Surgery tomorrow

I am having surgery tomorrow morning. It is a very last minute thing so there hasn't been very much time to mentally prepare. Fortunately, I am used to the whole night before/prep/surgery routine so that has eased much of the anxiety I have had leading up to surgeries in the past. There will always be risks with going under general anesthesia, but for the most part I am relaxed and ready to do. Perhaps too much so. I'm never sure how I should feel going into surgery anymore because I've been through so many of them... this is number seven. Good old lucky number seven.

During my appointment with my orthopedics surgeon last Friday I had x-rays taken. As is outlined by one of my most recent posts, the x-rays have shown that I have had more unwanted (but not as bad this time, thankfully) bone growth. This changes how we do things a little bit. On top of that, my surgeon has finally decided that enough is enough with my manky pin site. The pin has to go. So that is what surgery tomorrow is all about - removing the misbehaving pin and using a fluoroscope to take some trippy pictures of my leg. I didn't have a choice about surgery - the pin has to go no matter what - but I was able to choose what we get to do: pin comes out or entire fixator comes off. We need that fixator to keep everything compressed together - this is what helps the end of the bone knit together. My surgeon said we could deal with the consequences either way, but I am not a big risk taker so I have opted to keep the fixator. In my mind, that carries the least risks and the biggest chance that I will be able to return to school in the fall. It is important to bare in mind that there is no right or wrong choice her; one choice does not carry a greater chance of success or failure than the other. It really comes down to me feeling okay with my decision.

It has all been on pretty short notice - so much so that my surgeon "put it on the board" so that it would be treated as an emergency. Is it really and emergency? I have know clue. I don't really think so although that one pin has to come out as soon as possible. My surgeon thinks that it is infected but the antibiotics I am on are holding it at bay, in the soft tissue. We don't want it spreading down into the bone - then we would be right back where we started last August. So short notice and on the board (is there really a board with my name on it in the hospital somewhere? Has it been there all weekend? Or is this more some type of list and names get taken off/put on an actual board the day of? So many irrelevant questions!). As a result, I didn't have to do pre-op again. Such a waste of time anyways; really nice that my surgeon wanted to save me those few hours of my life.

I'm pretty calm about the whole thing - no big deal, go in, get knocked out, wake up, and go home sans one pin and with the promise of cool x-rays the following week. I have done my regular "night before" routine - clean sheets on bed, tidied up room (not that it's ever messy), ate something before mid-night. I'm about to hope in the shower, then a cup of tea and a good book before bed. Yes! I actually think I can sleep this time, and I can never sleep before surgery. I am that relaxed. I'm not even going to pack an over-night bag just in case - that is how certain I am that everything will go smoothly. Back in my bed by tomorrow evening.

This has been rather a hurried post. Perhaps I am a bit nervous after all. I might post something more detailed later on if I can't sleep. If not, I will post the x-rays from Friday after surgery.

I would ask you to tell me to "break a leg", but in a way that's already done; no need to be redundant and do it again. So wish me luck instead =)