Nov 4, 2008, POST OPERATION

I don't think I've ever experienced such pain - it makes my double mastectomy feel like a manicure. I went to the doctor yesterday so that he could take a look at the wound and of course he thought it looked great. Surgeons always love their work. To me it looks like Frankenstein put my knee together, to him it looks like a work of art. Anyway, he explained exactly what the operation was: apparently I smashed the lower part of the kneecap into so many fragments that they couldn't be salvaged and just had to be picked out - and thank God, those pieces of bone are not crucial - then he stitched the tendon back-and-forth and drilled holes in the knee to thread the suture material through to the top part of the tendon in order to join the two separated parts together! I said, "Oh my God, no wonder it hurts." I have the metal staples (about 30) removed on Monday and then at least I'll be able to take a proper shower.