And this surgery makes number 6....

So there I was ... driving with my mom to the Mountain Orthopedic Surgical Center for surgery number six on my knees. I've always had problems with my knees. Every since I was like six I remember complaining about knee pain and not being able to walk up the stairs. My first surgery was probably over ten years ago. He removed what is called plicka from my right knee. Then he had to go in and remove plicka from my left knee. Next surgery was a bi-lateral release on my knees. He ended up doing both knees at once for this. The reason for the this surgery was because my knee cap wasn't tracking right. When I bend my knee, my knee cap wasn't closing to 40 degree's. This was probably the most painful surgery. I ended up staying in the hospital overnight, going to therapy and having it take a long time to heal. Of course my arthritis was bad in my knee's too so he was constantly scrapping that away. Well then around my fourth knee surgery he discovered the cartilage in my knee was deteriorating. He likened it to tread on a tire that just comes off. He said based on how much cartilage was already gone, that I was looking at knee replacements on both knee's by 40. This was crushing news to me. Here I was in my twenties being told I had not one but two knee replacements to look forward to.

Back to the present day... it was freezing outside on the drive to the surgical center and I was starting to freak out. You would think since I just had a c-section two months ago I wouldn't be so scared ... I mean if I can handle my stomach being cut wide open I could handle this surgery that I've done five previous times and yet I was still nervous.

So we get there and I check in and the nurses got a good chuckle about the last time I was there for surgery and found out I was pregnant. Everyones fingers were crossed this time when they ran my urine test. YAY, it came back negative and things were good to proceed. The bad news was Dr. Murray had a shoulder surgery ahead of me still so we had about an hour and a half wait.... great... not this again.. me being starved to death waiting around for surgery.

Well since I had a long wait ahead of me they were nice enough to let me pick out a movie to watch. This was something new they offered and it was greatly appreciated. I picked Saints and Soldiers and had a nice time watching it mostly because it kept my mind off of what was about to come. What I didn't like was that I could hear the kid a few curtains down watching Transformers lol. It was humerous to watch people walking by in the short gowns though.... I mean the surgical gowns looked like mini skirts on some of those men. lol!

Well around 2:30pm it was go time!!!! Okay my problem with surgeries is this.... I'm afraid once they knock me out that I will wake up halfway into the surgery and feel everything. . Fluke things happen all the time. Haven't you ever seen that movie Awake? The same thing happened to him... Well last time I was having surgery I told the anathesialogist this as he was wheeling me back and he said ... he wouldn't worry about that so much as not waking up at all.... .greeeeat words of encouragement lol.

The worst part is getting wheeled in and looking up at the bright spotlight they put you under... that just gets my anxiety going. I hate waiting to fall asleep and hoping I stay asleep. Well he put the oxygen on me, told me good night, and I hoped for the best lol. Is it just me or is it the weirdest feeling to wake up in recovery almost as if the whole surgery didn't happen. Well I woke up in pain and when they started pushing the pain med it led to heartburn. Yeah, me and my hideous heartburn. They even had me drink some stuff to prevent heartburn before surgery and I still got it.

Well I waited for my mom to come back in recovery to tell me everything Dr. Murray said. Well she said he really felt bad and told her my knee was going awfully fast. (As in the cartilage) This made me cry. I just can't believe my knees have to be this bad at my age. Then Dr. Murray came in and told me the same thing and that I had many more surgeries to come. Including my left knee that I need to get done asap.

Now the thing I really hate about this whole thing, is that unless you have actually gone through knee pain... you really have no idea the extent of the pain you live with day to day. It is truly horrible not to be able to walk up stairs without clutching onto the railing to help pull you up. It only takes about 1o minutes sitting in the backseat of a car before the horrible pain sets in. It just really limits a lot of stuff you can do without pain.

Anyway its Day 2, and I have my knee propped up on the bed watching Lifetime lol. Good times with not so good knees lol!