I go to see the ortho guy in Walnut Creek and he decides that I need my knee scoped. After that things happen quickly. There is a cancellation and I am scheduled for August 5. Okay, let’s get this over with.
I am given booklets of happy people after their surgery. It looks like a piece of cake. Just do some exercises. You can go back to work in a couple of days. It won’t be long until you are skiing again. (Many of the “after” pictures show people skiing.)
We go to Walnut Creek for the surgery. It is quite busy. People are telling me stuff. I keep reminding them that I am allergic to a lot of things. I get a general anesthetic. I wake up. It’s done. It doesn’t hurt at all! I stand. I walk. This is just like the booklet!
They give me some crutches to take home but really I don’t need them. The next morning I am still fine. We go food shopping. A little ibuprofen is all I need. Wait, what’s this? Pain? Around 5 PM my knee starts hurting like crazy. What happened? I find out that after surgery they flood the area with numbing stuff and they give me a percocet. It has all worn off. Now I am in for several days of knee hell. The crutches or the first set of pain killers give me a rash. Finally I go with the percocet. That makes me sick to my stomach. My digestive system is screwed up. I am not a happy patient anymore.
I am writing this 11 days post-op. Things are better than they were. I am managing again on ibuprofen. But my knee hurts all the time. I limp around the house. The bandages are off and it doesn’t look like much. But the whole area has been traumatized. I am worried that I might not recover enough to ever play tennis again. Or walk up stairs. I am definitely not skiing.
