Months of bothersome pain has probably come to an end today with the arthroscopic surgery that was done on my left knee this morning.
I checked into Pali Momi a little before 8am.
Kudos to the entire staff at Pali Momi for their helpfulness and professionalism. Pre-op was very efficiently handled by Leia. I thought that I was fairly calm but when she first checked my BP was on the plus side of 180 over 90! I received visits from Dr. Tanaka-the anesthesiologist and Dr. Vernoy-the surgeon who were both very reassuring and I noticed that the BP had dropped down quite a bit as I waited.
About 9:25 I was wheeled to the OR. A few moments later I was told to take a deep brea....zzzzz. (That's my recollection of the surgery)
I woke up outside the OR and was shortly wheeled back to the pre-op area. Reyna and Wanda were attending to me and were very helpful and cheerful. I could peek outside my recovery cubicle to see that nearly all the other cubicles were occupied and the entire area was buzzing with activity. I asked Reyna if this was a particularly busy morning and she said it was fairly normal although they do get busier right after the holidays. I suppose a lot of patients hold off on doing surgery over the holidays if it is possible. In my case, my surgeon was away for the month of December and I may have been part of the "catch-up" for him because I was told that he had four other surgeries this morning in addition to mine!
Juliet was already waiting by the time I was out of the ER and they brought her in from the waiting room shortly after I was moved to the cubicle. Check-out was smooth as was the ride home.
So far, so good! I was sent home with crutches and painkillers but haven't been needing to use either. Not much pain like I was experiencing pre-surgery (lateral movement) and I reported to Dr. Vernoy that all was good when he called at about 2:30. He said that the surgery went as expected regarding the meniscus tear removal. He also found some scar tissue around the knee cap that was removed and did see some more arthritis. He also removed the cartilage on the outside of the knee cap that he said should retard more arthritic progression in the future.
I am looking forward to getting back out for my walks soon and no more pain!
Scope down. Full speed ahead!
