SURGERY WAS A BREEZE and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU

As my daughter dropped me off, telling me this was a nursing home so not to expect her to pick me up, (with a chuckle) I asked if the surgery unit was on the 5th floor. The guy laughed at me and said that would be very interesting but they only had three floors. Since the door was actually on the second floor, he pointed to a thirty foot high stairway and told me I could just go up those....or take the elevator. I chose the elevator as I did not think I would force my knee to climb all those stairs one at a time.

The receptionist gave me more forms to fill out...the HIPAA, whether I was latex sensitive, and permission to have them bill my insurance. I was banded, though in no way in fear of flight. I lost count at the number of times I was asked which knee and if I was allergic to any meds. Fighting annoyance, I reasoned that they had a right to cover their legal butts and I had the task of putting up with them trying to be VERY, VERY careful to do things accurately.

Next I was stripped, handed a hospital johnny and shown to a bed. There were probably 10 nurses who stopped by, asked the same questions all over again saying "just checking" and I found myself filing away names as they wandered by. Ann Marie, Sue, Mary, Kelly, Patty, Meredith, and the others too brief to hold onto. The anesthesiologist was sweet and friendly. I told him I did not want to be knocked out. He named five long chemical names I had never heard of and said they would just be relaxing me through my IV. IVs are not painful to have inserted and was probably the highest level of pain I experienced throughout the entire procedure. The actual procedure was the shortest amount of time spent. Before I went itno surgery, my doctor came by, borrowed a pen from a nurse and marked the knee on which he was operating. I was perfectly awake and clear of mind if he had marked the wrong one, yet there were still a couple of nurse who lifted my blanket and johnny to check.

The operating room prep and surgery went quickly and I was asleep by the time he had really gotten into my knee. I saw the surgeon who told me what I did in a language of parts with which I was not familiar but I did understand that he did what he had told me he needed to do and then told me what i needed to do. The anesthesiologist dropped by later and told him (with a smile) "You gave me too much and I fell asleep. He said "Yes, I did. He was going to be hurting you really badly if I didn't." There was no argument with him, especially after the fact of a kindness.

Within five minutes of having been wheeled back I felt ready to go home. My blood pressure was back to normal but it had to be repeated at least five times. Finally I was dressed and wheeled off to the door to my waiting car.

The day is over and I have felt no pain. I have tried to keep it iced and my leg elevated but the elevation was impossible at the Christmas Eve party I chose to attend. Back home, I was able to go back to the routine I was supposed to have had. Still no pain. I was given crutches to be used as stabilizers though my leg should be considered weight bearing.

Next comes physiotherapy, and finally when the bone on bone knee gets to be more painful that I can handle (should that occur which seems most likely in the future due to the arthritis damage) I will go back to the same wonderful group. I can only hope the doctor will outlive me as it seems so many people in my life have not been
successful at that as of today.

The professionalism and kindness of the staff was wonderful and I can only be grateful that there are still so many dedicated people who still put in the little extra to make sure that patients are relaxed, informed, comfortable and well taken care of medically. I'd recommend this group anytime to anyone.