I have always been a great healer. That is a great trait to have if you are not overly bright (guilty). So going in to the surgery I was confidant that barring a fluke I was going to heal up fast. That said I did dump some weight which I shouldn't have needed this sort of incentive to do but none the less I got it done. I'm a non smoker and non drinker and other than the hip healthy so I had a lot of positives on my side right from the hop. Losing some flab was a nice bonus.
We had to drive the 4 hours to Edmonton. The flying lawnmowers that service Grande Prairie have zero leg room and are accessed by exterior stairs. Neither is problem going but coming home was a whole other story so we drove the first leg.
The trip to Montreal was uneventful. We had to fly in a day early in order to check in the afternoon before surgery. We walked around old Montreal and I put a last 8000 steps on the old hip. That night I had to shave off my goatee of 26 years.
The next morning we walked the kilometer to the surgical center. I had decided to go with the spinal anaesthesia and while the Dr was busy bending the needles trying to insert into my back we discovered that at some point I had damaged the vertebrae where the spinal needle is inserted and the bone had fused over the access. The Dr moved up a vertebrae and found the spot. I was wheeled into the OR and as they turned me on my side and started tying down my arms I commented on how much I liked the music......
