumed. Horns up!
I brought my own crutches (the ones I got with the ER visit) and the nurse in the recovery room went over the crutching with me. Even though I've already done some crutching a month ago, this time it is ever so important not to put weight on the right leg (against the doctor's orders).
The nurse was very helpful in readjusting the crutches and showing me proper sitting down and getting up technique.
To finish it off on a grosser note, here's an artsy shot with some blood in the IV tube:
After this was removed, I was wheel chaired out to my awesome yellow hatchback and my sister drove me home, while blasting my favorite tunes. It was a beautiful 75 degree day out.
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