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!’
