Mr. Fun's Knee Surgery

This morning Mr. Fun's arthroscopic knee surgery was scheduled for 10:00 so we had to check-in at 9:00. Once inside the "inner" room, we had to recite for the nurse about all the doctors he has seen these past 10 months and all the procedures he's experienced and all the meds he's been given. That was truly a reminder of the ordeal and the pain he has lived with for almost a year.

The surgeon told us after the surgery, that when they started the procedure Mr. Fun was still in pain, so they sedated him heavily. Then it took a while for him to wake-up after the surgery. When the nurse came out to the waiting room to get me, she said, "He'll take 20 or so more minutes to come to." Walking in and seeing him "out" was very arresting. It's been years and years since I've seen him in a hospital. For a few seconds I was quite emotional (he didn't see me); not sure why, but I don't like being emotional; this has been a very emotional day.

The surgeon said Mr. Fun's meniscus is NOT torn. The doctor found very little arthritis in his knee, but the cartilage was torn in several places so that was repaired during the surgery. The doctor said that the knee tissue is VERY inflamed and that healing the tissue will take some time and doing so is very important.

These past ten months we have been told numerous explanations of what is wrong with Mr. Fun's right knee by no less than a half-dozen doctors -- from "it's the ACL" to "it's the meniscus" to "it's his feet" (so we purchased expensive special made orthotics). The experience of all of this has been more than frustrating for me (and of course for him).

Mr. Fun is now wearing a BIG ace bandage that must stay on for 3 days. He was given orders to use the crutches they gave him today or the cane he received several months ago. He is mobile. The nurses told him he MUST move about or the knee will get stiff, which would be very bad. For the first three days he is only allowed gradual weight on the injured (right) knee. He will shower with a large bag on the knee for 2+ weeks till the stitches are removed. They prescribed pain pills and said he WILL have pain when today's drugs wear off (it's 5:00 p.m. and he is experiencing pain--ugh!).

After he was fully awake, the nurses helped Mr. Fun into a wheelchair and then looked toward me and explained that he was released into my care . . . "You can now roll him to the car."

I had thought a hospital employee would do that. I was a bit, no make the completely, overwhelmed because both of my wrists and hands are revealing painful symptoms of carpal-tunnel issues (from semester after semester of carrying too many textbooks and too many students' projects). So I rolled him in the wheelchair to the car and we headed for home.

That's how we spent the next to the last day of 2013! Tomorrow is our daughter's birthday.

Good night from Southern California,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol