Under The Knife

Anita had her knee surgery today in Oakland. We knew that operating was a must some time ago, but decided to wait (until last year's puppet season was over) before proceeding.

Happily, everything went very well - actually, better than that! The meniscus fractures healed on their own (rare, but it happens), so our surgeon could focus on replacing her torn ACL. The new-to-her ACL is from a cadaver, so we'll have to wait and see if she inherits exceptional soccer skills, or simply becomes a zombie.

The procedure took about three hours, and being asthmatic, Anita took longer to recover from the anesthesia. Our original start time was at 7:30 AM, which meant getting up at 5:45 so we could get over to the hospital by 6:30. Things didn't really get going until nine, and we left for home around 2:30 or 3:00 PM, so it's been a long day.

Anita's now tucked comfortably in bed, surrounded by an arsenal of spiffy gadgets and happy pills. She's got a fancy leg brace and a high-tech wrap that circulates ice water around her knee continually. Pretty neat! We have to rent the wrap gadget for a week or so, and she'll have nurses coming in to give her shots of painkillers and monitor her progress while I'm at work.

The overall recovery period is about three months (with the most restricted activity in the first couple of weeks), which is why we're doing it now - she wants to be ready for the new puppet season in June. She'll be reading even more books and watching plenty of movies, but feel free to call or drop her a line - that much time laid up in a brace is going to get old fast!