Room Without A View

So we're still here.

We are sick as hell of this place, but I am happy to report that Nick is doing better. The bleeding is under control and his clotting factor counts are looking excellent. His color has returned, as has his sense of humor. It was really elevating to see him smile and crack jokes this afternoon. That's my Nick.

His leg is still in the immobilizer and probably will be until the swelling goes down, which could be a while. The entire leg is pretty swollen from mid-calf through the upper thigh. We had to cut his boxer shorts up the side to get them to fit over the thigh. Keeping the leg elevated above the heart would help with the swelling, but that is far too painful to do right now. We will progress to that as we can when pain permits.

Now that the bleeding is under control, as is his fever and blood pressure, pain management is our main focus. Yesterday saw the last of the morphine drip and he is now on oral pain meds. These should help control the pain for longer periods of time in addition to allowing us to control the pain at home. Finding the right combination and the right dosing schedule has been a bit of trial and error, but we think we may have found something that works. We shall see

There is still no definite word on when we can get out of here. When we spoke to the doctor this afternoon, he said we'll see how Nick looks tomorrow and go from there. I think it will all depend on what his next blood draw will show and also how the swelling and bruising looks tomorrow.

I am still working on getting some photos of the x-ray's up and also of the actual knee itself. I'm not sure when Nick will allow me to photograph it, but I will wait until he's ready. In the meantime, for anyone who may be curious, you can check out an interactive animated virtual knee surgery. It's cartoon style, not bloody or gross, and gives a very interesting example of what Nick actually had done (In addition to the regular knee replacement procedure, Nick also had a lot of damaged tissue and bone cysts removed. There was just a lot of damage and arthritis in that knee that needed to be cleaned up before hand). And if you have a strong stomach, you can also view actual photographs of a knee surgery there as well. I did. It's kinda cool.