Hi everyone:-)

Well, it's not going to be easy typing with one hand but here goes. I just got back from surgery. I had severed the tendon in the little finger on my left hand on the 20'th of this month with a serrated bread knife and had gone to the ER where they put in temporary stitches and then way up north the following day to see a hand surgeon who then told me that he would be able to do my surgery the very next day but I would have to drive even further to have it done.

Anyway, we left here at about 11:30 AM and drove up to the hospital where I was signed in and put in a pre-surgical waiting room. Several nurses (and others) came in and asked me a lot of pre-op questions, took blood, temp, BP, hooked me up to an IV, etc and then my friend came in and we watched TV and talked until about 8:00PM. Then the "scrub nurse" (surgical nurse) came in and wheeled me out to the operating theater in a wheelchair.

It was very cold in there and she put warm blankets over me, strapped me down with some sort of seat-belt type restraints, flushed my IV and then the anesthesiologist came over and introduced himself and then injected an anesthetic drug called "versed" into my IV and told me "well, I just gave you the cocktail so you should be out in A few minutes". Then I remember my left arm being way up in the air and someone scrubbing it down with somthing and then the anestesiologist gave me an injection in my armpit (which was'nt too painful actually) and I could feel different fingers and parts of my arm jumping around as he injected various nerves and such.

A few seconds later I was feeling so peaceful like I had died and gone to heaven or something and I started mumbling (but could'nt seem to get the words out right) for the anesthesiologist to give me more of the anesthesia (I was pretty far gone at this point anyway). Each time I asked him, he obliged and I could feel a sting in my arm and after a few more minutes I was out like a light.

The next thing I remember was being in a small room all by myself. The room had a soft, blue light shining at it from an angle (on one wall) and it was like my presence was there but I don't remember actually standing there or anything. It was really weird but not like a dream. Then, I remember someone calling my name and suddenly I was awake. The scrub nurse told me that my tendon had slipped down into my wrist and that the surgeon had had to cut me from the tip of my little finger, through my hand and all the way down to my wrist. Yikes!!...I had only expected to end up with a 2'' incision running the length of my finger. They had my entire arm in a plaster cast and everything and told me that they injected a long-acting anesthetic into my arm so I should'nt feel any pain for at least 6-8 hours.

Then, I was wheeled into the recovery room and a nurse brought me a tray with meatloaf, vegetables, mashed potatoes & gravy, a roll, salad and a coke. It was actually very good. I felt so sorry for my friend having to drive me all the way up there and wait and I knew he had to be hungry so I asked the nurse if she could bring him some dinner too and she did. We were there for several more hours, got some prescriptions and papers and then we made the long drive home. It's now 4:00AM in the morning and here I sit typing with one hand and I can feel the pain starting to kick in. I have to go in for a post-op checkup next week and go through therapy so it's been and will continue to be quite an experience for me and the first time since I was a little boy that I've had any serious surgery. While it was'nt as bad as I thought it would be, there is a lot of post-op pain but I guess that's pretty much par for the course.

Anyway, just felt like squawking:-). Love and hugs to all of you!!