ACL Surgery - The Hospital, the drugs

I report to the hospital for my 6:30am appointment. My surgery is scheduled for 8:30 and should last 1 1/2 hours. I sign in and verify that the right claim number is being used for this case by the anesthesia department. In about 10 minutes I as called and we went into the "blocking" room. There I undressed and redressed into my gown with the back open; my vitals were checked and I was asked some routine questions. I like looking at the heart rate monitor and seeing what my HR is under variable circumstances. Mainly my HR stays between 41 and 46 but will spike with laughter or concern. An IV was started with saline and an antibiotic. Dave came back for a short visit then was excused while the "blocking" team went to work and explained the procedure. First a sedative was shot into the IV. I was asked to roll on my side while one of the anesthesiologists arranged my legs properly for the ultrasound guided shot to a nerve on my right hip/butt. The last thing I remember though is the alcohol being rubbed where the shot was to go.

I wake up at about 11am in a post-op room wear a large non-bending brace with a lot of Velcro straps. They said I was pretty groggy. Once it became apparent that I was ok and awake I was taken to a recovery room which is more conducive for visitors. I was thirsty as all heck so the nurse got me some apple juice which I sucked down pretty quickly so she brought me a double next time. Dave came back after a bit and we talked about the procedure and what Dr Anderson had to say.

Dr Anderson said everything went very well. He did not do the double bundle and I'm sure he good reason not to. The meniscus was indeed torn so that was shaved. And the femoral condyle problem turned out to be a fracture not a tear so now I'm not supposed to bear weight on that leg for about a week. A week seems soon to me for a fracture to heal, but who am I to argue.

At about 12:45 outfitted with a pair of crutches, a straight leg brace and a morphine pump attached to my pelvis. My first challenge? Getting into the car with the straight leg. I totally could not feel my right leg at and when I touched my toes they felt like a slab of meat. I wasn't quite in the car and I told Dave not to shut the door yet because my toes were stuck between the rocker panel and the door as I tried to maneuver my dead straight leg into the car. If he had shut the door on them and cut them off I wouldn't have even felt it!

Off to home where the Lyttle guy was waiting for us with the cooling machine. Poor guy, this was my first attempt at stairs in this condition so it took forever to get in the house! The cooling machine is totally cool and I'm sure once I'm able to remove the dressing I will thoroughly enjoy it since I won't have to deal with dripping ice packs. The morphine drip allows me to up the dosage every 30 minutes and has a total capacity of 400ml; it is suppose to last for 2 days. I also left with a prescription for Oxycontin, vicoden and naproxyn with instructions on how to use each.

After the Lyttle guy left, Dave went to get the drugs filled. Filling the Oxycontin proved to be quite a challenge. The pharmacy we normally go to doesn't carry it because they don't want to encourage break-ins (I do live in Detroit). The second one said it would take 2 days to fill; Dave told them I just got out of surgery and the first two days is when I need it. Between that kind of junk and then being told that my workers' comp prescription card was not authorized for it really had Dave teed off. Better him than me trying to drive myself dragging my dead leg!