Surgery On Wrist

Elkmont, Alabama

Weather: low 19 degrees, high 43 degrees, clear skies

The big news for today was surgery on my sore and hurting left wrist. I've been having problems with the left hand and wrist for about a year, and the hand was getting weaker. The pain was keeping me awake at night, and it was time to do something about it.

We woke at 0405 hours this morning, and my usual preparations for planning were not to be found. For some reason, the new clock was five minutes late in alarming, but at least it did alarm. Then, Carolyn had some problems getting going, and we didn't leave for the hospital until after 0430 hours.

Once we were in the truck, Carolyn started setting the GPS unit up to give us directions to get to the hospital. I reached over to pick up the address to give to her, and couldn't find it. Where's the address? I pulled over to see if it had fallen between the seats. Nope, not there. Behind the seats? Nope. The only other place I could imagine the address being was lying on the sidewalk, or at the front door, where I must have dropped it while locking up. Carolyn said keep going, I'll find the address using the GPS. Right. Well, that didn't work, and I was driving away from the house, where the address must have been.

I asked Carolyn to dial 411 on the telephone to find out where the hospital was located. She was given the address for Western Union. About that time, I'm thinking that this is not a good start to the day for us. And, the tensions were starting to get a little tight. No yelling at each other, but the signs were there.

Once we were in Huntsville, I used the telephone to try 411 again, and finally got the correct address for the hospital. Carolyn put it into the GPS, and found we were only three miles from the hospital. Whew!!

Even with the goof up by me on losing the address, we still made it to the hospital by 0530 hours. As we were getting ready to leave the truck in the parking lot, Carolyn noticed that the address that I had thought I had with me was lying on the floor board next to my feet. Drat! All that aggravation because something slid off the seat.

We walked up to the hospital entrance, and couldn't get in because a patient had fallen in front of the doors. How in the world did that happen? Eventually, we made it in, and the rest of the experience was not bad at all. I was taken in to prepare for the surgery about 0615 hours. The nurses placed IV ports in each hand and checked my vital signs. The anesthesiologist came in and talked to me for about a minute, letting me know I was not going to be given anything to make me sleep, but might get a little drowsy. A few minutes more, and the doctor came in and chatted for a couple minutes. Then, after another 15 minutes or so, it was my turn to go to surgery.

Remember I was told that I would be given something that would make me drowsy? Well, somewhere between the prep room and surgery room, the nurse injected the stuff that was supposed to make me sleepy. The next thing I knew, the surgery was finished, and I was being asked if I wanted something to drink. What happened? Where did that few minutes go? I don't remember anything about those few minutes when the surgery took place. Actually, it was a pretty good nap.

The doctor said the damage was a little worse than he expected, but that I should have a good recovery with no further problems. So far, the pain I'm having is not as bad as they told me it might be, but if it does get bad, I have some good drugs to take care of it.

By 0800 hours, I had been checked out of the hospital and we were on our way home. How's that for efficiency? Less than three hours for the procedure, start to finish, and that included doing the paperwork. Not bad.

The rest of the day was spent taking things easy and trying to keep the hand elevated. It feels good to be on the road to having a pain free hand and wrist again.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Duke City

Not all who wander are lost.