On Thursday, Jeff’s surgery went as expected. It lasted approximately 2 hours. A few small incisions later, he now has a new ACL. Prior to leaving the hospital, his post-op nurse gave us a paper to fill out, at our own convienence, to thank the family of the individual who donated their organs; therefore, giving people like my husband a chance to have a better life. Now, while my husband did not receive a major organ, such as a heart, he did receive a ligament that was constructed to perform as the anterior cruciate ligament he needed. Organ donation is a wonderful thing, as they say, it’s the gift of life.
On post-op day #1, he had a leg brace on that was locked to prevent any movement of his knee. He also had an ice box (polar therapy) that provides continuous cold therapy to his knee. Amongst all of this, he could not bear any weight on his leg and had to use crutches.
Post-op day #2 (Friday), he had his first follow-up appointment . They took off his dressing from the surgery on Thursday and all looks well. He does have some swelling, but I was expecting far worse. They placed another dressing on his knee, of which he cannot wet, that he’ll have removed on Friday during his next follow-up appointment. The leg brace is no longer locked and he can now bear weight on his leg, as tolerated. He also now has to use a machine (for 6-8 hours a day) on his leg that provides continuous passive motion (CPM) and should continue his polar therapy.
I took 4 days off for his procedure, because I knew he would need all the help he could get. Thurday night was rough, but last night, our increments of sleeping time increased just a little. Our days and nights have consisted of the following: waking up every 4 hours to change the ice in his ice box for cold therapy, waking up for pain meds every 4-6 hours, assuring that his antibiotic is given 4 times a day, adjusting his leg to keep in elevated, placing his leg in the CPM machine during the day, locking and unlocking his leg brace. There has been quite a change in our routine around here, but we’re doing what we’ve got to do to ensure that his recovery goes smoothly. Other than a few changes, all is going well.
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