Bad News For Me

[suzkaw]

I just got back from my doctors appointment and it appears my forearm has came out of socket with the elbow. So I now have to have another surgery Friday so they can go in and try to repair the ligaments and so forth.

The good news is the bones are healing fine so this operation shouldn't require them breaking my arm again.

I have a pretty cool x-ray but no way to post it.

Thanks again everyone for the kind words and the thoughts.

[civ]

Ouch! I think I'll start calling you Humpty Dumpty!

[michael]

Sorry to hear of your pain Eric. I've been in and out of hospitals for the past two weeks with my daughter and it is always a stressful and depressing time.

All the best to you.

[juven14]

We know that you purposely hurt your arm to make Blair do more work!! Seriously, that looks like it hurts big time. Be sure not to over extend yourself, no sense in trying to do more than you can at the expense of a less than full recovery. Good luck on the surgery and cheers to a speedy recovery.

Civ, maybe the man of glass (Samuel Jackson) in the movie Unbreakable.

[Lagniappe]

Originally Posted by suzkaw

So I now have to have another surgery Friday so they can go in and try to repair the ligaments and so forth.

Eric,

How did the surgery go?

-Rory

[motoenth]

I just got off the phone with Eric's mother. He's in pretty bad pain and just had another shot of morphine.

He was in surgery last night from 7:30 until 11:45. He had a team of four doctors (the specialist, an intern, a resident and the anesthesiologist) along with a team of nurses rebuilding his elbow.

As I understand it, the the first surgery was basically just a means of patching him back together by an emergency surgeon who did their best. Two weeks later, the doctor admitted that someone else with more experience was going to have to step in and rebuild the joint.

Over the last two weeks, his bones (the ulna and the radius) have come out of joint and 'migrated' backwards (away from his wrist). Also, his body has been pumping calcium (or whatever rebuilds broken bones) into the joint which means that, if last night's surgery had not been performed, the joint was on it's way to fusing.

The surgeon last night not only had to re-do the earlier surgery but had to add 7 more screws to hold everything together. He thought that there was a chance that an external brace (with rods) would have to been installed to hold everything together for a while but he decided against it during surgery. Apparently, this surgeon is considered to be the best elbow specialist on our area. Eric's dad said that the guy was very pleased with the way the surgery went.

He's going to be in the hospital until Monday or Tuesday so that they can watch him.

He's scheduled for radiation Monday. This is to prevent the calcification in area's where it's not supposed to be.

Obviously, his elbow is really, really messed up but I believe he's finally on the correct path to recovery.