We were really buoyant coming in to Monday's knee operation, with the prospect that surgical pain could not be worse than bone on bone pain from the last two months. Dodie says she always knew the surgery would be painful, so maybe it was just me being the super optimist.

Her pain in fact has been very high since Tuesday, and  (not necessarily related) Dodie's blood white count spiked, before declining. Her foot and ankle are very swollen, and any knee bending or movement produces yelps. Nevertheless, the hospital sent Dodie home yesterday. This resulted in a tough evening, as we coped with the scheduling of seven different drugs and getting in and out of any bed or chair. We called on Erika Paxman (who is a nursing instructor) for some advice, and she will also come by this afternoon. Notwithstanding any of that, the surgeon says the xrays look good and the recovery is still on track. Flexing the knee will be very important, and we will do it, tears or not.

We are definitely waiting for the pain to lift to the point where Dodie can seriously get to work, moving the knee in all the ways set out by the physios. When that point comes Dodie will again be able to feel like a re-training athlete, rather than a drug dependent patient. But, it's not there yet.