Surgery

I wasn't planning on an overnight stay at the hospital tonight, but here we are. Not my first choice, but oh well. I am tired and busy and my keyboard is at home, so I will give a short update.

This morning we rushed out the door to come see Dr. Jones and get a cast. Dr. Jones still hadn't seen the xrays and when he examined Stevens leg he was struck by two things. First of all the splint from the ER came about an inch above the break, so it was doing more harm than good. One explanation for why Steven hasn't wanted to move an inch all weekend. Also, his leg was crooked. He looked at the Xrays and sure enough, the bone was bent. He said he wished it had broken the other direction, because he could have cast it as is and it would have helped Steven to get his leg straighter, thus helping with the walking. But as it was, he really felt like surgery would be best. He also decided to remove the screws and plate while Steven was under anesthesia and not going to be weight bearing for a while. This isn't standard because it isn't worth the risk of surgery and the inconvenience of not walking, but the screws can weaken the bone, so he thought it would be beneficial under the circumstances. Dr. Jones was willing to do the surgery right then, but unfortunately, Steven had eaten a bite of bagel with his Advil at my insistence before we left, so he had to wait 6 hours until he could go under anesthesia.

Steven was very unhappy about all of this and cried more than I have seen him cry in a while. He was really nervous about the surgery and the thought of being in a cast again. I must have cried all my tears because I have been okay. My sister brought her son over to keep Steven company until he had to go into surgery. It cheered him up immensely and he did fine. He was also feeling much better with the long splint that he had for the morning. He was finally able to move a little.

So we headed back to the hospital. James (my nephew) came along and distracted Steven some. If Steven ever paused to think about the surgery he would tear up. But he was in good spirits when the nurse practitioner came to examine him. She asked him what his pain score was and he said "zero" with a smile. At this point my sister had come to get James and she instantly thought of the Brian Regan sketch on a broken femur. You will have to look it up on you tube since i cant link with my limited technology. We watched it and Steven was wheeled to the OR giggling.

Alisa and James left and I waited. After a few hours, Dr. Jones came out to tell me all had gone well. While in the surgery, he remembered thinking that he wished the bone had broken the other way and he decided to set it angling up in order to help Steven straighten out his leg and walk better. So basically he broke it the other way. Stevens bones are so weak from chemo and not bearing weight for so long. But that is another post.

I left the waiting room (where, incidentally, the receptionist remembers me) and into recovery. Steven was screaming until he got enough medicine to knock him out. He is finally claiming exclusive rights to the 10 on the pain scale. He is comfortable now, but is getting morphine every 2 hours. He was so sad when he heard we were staying overnight, but now he is scared he wont ever be able to get off the bed. Hopefully we have seen the worst. Luckily his cast is not over his pelvis, but it is still awfully high, understandably so. We got a jar with the screws and the plate. I can't believe how big they are. Steven keeps wailing things like, "why did this have to happen?!" and "Why did Dr. Jones do this to me?". I am sure we will make it through somehow. Time will tell. Thank heavens for pain meds, that is what I am saying tonight. I will try to update as things progress, but for now we are planning to go home tomorrow. He will be in a cast for 8 weeks.