2019 Life Logs, Day 56: Post-Surgery Report
2019 Life Logs, Day 56: Post-Surgery Report
Date: Monday, February 25, 2019
Weather: High 44, Low 23 degrees F
Location: Cape Cod Hospital, Hyannis, MA
So far, very good! 
I had a wonderful beginning as I was greeted by pre-post op nurse Melissa Keefe as soon as I started the pre-op procedures. Melissa lives next door to Heather and Jed, so I know her well. She spoke to all the people working with me telling them that I am the adopted grandmother of her children. They do call me Oma and Melissa used that to encourage that I be treated with special care. It was great to have her as an advocate but I got the feeling I would have had great care no matter what. Everyone in pre-op was friendly, thorough, and efficient. The anesthesiologist was fantastic and gave me a great comparison of general anesthesia versus a spinal. There are pros and cons of both, still couldn’t decide. The deciding factor came when he said that going with the surgeon’s recommendation is important and that the block allows them to use much less anesthesia . . . so I went with the flow. And it seems to have worked. When I woke up after surgery, I felt great and still do. One thing that made me feel great was that Heather was there to check on things and just spend time with me. I know how busy she is, but she insisted on being there for me and I reaally appreciated it. Thank you, Heather!
Now, here’s the ‘but’ in tonight’s report. In the past hour, nurses have started coming in with different drugs. I’m sure the drugs will fight the pain when it comes, but I fear the side-effects. I could decline them, but friend Christina Brodie, who had a knee replacement just two weeks ago, strongly recommended the strong pain killers for the first few days and I am going to follow her advice and constantly evaluate as things progress. I have not talked to the doctor and surgery took longer than expected, but I feel all is well. The pre-surgery drug routine of a trio of drugs (Tylenol, Celebrex, and Gabapentin which relieves nerve pain) and the pain block that they injected in the nerves above the knee worked great for me. I still have absolutely no pain and can walk and sit in a chair with no problem. But I know that will become much more difficult when the block and pre-surgery drugs wear off. Be prepared for tomorrow’s night report to sound entirely different. Stay tuned. And thanks again to all who went well wishes. In last night’s log, I failed to mention my wonderful friend Detta from New Hampshire as she had texted me on the previous day to confirm that on Thursday she is driving to the Cape to see me and bring a favorite meal. She is a friend who always goes the extra mile. I really feel blessed to have such caring family and friends. I’ll count on you to continue sending mental messages focusing on ‘manageable pain with no heavy duty drugs!’
And then today, I turned the living room into a seed planting operation, bringing the garden soil and seed starter potting mix inside and turning my coffee table into a work table. I started filling each of the cells in the planting trays with the just right mix of soil and waited for Heather to arrive to do the planting. She figured out which things needed to be started today and which ones we will plant later. I wanted her to do the planting because last year I noticed that the seed trays she planted had a much better germination rate than the ones I planted. She is meticulous and seeds must like that. It is a bit unconventional to have a greenhouse in your living room, but I think it looks great. 
The shelves are located in front of the two large windows on the front wall of the living room so the plants will get natural light as well as the light from the grow lights. Some seed trays were not planted today, but they are ready to plant when the time is right. Other than this project, the rest of my day was in preparation of my knee surgery. I got the call yesterday telling me to be at the hospital at 9:15 am on Monday and that the surgery is set for 10:45. Heather and I will both drive to Hyannis so I will have a car there for Justin to drive when he arrives on Wednesday. Heather will work in the waiting room during my surgery and make sure I’m all settled in a room before she heads home. The hope is that I will be released on Wednesday so that when Justin arrives from Puerto Rico, he can drive me home. He’ll take the bus from the airport in Boston to Hyannis and then walk or get a taxi to the hospital. At least this is the plan. Now I just have to make sure I am a good patient and can get out of the hospital as soon as possible.
I call that a win-win day. The boys had a laid-back day, just enjoying the last day of winter vacation. They still have the weekend before returning to school, but they don’t count weekends since they are not school days. Jonah and Ollie stayed in their pajamas until the afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed their pajama day. Sam was leaving late this afternoon for a two-night Scout ski/snowboard weekend, so he spent time packing his bag. Jed is taking Jonah and Ollie skiing tomorrow, so they laid out their clothes as well. And all three boys practiced their instruments. Sam on drums, Jonah on electric guitar, and Ollie on violin. I hear a band in the making. I got a couple of photos of Ollie practicing violin—just too cute.
Then when Jed got home, I scurried back to the cottage to get dinner ready for our Newcomers Dining-in group. There are usually 9 of us, but tonight we were only 7 as the Woodins were not here. It was great to be together . . . a great group of friends. Bruce and Jane, we missed you.
Then we headed to the cottage. After lunch, the boys helped me get the new seed planting trays I ordered unwrapped and on the shelves, ready to plant.
Then we headed into town. I had a 3 pm technology class, so Jed met me there and took over childcare duties. Tomorrow will be more of the same and then tomorrow night my Newcomers Dining-in group will be coming for dinner. So, I’m headed to bed early to get ready for a busy day.
