Reconstructing Hearts

The big day was finally here. I had to report to the hospital at 5:30 a.m. this morning, which was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, I hadn’t eaten since eight the previous night, so I didn’t have to wait as long for my next meal. On the other hand, it meant I was up before the rooster around the corner. The experience was pretty easy and painless…except maybe for when they had to shave my entire right leg! Everyone was incredibly nice, and it seemed like it was over in the blink of an eye. I didn’t even get to count backwards from one hundred. I was out within seconds of them rolling me into the operating room.

I woke up in recovery to the face of my mom staring back at me and a glorious package of graham crackers lying on a table next to me. I pulled the sheet aside to view the damage, and I was surprised to find out that they had turned me into RoboCop while I was asleep. My leg was wrapped in bandages and gauze, which was all encased in a hip to ankle leg brace with so many straps and doohickeys that it looked straight out of a sci-fi film.

The doctor came in to let me know that everything had gone smoothly. I didn’t have a meniscus tear after all, so he’d only had to do the ACL reconstruction. He said the tendon they’d taken from my thigh was nice and fat and strong, which will make for a great new ACL. So, I guess it’s good that I opted to use my own instead of becoming Frankenstein’s monster.

After a lot of instructions and information, I was discharged around lunch time. They had given me a numbing agent during the surgery, so I didn’t really feel much discomfort. Honestly, the only ill effect was a little nausea as the anesthesia wore off, but that also could have been my extreme hunger coupled with being a little car sick. After a satisfying lunch, I spent the remainder of the day propped up on the couch, watching movies with my mom and occasionally moving my feet to help prevent blood clots.