I am here - I think

It was absolutely touch and go, but I managed to get spung from the hospital. I really think Dr Bones would really have wanted me to stay through today. Five days is absolutely enough - especially with the one night nurse I had. I will let the story unfold. With all that has happened (one incident especially) are really worth relating, so this may take several installments. It is worth recording!

We arrived at the hospital at the assigned hour - 7am on Wednesday. We got to the assembly area, and there was nary a soul there. There was a sign, and on that sign there was a number to call. But this number was an in-house one. There was no house phone. I remembered there was a number to call on my paperwork from the pre-hospitalization work. I called it on my cell, and they would come out to get me. OK.

All went well until it was time for the IV. Now, only my left arm is to be used since the mastectomy on the right. We want to avoid lymphedema. The nurse looked at my lower arm and hand. She tried once on the underside. If you are in this situation, and they are poking around the underside of your wrist, hit them! That is the most painful place on the arm! Anyway, she didn't hit the vein, or if so, it fried immediately. So the little guy from anesthesia tried. I felt more assured, but guess what - he blew another two of three veins. I'm beginning to think that we won't have the surgery. The other doc from anesthesia came in. He began looking. He mentioned the words you really don't want to hear - using the neck. Fortunately, he got one in the upper hand, but used a smaller cannula for it not to blow the vein.

Then he did the epidural. He was so much better than the last one! This time there was very little pain. It was just a matter of minutes, and I was on my way to the surgery suite. I was transferred to the table, the real anesthesia was administered and I was gone.

There were a bunch of bone fragments to be removed, and the knee was 5 millimeters smaller than the rest on all the measurements. But it was in, and I went to recovery.

My time in recovery was some pain. It was strange, it was in the foot and ankle, but that wasn't to be the most unusual pain. That is to come.

I am exhausted now. I have already read a mountain of emails. Thanks to all you with your comments. They were wonderful. It is time for this body to become horizontal for a while now.

Peace be with you.