Day 1

I used my own patella tendon this time. Since I had this same operation on my left knee 15 years ago I expected it to be more painful but so far so good. They use a femoral catheter for pain block plus Vicodin so all good. The femoral artery block with attached pain pump is something I did not like last time since it made my leg feel like dead wood and was very weird. However, I think it depends on how well they place, and maybe who places it. They use ultrasound to get it in place, and you can feel you leg jump a bit as they send a small current through it to make sure they get the right nerves. This one feels great.

Leg is completely immobilized for now. Ice on it over all bandages. Getting around okay and touch my toe on the floor without pain. Most likely all the Pain meds. 1st PT (physical therapy) appointment set for tomorrow. Experience at the hospital was probably a B- down from A last time. Last time they were always putting warm blankets on me, and probably upped the dosage of Valprin(?) which makes you feel like you had a six pack on an empty stomach as I was much more aware of what was going on, not necessarily a good thing, and had to ask for the blankets, which makes a huge difference in making you feel comfortable.

The general anesthesia smells like paint thinner when it first hits you but you are awake for only about 5 seconds, next thing you know you are in recovery. Which depending on how busy it is can kind of suck as more people are wheeled in and you hear them waking up, and some people are loud making all sorts of strange noises. When you get move to post op much mellower.

Tough to concentrate when you come out of it, and it usually took me a bit to verbalize my answers, completely normal. I was at the hospital at 9:30 am got out at 6pm. I would suggest getting the first time slot if possible. In the hospital at 6:00am as its mellower and easy to get through traffic plus I had a much better experience at that time slot, not sure how much that depends on the time or who is on duty.

move slowly, keep your leg up, knock it out when you get to PT