Actually, I got home last night after recovering far more quickly than anyone anticipated.  All things considered, I'm not feeling too bad.  The pre-op literature was pretty scary with its warning that I could be incapacitated for weeks, if not months, as  were the Anesthetist's warning that a spinal block (my preference) also had its potential for disaster - but the chances of being paralyzed were only 1 in 250.000.  Eep!

In the end I went for the spinal block, a truly bizarre experience.  I was totally numb from the waist down on the left side and partially on the right.  When the spinal block was put in, I was on my left side, curled up in a ball - when they rolled me onto my back, it felt as though I was still curled up.  I had to ask if my legs were straight - apparently the limb "remembers' the last position it was in before it went numb.

In theatre, I could feel my body being moved about but had no idea what was going on.  Because I was awake, I could watch the procedure on the monitor and the surgeon explained what he was doing.  Fascinating!  Cartiledge and meniscus are pure white fluffy fibres and it wasn't as gory as I was expecting.

The upshot is, the meniscus tear wasn't too bad and the left side of the knee was fine.  The kneecap, however, is a different story and will probably need to be replaced in a few years.  Damn!  There goes my professional ice hockey career.

Coming out of the spinal block was an odd feeling - I could move my right foot almost immediately, however it took a little longer to get the left foot moving.  The nurse asked me to wiggle my toes, which I tried, but couldn't feel anything moving.  "Very good!" she exclaimed.  "Are they moving?" I asked incredulously.  I looked down and saw my foot waving about with no sensation that it was happening.  It seems the signal to move the foot gets there but the signal to say it's happening doesn't come back.

As anyone who has had a stay in hospital will know, you check your dignity at the Reception desk.  Before the op, the anaesthetist (a very good looking young man) warned me that I won't get a signal from my bladder that it's full and if I haven't been to the loo by a certain time, they'll scan it and then 'take steps'.  Charming!  I had a couple of bladder scans but only as a precaution as I managed to walk to the loo with the aid of crutches and the physio.

The fact that I was up and about so quickly and wasn't feeling any pain (the morphine they injected into my knee hadn't worn off at this stage) amazed some of the nursing staff, which was why they said I could go home early.
Just before I left the hospital, I was given a bag o' drugs.  And when I say "given", I mean I'll be getting an invoice for them soon.  The bag included a large box of paracetamol ($5.00 for 100), a box of Oxycodone in case the paracetamol doesn't work ($12.81 for 20) and antibiotics (Cephalexin, $14.17 for 20).  I had an antibiotic drip as a prophelactic. 

Probably the worst part of the whole procedure was when the nurse took the thing out of my vein that they attach the drip to (I'm sure there's a proper name for it).  She pulled it out, stuck a bandaid on it and said, "Keep the pressure on that."  I took my thumb off it to pick up my bag, noticed it was bleeding a bit and put my thumb back, at which point a lot of blood spurted out the side and down my arm.  I had to ring for the nurse to show her what I'd done and to get cleaned up.  I hope they notice all the blood on the nurse notifier.
So, here I am at home, trying to do the exercises the physio gave me, though my leg is a bit stiffer this morning than it was last night and harder to lift up, and generally hobbling about.  I've been given a certificate for 2 weeks off work but I'll see how I feel at the end of next week.  I'm not allowed to drive for a couple of weeks as I have a manual car and the bung leg is my clutch leg.

Thanks to everyone for their kind wishes and thoughts.

Ooh, before I forget, the Poss Anti-Tech Aura had its affect on various bits of machiner; namely, three blood pressure monitors (two of which insisted my BP was 210/120 when it was actually around 116/60 and one that refused to work at all).