For those of you just joining us, on Oct 4th, I had full kneed replacement surgery. I’m not going to go into too many gory details, but I’m still putting up a warning, in case that kind of stuff squicks you.

Check in time was 5:40 AM, plus the hospital is an hour’s drive from us. So my husband and I got up at 3:30, and were out of the house by 4:30.

The orthopedic hospital didn’t open until 5:30, so we just hung out in the car for 15 minutes or so.

The admitting nurse (Dana) let Blaze come back for a little while, but then he had to leave. No guests allowed with the patients.

After taking vitals and checking paperwork, Dana brought me a “bear hug” blanket. It came all folded up in a tiny bag, and was made from paper and plastic. She hooked it up to a machine and it inflated like a long skinny air mattress.

All the tubes have small perforations in them, so the machine is blowing hot air through them.

No weight to the blanket at all, but really warm and toasty.

My surgeon came in and we chatted. Then my anesthesiology doctor came in. She was rather awesome. I liked her a lot.

Because I have had problems with anesthesia the one other time I had surgery–back when I was 28 years old–my anesthesiologist advise that I should get an epidural.

I’ve never had one of those before, so I figured I’d try it.

My first impression of the operating room was that it looked very industrial. This wasn’t a warm comfy place. There was a long rack on the far side filled with shiny instruments.

The epidural went in without a problem. I figure in part that’s the skill of the doctor. But also in part because I do a lot of yoga, and so my spine is flexible.

After the epidural, my doctor gave me something to make my sleepy through my IV.

The next thing I knew I was being rolled into recovery.

One of the first things they did there was to hook up a catheter in my thigh for a nerve block. The person used an ultrasound machine to guide the needle to the right place. (I got to watch.)

I am now attached to a bag with narcotics in it, and a continual drip to keep that nerve asleep. The top of my knee is numb. I’m only feeling pain on the sides of the knee. It’s kinda awesome.

I’m staying on top of the pain medication. Though the pain isn’t that bad, I know that it’s important to keep the pain down so I won’t tense up and delay my healing.

Despite the epidural, I still got nauseated. Enough to vomit a couple of times. So we ended up being in the hospital longer than expected. Wasn’t discharged until after 3 PM.

I am not stable on my feet. I have crutches to support me. A walker doesn’t make any sense. The only place I’d be able to use it would be indoors. Outside, nothing is paved. I had to walk across a gravel driveway then up a small rise covered in grass for me to get to the main house. Traveling to the tiny house is also just across grass.

So I guess that’s it. I’m icing my knee regularly. I have a kitty asleep next to me on the couch. This afternoon, I may try to write some fiction. May not. But I will do my Hungarian today. (Did ‘t even bother worth opening the app yesterday.)

I am still getting hit with occasional bouts of nausea, but nothing too bad. Certainly not vomiting. Don’t know if that’s the oxycodone I’m taking, the medication for the nerve block, or just still flushing all of everything else from my system.

Am also not hungry. Didn’t eat much yesterday, possibly won’t eat much today.

And I guess that’s it for now. I’m sitting on the couch, icing my knee, with a kitty asleep next to me. Have started doing gentle exercises once an hour. Can’t bend my knee at all currently. Am hoping that as the swelling goes down, I’ll start bending it again.

Thank you for all the well-wishes! That’s been awesome to see very time I open the Book of Faces.