Jan 04, 2020
I’m back in our Isla home
Exactly twenty four hours after we arrived at the Clinica CEMEQ I was being assisted back into our car for the ride home. I want to thank you all for your prayers and wonderful messages. The surgery went very well. I am relieved that I had decided to go ahead with the surgery here whether the medical travel insurance came through or not. Dr. Cervantes told me that because of the bucket handle tear I would have been in major trouble with my knee if I had to wait several months for surgery back home. The pain, inflammation and mobility would have become much worse.
The bucket handle tear shown on the right is a tear that had flipped up sort of like a bucket with a handle. The surgeon had to cut that part of the meniscus off. He also simply cut around the second tear to smooth out the edges. No sutures were done inside my knee.
I am so very happy to be back in our home. Neither of us slept well last night as I was woken up often, first for cryotherapy every four hours, then for either pain or antibiotics by IV every so many hours. I did sleep once for a straight two hour period. My pain has been well controlled until we left this morning. I was given some scripts to fill and I really needed the pain meds. Fortunately they have kicked in. I can stand and walk as needed but plan to lay low for the first week. No physio for a full two weeks.
We were only gone for a day and a half but came back to my front garden being swarmed by leaf cutter ants. Also the lights around our palm tree are not working. We were distracted by my pain and speaking with the insurance company the past several days and forgot about the two days of rain we had. Even though the electrical connection was in a plastic bag the inside was wet. Colin will look at it tomorrow.
After my lovely nap I was sitting with a wee bit of wine trying to watch the sunset. I could not see it all because of our palapa.
Fortunately Colin was willing to go out twice to give me and you a better view.
The sky towards the west became a deep red. I sure that our friends living in Mazatlan had a perfect sunset.
I think I will sleep better here at home but we are still going to do the cryotherapy every four hours if we can. Anything to help get my knee better. I have to thank Colin for all of his help . I really needed him at the hospital and he is hovering over me every moment since we got back today. The only person who spoke English was the doctor and it took the two of us to communicate at times. I did have one mini moment of panic when I awoke in the recovery room. My knee was extremely painful and needed a pillow placed under it. I did not have the words to express that, so I just kept saying “necesito English”. Finally they called my surgeon who took the call while he was doing another surgery and told them what I needed. I have to say that I received the best care possible.
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So happy to hear you are home and the surgery went good. Especially glad you decided to do it right away. Sounds like a smart move. Now behave yourself and do everything the doc told you to do.
Yes mam.
My wish is that each day there will be less pain and a little more healing for you. Following the rules as you start to feel better but not yet healed will be the challenge but this will be a great time to rest and catch up on your reading.
a big sigh of relief for you. so glad it got done and you’ll be able to rest, relax and recover in your home away from home looking out at the beach and ocean. don’t try to push it. just because you can walk, don’t take a hike. Every thing else will take care of itself. Will email you tomorrow.
It will be a long time before I can walk the beach. No worries, I will be good.
Wine and pain meds?????
I take one pain pill every twenty four hours in the morning and I am allowed two glass of wine in the evening per my doctor.
Hoping you will now feel less pain and have more mobility. Mixing Alcohol with Pain Meds is not always a good thing.
Be Safe and Enjoy the Isla.
It’s about time.
I agree but my doctor has okayed some wine.
Are you aware of Google Translate? Check it out and use it. It can translate almost any language. You can type sentences or speak into Google to translate, both ways.
Yes I am aware of Google Translate. However waking up groggy in the recovery room I did not have my iPhone with me. Meanwhile we were fine between us to figure things out. One nurse did speak very rapidly into her phone as she would not slow her speech down. She then held the phone up to my face. The translation was not accurate but I did understand what she wanted but I had pretty much already figured that out.
So so glad to hear that you received such good care through this all, I really think medicine in Mexico has come so far! It must be lovely to be back home though where you can hopefully get some rest and get busy healing – lots of reading, computer time, researching. Let Colin wait on you, I am sure you would do the same in a heartbeat!
Well… U have a GREAT view for recouperation (sp)!!!!
Contessa, what beautiful surroundings you have to recuperate! I’m not sure how you take to crutches, but I hate them because I don’t have a lot of upper body strength. So, I asked my surgeon for an adjustable aluminum cane with a heavy duty plastic arm cuff (which he gladly provided). You may feel more confident using this cane when you are outside, after the surgeon reduces some of your pain meds.
I think I see a little bit of a smile on your face since you faced the “Dragon” and won. Ha!
I was told that I don’t need a cane or a walker but that it would not hurt to use them as it would be a visual reminder to slow down and allow my body to heal faster. I have a cane and I was able to borrow a walker. Yes I did overcome that Dragon.