Surgery Day; awesome people hopefully produce awesome results

A long 36 hours, but seemingly good. Another quick summary before the avalance. Dr. Steadman said on a scale of 1 to 10, mine was probably a 10, "well, maybe a 9.5". He did an LOA, AIR, chrodioplasty, and a lateral capsular release. I came out of the surgery feeling much, much better than the previous ones. He got me to 5 and 120 on the table and was probably around 10 and 90 active at my first session this morning. I'm feather/toe touch only for 6 weeks (whoa!) to reduce scar tissue growth. Headed back for another session this afternoon. Overall, feeling cautiously optimistic. Everyone from Vail Valley Medical Center (hospital) to Steadman-Hawkins (surgery) to Howard Head rehab (PT) was awesome. I really wish I could remember all the names. Truly impressive.

The long version:

Crystal called last night - hospital at 7:30 am. Could've been 6 am, so got a little lucky there! Arrived first at Vail Valley Medical Center admissions on the first floor, got some paperwork, and headed upstairs. We notice they had Lissa's phone number wrong (not that she went anywhere!) Relaxed in the lobby for about 15 minutes and then Michelle brought us back to pre-op. Went through the normal stuff (why do I always have trouble tying up those gowns?), blood pressure, temperature. The didn't mentioned anything from the labs from Tuesday, so those must have passed. Popped a quick IV in my left hand and started the first bag of the day. Gave me a blanket when I got a little chilly as well - very attentive. Jack, must've drawn the short straw that day, as he got to shave my knee. The knee that didn't have NO written in large magic marker. Still on there at the moment, actually.

Hung out until around 10:00 am when Thaus ?, the anethesiologist and another nurse (Karin?) who started asking some general checklist questions. Lissa described the problems rousing from the earlier surgeries, where I woke up "hard" and they wouldn't let her back - I didn't know what that means, she said. Neither do I!, he said. I confirmed that I'd be under general during the surgery. He was describing a few more details when Steady stuck his head through the curtain with Dr. Stubbs, "Hi - wanted to remind you that we're going to potentially go behind your knee as well." Yep. "Ok, see you in a bit". Well, not really :) Thaus then walked afte him and said "Femoral block for this". Steady replied yes, thank goodness. They started the femoral block process, pricking my upper thigh after pressing for a vessel. He and the nurse started putting some other things on my upper thigh and at some point the doc asked if I was nervous, since I was shivvering. "A little, I replied." He asked if I had a femoral block before, and I said yes, but I thought I was already under general. "Probably not, actually. We need to awake to talk with us - let me know if you feel like you hit your funny bone in your arm or any other unusual sensation." After I replied in the negative, the doc then told the nurse to give 2 of something. The nurse then said "here comes the happy juice" to which I replied, well, I'm already pretty happy, so this should make me estatic." They had pulled Lissa out while they did this, and the last thing I remember is her giving me a kiss.

Funny thing about anethesia - I always expect it to be like Ah-nold in True Lies, where he gets the truth serum and his vision is all blurry and he's fighting for conciousness until finally dropping into sweet, peaceful slumber. Nope. For me (and most others I know), it's like a light switch. I'm awake, then I'm not. I remember talking with the anethesiologist during the first surgery and think I snoozed in mid-sentence.

Lissa actually saw Steady walk back through to his office while sitting in the waiting room. "Done already?" "Nope, still prepping him" was the reply. After the surgery, he then came out and told Lissa the procedures he had done, and the range he got. "It was bad".