2019 Life Logs, Day 57: Knee Surgery Recovery, Day 1
Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High 33, Low 14 degrees F
Location: Cape Cod Hospital, Hyannis, MA
Amazing, even with all the interruptions by nurses and aides checking on me, I had a great night’s sleep and awoke to a beautiful pastel sunrise over the Vineyard Sound. What a view I have out of my window.
It was dark when I got to the room yesterday, so this morning’s view was such a delight. And this morning I still had no pain, so I was able to walk, climb stairs, and do all of the exercises presented by the physical therapist. I had lots of visits today with hospital administrators checking on my satisfaction with service, with representatives from the home health service that will be sending a nurse to my home to check on me during recovery, from the physical therapists and from their administrative staff, from yesterdays’ anesthesiologist to make sure all was well, from the surgeon’s assistant, and finally from the surgeon. He explained that my knee was even more degraded than he expected based on the x-rays, so he had to do some rebuilding before putting in the new knee. That made the surgery a little longer than expected, but he seemed very pleased with the results. And then later in the afternoon Heather came to visit. She brought me some goodies—nuts and dark chocolate that I requested—and some granola for breakfast. Yummy num! By mid-afternoon, the knee block given yesterday started wearing off and it became harder to move my knee. It just feels stiff, a little painful, but manageable with the drug regimen. The only negative side effect of the drugs given in this pain management system is slightly blurry vision. The nurse tonight did some research and thinks it is the drug called gabapentin which acts as a nerve block. I will talk to the doctor tomorrow to see if he thinks I really need it. The blurry vision only affects reading, but even that is manageable as I finished another book today. So, life here at the Cape Cod Hospital has been much more pleasant that I imagined. My huge room has glossy wooden floors, a window wall with a great view, and fantastic service. But I will be very happy to get home tomorrow afternoon. Justin should arrive around 2 pm and hopefully we will be on our way home no later than 4 pm. They say they will start the check-out process as soon as he arrives—very accommodating.
