Knee surgery - part I
Knee surgery - part II
Justin, who's been my driver while my knee is in the immobilizer, took me back this afternoon for my post-op appointment with Dr. Panossian. It was nice to be able to take of my knee immobilizer for the first time in eight days.
Dawn cut off my dressings, and I got to see the incision - top to bottom, along the middle of the knee cap, closed off by twelve staples. The dressing stuck to the top one, so Dawn left it on for the time being.
The doctor came in and looked it over, and seemed happy with the results. He asked if I had any fever, redness, vomiting, etc., and I was happy to say no to all of the above.
I asked him about the tear he repaired, and he said it was in the lateral retinaculum. He cleaned it up a little, and stitched the tear together. I mentioned that the area on the outside of my knee felt a little numb, and he said it would feel that way for a few weeks or months, and that I'd always have a small dead-feeling spot in the area — it's just part of the deal, and I'm okay with it.
He wrote up a scrip for physical therapy, and said he'd see me in six weeks for a follow-up.
He asked Dawn to remove the staples, and all but one of them came out without drama. The last-but-third didn't want to come out, and I squeaked a bit when it did, but otherwise there were no problems. There was little blood from the top and the bottom of the incision, but Dawn cleaned it up, and then put on some steri-strips to hold things together for a couple of days. I have to wait until Sunday before I can shower.
When Justin picked me up out on Congress St., I decided to get in to the front seat, and had a lot of pain bending my knee for the first time in a week. I'm going to need that PT.
Last night I sent e-mails to Tony and Adam, my NFHS and ASYO referee guys (respectively) to let them know I'm out for the season. With the current environment at work, it's probably best if I lay low, and not work the weird schedule needed to cover high school game assignments.
We drove thru The Hat for lunch/dinner — I had a pastrami, fries, and a diet coke, and Justin had his usual - chili cheese fries with tomatos and a large root bear.
