It is 3:45 AM the day after my surgery. I'm up not because of pain, just am not sleepy. I fell asleep at 10, so this is not all that unusual for me. I have a hard time sleeping more than 6 hours once I get woke up. Thought I'd update this thread. and then try to go back to sleep.
Got to the surgery center at 8 with my wife. She was able to wait in the waiting room instead of the car, as they knew my surgery was going to take a while. She was not able to go into the preop area with me, which was not a surprise. Arrived, got gowned, got my leg shaved. Surgery started at about 10:30, I'm not 100% sure how long it took, but think it was about 90 minutes. They gave me some juice and crackers, followed by some chicken and dumpling soup. I wasn't too hungry or nauseous, but ate. We were back home about 5:30 pm.
Pain was tolerable, they did give me a shot of something when I said it was getting more pain. My surgeon uses something called Exparel, which gives long term(72 hours) pain relief after surgery. I have to say, it seems like it is working. I'm taking some Tramadol on a 6 hour schedule, but haven't had to break out the Oxycodone yet. My pain level is pretty low, I'm able to get up and use the restroom ok. So far, so good!