After Action Report

Yesterday was quite the day.  Since I was the first entree on the menu for the ortho surgery suite my check-in time at Hotel Orthoscopy was 6AM.  Given our distance from them and the instructions about home preps in advance, it meant that we needed to arise around 3AM.  And given that middle-of-the-night reveille, it meant we went to bed while there was still daylight and got almost no sleep in the intervening hours.

One other concern on my end was that the mandatory covid test last Saturday tilted the balance in my annual battle against respiratory allergies.  Sticking the boom handle up my nose to bang against the underside of my skull (okay, that might be a teensy bit of hyperbole) riled up my sinuses so much they were completely impacted for four days.  We were legitimately wondering if they would even let me in the hospital with my nasal gurgling.  Fortunately the two hot showers at 8PM and 3AM combined with my allergy meds helped enough to get me in.

Surgery was from 7.30 to 8.40 AM, and afterward the surgeon assured Mrs. Barn that all went well.  Yes there was damaged cartilage to cut and vacuum but nothing to cause further concern.  As he told her, it was simply the result of “a lot of birthdays.”  When we spoke before surgery he said the rehabilitation would basically depend on my level of discomfort tolerance.

My time in the recovery room was relatively brief.  They gave me one painkiller pill for the trip home and we were off to Shangri-la, arriving just before 1 PM.  I was attentive to the knee on the trip home, and it was less painful than two hours in the car would normally inflict on me.  Admittedly, this might have been a manifestation of “Better Living Through Chemistry.”  Maneuvering into the cabin was no real problem; we had saved all the ambulation accessories from my broken hip so we were fully equipped to get me into the cabin and navigate inside.

I started the afternoon with a nap in the recliner.  When I woke around 3 PM I noted the continued absence of pain.  Huh, peculiar.  I had a pile of dope to take but did not need it.  Dinner came and went, we spent a typical evening on the couch watching a video, Skyping with the girls, texting friends and siblings, and still no pain.  Where is the pain?  I was not being heroically stoic, it simply did not hurt.

I did take a couple of OTC analgesics as a prophylactic before bed time and spent the comparatively uneventful night in the recliner.   This morning?  Still no pain.  A little tenderness but nothing notable.  Not entirely unexpected, after all they did poke holes in me and muck around inside.

Yes indeed, 24 hours after surgery the knee already feels better than it did 24 hours before surgery.  I will baby the leg for another day then start working my way up to full weight and maybe even back up to the shop by Monday if Mrs. Barn lets me.  Stiches out on Thursday next week.

Some miracles are inexplicable, others are explicable.  All I know is that now there is no invisible orc sticking an icepick into the back of my kneecap with every step, and it does not take me 10-15 seconds to get my leg straightened when I stand.