This will be a brief post just to update on how I’m doing.
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So the day arrived to check into the hospital. We arrived at 4pm as instructed. The orthopedic floor was full so I was put on the floor above. I had a nice quiet room to myself. I had broth for dinner.

Next morning I woke early and waited and waited for the surgery. Finally got wheeled off about 10:30am. First big surprise was they did the anesthesia differently. I had known I would get an epidural which numbs you from the waist down. The last operation they used mega tranqs to make me sleep and did the spinal in my sleep. This time it was done while I sat on a table! It was scary more than painful but it did hurt. And when they wanted to use gas to make me sleepy I said “I don’t want to hear, see, or feel what is going on!” Make me sleep. They did.

I woke on the way to my room. I guess I got there around three. The doctor came and explained the entire old prosthesis had to be replaced. The other one was defective. This was interesting news. They did give me morphine for the night. And another pain killer the next day that was different but strong. I’m afraid I was woozy and I don’t remember it well.

The next day the doctor visited and lifted my leg and bent it slowly. I was actually amazed at how far he could bend it with no pain. They put me on the bend machine which repeatedly bends the knee to a percentage of flex for an hour. Twice a day. And the flex increases daily. But I’m up to 70% with no pain. I am so happily surprised that this is so totally different from my last experience.

Next post I will give my impressions of the hospital experience and compare with the last one. It’s pretty entertaining.