Saturday, May 9, 2009

Surgery update

Thursday morning I had surgery to repair damaged cartilage in my left knee. We arrived at the outpatient surgery center at 10:15. I had to do some paperwork, get reassurance from the anesthesiologist that I could have anesthesia, put on my hospital gown, shower cap and slippers and mostly just sit around. I wish they'd be a little more efficient in this process as I found the longer I waited the more anxious I got.

I was impressed that everyone I encountered was aware of my latex allergy. The staff, with the exception of the woman at the front desk, was very nice, empathetic and smart. But isn't that always the way it is? They made me leave my glasses with my mom so I literally had to be escorted by the arm to the OR. I found that walking into the OR and laying on the table while I was awake was terrifying. I had the option of being awake throughout the surgery. Aside from not wanting them to poke a needle into my spine, I can't imagine how scary it would be to be aware of what was going on. Luckily, whatever they gave me knocked me out pretty quickly. I woke up in Recovery almost as suddenly as I went out in OR. I was also in excruciating pain. When she asked my how bad it was on a scale of 1-10, I told her 12. They gave me 2 percocet, which take about 30 minutes to kick in, and a dose of something morphine-like in my IV that kicked in quick and didn't last long.

As it turns out, I did not actually tear cartilage in my meniscus. I had still somehow damaged it and had some damage in the front as well. The doctor assured my mom that I really needed to have this done. He shaved down the cartilage where it was damaged and either shaved or polished the backside of my knee cap too. I have a post-op appointment next week and will find out more then. Basically, my doctor wasn't sure he trusted the previous diagnosis and was correct in thinking that he'd find something different when he got in there.

I have been in a lot of pain, taking 2 percocet every 4 or 6 hours. I hate taking prescription pain meds. It helps a lot. I have a super sexy compression sock that I have to wear for the next three weeks or so. Oy. I also have to take an aspirin every morning for a month. I guess there's a big threat of blood clots after this kind of surgery. I also have to keep my dressing on until tomorrow and cannot shower until tomorrow either. Ugh. I just washed my hair in the kitchen sink and took a sponge bath. I am very lucky that I didn't have any nausea after I woke up. I've got some serious drug allergies, so they were worried about that.

Overall, it went well. I'm still in a lot of pain, but can tell it's less pain than a couple days ago. I'm really dopey from the percocet, kind of like the people on Intervention before the intervention. I don't know how long I'll be off my feet right now. It hurts to put weight on it and it's popping like crazy, so it may be a while. I start PT on Monday.

I'm kind of tired right now, so I think I'm done typing for a while. See ya later.

6 comments:

Linda said...

Hope you start to feel less pain soon. Glad they gave you something. Stay off your feet and rest a bit!

FoxyMoron said...

Glad you came through it alright Meg.

Drugs are good.

Shoshanah Marohn said...

My grandma had six kids, and then she had knee surgery. She said knee surgery was the worst pain of her life, bar none! I didn't want to tell you that before!

Hope you're feeling a lot better soon. YOu're a trooper!

Kathy B! said...

I can't beleive I missed this... You told me to switch over here and yet I'm still following you on the bus...

Anyway, I'm glad this went well and that you're mending. Take it EASY!

Meg said...

I want to echo what Kathy said...take it easy! Get some much deserved rest! Glad the drugs are helpful. By the way, that sucks that they made you take our glasses off and then walk to the surgery...the only time I've had anything even remotely surgery-ish done (cardiac cath) they let me keep them on until just before they gave me the sleep producing shot. If they'd required me to do anything without the glasses they would've met with much resistance, as I am super blind an unwilling to move anywhere without my visual aids...

peewee said...

UGH! KNEE surgery! So sorry! How long is the recovery?!? How did this happen? DId I miss something on your blog, where like me, you were just walking and your knee got busted!??!

hehe heeh...i don't think anyone has busted their knee walking...but me :)

eat lots of ice cream! I hear that helps! oh wait, maybe that's for tonsils....but no matter..still eat it!