She’s home and doing remarkably well. My Favorite Panamanian’s knee surgery took place yesterday and it could not have gone better. She handled the challenge like a real trooper. It was our first experience at the fairly new Surgery Center, just across the lake from Worcester. What a fabulous facility! She requested I stay with her as long as I could. She realizes how much I hate hospitals but this was an easy task. There was no wait when we showed up and five minutes after we walked in the door, she was gowned up in the pre-op area. We had about an hour and a half wait while they did all the pre-op ministrations including a brief with the surgeon where they both initialed the knee that needed the work. I’m guessing that was to prevent the horror stories you hear about concerning surgery on the wrong appendage.
I was eventually sent out of the area
when they wheeled her towards the operating room as she was already starting to
fade from the anesthesia. I waited in the luxurious front lobby and in less
than an hour was informed she was out of surgery. Twenty minutes later I was instructed
to pull the car around the side of the building to pick her up. The technology
for this type of procedure has obviously improved in the twenty years since the
2d of my two knee scopes. She was a little groggy coming out but actually stood
up to get into the car! We stopped by the pharmacy to pick up the drugs she’ll
need for recovery, including the powerful “good stuff”. Ten minutes after we
left the surgery center, she was comfortably lying down on our living room
couch. The Neighborhood Mafioso had asked to be informed when my wife was back
at home. Twenty minutes later she walked in with a crab cake lunch (her
favorite) for my Favorite Panamanian. My wife admitted to being in a lot of pain
but was hesitant to take the “good stuff”, the most powerful pain killer. Both the
Mafioso and I encouraged her to take it as it was prescribed exactly for this
post-op pain. She’s really sensitive to drugs and was hesitant. She eventually
agreed and ten minutes after taking it she was amazed as the pain was gone. Better
living through chemistry!!! The side effect was sleepiness which took hold as
she tried to keep conversing with the Mafioso. 
In Recovery Mode
She was zonked out for the rest of the
afternoon. My Favorite Son called to check in on his mom along with the BRS and
BR3. She semi-emerged from her drug induced stupor to acknowledge them before falling
back asleep. She woke up for dinner and while she was eating my daughter and
the FBR called. After that call my wife said it was weird that our son hadn’t called.
She couldn’t understand why I was laughing until I told her he had. We
rectified that with another, more alert conversation with him. I’m convinced the
nearly non-stop phone conversations she’s had with family and friends since she’s
been home is the very best medicine she could have. Thank you to all who have
reached out. She slept very well last night and today she’s actually walking
around without crutches without pain for the first time in two weeks. She hasn’t
taken another of the “good stuff” and I have to caution her against doing too
much. It helps that I have to tackle her back onto the couch to apply the cold
pack every hour. So, she’s doing great, better than I expected and without knee
pain for the first time in over a year. As stated above, they have made great
strides in this procedure in the last twenty years. 
FBR Back Home
Our family knows how much their abuela
worships the granddaughters. Therefore, they sent along these pictures of the
girls to assist with the healing. The biggest collateral damage of the knee
injury was her limited participation in this year’s grandpa and abuela summer
camp for the girls. The picture of BR3 sleeping (rare that) has her head on one
of the stuffed snakes each granddaughter acquired (thank you Great Aunt) because
they knew they could terrorize their snake-loathing abuela with them. Amazon
also delivered our very own Uno Flip game today. I’m sure we’ll have one of
those games underway the next time we have a quorum. 
BR3, Snake Charmer
RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete - my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut
Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor
of the big river; Curbside Girls – close
friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of
course); FBR - First Blog Reader -
first granddaughter; First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene
Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene,
NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend
since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife –
her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew –
son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member; PanaGals – female relatives
/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin
Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we
have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor
Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos
- two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever
explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course
No comments:
Post a Comment