Ok you freaks… get your minds out of the gutter.

For the information of those of you clean-minded enough to continue reading, the meniscus is the semi-circular shaped piece of cartilage that lies between the weight bearing joint surfaces of the knee. The majority of the meniscus has no blood supply. For this reason, it is unable to undergo the normal healing process that occurs in most of the rest of the body.

Today was a long day. When it comes to hospitals, I have a wait problem. Seems as whenever I enter a hospital, I have to wait… and wait… and wait. Her procedure was scheduled for 12:15 pm. Well, you have to check in two hours early for this particular procedure, so we had to be there for 10:15 am. The hospital employee who called my wife to tell her about the employee assumed the procedure was at the earlier time, 10:15, so we were told to be there at 8:15 am. You can see where this is going eh?

Well, if you go to sleep for a procedure, you go to recovery for an hour after, then on to post-op for 30 minutes and then you go home. Let’s do the math…. 45 minute procedure starting at 12:15 (actually 30 minutes late 12:45). Add 90 minutes for recovery and post-op. We are on the way home by 3:00. Right? Wrong. Because my wife decided that she wanted to stay awake for the procedure. Not a big deal eh? Hmmm… when you stay awake, they give you epidural anesthesia. An epidural basically paralyzes you from the point of injection into the spine down. Before you can leave recovery, you have to show signs of regained motor control. Usually about an hour. It took my wife two hours. Then you have to wait in post-op until you are able to walk AND you prove you can go pee-pee. Usually another hour. THIS took my wife three hours, but only the walking part. She had to lie about the pee-pee part! (Watching her “learn” to walk again was like watching a newborn fawn.)

We didn’t get home until 7:30 pm. What a day.