Mustn't grumble

Five days post left knee operation and I'm amazed how well I feel compared to the same period after my right knee surgery back in February. The experience has been completely different so I thought I'd give you all the gory details again. I was so stressed in the weeks leading up to Tuesday. I was mostly nervous of damaging my right knee but figured I might as well get it all over with and get back to normal asap. I trusted the Prof wouldn't do the surgery if he didn't think I could cope. I had a different registrar (Rob) and anaethetist (Jan) this time round so I guess that in itself will change things. Deutscher Jan did his best to keep me calm and was lighthearted (saying he'd swear in German if it'd help), but took four attempts to find a suitable vein to knock me out. I reminded him that I'd probably need another cannula for my post-op antibiotics that he promised to administer while I was under. He also said he'd give me a local 'block'...

I was born with hereditary Metaphyseal Chondrodysplasia, Schmid Type which means that I am very petite, am big boned and have various malformed bone structures. Most recently, I've discovered that I could have said 'yes' to those young minds that queried if I was a dwarf in my childhood, as this disorder does include short-limbed dwarfism. Obviously growing up I was as desperate to try and fit in as much as everyone else and adamantly denied being anything other than just a bit shorter than my peers. Of course, this wasn't the case and presently being in my late thirties and a good nine inches shorter than the average for a woman in the UK, I look up the nose or into the chest of pretty much everyone. The kink in my neck is alas the least of my troubles. Throughout the years I have struggled with back ache, sore hips, shoulder pain and most recently poorly knees. Most pains come and go, but unfortunately my right knee has decided it's not going to improve. So, n...