And Now Real Work Begins

Cosie wearing her bouffant cap.

I came across a really neat quote from Wayne Gretzsky- "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been." I found this to be fitting to my current situation. I cannot continue to dwell on the accident and feel sorry for myself. I have to look toward where I want to be and take the steps everyday that are going to get me there.



The surgery was not really that bad. The anticipation of the surgery had me nerved up. We arrived at the surgical center around 11:30am. I had to wear the whole hospital gown ensemble complete with bouffant hat. This was the most annoying thing because it kept falling over my eyes. I couldn't push it out of the way because I had an IV in my right arm (so no bending it), a blood pressure cuff on my left as well as O2 saturation meter on my left index finger. I had three leads hooked up to a heart heart rate monitor as well. My surgery was scheduled for 1:30 but I don't think that it got started until after 2. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 11pm the night before so if Aaron wasn't there with me making me laugh, I think I would have been pretty miserable. I was given an anti-anxiety med and another one that causes amnesia so I don't remember actually getting wheeled in for surgery.




I am one of those people who doesn't as much as take Tylenol unless I am doubled over in pain. I was given so many drugs yesterday that my body wasn't very happy with me. So as soon as I was alert and given something to drink, I threw up. After that, I felt great and was fine and got dressed to go home.




My knee is currently wrapped up with an Ace bandage. I can take it off later. I just have to keep the sutures covered up with band-aids. Over that I have a Cryocuff. It is a system that involved a cuff that fits around the knee and tubes that run to a cooler filled with ice water. A compressor pumps the cold water through the cuff to help with pain and inflammation. I really like it. I think it will keep me from having to take as many pills for pain. I got a new set of crutches as well yesterday. They are a lot nicer than the ones I bought at Meijer. I am allowed to put some weight on my leg but due to the meniscus surgery, I'll probably be on crutches a little longer than if it was just the ACL.





I ended up having tears in both the medial and lateral menisci in addition to the ACL tear. I am still expected to make a full recovery. I was able to get some before and after photos of the inside of my knee so I'll be posting those later next week.