Surgery Completed

Yesterday was a nervous day for me. Fiona and the kids dropped me off at the Irvine Regional Hospital right before 10:00am. It was almost a sad sight. I was crutching myself towards the main entrance and looking back at my family. At that moment a sense of missing them came upon me. Then I went ahead and didn't look back. I went to admitting and twenty minutes later the receptionist checked me and took some information. From there I had to go across away to the elevators. With papers in hand and crutching myself, it was quite a trek. I went to the second floor where surgery check in was. Twenty minutes in there and I was being escorted into my room. There I changed into a gown, and was prepped (shaved ankle and sterilization). That was about 11:00am and I was not scheduled for surgery until 12:35 pm. Apparently my appointment was pushed back. During that time I talked my doctor, my anesthesiologist, and a few nurses. The recovery time from this whole process is about 6 months. The first ten days, I will be wearing a heavily cushioned boot (it looks like I have elephantitas). Following that, the doctor will remove the boot and stitches and put me in a cast. I will be wearing the cast for 2.5 months and then after that I will be put into a heel-inclined boot (looks like a ski boot) for a month of two. Then I believe the remaining time will be spent with a physical therapist. Anyways so as I was being wheeled out to the operating room was when I loss all conciousness. I guess the anesthesiologist had put the anesthesia in my IV. I had thought I would inhale it. So I woke up shortly after 3:00pm. Boy was I really hung over. The first question that I asked was "Was the surgery already performed?" I just wanted to go back to sleep except my heart monitor kept on beeping and the nurse kept reminding me to take deep breaths to get my heart rate back up. About an hour later they transfered me to a waiting area where I was put into a wheelchair. Fiona ended up coming early (she had waited a few hours at that point). She drove us home where I napped some more. I really couldn't take in much as far as food because I was a little nauseated. I took in some fluids, a little mac n' cheese (left over from the kids), and some watermelon. The rest of the night was history.

And now this morning I am spending at home and blogging away. I'm taking tomorrow off as well and then I'll have the weekend to recuperate some more before I head back to work. Hopefully the hard part is over.