Old Knees -Fixed

Old Knees -Fixed

Wednesday Evening April 6 2011 (Second post in this series).

Today I had arthroscopic surgery on my right knee. As I write this, it has been about 7 hours since the surgery was completed. With the exception of “pain” of not having my morning coffee, the surgery was a non-event {grin}.

I had the surgery done at what was called a Surgery Center. I was not aware of this type of facility. They specialize in outpatient surgeries that do not require a full service hospital. They make a point of differentiation between the two by pointing out that a hospital surgical facility must be staffed and equipped for every type of surgery.

My procedure was done at the Lowry Surgery Center (http://www.lowrysurgery.com/t_lowry.htm). It happens to be in the same medical building as Dr. Gersoff's office.

As a patient, there is no noticeable difference as compared to a formal hospital facility. The staff was very professional and I was attended to by several nurses. The anesthesiologist interviewed me and was very thorough in describing his function in the procedure. Dr. Gersoff gave Pat and I a good description of the procedure before the surgery and then talked to her afterward to make sure she felt comfortable with results of the surgery and the details of the recovery process.

As noted in the first post, the surgery was done to repair a fairly significant longitudinal tear in one of the ligaments and remove a bunch of “junk”.

I have been amazed at the fact that there is not a great deal of pain. I waited for 6 hours after I took to first pain medication to see if the pain was being masked by the medication. I told Pat that I wonder if they even did a procedure {grin}. Hopefully the pain will continue to be minimal.

They indicated that I would need to use crutches for the first couple of days, but that I could bear weight on the leg to a level of acceptable pain. Well, I have basically put full weight on it a few times and did not experience a great deal of pain. I am now using one crutch – only because they suggested that I would need crutches.

So, in a few days, I should be able to dance a jig – well maybe not dance a jig, but I should have full use of the leg without experiencing a bunch of pain.

Many of you have asked about the status of Kelly's breast cancer journey. There is not much to report. She has an appointment with a plastic surgeon next week. That will be about the last piece of the puzzle that will allow their family to make a decision what the level of surgery will be. We will keep you posted.

That is all for now.