The Real Truth About My Surgery: Part 2

With a swish of the curtain, my surgeon appeared in my little room.  He pulled up a chair,  sat down, crossed his legs, and bumped his golf shoes against the bed.   Bits of dirt and grass fell to the floor. "Now, we are working on your right knee today.  Is that correct?"

 "Yes, my right knee." I replied.

He pulled the sheet off my knee and began to tell me what he was going to do.  A nurse interrupted us and he stepped out to talk with her.  When he returned, he again sat down and continued to talk about the surgery.  Meanwhile, he  pulled out a pen and began to write something on my right leg.  He asked me about allergies and I told him  I was allergic to Keflex.  He was a bit concerned because the antibiotic of choice to prevent infections after knee surgery was Keflex...................but I had broken out in hives the last time I took it.

 He told me he could give me Levaquin.  "You have probably heard about Levaquin on TV ads about class action lawsuits by patients who have taken Levaquin and have had orthopedic tears such as tendon tears and other adverse effects as a result."

 I gulped.

"Yes, I've seen the ads."  I said.

"Well, I want to put you on Levaquin post op because it is my second choice after Keflex."  " My third choice would be Neosporin Ointment ."

"Gulp, gulp."

He could see I was upset.  "But, if you don't like either of those, you could just wash it off in the shower everyday." 

"Gulp, gulp, gulp."

"The choice is yours," he said.

"I don't want to get an infection ",  I said,  getting a mental picture of a patient I had seen on the news with flesh eating bacteria slowly devouring his body.

"Then Levaquin it is!" the doctor said with a triumph.  "Please sign this release of responsibility that states you chose to take Levaquin and will not hold me and this hospital responsible for any adverse affect from the drug."

I signed the release and my doctor left the room with a swish of the curtains.

I sat there staring at my knee, wondering if this would be the last day I would see my knee intact and fairly healthy...................................  when I noticed the writing he had put on the outside of my right leg. I tried to read it................"I think it says..................R..E..D..R ."       I fumbled for my glasses again and lifted my leg.  The writing was too far to the back of leg for me to read it clearly.................it looked like R..E..D..R..U.   I fumbled through my bag again.  I knew I had a compact mirror in there somewhere.  I found it.

I put the mirror near the writing and strained to read  it.........................................
"M..U..R.............D.......E.................R........................"

to be continued.................................................................