Hurry Up and Wait

The short story is...the much anticipated knee surgery didn't happen. The longer story is: We arrived at 8:15 as requested, only to be told that the surgery wasn't scheduled until 10:30. They just wanted to make sure we weren't late. Thanks so much! Sitting around in the waiting room is not easy for Sean, his leg begins to swell and the pain level goes way up. At 10:30 they annoucnced that the surgery before him was taking longer than they thought and so it would be at least 11:30 before they would take him in. By this time, Sean is extrememly uncomfortable and so they decide to take him back to a pre-op room where he can lay down, elevate his leg and get some pain meds. Waiting, waiting and more waiting. Finally they take him in to the OR at 1:30 PM. About 45 minutes later, we get a call from the surgeon saying he has manipulated the tendons around his knee (something they couldn't do unless he was completely sedated) and he didn't find anything that would require surgery. His ACL and LCL were intact! A short wait until the anithesia wore off and then Sean literally walked out of the hospital (with use of a walker). We were left with mixed feelings...was this good news then? If there is nothing wrong with his knee, where is all the pain and swelling coming from? This doc thought it might be nerve damange related to his hip injury. Guess we'll know more after his next doctor's appt. In the meantime, Sean is back at Kat's, able to put 25% weight on his right side, and using the walker much more now.

Rolling along

Another week has gone by with ups and downs but mostly ups. Sean ventures out by himself once in a while to a convinience store a couple of blocks away. Not so much that he needs anything as much as just being able to do something by himself. He had an appointment this week with the surgeon who worked on his hip. We also got a patient care coordinator involved as Sean was seeing three different orthopedics teams and they were giving him conflicting information. Much better now. The physical therapist says he is doing well, and may be off home care soon. Surgery still set for July 17th on his right knee.