asleep
Posted by Robyn Nelson on Thursday, November 25, 2010
Colton had his knee surgery, what a long day that was.
First, Colton was called the night before to come in early (at first he was to have his surgery at 9 am) they said he would be bumped up to 7:30 am...so Colton & Joey got there early, they said to register at 5:30 am, but they were there 4:45 am. they left early because of the snow storm we had, and they didn't know how the roads would be.
After he got there and registered, we got there at 7 am, (we, eo, me, Lauren, Steph, Carol & Ashlynn) they said, the "part" for his knee wouldn't be there until 8:30 am, but it wasn't, so we waited and waited and waited, just when Colton was ready to leave, they said it was there. He went into surgery at 11:50 am. LONG wait.
Laurel Stauffer works there, she was his surgical nurse. That was awesome and comforting.
So they put a piece in his leg, they were able to get a good fit, and it didn't need any pins or screws. It fit snug and flush so there wasn't any rough edges. In a few months, we will know if it takes. If it doesn't take the piece will just break down and fall out. He will have similar pain to when the other pieces broke off. They will have to go in, remove it, and then try again. This could go on 2 or 3 more times, and then they will have to look at doing a knee replacement or something like that. I'm hopeful the new system will be here before he has to deal with that.
The doctor said, they would give him a "pain blocker", which would make his leg numb for about 12 hours. When he began to wake up in recovery, he was in terrible pain. The blocker didn't work. They started pumping him with pain meds, and ice and nothing really worked. After 2 hours of trying to manage his pain, they decided to keep him over night, because, they were not having success.
By 5 pm, they were putting him in a room and tending to him fairly well. We only stayed a short time to get arrangement made for caring for him. That was so hard to see, him in so much pain. He isn't one to complain and we told the nurses that, if he says he is at a 6, .... that would be a 12 for the rest of us.
by about 1:30 am, his pain level was down enough that he could sleep just a little bit. he saw the doctor later that morning, and the doc gave him a truck load of meds to take home with him.
He will be in a straight cast for about 4 days, then he will be able to bend his leg about 50 degrees for a few weeks. Every couple weeks he will be able to bend it a little more by unlocking the cast. He won't be able to put ANY weight on it for 12 weeks.
He isn't working for at least a week. but this is going to be hard on him for his bills. He tried to pay everything he could early, but he will be a little short. We will try to help him some, but we did come up with a plan, Grandma Marge was going to put her scooter away for the winter, but she is going to keep a bucket of ice melt on it full and then Colton just has to sit on it and toss ice melt on the side walks twice a day. It isn't much but it will give him about $14 a day. At least it will give him gas money and what not until he is able to work more. I'm guess by this weekend he will be able to manage that task. Since he is not allowed to lift anything, him sitting and tossing ice melt will work well for him.
As for me, I somehow managed the whole day up there, yesterday i couldn't form sentences, Today, i'm just beyond tired. Plus my throat is hurting. My lymph nodes are super swollen. I doubt I will remember the next few days. i figured I should write about the day now, before I forget everything.
First, Colton was called the night before to come in early (at first he was to have his surgery at 9 am) they said he would be bumped up to 7:30 am...so Colton & Joey got there early, they said to register at 5:30 am, but they were there 4:45 am. they left early because of the snow storm we had, and they didn't know how the roads would be.
After he got there and registered, we got there at 7 am, (we, eo, me, Lauren, Steph, Carol & Ashlynn) they said, the "part" for his knee wouldn't be there until 8:30 am, but it wasn't, so we waited and waited and waited, just when Colton was ready to leave, they said it was there. He went into surgery at 11:50 am. LONG wait.
Laurel Stauffer works there, she was his surgical nurse. That was awesome and comforting.
So they put a piece in his leg, they were able to get a good fit, and it didn't need any pins or screws. It fit snug and flush so there wasn't any rough edges. In a few months, we will know if it takes. If it doesn't take the piece will just break down and fall out. He will have similar pain to when the other pieces broke off. They will have to go in, remove it, and then try again. This could go on 2 or 3 more times, and then they will have to look at doing a knee replacement or something like that. I'm hopeful the new system will be here before he has to deal with that.
The doctor said, they would give him a "pain blocker", which would make his leg numb for about 12 hours. When he began to wake up in recovery, he was in terrible pain. The blocker didn't work. They started pumping him with pain meds, and ice and nothing really worked. After 2 hours of trying to manage his pain, they decided to keep him over night, because, they were not having success.
By 5 pm, they were putting him in a room and tending to him fairly well. We only stayed a short time to get arrangement made for caring for him. That was so hard to see, him in so much pain. He isn't one to complain and we told the nurses that, if he says he is at a 6, .... that would be a 12 for the rest of us.
by about 1:30 am, his pain level was down enough that he could sleep just a little bit. he saw the doctor later that morning, and the doc gave him a truck load of meds to take home with him.
He will be in a straight cast for about 4 days, then he will be able to bend his leg about 50 degrees for a few weeks. Every couple weeks he will be able to bend it a little more by unlocking the cast. He won't be able to put ANY weight on it for 12 weeks.
He isn't working for at least a week. but this is going to be hard on him for his bills. He tried to pay everything he could early, but he will be a little short. We will try to help him some, but we did come up with a plan, Grandma Marge was going to put her scooter away for the winter, but she is going to keep a bucket of ice melt on it full and then Colton just has to sit on it and toss ice melt on the side walks twice a day. It isn't much but it will give him about $14 a day. At least it will give him gas money and what not until he is able to work more. I'm guess by this weekend he will be able to manage that task. Since he is not allowed to lift anything, him sitting and tossing ice melt will work well for him.
As for me, I somehow managed the whole day up there, yesterday i couldn't form sentences, Today, i'm just beyond tired. Plus my throat is hurting. My lymph nodes are super swollen. I doubt I will remember the next few days. i figured I should write about the day now, before I forget everything.
