Under the Knife

Well, the day has finally arrived!

In approximately 8 hours, I will be checking in for surgery. Three months ago, I wripped my TFCC lifting a patient at work, and after three long months of wearing a ridiculous velcro-brace contraption, I am finally going under the knife.

I work at a children's hospital, so the patient I was lifting was actually not that heavy (only about 50 lbs), but I was at the wrong angle, there wasn't communication about the lift, and voila!...a wripped TFCC.

I've been on 'light duty' for the past 6 weeks or so, and I've come to realize that 'light duty' is just code for TORTURE. I've been doing date entry...in a cubilce...with one hand...for six weeks. Office Space comes to mind. I think I even submitted a TPS Report or two...

I'm built for interaction with people, for patient care...not Excel. It has really been a royal nightmare. My data entry boss asked me the other day if doing light duty has been beneficial for me in any way, other than psychologically. I wondered how to break the news to her that this light duty stint has been anything BUT psychologically beneficial. But, I bit my tongue and mumbled something about how light duty has made me feel like I'm still contributing to the big picture...or something.

My latest light duty assignment has been to confirm data about all the 2006 mortalities that took place either in the OR, or up to 48 hours post-op. Yep, NOT comfoting to read about things that have gone wrong as a result of surgery as I count down the days to my own OR encounter. So, tonight I had a good meal and a stout drink...or two...so that I don't go to sleep with visions of a large metal spatula left in my wrist post-op.

So, that's the latest. I'll probably be under the influence of some decent pain meds for a bit, so I will be out of comission for a few days (not that I'm complaining). I'll post again when I'm on the road to recovery.

OK, goodnight all.