So I know I haven't posted much, but I didn't really have much to post. If you recall back in December I went back and saw my knee doctor. He decided he wanted to do a reconstruction of my knee. I had the same thing done about 10 years ago, but this time he swore it wouldn't be as in depth. I wasn't going to get all upset if it was worse and I wasn't keeping my hopes up that it would go easier.
Anyway, on Wednesday the 27th I went in at 6 a.m. to get prepped and my surgery was scheduled for 7:15. They had me go to their new Ambulatory Surgery Center, but I was informed the day before that I was going to be staying at least over night. I expected that and didn't mind at all. Gave me a time to rest and take a break.
So I got there and they took me back. Paul wasn't able to go back with me right away because they wanted to get things going. They did the IV and all that jazz and then the anesthesiologist came in and said they wanted to do a femoral block. I had NEVER had one before and wasn't too keen on the idea, but they said it would give me the option of having pain meds delivered straight to my knee.....I told them to go for it. The thing that kind of upset me was the fact that they were having a med student do the block. They brought back the ultrasound machine so they could see where they were going and prepped my leg. They gave me something to make me a little sedated. Everything was going fine until they turned on the nerve machine to make sure my nerves were ok. My sedation started wearing off and I started to get upset. Finally the doctor looked at the student and said, "We can't do this.....we waited too long to get started and now the sedation has worn off, get out of there." By this time it was almost 7:45 and I had yet to see Paul.
They are getting Paul while starting to whisk me away to the OR. I was upset because my leg hurt from them trying to do the block and he didn't understand what was going on. We saw each other for about 30 seconds and they took me away. I got back to the OR and remember them having me take deep breaths since I was still upset from the block attempt. They gave me medication to knock me out and it burned like crazy going in. The last thing I remember saying to the doctor was that it was burning. Then I woke up in the recovery unit.
I was in surgery about 2 hours or so. He said that I had a lot of scar tissue built up in there so he took that out and then put a band across my knee cap to keep it from dislocating. He said I had a little bit of a meniscus tear, but nothing major so he went ahead and repaired that. I'm able to bend my knee while sitting or laying down, but have to have my brace in the locked position while up and moving around.
I'm able to walk on it as tolerated.
They have me on quite a few pain meds and some muscle relaxants as well. As long as I stay on top of the pain I do ok, but on days like today where I missed some it didn't work so well. I did too much and I will probably pay for it for a few days.
I go back in on the 11th to have the staples removed and see Physical Therapy. Its a long road to recovery, but well worth it. I can already tell a difference. My knee doesn't jolt and give out like it had before.
Anyway, that is my update and I will keep you all posted as appointments come and go.
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