Quick update

Ok, I'll call today another success, though admittedly I'm a little disappointment. I'd gotten myself all psyched up for surgery within the week because if I didn't, I'd probably wuss out. Then for completely valid logistical and practical reasons, today they settled the date for March 21st. Two weeks. The day Peleke gets home.

Arg. It wasn't an easy decision, but like Peleke said, there will never be a good time. If I wait for his next deployment (whenever that may be), I'd be as-is probably throughout the summer. If I get this done on the 21st, there's a good chance I'll actually be mobile and able to enjoy playing. I'm sad that it will extend our time apart by another week or so, though. We don't really want to burn his leave to come sit around in the sticks with me while I'm getting hacked apart, put back together, and recovering, but I sure would love to at least have him the day of the surgery plus another day or two, you know? Oh well. There's never really going to be an ideal time.

I learned a few more details today about the surgery that I won't bore you with, but a few things I will mention. First, when I asked how long I'd be under anesthesia, he said about six hours. That's a loooong time to be under, but I feel better knowing that he does epidurals so that the level of anesthesia doesn't have to be as deep (plus excellent pain management for the immediate post op period). I'll stay in the hospital two to three days before staying at the hotel for maybe a week after.

But man, oh man, when that epidural is out and I'm on oral pain management! Eesh. To his credit, Dr. Texas is nothing if not honest. And both he and Nurse Texas have reiterated that this is a very big surgery involving a lot of pain. It's not that they're stingy with the dope (in fact, his nurse told me some nurses think they use maybe a bit too much while in the hospital). Broken bones HURT. It's difficult to pin down that balance of pain management that allows meaningful rehab. The realistic expectation is to control the pain enough so that I can start the rigorous rehab program within hours of surgery. They call them "cannonball exercises." Aptly named, I suspect, because that's how you have to approach it- "break all my bones, rotate, plate, screw, and graft? No worries- watch me completely flex and straighten my whole leg while I'm practically still waking up from anesthesia!" Double eesh.