Waiting

A lot of the time in a hospital is spent waiting for something to happen. After a fairly good night's sleep, I was awakened this morning again at 5:00 a.m. by the lab technician who needed two more vials of my blood. While this isn't something I would have chosen to do at 5:00 a.m., I must say that the lab tech person was entirely professional and personable. We enjoyed chatting about Pennsylvania Dutch names (which I have) and town/city names in the Reading, PA area (where she used to live). It's not much of connection, but it was enough to sustain a conversation for the 6-8 minutes she was in my room.

I did doze off after she left because, with all the interruptions during the night, I was still quite sleepy. I woke up again at 6:45, ordered my breakfast (raisin bran, skim milk, fruity yogurt, toast, and two cups of coffee), ate around 7:30 and then started my waiting game, mostly waiting for my surgeon to come by. Whether or not I go home today depends entirely on him.

Here are a few observations, while waiting, that might help someone else having knee replacement surgery:

I packed too much! The day of surgery and the subsequent evening I was still in the hospital gown. Yesterday I wore a pair of shorts and tee shirt during the day and the gray/yellow pajama set with the light yellow bathrobe in the evening (put on the pajamas after the family had left). Today I stayed in the pajamas and robe until around 10:00 and then, just because I had them, I changed into my second outfit (pink shorts, lime green tee shirt). The yellow shorts/blue tee shirt from yesterday would have been perfectly fine to wear again today, however, so I would advise just bringing one outfit to wear during the day.


As for pajamas, one set would have been adequate. I guess bringing one extra set might make sense on the off-chance that you spilled something, but I definitely didn't need TWO extra sets. If you are hot-natured, bring light, sleeveless pajamas. I am hot-natured, so the little cami top I wore to bed was plenty warm enough. I was told to bring athletic (tennis) shoes, but have not used them, so I think it's probably useless to bring them. I didn't need the sock-slippers I packed since they give you a pair of socks with rubberized soles. My toiletries bag seemed about right but I packed that very lightly. You'll need toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, lip balm, and lotion. Aside from a comb and/or brush, you won't need anything else.

Now let's discuss the pain issue. The nurses and therapists keep asking me to assign a number to my level of pain (1 to 10, with 10 being excruciating pain), but aside from when I've done physical therapy, I can truthfully say that my pain level has hovered between 1 and 2. Yes, I can feel my knee, but it's not painful--just swollen and stiff. I took two percocets last night right before bed, although I didn't feel a particular need for them. The nurse urged me to take two more this morning before physical therapy, so I did even though I was experiencing no pain. Again today, I did feel some pain during therapy, but it was brief and entirely bearable. The only exercise that hurts is sitting on my bed trying to bend my knee so that it's hanging straight down like the other knee, at a 90 degree angle. The therapist kept pushing my leg back and it did hurt, but it was bearable.

Stan and I are waiting for lunch to be delivered, but mostly we're waiting for the surgeon. Even though I cannot say enough good things about this hospital, it is still a hospital, and I'm very eager to go home! Having said that, I'll sign off for now and let you know in a few hours whether I go or stay.