Now I lay me down to sleep

October 26, 2000

Sometimes I think that I am just a bit too stupid to be nervous about the obvious. When told late yesterday that my surgery was not scheduled till 11:30, and that I didn't have to be to the hospital till 10, my immediate thought was that I would have time to go swimming this morning..

It was a nice idea, but there is work to be done, and I had some signatures to collect. The airplane was late leaving from Chicago, and I didn't get a phone call till 8:30 last night, from a very tired client who offered a 7:30 am appointment.

I smiled to myself and said, sure, I can be there, just give me the directions.

I drove all morning, got the signatures, dropped the papers at the office and was summoned home for an early meeting with the man and his knife. I remember both the drive to the office and then home again, mostly because of the fight that went on in the car. It was me vs. eyelids as heavy as manhole covers.

Ever get that feeling?

It's just another mile, or two, and you fight, but they want to close, and you fight, and they want to close.

Boy oh boy did I need my coffee this morning.

Problem is, the rules say no eating or drinking of anything after midnight the day before surgery.

So by the time I got up on the cart in the hospital, I think I was just too tired to be nervous.

I changed into one of those wonderful green gown things, got my knee shaved, and then marked a big X on the knee with a purple marking pen. Just making sure, I was told. After all, we don't want surgery on the wrong knee.

Then came the pre-anesthesia injections, and I was out like a candle held in front of a gale force wind.

And I stayed out.

And out

And out.

Some time after the surgery, I struggled to lift my head off of the cart - and forced the weights off of one eyelid.

A nurse saw me move and smiled and said, "Look, He's awake."

"Fat chance lady," I thought, and my head crashed back onto the bed.

The fight to consciousness took almost another hour and I was finally allowed to leave after I had downed two cups of coffee, and a bran muffin. I was told that they had given me an injection of Narcan (used to reverse the effects of narcotics - legal and illegal) to try and get me to wake.

I don't think that they gave me too much sedative in the first place. I just think they were not counting on the patient being dead tired.

So after all of that, I got home, and immediately proceeded to the kitchen and made that triple espresso that I had missed in the morning.

The leg is wrapped in a cold pack; and there has been no pain, save for the sore throat from being intubated.

The doctor said that he thought I could get at least a 50% improvement in the use of my right knee.

I think he is wrong. I can walk, and I can put weight on the knee without any pain. Now granted, I am not pushing it at all, but I have visions of a full recovery, and skis and roller blades on the near horizon.

A happy camper I am.

I even got laid to sleep when I got home by my nurse.

I wonder if I should have them look at the left knee.