Narcotics blogging

imageI don’t usually take narcotics — indeed, I assiduously avoid them — but I’m making an exception for the next few days, which make affect the quality of my blogging.

I went to the hospital this morning for an outpatient meniscus trimming in my knee and for a look-see at what was going on under my patella. Last time I had the surgery, I was walking the next day, so that’s what. I expected this time. Wrong!

I came home an hour ago on crutches, and will be unable to bear any weight for six weeks. Every night, I need to be hooked up to a machine that constantly moves my joint.

Inconvenient, but here are the good things — just coincidentally, my older kid (I hope) qualifies for a driver’s license (thanks to a long-standing appointment with the DMV); and can therefore do the shopping; with luck, and I may have a usable knee for another ten years.

Here’s what happened: When he opened me up, my surgeon discovered that my cartilage was all gone (explaining the pain). He therefore drilled holes into my bone to reach stem cells. The hope is that the constant motion at night, when combined I found it uplifting, Rob. I needed that today. I went into Kaiser this morning for an outpatient meniscus trimming in my knee and for a look-see at what was going on under my patella. I came home an hour ago on crutches, and will be unable to bear any weight for six weeks. Every night, I need to be hooked up to a machine that constantly moves my joint.

Inconvenient, but here are the good things — my daughter (I hope) qualifies for her driver’s license Wednesday and can therefore do the shopping, and I may have a usable knee for another ten years.

Once he opened me up, my surgeon discovered that my cartilage was all gone. He therefore drilled holes into my bone to reach the marrow. The hope is that the constant motion at night, when combined with the exposed stem cells, will encourage my body to grow new cartilage. Pretty cool, right?

I don’t quite know what the next day or two hold in terms of blogging. Good stuff, I hope.