Going home today!

Well, it has been a long week, but dad is going home today. We have been waiting all day for discharge papers. Hoping they come soon. He is doing really well, and I think he has gotten the message that he cannot put any weight on his left leg. It touched down during therapy, and he had three very determined, caring, emphatic women remind him "no weight". He has a long road to travel, but that's ok. Maybe he will be able to walk by October, without pain.

One of the nurses took this picture for us a little bit before day's surgery. The beginning of a good day.

surgery was a success

dad had his surgery today. It was rescheduled twice due to other things going on with him. He finally went into surgery at 11:45 am. We had updates every few hours. It was a long day for everyone. However, it appears like he will be doing much better. The surgery took 6 1/2 hours. At least three hours of it to clean out scar tissue. Then, the doctor cleaned out a large part of day's femur to put a cadaver bone inside to add strength and stability. The doctor also added a bone on each side outside of the bone for stability. Dr. Jones injected a protein compound to help with the healing process.

Dad will be in a hospital bed or wheelchair at home for several weeks to a few months. He will also be using a knee movement machine that will help him maintain flexibility in his knee joint to keep it from freezing. He has a long road ahead of him, yet, but we are a great deal closer to seeing him walk normally than we were this morning.

In addition, mom has begun taking shots to help strengthen her bones because her bones are very weak and low in density. Hopefully, this will help prevent future vertebrae fractures. She does a great job of giving these to herself.

We are looking forward to dad coming home this weekend. We will update again tomorrow.