Darla has surgery!

It's been a little while, mainly because we have hit and miss internet access (we are actually "borrowing" the wireless signal from somewhere around here - I know - that's terrible, but it's only because we are only here a few months, and would have to buy a new modem and a bunch of stuff we already have in our shipment. It's a very bad signal anyway, and only works about 1 in 5 tries. Everyone else has secured networks which is good (but not for us at the moment) The apartment has internet in a little business center we would use, but I'm a gimp and can't get to it at the moment.)

So...

As I mentioned in an earlier post - I had a fall/buckled knee at the airport on our trip from Italy on the 6th. The MRI was sone on the 26th and I saw the Orthopedic doc on Wed. the 30th. Up until then, I had tried to regain normal use of my knee, as I had been able to in the past, but it was not improving. I could not get it fully extended and it still hurt terribly. Anyway, the MRI showed a complete tear of the ACL and a large bucket-handle tear of the medial meniscus. The meniscus was the main problem, since it had flipped up and was keeping my leg from extending. The doc says to wait while he checks with the surgeon for best course of action, and not five minutes later, he walks in with Dr. Brown who tells me he has a cancellation for tomorrow (May 1) and would I be able to fill it? Timing is everything, since normally, it would be more like 4 weeks out, assuming they can get me in at all. I have to check with Casey, of course, but it all works out and I'm back that afternoon doing all the pre-op stuff. By 9:00 the next morning, I'm in the operating room. Recovery has been hard. I had to ween Alisea cold turkey - which was it's own kind of pain, and it's been hard on the family - esp. Caitlyn who is having to do so much to help with the little ones. She's been a sport about it though. The nerve block I had was supposed to work for up to 24 hours to keep me pain free (or at least comfortable) before needing pain meds. Mine started wearing off during the surgery, so they had to knock me out a little deeper and redo it right after the surgery to give me some relief. That didn't last long either. The anesthesiologist said my liver metabolized it too fast - so I'm an unlucky one. Needless to say, the Percocet wears off pretty quick too, and started making me itch, so I stopped taking it and am dealing with just ibuprophen. Thankfully, the pain is mostly subsiding, and the swelling continues to improve.

So there you have it. I'll give updates when I have one.