My arthroscopic knee surgery is complete. I’ve got a few more days of slowly getting used to using it again, and another couple of months of geting it stronger and back to normal.
I have to admit to having had a little fear over being put under for the operation. It had been nearly 50 years since the last time I was under general anesthesia (1966– I was four years old– can you believe it?). But it was relatively simple. One minute I was awake, and the next I woke up in recovery. And fortunately, no nausea like a few people had warned me about.
The thing I was most proud of was the fact that I fought for, and won, the right to keep my insulin pump on through everything. In coordination with my endocrinologist, we agreed to do a fifteen percent reduction in my basal rate after midnight. The surgery took place around 9:30 a.m.
I got my endocrinologist to write an okay for me to keep everything running during surgery, and she also included all my basal settings, insulin-to-carb ratio and correction factor numbers, and sent it to the orthopedist. In addition, I gave the staff detailed instructions I wrote up (photos included) on suspending and restarting my pump, and disconnecting my pump, should that have been necessary. They probably thought I was nuts, but better to leave nothing to chance while you’re unconscious.
I should also mention that I spent some time cleaning up my pump the night before, since I knew I was going into a sterile environment. That wasn’t a requirement, but I thought it would be a respectful thing to do.
We did glucose checks before and after (the procedure was only half an hour start to finish). I was 181 mg/dL pre-op, even though I had been fasting since about 10:30 the night before (hello, nerves). I was 151 mg/dL post-op.
I was told I had a significant tear of my interior meniscus, and that got fixed. The doctor also told me I had some arthritis in my knee, and he cleaned that out. I don’t know much about arthritis, so I don’t know if that makes sense.
At any rate, like I said, I’ve got to work on getting steady on my feet enough to get back to work on Monday. After that, I need to get everything stronger little by little, every day. In a couple of months, I hope to get back to riding my bike and swimming some (as a workout, as opposed to just soaking).
Now that it’s over, I’m eager to get this chapter behind me as soon as possible, and get back to feeling good, and being as healthy as possible.
Diabetes Blog - Happy-Medium.net 
Comments
If you hadn’t “won” the discussion of whether to keep the pump running, what would that have looked like?
Maybe you covered that in another post.
I’m going to go look. Happy healing!
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Katy, thanks for looking, but this is the first time I’ve talked about it. I think if I wouldn’t have been able to keep the pump on, in this case, it would have required me to go the injection route, since it was such a short procedure. If it would have been something that required more time, I probably would have written out detailed MDI instructions. Thanks!
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I’m so glad everything went well. And yay for fighting for the right to keep your insulin pump on!! Great idea to give them very detailed instructions – I’m sure that gave them peace of mind just as much as it did you. Here’s to a great recovery!!
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I have so been there, had my ACL reconstructed and menial meniscus sipped in 2000. This was pre-insulin pump and I had to postpone the surgery for a month because the first time my BG was over 200 and it wouldn’t come down (imagine that, after taking a half dose of R/N at 6 the night before…). Glad to hear everything went well for you!
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Glad your surgery went well and you’re on the mend:-)
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Hooray for a successful surgery day! Wishing you a speedy recovery!
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Glad it went well, and you’re on the road to recovery! Here’s to taking it easy and getting back to where you want to be.
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The few times I’ve had surgery since getting my pump, only once did I not have it attached during the actual surgery. It was reattached as soon as I was awake enough to manage my diabetes myself again. After all, as the doctor put it, “You know better how to take care of your diabetes than we do.” The last two surgeries I’ve had a CGM. The first time the anesthesiologist hadn’t dealt with one before, but ended up loving it (before it went blank) and wished all his diabetic patients had one. The second time the anesthesiologist knew of them, had dealt with them, and laughed that mine has a name.
I’m so glad your surgery was successful and hope you recover as quickly as possible.
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Thanks Jenn!
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