Surgery + 5 & 6 Days

I've finally got cabin fever which means it must be time to take the next step and start getting out of the house! Sunday was a long day. I've still been staying on the couch as much as possible trying to focus on staying elevated. I did PT exercises twice on Sunday (I had done them three times on Saturday). I think I'm at about 45 degrees on ROM although when I sit up and let gravity do the trick, I can go much closer to 90 degrees.

Today (Monday morning) was welcomed with a 90 minute PT session. They say I need to focus on straightening the leg as much as possible "so they don't have to torture me in a month or so". Amen to no torture! Jeff thought I had somehow deserted him in the waiting room. There was 20 minutes of electrodes stimulating my quad muscle, calf stretch, two range of motion exercises, 8 minutes on a sitting stairmaster, leg lifts, modified squat, and 20 minutes of ice with electrodes to reduce knee swelling.

The one thing still holding me back is pain management. I've pretty much given up the prescription painkiller except at night where it's not strong enough to keep from waking me up in pain. This is complicated from muscle cramps I'm getting during the night - probably from the PT. I'm going to keep struggling with that.

The one thing I've missed today - first day home alone is company. This was especially apparent as I knocked over a full glass of water about 5 minutes after Jeff left for work for the day. It was so nice of Mom to come and visit for five days and do way more helping out than she should have - I owe you big time, Mom! Other friends, Sue, Joanne, Skeeter, Jason, Connor, all have helped to brighten my days with visits. I also had two bundles of energy visit last night - Jen's twins Jadyn and Jordan - they were fun and brought yummy chocolate chip cookies. The two giant care packages from my work and our soccer team/Jeff's work have been so amazing and all the warm thoughts, cards, e-mails, etc have been so great. And, of course, the biggest helpers have been the residents of the house - Jeff who has been chauffeur, nurse, and jack of all trades and Bethany who took off work Wednesday to help me out and is always so handy. THANKS SO MUCH!

Surgery At Last

The day for surgery finally arrived. I would say I was more nervous on Monday, the day before, than on Tuesday when I went "under the knife". We pulled out the couch in the recovery room (aka my living room) before we left to go to the Ambulatory Surgery Center. We arrived early (a rare occurence for me) and when we went into the brand new facility I could tell that at least Jeff would be comfortable. The waiting room was posh as far as I was concerned with a couple computer terminals, tables, and a lot of space.

I was immediately taken into the surgery prep area, given a bag for all of my stuff along with a gown and socks to change into. The nurse got my IV in and double-checked that I was me and went through some pre-surgery questions. I briefly saw my doctor and his resident as he walked out of his previous surgery. He initialed my right leg and that was the last I saw him for the day. The resident went over the gameplan and then I met the anesthesiologist and her resident. She asked if I wanted general anesthesia or a spinal - definitely general! She also told me that when I woke up I would have the option of a spinal block if the pain was severe when I awoke. This puts anesthetic in your femoral artery to basically numb your leg. She said about 20% of patients have severe pain and can use the block but they don't like to do it until after the surgery because it only lasts for 8 to 12 hours.

The resident gave Jeff a prescription for post-surgery painkillers and he gave me a sedative to keep me calm. Then it was time to say goodbye to Jeff and head into the surgery. I was pretty relaxed (with the prescription). I remember being wheeled in, confirming my name and why I was there and that's all, they put me under.

I awoke in the surgery room (I think) and I was in A LOT of pain. It's all pretty fuzzy but I know my leg hurt much worse than I expected. I was rolled into the recovery room. The nurse immediately increased the pain medicine in my IV. I was shaking, moaning, and having trouble communicating. The pain medicine was helping a little and I'm not sure how long this was going on, but they made the decision that the spinal block made sense and I was all for that!

The anesthesiologist and her resident used an ultrasound to find my artery and the nerves around the patella. They were great about getting the injection in around my groin and it only took a few minutes before I was much more comfortable!

Mercifully, they waited till I had calmed down to bring Jeff back. He had been updated by my doctor right after surgery - he said that the MCL was healing well and did not need any fixes in the surgery. They replaced the ACL and cleaned up the meniscus as expected. They are still concerned with some damage on the outside of my knee - something about bone spurs. I'll find out more about that when I get to speak with him on Friday.

Jeff waited with me in the recovery room for 20 or 30 minutes and then I was released to go. Jeff warmed up the car and I got wheeled out. Everything went smoothly and we were on to the next stage - recovery!!