Fun at the hospital

The roommate had reconstructive surgery on her left knee on Thursday to repair a torn ACL. The first doctor her company sent her to was one of the most rude, condescending individuals I have had the misfortune of meeting. He told her her ACL was torn but plenty of people get along fine without one and then proceeded to look her up and down and say, "Besides, you don't ski or play basketball." Apparently he only provides surgery to people who are the perfect weight and in their 20's. Thankfully, the roomie has a wonderful workman's comp nurse/case worker who immediately said, "You are out of here. You will never see this doctor again. I know a great doctor in Pittsburgh that one of my other clients went through and you are going there."
Enter Dr. Greer. This guy knows his stuff, has a great bedside manner and the right level of confidence to inspire a reluctant patient let alone someone like my roommate who wants to be up, back to life and work as soon as possible.
So Thursday morning we went to Allegheny General Suburban hospital and off she went to have her torn ACL replaced by a tissue graft. The staff in Ambulatory Surgery was fantastic and the surgery and recovery went fine. Everything was delayed slightly when the tissue graft was not at the hospital however, they were able to get a suitable graft from a hospital up the road and she is now on her way to being good as new.
We were the first people there along with our friend Jay and oddly, had a great time while waiting. I had the remote for the television in the waiting room and at 7 am I asked the room in general what channel NBC was. JK Rowling was going to be interviewed on the Today show and I was hoping to catch it. The Dad from a couple sitting across from us with their young daughter, also named Rachel (who was having surgery on a broken arm) replied, "Channel 12 but it's SpongeBob time." I said, "Oh," and looked at the young Rachel and asked, "Well, what channel is SpongeBob on?" They replied, "You don't have to put on SpongeBob." I said, "No problem. I like SpongeBob, especially the episode where he teaches Squidward to blow bubbles. 'Bring it aaaarrrooounnd town' (with hip and hand motions)"
I need to say I was running on 3 hours of sleep. We were up at 3 am out of the house by 330 and at the hospital at 545. It is 120 miles away. This is my only defense for actually doing the 'bring it around town" motion. It did break the ice though. Everyone in the waiting room began to chat and we chatted throughout the day as we ran into each other, checking up on how each family's patient was doing.
My loopy sense of humor, and Jay's, continued when the let us back to see our Rachel before her surgery. Since they had to wait for the tissue we hung out with her in pre-op for 2 hours cutting up, making jokes and laughing frequently. At one point the anesthesiologist nurse came by and said, "Hey, she shouldn't be this happy. I haven't given her the fun drugs yet!" The nurses joined in on the jokes and we generally raised every one's spirits.
Rachel is home now with a passive motion machine and one of the coolest ice packs I've ever seen. She's doing great overall and should move through all the healing pretty fast thanks to a good surgeon and hospital staff and a lot of laughter. Tara, my other half, came in from driving truck for the week on Friday evening and was able to help take care of Rachel but I told Rachel for all the care I've been taking of her and for getting me out of bed at 3 am, my birthday gift from her in September ought to be absolutely fantastic.