A Crazy March Surgery Day

 

Instead of going to school today like all my friends did, I went to the hospital to get my knee fixed. My mom came on Sunday to visit and help me with stuff. We spent Sunday redoing my room, running around town, and visiting horses. Today wasn't as fun.

I woke up around 6 am, took a shower and then left for the hospital. They wanted me there by 7:45 am which seemed silly because I sat in the waiting room for a very long time. Around 8:30 I got taken back to pre-op, my mom stayed with me for this. My nurse was really nice. I got changed into a hospital gown and then she attempted to put an I.V. Catheter in my arm. I was extreamly dehydrated and she had trouble even finding a vein to use. After trying 3 different sites they finally found a good vein to use and got the I.V. in. After that they pumped me full of fluids and wanted me to pee in a cup to make sure I wasn't pregnant. Obviously I had no urine in my bladder from being dehydrated. When the nurse came back in and wanted to draw my blood she sounded all sympathetic about it but I was happy she wanted to draw my blood instead of wait around until I could pee.
During the first part of pre-op I was only a little bit nervous but things kept getting more terrifying as the time got closer. The surgeon came in to talk to me about what he was doing, and the anesthesiologist. Originally they where going to give me an epidural and a sedative but then I found out I would be in recovery for an extra 3 hours after that. I was already nervous so I just said the heck with it, knock me out for this thing.

After what seemed like hours, around 10:45 they wheeled me into the OR. After that, the anesthesiologist put a mask on my face and I was out after a few seconds of being extreamly nervous. Next thing I knew I was awaking screaming "ouch, ouch, ouch", crying and shaking. Then the nurse said, "okay I'm going to go get your mom now". I said, "no, please don't let her see this". Then I remember her giving me an injection trying to stop the shaking and pain. The shaking stopped but not the pain so she gave me another syringe full of something and a few minutes later I felt fine.

I was in recovery for a very long time, about 3 hours. According to my mom they found something in my knee called Plica. It's an excessive growth of cartlidge and old scar tissue from my injury. The surgeon said that it was worse than what he was expecting to find. My mom saw pictures of what it looked like but I haven't seen them yet. She said it looked "interesting". My estimated recovery time is 6 weeks but I am to make a full recovery.

Right now it hurts a lot because I hate taking pain meds. But thinking about all the triathlons I will get to race, horses I will get to ride, and early morning runs I will run, have kept my mind mostly off the pain.

I want to take a moment to thank my very supportive mother who is helping me thru this. I may be frustrated with stuff but she has enough patience to deal with me. I love you mom.
Almost Better,
Kyia