I normally try to illustrate my blog with pictures. I'll skip that this time and just use words.
On Monday, September 8, 2014, I entered the University of Maryland St. Joseph's Hospital at 1:30 p.m. to have my left knee replaced. The surgery was scheduled for 3:30 p.m. but actually occurred closer to :4:30 p.m. and was performed by Dr. Scott Tarantino. He already was pretty special in my mind because he remembered everything I said from my first appointment until my second appointment two months later without looking at his notes.
I had injured my knee, ironically, while using the treadmill at the Maryland Athletic Club. My knee was sadly deteriorated and the meniscus, in the middle of the knee, was in really bad shape.
Everything about my treatment at St. Joseph's Hospital went well...especially my experience in the operating room. A long time ago, I had spent several summers as an operating room technician (scrub nurse who hands instruments to the doctor), so I knew what to expect. I just don't remember any of it. I went into the OR, sat the table sideways, and that's the last thing I remember before being awakened by two angels in the recovery room. It was amazing.
About 45 minutes or an hour later, I was transported to the 6th floor recovery wing and arrived at Room 608B. That was about 8 p.m. or so. I can't remember all of the names of the nurses and the techs who cared for me, but I remember the high level of care that I got from all of them and how many of them attended community colleges to get their degrees. It was virtually all of them...Harford Community College, Carroll Community College, Baltimore County Community College, and so forth. They must have been doing something right at those community college levels.
And then there was the matter of the pain. Oh, boy, was it painful but the staff did their best to keep me comfortable and I was very grateful. One of their tricks was to run cold water over the knee to keep down the swelling and the sensitivity to pain. They had a little pump that ran the cold water over the knee in a series of pipes in a pad. Very effective.
Two days later, after I had proven to the satisfaction of the physical therapists that I knew how to get in and out of bed, in and out of the bathroom, and various other tasks, I was discharged on Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. I was very happy to go.
UPDATE: the return home did not go well at first. I was taking a narcotic for pain relief and it was making me nauseous and loopy. I stopped doing my physical therapy. I was a mess. Finally, my home nurse (Doug) and my physical therapist (Bob) both recognized that I needed to switch to a different pain killer and things have improved greatly. I missed my 50th reunion, but at least I know that I am on the road to recovery.
