good news and bad news for BBB

That's the proper protocol. Aspirin has an immediate effect and lasts for 7-10 days after you stop taking it. Coumadin doesn't kick in for a couple days. The double dose is to try to boost that effect.



Sending good thoughts that all goes well.

Just letting you know that mom (BBB) has just been moved to recovery and should be there a couple more hours before being assigned a room for the rest of her stay at the hospital.

Her doctor said the surgery went well, his words were "it was a tricky surgery and they had to be very careful." He said the inner bone of her knee was mush from osteoporosis and the failing glue from the old prosthesis and that she probably should have had the knee replaced at least 5 years ago. He said the knee cap was very thin and was just floating on the knee before it crumbled and fell off in his hands.

He was very happy with the end results. They had to do a lot of repairs to the bone so that it would accept the new knee and he also put in a plastic knee cap to replace the one that crumbled.

The surgery was about 3 hours and she had no problems with heart, lungs or anything else.

When I know what her room number is going to be, I'll leave another note here for anyone that would like to give her a call. I'm back at home now and depending on how much pain she's in and how sleepy she still is, may go back to see her later this evening. If not, I'll be there first thing in the morning.

Thanks for the good thoughts. That A2K positive karma does wonders.

Wishing her the best for a speedy and minimally painful recovery!

My gosh. This mostly sounds like recovery from a previous disaster.

That's exactly how most doctors who look at the condition of her knee describe the first botched surgery/knee prosthesis. It is greatly hoped that today's surgery corrected a lot of the problems she was left with from the first surgery 32 years ago.

I'm thinking of what she lost by even somewhat restricted exercise and mobility over all those years.

Oh yay! Good vibes moving Southwestward.

Good news! Very glad to read it, and wishing BBB a speedy recovery & a pain free future.

On second thought she'll probably become even more antagonistic to my enlightened political views.

Just catching up with the details of BBB's surgery now.
I am so glad that it went well, butrflynet.
Crossing my fingers for a speedy recovery & hopefully, BBB, a much improved & pain-free knee for you!

Very glad to hear that things went well. Give her a hug from me--when you and she are able.

Thanks for the update! Glad that it's good news thus far.

Thank you for the update Butrflynet.

Don't forget to catch up on your own rest.

BBB is in room 339 at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque. She'll be there for at least 3 days, possibly more. Here's a link to their info about sending emails and e-cards to patients.

http://www.phs.org/PHS/hospitals/content/card/index.htm

Anything sent needs to include her full name and room number in the subject line:

Luella Hanberry, room 339.

And needs to be sent to "[email protected]". They check and print emails and e-cards once a day to be delivered to the patient.

As far as telephoning her, I'd hold off on it for a day. She's in a great deal of agony and has been begging me to get her a different nurse because the one assigned to her doesn't seem to be at all proactive about doing anything to help relieve her pain. She now has a different nurse, her pain meds have been increased and the offending piece of equipment that was giving her so much pain has been removed. Hopefully this will help get the pain levels down to at least a 10.

Thanks JPB. That's good info to know. I've printed it out for BBB to read when she can focus enough to read it.

Thank you everyone. I'm going to go rest for awhile and see if I can get rid of this foggy feeling I've had all afternoon. My eyes are burning and I think the smoke from all the wild fires surrounding us is getting to me.

Will head back to the hospital tomorrow morning and will give an update later in the afternoon.

Thanks very much for your updates, Butrfynet.
Yes, you need to have a really good rest & sleep now, I agree. You must be exhausted.
I'm very concerned to hear about the terrible pain BBB has been suffering.
Relieved to hear things have improved, but it still sounds very worrying, poor thing.
I hope things have improved for her by the time you visit again tomorrow.

Any word? Any news? Any updates? Any anything?

I'm not used to sending e-cards. I tried sending a regular email, no go.
Tried the first e-card suggestion - but there is no subject line, that I could see.

So I'm sending it to [email protected].
No idea if that will go through.. but it didn't get stopped when I previewed the card.

Still waiting for some NEWS. Does anybody know anything?

What's going on?

I'm back from visiting with her this morning. Her pain has lessened a great deal but she's still having nausea and other side effects of the spinal block and anesthesia they gave her. Because of that she wasn't able to have a session with the physical therapist this morning. They have a drip attached to her leg that is keeping the leg totally numb and are giving her meds to fight the nausea so she can keep the pain pills down and get some clear liquids in. I was there while the doctor did his rounds and he repeated what he'd already said to me in the waiting room about how damaged her knee was and how tricky the surgery was. He said she's very lucky that she had the surgery soon enough before her knee totally shattered.

I've been keeping an eye on the daily blood test results (I get a copy emailed to me) and it looks like they already have her INR in the ideal range and her blood chemistry is back to normal levels after being very low after surgery.

The doctor said she'd be there for at least another 3 days so they can be sure everything is functioning well and back to normal. They are definitely planning on releasing her to a rehab hospital so she can get some intensive physical therapy before coming home.

Last night the dogs were clingy and whining so I took them into her bedroom and let them play on her bed. When I got up this morning, they were sitting by her recliner waiting for their biscuit routine.

Am going to fix myself a steak dinner, finish reading my book and take the night off.