Surgery and Recovery

As most of you know, Dale had minor same-day surgery on his knee Friday at the Sawtooth Surgery Center in Twin Falls. It was a fairly simple and common procedure and we were in and out of there in just a few hours. He joked that it was just like flying from Twin Falls to Salt Lake. You have to be at the TF airport an hour before take off to check in. Your flight to Salt Lake takes less than an hour and then you are in the Salt Lake airport another hour or so before going on to the final destination! We checked in at 6:30am and his surgery was at 7:30am. It took 45 minutes and they sent him home approximately 1 hour later! We were very fortunate to have one of our favorite doctors perform the procedure, Dr. William May (Billy, as I call him). He was my neighbor growing up in American Fork and his family was very special to us. He is one of the best orthopedic surgeons in Idaho. We also had our good friend and Bishop, Bob Kinghorn, administer the anesthetic. He ended up putting in Dale's iv for the flustered nurse who failed.

Dr. May repaired a "bucket handle" tear in the minicus that caused the torn cartilage to hang up in the back of his knee joint. He said he didn't see how Dale could have even walked on it, it would be so painful. He removed the cartilage, cleaned up his knee of worn areas and a tiny bit of arthritis, bandaged the three holes and stitches where the scope instruments went in the knee, and sent him home with instructions to take it easy for 48 hours. Well, that isn't easy for Dale. But we managed by setting up a "recovery" station in the living room on the couch complete with a tv, dvd player, and some of his favorite movies. I moved a comfy chair over by him and enjoyed spending the day and evening "tending" him and watching some great movies. We don't do that near enough, not that I would recommend getting an injury to slow down and enjoy time together. I tried out a new recipe for him for dinner and made him chocolate brownie pudding pie. He was a good boy and kept his knee elevated and iced most of the time and walked around in between so it wouldn't lock up. He even went up and down the stairs, much to my dismay, but said it felt better than it ever has. Saturday was much the same, we both snoozed during the Boise Bronco's rout over Utah State, which we would have done during any boring game. Lots of young single adults from the branch checked in on him after our Stake Conference adult session and made sure he was doing okay. I brought him a pizza on my way home from the meeting to enjoy and I was a bit mad at him for going out to the garden, getting cilantro, and making some fresh salsa while I was gone. Sunday, I went to Stake Conference without him but took copious notes, as it was a broadcast from Salt Lake for 39 Idaho Stakes. He had some visitors on Sunday, one was our branch RS Compassionate Service person and she brought him a cute "sympathy" card and a bag of chex mix treat. Our Stake President, Paul Tateoka and his wife, Nadine, came by to check on him in the evening. He speaks Japanese with Dale and it was a great visit. He took the dressing off Sunday evening and put water-proof bandages over the holes so he could shower this morning. And yes, he went to work today with the strict charge from his "nurse" to keep his leg up and iced most of the day. He will go see "Billy" on Thursday and get further instructions for his rehabilitation. He is so anxious to get back to the gym. I am proud of him and how strong he is (he didn't even take pain pills at all Sunday). Because of his dedicated gym time, his knee is in great shape. He was a good patient and I have to admit that all I want to do today is sit and watch a movie with him! Dale, you are still my "Big R Man!"(Thanks to Alisa for the help with the cute graphics)