Knee Replacement Surgery - Day 0 - The Op

A very early shower at home, no cuppa, then bleary-eyed to the hospital for 07:00!

I was shown to my room, and then we waited. Without being able to have a cup of tea was very hard.

The surgeon came in to meet me for the first time, and drew an arrow to make sure he did the correct knee!

Then the anaesthetist came and introduced himself. He said he hoped to be able to do me with a spinal block, but that there was a chance it might need to be a general anaesthetic. And when I told him that the pre-op nurse had said he might not be able to because I hadn't stopped my Naproxen early he said it didn't really matter!

Just before 10:00, a nurse walked me and Margaret to the door of the theatre suite. A hug with Margaret and then in! 

Don't read this section if you're squeamish

So a cold spray to deaden the back that was VERY COLD - it made the first injection a doddle. Was just about aware of the needle going into my spine but no pain. Then they started to pinch the flesh on my leg and very quickly I couldn't feel anything on the leg or on my toes - a very weird sensation. The weirdest of all was the anaesthetic team asking me if I could lift my leg and I could not make it do anything, and couldn't even feel when they moved it though I could see it moving!

The trolley was moved into the theatre and some sort of sheeting hung in from of my head - presumably, so I could see what they were doing which was a shame as I would have liked to watch. Then the sedative started to take affect. I think I heard the word "tourniquet" and heard a bit of hammering and the next thing I knew I was being wheeled into the Recovery room.

Recovery

At some point, I had been moved from the operating table onto a bed and into the Recovery room. They monitored me for a bit and then I was allowed some water. BLISS!

I looked at the clock after I'd been there a while and it was just past 11:00 so the operation was probably less than an hour. One of the nurses said she reckoned Mr Williams could probably do the operations with his eyes closed. While she might have been right, I'm glad he didn't try on my knee! He came in at some point and said it had gone well and that he'd been able to take out a lot of the gunky synovial fluid and thickened lining so that eventually my knee would be a lot less puffy than it has been.

Once they were sure I was OK, they needed to take the slip sheet out from underneath me. More weirdness as they turned me on my side and moved my legs into the recovery position. Watching my legs being moved in front of me, but not being able to feel them was bizarre.

A little bit more time in Recovery then got wheeled back to my room.