Operation Done! Proclaimed a Success!

Somewhere around 10:30 PM tonight, a very worn, haggard-looking Dr. Emerson emerged from the depths of the OR complex. Haggard, but happy! I believe that is the way he could best be described! He had done a full office/clinic day before he came over to get into this operation. He had nothing but good words to say how well the operation had gone. It was slow, but it was a studied slow to insure that everything went according to plan. Those of us who work with other materials would, I believe, call it "measure twice, cut once!" He described in some detail how things went. As I suspected, he has "aggressively treated, but will very conservatively rehab."

The implant has a newer type titanium coating that is extremely porous. In fact, it is a lot like lava rock in that it has open cells to allow the bone to grow all through it. It is also a different alloy composition that the body does not try to resist or reject as they do in some of the earlier devices. He believes there will be a good bone/prosthesis bond within about 3 months. This is about one half the time that this normally takes with the older prosthesis. Full strength will still take 6 months to a year.

She went into surgery just before 4PM and was still talking to Dr. Holley and David Diaz, the OR nurse, as I left them on the way to the OR. When we got to the proper corner, I commented that this was the place they exit stage right and I do the same on stage left. Both the Dr and the nurse, made the comment that it seemed that I HAD done this before!! This is the kind of experience that I REALLY, REALLY wish I didn't have. I could likely write a set of pre-op instructions for the families from memory without any reference materials at all!! But, I digress!

She will be in the bed at least until Thursday and then will be up only for extremely short, carefully guarded periods, with just enough walking to keep the legs familiar with walking. As he described it, Dr Emerson wants her to get out of bed, walk not more than about 25 feel and sit and rest. Then she can get up and walk the same number of feet back to where she started. And she thought she was on a short leash BEFORE!

The deacons of Prestonwood BC have been just as faithful to minister to us as they have been on our previous trips. They have been a lot of help to us here as we have needed assistance for different things.

Sharon has come back to the room moderately uncomfortable. Her incision seems to be burning a fair amount and they have hooked up the "silly-button" machine to help mitigate it. She is a lot more alert than she has been in the past and is taking a lot of ice chips to help with the "dry mouth." All in all, it looks like a good recovery has begun.