I have come to realize I missed posting the surgery experience! So rather than have it way out of order, figured I would devote a page to it. So here goes: Overall I have to say the entire hospital experience was pleasant. Every single person treated me with dignity, kindness and outgoing concern for my comfort.
4:00AM - I get up, dress, and we head for the hospital. It is raining lightly, and pretty chilly. I don't want to take a coat, so grab a cozy blanket for the car. I had set out my clothes and packed my bag to take with me last night. My husband drives me down, we don't mind getting there early.
5:15AM - we arrive and my husband surprises me by parking to come in with me...I had expected him to just drop me off. (There is a part of me that wants to do this thing on my own.)
It's cold and windy. There are other people arriving, too. We go to the waiting area and check in. A lady calls us and enters info in the computer, then back to the waiting room. Then she comes out and calls 6 names, and we line up like school children, each patient with a family member to go along. Then she marches us down the hall, into an elevator, down another hall to a door. Here she puts us in a certain order, then we go through the door. She takes the first two sets and directs them to their beds. We are the third set and I find myself at a bed facing the door we just came through. The nurse comes over and pulls the curtain, directs me to change into a gown and get in bed.
The next hour is filled with charts, IV, temperatures, blood pressure. We chat with the nurse as she does all these things, there is a monitor up above my head where I can see my heart beat, rate, etc. That little clip on my finger is not at all uncomfortable! We watch as more people come in the door and are led off to their beds. I can't see the clock, and lose all sense of time. I do keep asking my husband what time it is. We are told I will go into the operating room around 7:30- seems like a long time. (It wasn't!)
My doctor comes, writes on my leg, meets my husband, asks me if I am ready. I am. After he leaves, I send my husband home. Time to be my own person and face this on my own! Also, a friend told me a long time ago, the only thing you can do in the waiting room is wait and worry. It doesn't do your loved one any good. I don't want my husband to sit and wait, so off he goes, back to work. This leaves me free to focus on my own self and not him.
The anesthesiologist comes with three observers in tow. Everyone is sooooo nice! He explains what anesthesia he will use: a femoral catheter (still a bit scary to me) and an epidural (no worries, had one with my first baby). The nurse gives me the "4 pills" to relax me" she told me what they were, but I don't remember. I ask if I can go to the bathroom, and he tells me this is a good time. I am feeling a bit lightheaded. I say it would be nice to have someone walk me..I can see the door, it isn't far. So this nice young observer takes my IV pole, and, with his eyes averted, draws my gown together in the back and walks me to the toilet. I am greatly relieved that he doesn't come through the door with me!
About the femoral catheter: When I hear the word catheter, I imagine a long line being threaded down my thigh from the top of the leg. When it was removed the next day I was shocked to see it is just a tiny filament about 2 inches long! There is a bandaid at the top of my leg, which is all there was to it. No big deal. Now back to the mornings events:
I am back in my bed. There is a sonogram screen on one side. As I drift into a gentle sleep, the nurse is carefully folding the sheet back to expose my thigh, tucking it so that my private area is not exposed...nice....sleep.
I awake and everyone is gone. There is no sense of time. A male nurse whom I have not seen before floats at the foot of my bed, checks my chart and gathers up my bag of personal items. Another bouncy cheerful young man appears at the foot, and asks the other fellow if he is ready. Then he comes to my head and PUSHES! We go sailing down the hall into an elevator, another hall and into the operating room. Boy, that guy was fast!!! And so cheerful!! I enjoyed the ride, in a bit of a fog.
The operating room is BIG! I look around with interest, and see the MakoPlasty robot, the computer screens. I slide from my bed onto the operating table, then sit on the side for the epidural..a voice says it will prick...I barely feel it and tell him he is a genius. I lie down. A nurse tells me to stretch my right arm out to the side. I don't really know what she did with it. Then she comes around the bed and asks me to stretch my left arm out the same way. And then....nothing.
I am waking up..I can't quite open my eyes, but I am becoming aware. I am worried that I am coming out of anesthesia too soon...do they know?...it's terribly noisy: clanking of metal on metal and far away my surgeons R&B Music.. and voices...seems like they are talking loudly, but I can't make out any words. Finally my eyes open to see a pretty green sheet. I turn my head slightly and can see around the sheet. A head pops into view and says "Here she comes, right on time...and she's SMILING!!" I was quite simply pleased to know I was supposed to be waking up, and my knee was fixed. I felt gentle tugging which I suppose was the last of the stitches being put in place. I drift back into sleep.
The bed is moving, going into the hall, I think I remember an elevator... Sleep. I open my eyes and I am in another room, very much like the first room, but I can see the clock: 10:15. Sweet. Several people comment about my smile. I am very happy. My leg feels like it is wrapped in cotton, and NO PAIN. As I become more awake, I chat with my nurse. He has 3 children, just like me, but he has 2 girls and 1 boy, while I have the reverse...and a lot older! He asks me to wiggle my toes...I can't. It seems so strange. I know I am telling them to move, but they don't.
My nurse does a lot of charting and we chat. Every so often he asks me to try moving my toes again. Then someone else comes and they discuss whether or not to move me up to my hospital room. My nurse says that my doctor wants me up to my room as soon as...something....so away we go. Funny, I don't remember much about that ride, either.
Once in my room, another nurse is quite annoyed that I was brought up before I could wiggle my toes. I think it is the recovery room nurse who explains to her, that my doctor wants me up there. Anyway, she keeps checking on my toes frequently...finally I get a bit of movement in the ankle...not the operative one, she is not impressed. And then a few minutes later I get my operative ankle to move and she relaxes. I still feel quite happy and content.
As I become more awake, the feeling returns to my legs, except the thigh of my operative leg...it still has a femoral catheter in it which will remain until the next morning. The rest of morning is a bit of a blur, except that I feel really good, and comfy. I get lunch..scrumptious tuna sandwich, cookies...juice. There are roller/massage pads on both legs, giving a continuous roll up and down my legs from knee to ankle--feels good.
Early in the afternoon Don comes to see me. He's the Physical Therapist I met at the pre-op class. We talk and he asks me if I am ready to get up. I say that I am, but what about the catheter in my bladder. He says not to worry, it won't be in the way...I hardly notice it. He goes over to a chair before I sit up and picks up another hospital gown, then from in front of me, wraps it around my back so I will not be exposed. So nice to have him think of that ahead of time!! He pulls a walker up to the bed and helps me stand up.
My thigh is still partially deadened, so he wraps a belt around my waist. There is no chance of falling and I feel pretty protected. We head off down the hall. I can't believe I am walking on this new knee already! (Even though I knew this would be the case!) After a short distance, he takes the walker away and gives me crutches. That is the last I see of the walker.
I am glad to get back in bed! My husband comes for a short visit, and I send off a couple of text messages to friends.
Later on dinner, sleep. I doze off and on through the night. Someone comes and takes blood at some odd hour. I eventually awake and feel discomfort, so get some pain medicine. After that I plug in my iPod, which I loaded with my favorite music before surgery...including a special Chinese healing music called "Yu Tone." (Every time I use that music in a Yoga class, I feel especially well after class!) I sleep some more, and wake up just before my doctor and a couple nurses come in.
He takes the bandage off and surveys his work. He seems satisfied. He comments "That joint was really trashed!" - asks me how I am feeling, and if I have seen Don. He tells me he couldn't get the leg any straighter than it is..I tell him that it looks pretty good to me! Then he says as long as Don clears me on navigating stairs that I can go home.
Don comes and walks me around the floor, and tells me he would like me to have one more walk before doing stairs. Another therapist comes later in the afternoon and by 2pm I am on my way home!
This has truly been a pleasant experience!
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