Tuesday post-op

Yesterday's operation to fix the torn cartilage in my left knee nearly didn't happen due to a simple administrative error. I'd asked for it to be done as soon as I came back from Oz and before the end of February, if possible. I'd asked for them to give me the date by e-mail as I would be away, but nothing came through to me in January, so I contacted them again and discovered they had posted it out to me after all - and what's more the operation was booked for Friday 20th February - the day before we were home.

I reminded them this date wasn't possible and so they changed it to Monday 23rd (yesterday) and confirmed the time was 13:00 hours. I accepted this, although an afternoon op isn't great when you have to fast all day before it.

Well, we were sitting in the house yesterday and it was about noon and we were thinking about getting ready to leave, when the phone rang. "Mr. Stewart - Albyn Hospital here - we thought you were coming in at 11:00 am for your op?" No - it's 1:00 pm says I - I had this confirmed by e-mail. "Well, can you get here as soon as possible please?" Of course - and so off we set. I wished I'd had a blue flashing light on my car, but anyway, we got there about 12:35 pm, which wasn't too bad considering all the road works at Crathes and Blairs.

Despite all this, everything seemed to go OK and we left the hospital at about 6:00 pm, with Jo driving this time as I'd had a general anaesthetic and can't drive - or drink - for 48 hours at least.

I awoke early again this morning - 4 am - and lay there until almost 6 am when I eventually had to get up. I had a bite and came back upstairs with Jo's coffee and Kelly then FaceTimed. We wondered what Miller's reaction would be, but it was delightful - he beamed and tried to eat us on Kelly's iPad!

The heavy bandage I'd had on my knee slipped off, leaving just the waterproof plasters covering the two incisions:

For the medics amongst you, here's the papers the hospital gave us showing what was carried out:

 

What exactly is an "Arthroscopic Partial Medial Meniscectomy"? Does this help?:

So the saga of the Stewart knees continues. Since I ruptured the medial ligament on my right knee at football training in 1970, then discovered 20+ years later that I'd done my cruciate at the same time but they never fixed it, I've had arthroscopies carried out on both knees (in 2011), my right knee completely replaced (2013) and, after an x-ray and an MRI scan late in 2014, I've now had a further arthroscopy and repair to the cartilage on my left knee. I reckon all of that still leaves me behind my wee sister who had both knees replaced (one partial, one full) a number of years ago.

I do hope there's no more to come for a while - for me, or for any other family members. I was pleased to see that none of our grandchildren appear to have inherited this weakness. In fact, little Miller is so flexible when kneeling that Kelly was told by the development nurse last week not to let him sit on the floor with his legs splayed out behind him any more as it might apparently make him hen-toed!

As a final footnote to the admin errors referred to above, the postman rang the bell this morning. When we came back on Saturday, our mailbox was full and overflowing (we have no letterbox on our new front door) and then today he showed up with a plastic box full of even more mail - about another 3 mailboxes worth. Included in the postman's plastic box was a letter from the hospital confirming my changed appointment for yesterday - at 11 am!

So today I've followed instructions and rested up. Tomorrow, I'll take a short walk along to the shops and keep doing the exercises and ice treatment.