Anatomy Woes...
The Pregnancy,
Clarissa had her 36 week check-up and received some disturbing news. While the cold handed doctor was "checking" the situation he exclaimed, "Wow! this baby has a BIG head! Labor is not going to be easy." For everyone who knows Clarissa you can probably imagine her response. "Are you serious?!" seeing the fire in her eyes the doctor quickly postulated and said, "Well... no... aren't you getting an epidural?" the shakiness in his voice was not very reassuring and Clarissa is now in a constant state of paranoia. needless to say, our baby head is much like "Sputnicks", spherical, but quite pointy in parts.
The Elusive Diagnosis,
Yesterday Darrin received an MRI to scan his left knee. Upon returning home Greg called the radiologist, who said that there was a blood effusion (Bleed into the bone), torn miniscus, bruised muscle, and a "disrupted" ACL. All in all, this was promising news. The bone and the muscle would heal with time and the miniscus would not cause too many problems in the future. But, Darrin still had a doctors appointment the next morning (today). When the doctor came in he just shook his head and said that Darrin had done SIGNIFICANT damage to his knee. "Apparently" Disrupted ACL means 99% torn, and one trip will pop it the rest of the way. We got our hopes up for nothing. Darrin goes under the knife on Friday afternoon to remove the dead guy's (cadaver's) ACL and replace it with some other dead guy's Achillis Tendon, one of the strongest in the body. The doc said that this is the one they use when the person (idiot) keeps tearing the graph. Needless to say, Darrin is receiving nature's equivalent of a tension cable as a replacement ACL.
Our insurance loves us!
Posted in: 2008, darrin, riss, us on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at
Darrin, who's doing the surgery this time? Who did your first repair on your left knee, and what type of graft did they use on your right one? Just curious.
Anyway, good luck . . . to BOTH OF YOU!!!
Oh, Clarissa, who's your OB doc? And, just so you know, my doctor had to help pull Allison out with forceps after 3 hours of me pushing and not getting very far -- and when they finally offered that, the doctor had her out in 1 more push. So, don't be afraid of forceps -- they can be a good thing. I have one other REALLY important piece of advice I won't write on this public blog, but, seriously, call me. It made a world of difference.
Karli could tell you a few stories as well.
Darrin --
Does this mean that the Cadaver tendon was a bad one -- that it's really not your fault?
If so, then I apologize for my 'wheelchair' comment.
Clarissa- You've seen the Gant head size...Kelsey's head was too big to get out too. I did have an epidural (but it wore off by the time I was ready to push). I pushed for 2 1/2 hours with no progress so they went for the forcepts. I'll admit, it wasn't fun but it's all worth it in the end. Stay focused on the end prize.