Adam, I am a nurse anesthetist. I will be administering your anes-
thetic today and will be with you every second making sure you are
safe. I will be performing a nerve block for post-op pain. I will insert
a needle near your nerve and inject some numbing medicine that
will block the pain you would feel from the procedure. I use ultra-
sound so I can see where my needle tip is at all times. After the
injection, I will leave a catheter in place that will give you continu-
ous numbing medicine 24 hours a day for up to 3 days. This should
take care of 60% to 90% of your pain. The rest of your pain will be
controlled by other non-opioid methods. After the 3 days, you'll
return to our office and the catheter painlessly slides right out.
Many facilities, like my own, have a Joint Camp program for orthope-