Wednesday 9th December 2020.....overjoyed!!

Ok you may need a beverage this is a long post..

This is a play by play or step by step of the last two days...

I did not really sleep well Monday night but was ready when Gracie picked me up and took me to the hospital at 7.45am yesterday morning.

The MAC hospital is a small facility and about three years old and this is where my three doctors have their offices.  They were few people around and very strict Covid measures in place.

I did all the paperwork needed and then met with my surgeon Dr.Rangel and we chatted for a few minutes and he explained what would happen.

I have never had an operation before so I had no idea what the procedures are and I also had no expectations.

A young nurse took me into a room and did all sorts of tests and then got me ready for my surgery including placing an intravenous drip in my left arm and everything went well until her last move which was to place one of those white shower caps on my head. I dare anyone to say they look good in one of those things..she just smiled and said “Guapo” to me.

I was then wheeled into the operating theatre and saw Dr.Rangel....he saw my naked feet for the first time as I had always worn socks in the past.....he looked at my two tattoos and saw the one of the arrow that I had after I walked the Camino and laughed especially when I told him that I had that put on yesterday so he would get the right leg!!

Then the anesthesiologist introduced himself to me and told that he was using a newer technique where only my knee would be frozen but he also was giving me a mild sedative.

The next thing I know is that Dr.Rangel is talking to me again and I am in a different room....I think I was a little bit out of it at this stage but he did say the surgery had gone much better than anticipated and he would come and see me in the morning and explain it all and all he wanted me to do was to to relax and rest.

I was then taken upstairs into a private room where my Nurse Christina settled me in and got me comfortable in the bed and thankfully somewhere along the way the shower cap had been abandoned or better still burned.

I did have a huge bandage wrapped around my leg from my ankle to my upper thigh.

The room had a nice couch, recliner, TV and bathroom.

Christina showed me the call button to use if I wanted anything...she asked if I needed anything, checked that the intravenous drip was working and gave me a menu and a pen to pick out what I wanted for dinner.

About five minutes after she had left I reached up and scratched my left ear and an alarm went off on the drip machine.....what had I done??

Christina comes in and turns off the alarm and asked what I did so I showed her that I had scratched my ear and off went the alarm.  She told me that I had to keep my left hand flat as raising it will disconnect the drip and set off the alarm.....said I was sorry and she laughingly wagged her finger at me.

I called Gracie and let her know I was ok and in the ward and I think I must have drifted off to sleep.

Around 6pm Christina came in with my food choice I was not really hungry but did have some food.  Do you know how English people eat??

They pile their fork up with food and hold it in their left hand!

Then they lift their left hand and put this food into their mouth which is what I did.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know what happened next....in Christina comes turns off the alarm and you have to love a nurse with a sense of humour...she pretended to fasten my left hand to the bed rail😁😁🤪

I did not want to bring my IPad into the hospital but I did bring my notebook and pen and glad I did as I spent a couple of hours working in some details for the Three kings and delivery schedule and I also wrote most of this blog.

Around 10 pm a very nice young man, Gabriel came into my room and introduced himself and said he would be taking care of me through the night....he checked all my vitals and the drip machine and then with his help I was able to go into the bathroom and do what I needed to do including cleaning my teeth and washing my face.....

Gabriel got the bed adjusted for me and told me to press the button if I needed anything...I will admit my sleep was not great but I will tell you I had no pain at all, hard to believe.

In the morning Gabriel came and did a repeat of the night before helping me and brought me breakfast..I was not really hungry, the food looked good but I just had some strawberries which I made she I placed in my mouth with my right hand!

The next person into my room was Dr.Rangel......he sat down and explained in some detail what had happened...the brief version is that when the doctor inserted the camera into my knee he saw things in there that would not have shown up on my MRI and what he saw led him to believe that he could perform a different surgery to the one he was about to do.....I will not give you all the details but suffice it to say instead of the very invasive surgery and long recovery that was planned he did a procedure that will give me the same results without the need to fracture and re align my shin bone.

The surgery is shorter and my recovery time is expected to be about a month.....he told me I can put some weight on my leg and to do exercises which he showed me and he said this is really incredible news.

He also told me that the operation was a total success and credited some of that to me being in good physical shape.....needless to say I am overjoyed and I had programmed my casita and myself for me being on crutches for weeks and not leaving the building for several weeks...now I have to go see the doctor next Thursday.

Just for comparative costs.....for the total stay including everything from surgery to strawberries for 24 hours was 75000 pesos...3750 US dollars and 5000 Canadian dollars....make your own judgement!!

Dr.Rangel discharged me from the hospital and I had arranged for Beto and his good friend to pick me and they were waiting for me got me home and somehow carried me up the two flight of stairs to my penthouse!!

Thank you to everyone..this to me is another sign that the angel is always close by for me and I am so elated!

I am now sat in my recliner having a sandwich and cuppa and just smiling to myself.......

Even though I can put some weight on my leg I am using the crutches but I get around very easily and I am being very careful not to overdo anything.

I am staying in my place till I go next week to the doctor’s office and in the meantime going to heal and do my exercises and be thankful!!

Stay safe and healthy!

Yashi Kochi!!