I like being “a little different” in most things. I love being a GEEK, for example. However, the following is one instance where I decidedly hope to follow the herd rather than being one of the 1-2 people out of every 1,000 surgical patients who lies paralyzed, but completely AWAKE, during a procedure they were meant to be out cold!
Here’s why I’m having the surgery done — I didn’t fall again, thankfully, but the simple act of walking slowly up my stairs caused my injured left knee to pop with a sharp, associated pain, just moments ago. The pain went away immediately, and I was walking very slowly (as I do these days, fearing another fall), so I doubt I tore something else. I probably overdid it yesterday — I did walk about 1.5 - 1.75 3 miles, mostly on flat asphalt in a neighborhood, but also a bit in a rocky creek bed (I know, I know… I just realize I won’t be able to do this for 4-6 weeks, if that, so I had to do it!)
I like to be prepared in all things. Okay, I obsess about being prepared. So, with my knee surgery 8 days away (not counting today), I’ve begun building my “nest” downstairs — eg. the place I’ll be living, eating and sleeping until I can manage to get up the stairs on crutches with a completely immobilized (braced) leg.
The Life After Surgery: Advice from Patients pages have proven to be excellent for brainstorming my own needs. This entry is probably of no interest to anyone not facing surgery, but that’s life! 
My first indication I’d somehow veered into FORTUNE magazine territory in my online reading was this incredibly lame title for an iPod article:
“Play That Funky Music, White Toy”
Still, I gave the writer the benefit of a doubt and continued reading. The article’s first sentence begins with:
Clue to the writer — unless you work at The Motley Fool , it’s just not cool to mix up the word full with the word fool. Maybe the writer was fired from Fool.com and is a newbie at FORTUNE, though I’d anticipate their web editor catching the error of a newbie reporter, wouldn’t you?
Here’s a Dallas area wakeboarding enthusiast’s very good ACL journal documenting a complete ACL tear injury and the resulting reconstruction surgery. No gruesome pictures for once, just a helpful step-by-step explanation of the process, including his MRI, surgery and post-op experiences.
All my obsessive research paid off after all, since everything I read prepared me for the words from my orthopedic specialist that we’ll be doing a patellar bone graft to repair my completely torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). Surgery is set for Friday, February 4th at 7 AM (I have to check in at 5:30 AM!) I could have postponed it, but after my many near falls and the two that caused this injury (November 17th, 2004 and January 13, 2005), I’m ready to get this mother on the road to recovery and get back to hiking, camping and…hell, walking like a non-ape would be nice, too!
