Hospital blues

Checked into the hospital the night before the operation at about 2 in the afternoon. The hospital felt more like a comfortable old age home than an orthopeadic center. Only after getting to the room did I realise the democratic equanimity of my insurance company (had to share it with 3 other people) though the room itself was adequately comfortable. Killing time the first couple of hours were tough especially with my limited ability to make conversation with my bavarian room-mates and my disinterest in TV. I popped a sleeping pill at about 8:30 so it could help me relax and subsequently be less anxious about the operation itself, orders from the anaesthesiologist. Honestly, I felt no angst whatsoever.. I was shook awake a sliver before 6 by a burly nurse holding a large razor blade in her hand ranting to me in german only to quickly realize that her english was worse than my deutsch so we switched to sign language. Got shaved (not my face), showered and put on a gown and promptly went back to bed. Nurse was back a few minutes later with yet another relaxation pill which put me back into my now familiar woozy state. The operation itself lasted a little over an hour and I was wheeled back to my room before lunch time though I slept for the rest of the afternoon. I vaguely remember being poked numerous times and being asked questions like 'Can you feel the pain?'. I can confidently confirm that I came out of that operation with more holes in my body than when I went in. Everything else was a blur and my final image was that of the unshaven confident face of my surgeon smiling just before I completely blanked out. The operation was good though the damage to the knee was more severe than initially diagnosed so some additional procedures were done and the doctor has extended my remand period to six weeks on crutches. Since its been 10 years since I got the original injury, all the cartilage in my knee had disintegrated so the doctor had to perform small microfractures on my femur to stimulate cartilage growth though he warned me that its not necessarily a permanent solution but it should buy me some years. Not looking forward to repeating this excercise ever again. My advice, be kind to you knees The were a couple of tubes sticking out of my leg to drain the blood and which was the main cause of my grief and once they were removed the pain became manageable. The food at the hospital was good, dinner was served at 5:15 so I was usually ravenous by breakfast. My 60 year old roommate was quite entertaining inspite of being a violent sleeper and fervent swigs of beer in the middle of the night, the nurses never caught onto why his blood glucose was so high in the morning. Needless to say, the standard of care was excellent and I am glad I got it done here. I have started using a machine that will help stimulate cartilage growth, my insurance arranged for one to be dropped off to my house which they will collect back in 4 weeks. I am supposed to use this machine for 2.5 hours a days and I have to go for physiotherapy a few times a week. Came back home this afternoon and I am already bored. I wonder how I am going to kill 6 weeks at home. It was good to see Rohit in Munich again, came to the hospital too - looking well. Gotta go that my parents on the phone for the sixth time today calling to ask about the pain...