Good luck and hope you heal quickly!!!
That must have been one heck of a fracture/dislocation to send you down to Seattle. I would have thought that Juneau would have had a pretty decent contingent of Ortho docs to deal with that there. Hope you had good insurance with your employer...
Do what you are told on your recovery and don't push the limits. You want that to heal correctly the first time! Revisions and repeat surgeries are a recipe for longer recoveries, more scarring, infection, and chronic pain issues. Hopefully you didn't have a lot of ligament damage with the dislocation/fracture. Physical therapy will be important as well... let them "push" you. Your "youth" is your friend!
Sorry you had to experience Ketamine. Great drug but it has it's issues. Pros and Cons have been highlighted by others. "Benzos" given prior to ketamine will usually help with the dysphoria/hallucinations. Some are just too lazy to give it. We used to use it a lot in the burn unit for dressing changes and debridements which were very painful for the patients. Ketamine provided a level of safety that narcotics could not as it supports spontaneous breathing vs respiratory depression/apnea. Back in the day, we didn't even lock up Ketamine or Pentothal in our OR (in contrast to narcotics and benzodiazepines)!!! Fast forward to today, the age of "experimenters" and "abusers" and everything is locked up behind one or two locked "barriers" including meds, syringes, needles, alcohol wipes, you name it!!! It has gotten so absurd that it makes it hard to respond to real emergencies in the OR! My 'cart" electronically locks automatically after 60 seconds... gets real old real quick, every day.
For all the pain, inconvenience, expense, and uncertainty, be glad it happened now and not 150 years ago. You'd likely be in the belly of a bear!
One day at a time.
