Well, this is hopefully the end to a long saga that began on November 19, 2007. On January 7, 2009, I visited the Surgical Center at Premier Orthopedics to have the remaining orthopedic hardware removed from my left leg. At this point, “only” a plate and four screws remained; two so-called “syndesmotic” screws were removed in March, 2008.
David L. Walden, M.D. did the dirty work, with Dr. Sundar Rajendran serving as “sleep doctor” (anesthesiologist). Since it was a simple procedure, I was scheduled for the afternoon. I reported to the surgery center promptly at 12:15, filled out a stack of paperwork, then proceeded to the waiting area. What the heck was on the TV?: THE FOOD CHANNEL for heaven’s sake. Bear in mind, this room is full of people waiting for surgery who haven’t eaten all day! Who’s in charge of this??
Well, they got me in quickly, got me in my gown, then started all the presurgical stuff. My IV was a major challenge today…yikes…how many more misses??!! At one point, Dr. Walden poked his head in, saw all the blood from the failed IV attempts and promptly high-tailed it out of there! The nurse made a comment that he didn’t like the sight of blood….hmm. Oh well, we finally got that behind us and they wheeled me in the surgery room.
The crew was a real cut-up today….joking around and playing some good tunes on the radio. Rachel, the young gal that stitched me up, was wearing the cutest polka dotted rubber boots (from all the arthroscopic surgeries….saline leakage, you know….). Before long, Dr. Rajendran administered the magic milky liquid, and here we are….hardware free!
So, this marks the end (hopefully) to the long saga that began on November 19, 2007 with some unscheduled dirt-sampling while riding my KTM off-road motorcycle. Next steps: getting all healed up, letting the bones “fill in” (they don’t have quick-set bone epoxy yet), and giving it a test ride on the mountain bike this spring.
Woohoo…I finally have a few more loose screws!!
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