Recounting some of the Details (only for those who are interested)

For those who are interested, here are some of the details (as far as I can remember!) When we got to the hospital at 6am (Donny came with me), I registered then went in a room to dress in a lovely hospital-issued outfit: slippers, hairnet, pj bottoms (one size fits nobody), gown, and robe. They took my blood pressure, pulse, oxygen, and asked a bunch of questions. Then Donny could come in and we moved to a place where I sat in a nice lazy-boy-like chair labelled OR-8 (a lucky number according to Andrew and also our house number!) The anesthesiologist came in and "marked" my right leg with purple marker and arrows pointing down. The OR nurse came and asked me all the same questions again that I had just been asked. My hospital bracelet was checked several times (I guess they want to make sure they perform the right operation on the right person on the correct -- in my case right -- body part).

I then walked to the "block" area where they put in an IV and I lay on my stomach so they could put a nerve block thingy in my right leg just above the knee. It seemed to take a long time and I thought they struggled with it so I asked a lot of "is everything okay?" "why is that taking so long?" "is something wrong?" They then had me roll on my side to put in the epidural. At this point, the nurse gave me some Valium in my IV ... I think to shut me up. I found the feeling of losing sensation in my legs quite uncomfortable. As they wheeled me into the OR, my legs felt bent but apparently were straight! I really didn't like that feeling ... I couldn't move them at all. I kept willing my mind to realize they were straight but it wasn't working. I don't remember much past that. I don't remember seeing my surgeon or the operating room. I guess they gave me the sedative by then. I didn't have a general anesthetic, just the spinal, the block, and a sedative.

The next thing I remember was the same guys who moved me into the OR (Javier from Columbia and another less talkative person) moving me to the recovery area. A nurse then paid a lot of attention to me, taking my blood pressure (was quite low at first), heart rate, oxygen, temperature testing regularly. I can't remember her name. Two young people came in to take x-rays of my foot. I was talkative I'm sure (the poor people) but don't remember my conversation very well. Slowly, the feeling started to come back in my left leg but my right foot was still pretty numb. It wasn't until later that night that I could start moving my right toes (just slightly). I can move them right now but the top of my baby toe is still a bit numb feeling when I touch it.

While I was in the recovery area, the surgeon came out and talked to me. He said it went well but my tendon was really damaged and they took it out of there. I'm still not sure what that means. Later another doctor who was in the surgery as well told me that normally they position the foot in a flexed position but because of the level of inflammation in my tendon, they positioned it so that it is kind of curved in to the left.

At some point they wheeled me into my room. The sling contraption they use to move people from bed to bed is pretty interesting and it worked well but I had to grab hold of the bed on each side to help slide me off the sling. The nurses were excellent. My first nurse was Tamara, my night nurse was Saira, and my Wednesday nurse was Issy. The worst part was trying to use the bed pan. Yikes ... not easy and slightly (okay, a lot) humiliating. Saira was the best at helping me use it.

I didn't sleep very well that night in the hospital but had a good sleep last night at home. My family came to visit Tuesday evening. I also phoned a lot of people on Tuesday. Everyone agrees I was a bit loopy from the drugs but I felt perfectly fine. However, some details have escaped me.

Those are the details! If you are still reading, I'm impressed!