Surgery!

I did it!  It's over!  I was supposed to check in for my knee surgery at 10:15 but at 8:30ish this morning they called and said someone had cancelled and they wanted to know if we could come in early.  Great!  The sooner I could get this over with the better!  So we hurried and got to the hospital around 9:30 (it was in Park City).

We checked in and they took us to our room.  Connor was happy that he was going to be able to hang out there instead of a general waiting room during my surgery.  I took a pregnancy test to make sure I'm not prego, and then got changed into my very attractive hospital gear.  At this point I was really nervous about them putting in the IV.  I have an unreasonable fear of needles.  It's like the bee thing.  I don't like things that prick me or whatever.  Anyway, the nurse numbed up my hand and that stung, but then stuck in the IV and it actually wasn't so bad.  I was relieved and very happy when it was all finished.  :)

Finding my happy place for the IV.

IV in.  I did it!

My doctor, Dr. Cooley, came in and marked my knee that they were going to operate on.  He wrote "Yes" on it.  I didn't think to take a picture of it.

Lookin' Good!

Then my anesthesiologist came in.  His name was Dr. Will Shakespeare.  No joke.  I asked him if his parents were trying to be funny.  He said his dad is an English Professor so they knew what they were doing.  How funny is that?  He talked to me a little bit and then went over to my IV and injected some stuff into it, and within 2 minutes I was feeling really strange.  Then he wheeled me into the OR.

The most traumatic part for me.  I really hate needles.

The last things that I remember are switching beds, and then they put an Oxygen mask over my mouth and told me to take lots of deep breaths to get my oxygen levels up so I was doing that, and then I was out.

Then I remember waking up in another room and the nurse asked me how much pain I was in.  It wasn't too bad.  Like a 4 or 5.  She gave me a percocet with some juice and crackers and then wheeled me back into my room with Connor.  

Sooo sleepy.

Still Groggy.

The nurse asked me about my pain again, and explained my brace to me.  I have this really cool brace.  It's huge and goes from my mid-thigh almost to my ankle.  It's connected with these blue cords to a cooler with ice water in it and the cooler plugs into the wall.  Ice water circulates through my brace and helps keep it cool and keeps inflammation down.  Apparently it reduces pain meds by about 50%. 

Then the physical therapist came in and told me some leg exercises I need to do to prevent blood clotting and stuff.  There's not a whole lot I can do with this brace on and I can't take it off until I go back to the doctor next week.  The physical therapist got me some crutches and a wheel chair.  Connor went and got the car, and we met him down there and went home.

I was getting really sick on the ride home.  That canyon coming down from Park City was not fun.  I have some medicine now for nausea but I hadn't had it filled by then so I was just trying to find my happy place and hoping for the best.  We made it home without any problems and I was happy when I could lie back down and plug my brace back into the cooler.  It felt soooooo good.  

My huge brace.  Those blue things at the bottom connect to the cooler.

Connor has been so sweet.  He's been running around getting my prescriptions filled ever since we got home.  He had to try 3 different pharmacies for one of my prescriptions.  Sheesh.  Poor guy.  He's such a good husband.  He's always very good at taking care of me when I get sick.