Recovering at home...

My knee surgery went fine. Spending the night in a French hospital was a far different experience than any time I have spent in U.S. hospitals. Amazingly, you are allowed to sleep through the night and the entire place was perfectly quiet all night long. I couldn't get over it! Now, bear in mind that I was more than a bit out of it and in a fair amount of pain. However, it wasn't too bad at all. Thank goodness, my bed was a Hill-Rom bed or Josh would have made me stand for 2 days - sore knee and all! The surgeon reported that I had torn cartilage versus the torn meniscus that we had thought previously. I am far from pleased about this as it may mean my days of running are over. We'll see what he has to say when I return to his office next week. In the French hospital, again, it is very obvious that people are held accountable for themselves rather than being handheld through every step of the way for fear of a lawsuit. When I asked for pain meds this morning, my nurse just handed me the box with the dosages for this morning and this afternoon and told me to take them when I needed them. This was all not without some anxiety from me as I not only had the language barrier to deal with but also my completely befuddled brain due to the lingering effects of the anesthesia. I was extremely nauseous last evening after the surgery so when they delivered my dinner at 8 p.m., I could only admire the wedge of brie, the soup and the chicken with rice. By this morning, I was starving, so I was very disappointed to receive the very traditional French breakfast of a small carafe of coffee and a hard roll! Anyway, all in all, I was treated very well and very professionally. My anesthesiologist even exchanged me with his colleague as his colleague's mother is English and he therefore spoke excellent English. My surgical nurse and the surgeon also spoke excellent English and they found some British nurse in the recovery room for me. Well taken care of, now I just need to rest...