The End

Seems so long ago that we were updating this blog daily. Here is one last entry to update you all. Sean moved back to his apartment in mid-August. He continues to amaze his medical team. He is 100% weight bearing on his right hip and left leg. He has a bit of a limp, but only uses a cane at the end of the day, when he's tired. The nerve damange in his right knee may take up to a year to completely heal. He expects to go back to work the first part of October and may do some light duty before then. Thank you to all of you for your support. Tom & I needed it as much as Sean. It seems you never stop being a parent. Our family and true friends were there for us and we appreciate all your calls, cards and kind acts. We will never forget all you've done for us. I hope never to have to go though something like this again, but there were many many positive things that came out of this so we are grateful for the lessons learned. Thank you again. Lorraine & Tom

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.

Sunday Report

Sean is doing remarkably well. Doing his physical therapy twice a day. Able to maneuver well in his wheel chair, walker and occasionally using the cane. Still getting pretty tired and sore. More pain since he had begun to wean off the pain meds in anticipation of the next surgery on July 17th. But all in all, he is mending. This weekend he had a couple of outings with Kat and Aaron. It's so great to see him out of bed and up and around!

Even More Surgery

Kat took Sean back to the hospital this afternoon for another doctor's appointment. This time he saw the sports medicine doc to look at the right knee that they haven't addressed thus far. It appears to be a ACL or LCL injury, but since he can't put any weight on that side (hip surgery still healing), they can't properly evaluate it without going inside to look at it. So on July 17th, they will go in and take a look. If they do determine they need to repair it, they will do so at that time, since he will already be under general anesthesia. Sean had the choice of going ahead with it now, or waiting until everything else was healed and then doing it. He thought he might as well do it now, since he was already laid up. Good choice!

Saturday we ventured out for a short time to a gathering at friends. It was good to get out, but I know these little jaunts are draining. He was pretty tired on Sunday.

Another doctor appointment on Wednesday, this time with his Ortho team. More later.

Thursday

The visiting nurse came Tuesday and she was not happy with the swelling on the right foot, plus Sean has been complaining of a "knot" in his upper right thigh. She made an appt for him the next day (Wed) back at Harborview to be seen by his orthopaedics team. What we expected to be a 1/2 hr. appt turned into 4 hours, as he made the rounds of doctors and had another ultrasound on his right leg. The ortho team decided that the "knot" was a collection of fluid, blood and damaged fat cells. They could drain it, but it will just come back. So he has to have another surgery. The plastic surgeon will go in and cut out and repair the damaged area. Should solve the problem. Don't know when this surgery will be yet. He has two appts next week. One with a Sports Medicine Doc (for his as yet untreated right knee). He'll also see his ortho team again. Yesterday they gave him a pressure sock to wear on his right leg which has greatly reduced the swelling. He has to spend more time with his leg elevated above his heart now, until the swelling goes down more. This hasn't hindered his computer time. You should see the set up he has with his monitor on a bookcase above him, and the keyboard on a pillow on his lap. The physical therapist came again today and she seems happy with his progress and that the swelling is down. Sean got to hang out with friends last night for a short time. Sure does lift his mood when he can get out. Comes back pretty tired but it's worth it. All for now.

Tuesday

Sean is settling in at Kat's. Tom & I took a much needed "vacation" and returned to work yesterday. Sean insisted he didn't need us over there as much and so we didn't go over last night. We'll probably go over tonight though. Aaron is working from home this week so Sean always has someone there to get him his favorite "Diet Coke". Friday is Kat's last day of school, so she will be home with him the rest of the summer. The visiting nurse came today again, so I'll get an update on that tonight. He still is quite medicated but becomes more self sufficient every day. He can get into the bathroom with his walker and everywhere else in his wheelchair. Being home is much more restful than the hospital so he can get in lots of naps. Sean has lots of advice for the new home owners (Kat & Aaron) and they are including him in on their decisions. So far so good. More later.