I want to start by thanking Lynn so so so much for taking me to and from my surgery. When we left Laguna Niguel Wednesday morning, we had no idea what we were in for. There had been a fatal car accident on the 405 that morning and traffic was completely backed up and not moving at all from right around the 10 on north. To make a long story short, it ended up taking us three and a half hours to get there. Thank God the surgery center was flexible. They switched me with someone else, and I went in at 11:30 instead.

COSI (Center for Orthopedic Surgery, LLC) was absolutely fantastic. I felt so well taken care of and informed. My nurses Stacie, Debbie, and Judy were the best! Dr. Mitchell was my anesthesiologist, and was really cool. Apparently I thanked him for waking me up, and he had a good laugh :-). Dr. Guanche came by before and initialed my right side to make sure we were all on the same page. He also came by afterward to say hi and see how I was doing, when I woke up, I didn't have the brace on, and was really surprised. Apparently, the hamstring repair didn't need to be done. I had really bad scar tissue build up around the sciatic nerve and a lot of trochanteric bursitis that had to be removed, though. I can't wait to talk in more detail with him at the post op appointment. I'm requesting that an MRI of the left side be done since the last ones were done in August. I want to make sure we see everything that is going on so we can make the right decision on how to proceed with the left side.

Here are a few pre-op pics:

The thing on my forehead was a thermometer. The purple gown had a heat thing that could be hooked up to it to keep you warm. It was great!

Here are the after pics:

My bandage is huge! I still have no idea how many incisions had to be made. I'll be able to take off the dressing tomorrow to see that, and to take a shower. Woo hoo!

Watermelon sparkling water from Sprouts that looked like malt liquor haha!

I sported my Sweat Pink tank to remind myself that I will be sweating pink again really soon, I hope :-).

So the pain hasn't been too bad. The only thing that sucks is that it hurts to lay on the right side. I like to go back and forth between sides when I sleep, so I had to lay on my stomach instead of switching to the right. NBD though, really. I got my VascuTherm machine today along with my TENS unit. The VascuTherm is a machine that basically provides cold therapy to reduce swelling in the area of the surgery. The other weird thing is that parts of my upper body like my neck, shoulders, and pecs are really sore. I wonder why? Did they have to flip me over more than once during surgery? Am I using that much upper body strength to walk with my crutches? Oh, and walking with crutches is easy. Carrying things while walking with crutches is not easy. I'm managing, though.

Steph brought me some amazing FroYo from Golden Spoon in Salted Caramel and Coffee flavors. She also brought me some toppings :-).

My parents and Mel and Johnnie sent me an Edible Arrangemtnt today! It is so yummy!

I'm going to have to clean up my diet here in a day or two. I've had FroYo, fruit (including chocolate covered strawberries which were amazing!), jalapeño popcorn, and watermelon licorice for food for the last 24 hours. I think I might have to have Mexican once, and then clean it up ;-).

Thank you all so very much from the bottom of my heart for all your support. It has meant the world to me!! I will report back about what we discuss at the post op and on the decision we make about my left leg.

Have a wonderful Friday and weekend!

Happy Trails,

Stacey