Monday - Surgery Day
Having stayed the previous night in the hospital hotel connected to the hospital, I arrived at the outpatient surgery center at 7 AM. Before long, I was brought to the back for surgery prep, changing into the fashionable surgery gown, having my IV inserted (which was very uncomfortable), and having my knees shaved.
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| Just seeing this picture makes me queesy |
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| They shaved all my knee hair! |
After waiting for a bit, I said goodbye to my parents and was wheeled into the surgery room, where I immediately felt like a NASCAR in a pit crew, with a bunch of different doctors and nurses working on different parts of me. A little tranquilizer and anesthesia later, I was asleep.
...And I woke up shivering with a hurting throat at around 11:30 AM. We stayed in one of the hospital rooms until 7 AM the next morning, when I was wheeled to the hospital hotel room that we would stay in until Friday. I ate a lot of food, took a lot of medication, and all in all, felt pretty good because of all the painkillers I was on.
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| Watching Pacers-Heat Game 7 in the hospital |
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| Draining tubes from my knees | Where the tubes drained |
Tuesday - Friday - Hospital Hotel
We spent the next few days in the hospital hotel. Each day basically went like this, with some book reading sprinkled in between the eating, exercises, and the sleeping.
9 AM - Wake up and use the bathroom. Also, breakfast.
10 AM - Daily Exercises #1
12 PM - Lunch (Fast Food / Hotel Cafeteria)
1 PM - Nap
3 PM - Daily Exercises #2
6PM - Dinner (Fast Food)
8 PM - TV (Cop Show or NBA Finals)
10 PM - Daily Exercises #3
12 AM - Sleep
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| Hardee's for dinner...the second time. |
The days in the hotel were particularly difficult, and I was in a lot of pain doing just about everything because I was off of those awesome super-strong painkillers that I had in the hospital. Also, my knees bloated up with swelling because the draining tubes had been removed before I left the hospital. Good thing my parents were there to help me do just about everything, including doing some exercises of their own!
The hardest part of the whole ordeal was probably using the bathroom. Its awfully hard to get down on the toilet when you can't bend your legs, and even harder getting up! the first few days, I needed both of my parents to grab an arm each to drag me to my feet after being on the toilet. It's pretty funny thinking about it now, but it totally sucked then.
Friday - Going home
After stopping in at the doctor's office for physical therapy Friday morning, we drove back to Fort Wayne, where the next few days were basically spent as they were in the hotel, just with good home cooking instead of Hardee's and McDonald's. I'll post more about my time at home soon. And by soon, I mean when I feel like not procrastinating!
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| Sprawled out on the back seat on the way home |
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there is a light at the end of the tunnel! keep persevering!
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