Lucky 13

I can confidently say we know a little about operating rooms. After all, the Newmaforma has a combined total of 13 trips under the knife in 6 years. Lucky for me, I'm number 13. 'Cuz with A; these things go sideways.

In short, the screws were supposed to become a part of me. I didn't like one of them so I jammed it through the bone, into the joint and tore up some cartilage for a few weeks. The good doctor said we may want to reconsider the added bling as excess. Yesterday he took them out.

A friend asked, How many did they take out? b/c I won't concede that you no longer have any loose screws, just LESS than before!

Here's the thing, yeah the incision hurts and there is localized swelling, the anesthesia and initial pain meds kept me dozing most all day so I didn't go to bed till 5 a.m. this morning, but what I'll describe as tension in the joint is already gone. I wish it wasn't such a chore and so risky to pull the junkyard of hardware out of my hip. If all of that metal could come out I imagine I might feel good again.

Post-op sleep while healing has been a subject of discussion and I agree there is something to it. I haven't slept for more than 3 hours straight except maybe 1 night a week when I get 5 hours in, since before the Cadillac Attack 6 years ago. I've tried to justify other stresses as being contributing factors, but between the rehab improvements in the last year with the hip and the contrast of the newly broken elbow this year, I've decided its the injuries not the outside stresses causing the lack of sleep. In turn that's no help with the attempts at rehabilitation. I am curious to hear more from people with similar experiences and sleep issues.

G took his favorite Transformer to school earlier this week for Show And Tell. When I came home with the bag of screws that came out from inside me, he was pretty stoked. Next week he plans to take the screws for Show And Tell. Should make for an awkward segue for his teacher to transition to the next kid.