Surgery Saga

Once upon a time I was sane.  This was after I had eight kids and homeschooled.  It was only recently that I lost my sanity.  It involves a physician's office, a Managed Care department, and an insurance company.  It required over 10 hours on the phone in a two week period with previously mentioned involvees.  It basically came to "blows" and I had to threaten to hire a lawyer.

The short story is this:  I needed a knee surgery.  The procedure I elected to use included a cartilage graft from a donor.  The product isn't always covered by insurance so to get the Managed Care department to submit it for pre-approval was like pulling teeth.  I called the company providing the product and the insurance company to figure out the code to use.  After hours and hours of trying to convince the Managed Care department to work on this problem, they decided to not allow me to be scheduled for surgery.  I had to threaten to hire a lawyer, contact board members, and we escalated the issue with patient relations.  It wasn't until the week before the surgery that they finally allowed me to schedule the knee surgery I've been working towards since October.

On December 2nd, I finally had the much needed surgery.  

They did a lot of things - the technical wording being:

Left knee arthroscopy tibial tubercle

transfer, open cartilage transplant

(Allograft Chondrocyte Implantation -

DeNovo), medial patella-femoral

ligament reconstruction

Basically they moved my knee cap down and reattached that tendon with screws, tightened one ligament and reconstructed the one they cut in the surgery in January, replaced the cartilage in my knee, and a bunch of other things.  I was told that I had one of the worst knees they had ever seen.  Yah, I know - none of you are surprised to hear that.

The surgery was scheduled for three hours but ended up being five hours long.  When I was in the first stage of recovery I was able to eat some toast and drink some water.  When they moved me into the second stage of recovery I got lightheaded and passed out a couple of times, followed quickly with some intense puking.  The decision was made that I should stay in the hospital overnight for observation.  Nothing comes easy it seems.  I can't even manage to pull off an outpatient surgery without some hiccup.  It was a sleepless night with the IV machine going off every thirty minutes.  They also had to take my blood pressure and temperature every hour.  Fun times in the hospital.

I was able to come home the following afternoon.  Since the surgery was much more intense than originally planned they have me on zero bending mobility for at least a week.  I'm not sure when the physical therapy will start up.  I have a long recovery road ahead of me.  I am non-weight bearing for six weeks at which time hopefully I will be able to drive again and take care of my family.  I will have between three and six months of physical therapy to get my knee back into workable condition.

 This was my post-hospital no sleep selfie.

This is my post-surgical, non-functioning, one-legged band, in-a-heck-of-alot-of pain leg selfie.  The brace is bulky and heavy.  I feel like I am carrying the weight of the world on my ankle.  In fact, I "gained" 7 pounds with this surgery.

We are blessed to have my sweet Goddaughter, Katie, staying with us for the month of December and part of January.  She is helping with the cooking, cleaning, and kid raising.  The twins adore Katie.  She's a great replacement for Mom.  Gianna has had a blast having someone to talk to (non-stop).  The boys have played many, many games with Katie already.  She's been worth her weight in gold already.  We are so grateful to her and God for making this happen.

The cutest thing said to me so far was by Brech.  He said, "My legs are worried about you.  When something happens to someone my legs get worried."

Gianna wouldn't come see me for a few hours after I came home.  She was afraid she would see the blood and nasty stuff.  She's still very hesitant to come into the room.

The twins keep blowing kisses and telling me that my leg has an owie.  They are so sweet.

The boys have been great about getting me water and bringing me snacks.  Overall I am well taken care of.  We just may survive this.

Thanks to everyone who has prayed for me and the family.  We appreciate your prayers and offers to help.