Surgery - Day Of

I was assigned the first surgery slot of the day, so we were up bright and early.  Thankfully I live about five minutes away from the hospital where I was having it done, so we only had to leave at 6:20 to get there in plenty of time for my 6:30 arrival time.  My surgery was booked for 7:45-9:30.

Pre-surgery was pretty chill - we went through all of my paperwork and then I got to write on my legs which one was being operated on and which was not.  I was then transferred downstairs to the day surgery ward.  Marlies came down with me, which was much appreciated.  I spoke to my doctor, who re-emphasized that I'm going to have to work my ass off to get my extension back after being locked for six months.  Game on.  From there, Mar took my glasses and it was off to get cut open.

The anesthetic hit me fast and hard.  They started my IV, I moved from the gurney to the operating table, I remember feeling a bit of burning through my hand, and then boom, I woke up in recovery.  When I came to, I turned to the nurse and explained I wasn't in pain, wasn't sad, but was about to cry for no reason.  She helpfully gave me some kleenex.

I felt a little bit nauseous but not too bad, and was alert enough that they bumped me back upstairs.  From there I drifted in and out of sleep and really had no pain.  I had several nurses come to visit and all were pretty impressed by my level of alertness.  One didn't want to give me a second cup of gingerale, but I finally convinced her that yes I was thirsty and no, I wasn't going to vomit it up.  Honestly, compared to how I felt after my ankle surgery (again not really in pain, but definitely a lot more drowsy) this was a walk in the park.  I had to prove I could stand up and walk around without falling over or throwing up and passed that.  After having been NWB for 7.5 weeks for my ankle, it was shocking to me how much weight I was able to put on my knee and how little it hurt.

Marlies came to pick me up and we stopped to pick up my medications (tramadol and ketorolac) and then headed home.  The rest of the day was a mix of napping and watching Scrubs.  My pain levels stayed really low - I took a tramadol sometime around 4:30 and then two before bed with one of the keterolacs.  I didn't sleep super well, but that wasn't really pain related - I just really hate sleeping on my back.