The Big Day

At last ... surgery.

Let me just say again, I had a left patellar chondroplasty 

(in case the blog title, numerous mentions and tags didn't already tell you that).

On surgery day I checked in an at 11:00am

my surgery was supposed to be at 12:30. 

They were running a little behind with complications from the 9am surgery,

but it wasn't really a big deal. 

When you check in, you get to change into those really awesome hospital outfits

you know, the ones with the slit at the back?

Yeah those are fun. Complete with matching hair net.

A nurse will assist you in that.

He/she will put you in a bed after you change,

paint up your leg with iodine,

hook up your IV,

put anti-embolism socks on you,

and sharpie your leg to be sliced.

All that jazz. 

I had a few nurses take care of me, and each one was delightful.

You will be in good hands.

Your family can be with you for all of that.

All of the surgical team members came back at some point to talk to me.

They all introduced (or reintroduced) themselves,

asked me what my understanding of the procedure was,

and had me sign a few forms.

Mainly I felt like they were just being friendly.

The final person to come back before my family was sent away

was the anesthesiologist.

I signed the "I wont sue you" form,

then I was wheeled away. 

I only remember the first few minutes in the OR

before I was out cold.

WAKING UP:

The next parts a little groggy.

I remember my parents coming back to my bed,

I had been in recovery for about 30minutes.

When I woke up I didn't feel any pain, which really surprised me.

My knee was all wrapped up so I couldn't see the incisions, 

but I couldn't feel them either. 

I couldn't keep my eyes open 

and I think I drifted in and out of sleep for about 2 hours. 

They feed you some saltine crackers and water between drifts.

Once I could hold my head up again, 

I sat and talked with family and nurses for about 10 minutes,

then a physical therapist from Howard Head was called up to brief me.

He explained the exercises I would be doing the very next day at physical therapy

and taught me how to walk on crutches. 

I was feeling great and ready to go home,

when I threw up :(

Lovely, I know. 

They said it was common from anesthesia. 

That delayed our departure another 10 minutes.

Finally, I was homeward bound and feeling way better than I expected.

This is a picture from surgery day of my team,

they were all so great. 

Really friendly, personable guys

and I've recovered almost flawlessly, so they must be good at what they do.