First Full Day back from Surgery

The surgery went well. I was ve ry impressed at the efficiency and care that the hospital had. Granted I was the first surgery of the day for my surgeon, but I 'check in' at noon and by 12:30 I had already met with the anesthesiologist and nurse and was being taken back to put my gown on. Once back in the 'sterile area' my knee was given a Betadine bath and my surgeon came and said hello. Then within 15 minutes I was wheeled to the prep area to have my IVs and initial dose of drugs. The last thing I remember was being wheeled into the theater and asked to shimmy across to the surgical table.

I woke up later with a brace on my leg and it would have been about 3 hours later. The surgery only took about 30 minutes but for some reason that's how long it took me to come to. Once I was awake and alright I was taken to my room in the main hospital area where my mom was able to come see me again.

The pain was pretty intense but I was given a morphine drip with a lovely little button I could push every 5-10 minutes to get another hit. The nurses were recording how much I was taking of the morphine and I think the first hour I pushed the button 16 times but only got 11 pushes of drugs.

Shortly after arriving in the room it was dinner time, to which I was treated a dinner of veal, cooked carrots, green beans, mashed potatoes, a cup of soup, a roll, and a strudel dessert. I was only able to have a couple bites as I was pretty loopy with all the drugs, but I must admit I was pretty impressed with the food.

As I was so exciting and was pretty much just awake for my blood pressure to be taken mom went back to the hotel fairly early and I attempted to sleep. The night was ok aside from being woken up every hour for my blood pressure and the constant beeping of my IV machine.

The other traumatic experience was trying to pee in a bed pan. Now I've debated on whether this should be censored from the blog, however as it was such a weird experience I will leave out the gorey details and stick to the main bit. The main point is that I was unable to get out of bed, but was also told if I didn't pee I would be given a catheter. Now I DID need to pee, but peeing in a bed pan is not exactly comfortable.

Having never been in the hospital I always wondered how the whole bed pan thing works - well essentially the scooted a pan under my bum and then sat me up in the bed and I was expected to pee... while in bed... in a pan. Fortunately for me, after a couple tries, I was able to go because the doctor was about to come in and give me no choice. It is however an experience I don't want to repeat, so am glad to be home and able to hobble to the bathroom when I please.

Alas, I am now home and the swelling in my knee is starting to go down. Here are a couple pictures which taken from my new nesting point to help you get an idea of how big my knee is.

My swollen knee last night
My knee this morning - it's hard to tel but it's not AS swollen
Then there is the massive brace I have to wear when I sleep or walk... I know you're jealous! :)