A serious request for my wife, please.

[Saknussem]

Hey gang,

I'm not the newest person to the threads, but I was hoping to ask for kind thoughts and prayers this coming week. My wife has to have major hip surgery -- a resection arthroplasty -- which means that the surgeon will be taking out the artificial hip joint she has had for about 10 years and putting nothing back in. Susan's pelvis is too fragile for another rebuild, so they have no choice but to leave her with half a right femur. She will have nothing in her pelvis on the right side after this, and MAY be confined to a wheelchair for a long time. We're going for a walker after long hours of therapy. That is for the future though. Susan has had four hip replacements, and the last one included a substantial amount of cadaver bone installed in the pelvis. Well, the pelvis has just deteriorated, and here we are.

Before anyone talks about second opinions and such, please understand that the surgeon we're seeing is the chief of orthopedic surgery at Stanford University, pretty much the go-to guy for any sort of specialized surgery in the west half of the USA, and one of the leading experts on hip recovery surgeries in the world (his name is Dr. Stuart Goodman if you're curious).

Anyhow, pray for us if that's your thing, think kind thoughts, sacrifice a goat, whatever you're willing to do to make our karma more positive in this. We leave our town for Stanford on Tuesday, June 8, and Susan checks in on Wednesday June 9.



Thank you.

[Keld Denar]

Good luck to you both!

[Murkus]

:smallsmile: My thoughts and prayers go out to the both of you.

[Umael]

Better of luck and well-wishing and a rapid recovery your way.

[Pocketa]

It's great that she'll be able to get the best medical attention available. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[Adumbration]

If it wasn't such a bad form, I would wish you luck the same way actors do to each other when they're about to hit the stage.

But since it's such a serious matter, I'll just have to be content with wishing you the best of luck!

[Dusk Eclipse]

Good luck!

[Ravens_cry]

I offer my hopes and prayers for a best chance for you and your wife.
Peace and long life.

[Mystic Muse]

Good luck!

I hope all goes well.

[Dallas-Dakota]

I'm not a religious person, but my best wishes, thoughts and prayers go with you.

May you both live a long and healthy life.

[Kuma Da]

Luck to both of you.

[Lycan 01]

Good luck! I'm sure the surgery will go well! I'll be praying for ya'll. :smallbiggrin:



So if they're taking out half her femur, how will she be able to walk with a walker, if you don't mind my asking? :smallconfused:

[Saknussem]

The surgeon seems pretty sure that scar tissue will fill in the space in the pelvis and Susan already has strong legs, so she'll have seriously tight muscles there. The doc seems pretty sure about it. We're being more conservative and hoping, but being more realistic and thinking wheelchair (at least for a LONG time).

Thank you all, the kind words and thoughts mean more than you know. :) Keep 'em coming.

[Starscream]

I wish both of you the best of luck. Hope it all goes well.

[Don Julio Anejo]

Best wishes to you. Hope it works out better than you expect in the end :smile:

[Pocketa]

Stanford is the best. It's a discerning school and carefully picks its applicants, giving it one of the lowest acceptance rates for undergraduate studies in thew world. The only thing they're more picky about is their faculty. Most likely, they require a 2340/2400 on an SAT, a phD, and 5 major research papers published, minimum, from their janitors. Okay, not really, but you get the point. They only take the best, the brightest, the most innovative, the most passionate. I hope your wife is in able hands.

[Sneak]

Good luck, and I hope everything works out for the best.

[Trog]

Best wishes for you both and may her recovery be speedy and fortuitous.

[Flame of Anor]

The surgeon seems pretty sure that scar tissue will fill in the space in the pelvis and Susan already has strong legs, so she'll have seriously tight muscles there. The doc seems pretty sure about it.

This doctor isn't Gilderoy Lockhart, is he?

Seriously, though, I hope everything goes well. :smallsmile:

[IonDragon]

My thoughts are with you, but I recently exhausted my supply of sacrificial chickens so my thoughts are the best I can do. The farm supply store is starting to get suspicious.

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

My prayers are always with those facing medical adversity. Though difficult times may be ahead, there is always the hope that there will be a far better outcome than that which is in the past. Thus, from some guy named Bor (Rob), a hearty "BE WELL!"

[Saknussem]

Thanks everyone; we're both laughing at some of the responses, and feeling better because of all of them. :smallsmile:
And no, it isn't Lockhart (heaven forbid!) -- Poppy Pomfrey if ANYONE! One does of Skele-grow and that would be that.

[Moff Chumley]

Stanford is exceptional; if there's any place that could take care of your wife, that would be it. Good luck. :smallsmile:

[pendell]

Praying as requested.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Salbazier]

Good luck. I hope everything will be allright:smallsmile:

[MandibleBones]

Well wishes and good luck - if you are able, please let us know how it goes. Echoing Pocketa and the Moff, Stanford really is the best at this, especially on the West Coast. Your wife's in good hands.

[madamemurloc]

Sending prayers! May the surgery go well and she heal steadily.

[Supagoof]

May she have a safe surgery, a speedy recovery, and a better outcome then both of you could imagine.

[Zeb The Troll]

Many positive thoughts and well wishes. Here's to an uneventful surgery and a rapid recovery.

Keep us posted?

[TheMightyBanjo]

The best of luck

[Froogleyboy]

I wish you only the best of luck in these difficult time

[AslanCross]

You have my prayers.

[llamamushroom]

Good luck from Down Under.

I haven't heard about this kind of procedure before (at least not for people), but it certainly sounds... um... sound. I hope it all goes well.

[Otogi]

Not a praying man, but I'll pray here and I'll pray for her.

[Cleverdan22]

Best of luck with all of this. I'm sure you guys will make it out OK.

[KoboldRevenge]

I hope your cleric is good. But really hope she pulls out.

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

I, for one, would like some kind of update whenever possible. Knowing it's over and Susan is on the lengthy road to mending would be appreciated, if at all possible.

[Copacetic]

More kind thoughts and support for you and your wife. :smallsmile:

[Saknussem]

Greetings one and all,
Well, we're back. Susan had quite a series of unpleasant things (and some really nice ones) happen. Okay, to start:
Tuesday: We arrive at my sister's house in San Jose, saw lots of cute bunnies, deer, and, a hawk, which ate one of the bunnies in front of my 2 year old grand-nephew who thought it was the absolute coolest thing he had ever seen.
Tuesday night: We check in at the local residence inn, nice place, no TV, crap. Susan calls and confirms her 7:45 AM tee time (pardon the golfing-medicine-doctor joke). Hospital says, "OK! See you then!"
Wednesday morning: Sak and Susan get up at 0500, shower and trundle off to hospital where Nice Nurse tells us, "We're sorry no one called you, but your surgery time has been moved back 6 hours. You can wait in the hospital, but if you leave the grounds, you lose your spot." We are irate, but don't leave the waiting room. Not leaving turns out to be a GOOD thing.
Wednesday morning (a bit later): Nice nurse comes out, "We had two chickens not show up for their surgery. You're up!" Yea! Susan goes into prep, Sak goes into HIGH ANXIETY STATE. I tell you, NOTHING makes a man more crazy than knowing his wife is in danger and there is absolutely ZIP he can do about it. Married men chime in here, please? Am I right?
Wednesday an indeterminate time later but about 4.21 epochs of waiting: Dr. Stuart Goodman comes out and tells Sak that they got the whole assembly in one piece. The errant screw that caused the whole problem came out like a charm, and there is NO infection (they did something like 14 cultures along the way). YEA! More waiting while Susan is in post-op. Mind you, I am popping vicodin ES like M&Ms, ok?
Wednesday early evening: Susan gets out and goes to the ortho wing of the hospital where we meet her caretakers. I recommend Stanford with, as you will see later, one reservation. Family comes to visit. All is well.
Thursday all day: Susan is wracked with spasms. For those who missed it, or maybe I didn't say it, Susan has mild cerebral palsy on the right side, same side as hip procedure. CP causes mild muscle contractions. Now imagine involuntary muscle contractions around where you just had a major incision. The medical team assesses this and Susan is now on the following pain meds:
Morphine Sulfate extended release 3 180mg pills 3/day
12 mg dilaudid every 3 hours
10 mg percocet every 4 hours
1 mg dilaudid IV push every 3 hours
5 mg valium IV push emergency spasm counter.
Basically, you should feel free to say, "HOLY CRAP!" ok?
Friday: A REALLY good day. Susan is sitting up in a chair. Family comes to visit and brings two killer pizzas (real NY style pizza out here in CA, we LOVE it) and Susan is feeling good. Oh, by the way. A side note here . . . my oldest brother is gay, and his partner is 1. quite wealthy, 2. the CEO of a small but international corporation, and 3. away a LOT of the time flying around on business (he has 2.2 million miles on his charge card). I got to stay in his house while Susan was in hospital and he was away on business. So, sorry Susan my love, but SAWEET! hehe
Saturday: Susan feels so good she gets discharged, and this is where that one reservation comes in, and it is a BIG one. They gave us the WRONG prescriptions for Susan -- all of them, pain meds, blood thinners, everything. And the pain scripts were triplicates (for those who don't know, in the USA, a "triplicate prescription" means it is a highly controlled substance. While some of these can be called in to the pharmacy, the vast majority of them must be hand carried in the store. Needless to say, all of Susan's pain scripts were of this latter, more controlled type.). Now this is a REALLY bad thing. Susan already has a lot of the extended morphine, and I have a lot of vicodin ES, so we're going to try to get through til Monday when we can get to our primary care MD for scripts.

Basically, Susan is doing well. She will be pretty much wheelchair bound forever, with a walker for short trips (like to the loo). That doesn't matter to me at all. I love her, and will love her forever, and she is still my favorite paladin.

Thank you everyone who was kind enough to send good thoughts and prayers to us. They made a difference.

Peace.

[Lycan 01]

I'm glad to hear your wife came out of it okay, and that the surgeries went so well. Screwing up the meds, though? That's not a reservation, that's a liability. :smalleek:

Still, glad it worked out so well. :smallsmile:

[Zeb The Troll]

Huzzah!

Aside from the bungled prescriptions, it sound like this turned out about as well as anyone could have hoped, right?

*attached is one Playground Hug to be used to express our relief that things look good*

[Salbazier]

Glad to hear it :smallsmile: I have nothing to say but congrats for doing well and hope everything will be even better from now:smallsmile:

[CoffeeIncluded]

I'm glad things worked out as well as they did. :smallsmile:

[Lillith]

Happy to hear things went okay. But your wife will never be able to get out of that chair? That sucks big time. :smallfrown:

[Nave Senrag]

Best of wishes for you both, and you never know God still does miracles sometimes. May your lives be filled with good times.

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

*Looks at prescription bottles and reads* "Hmmm...Morphine Sulfate, 45 mg. three times a day, 8 mg. dilaudid every six hours as needed, one or two 5/325 percocets every four hours as needed for post-op pain..."

HOLY CRAP! o.O Was Susan even conscious?!? If I was on everything she was on, I would have admired the pretty sheets for a few second before drifting off to sleep, dreaming of all my fuzzy animal friends coming to serve me yummy candy treats!

As for your Wednesday morning routine, it need not require danger. Just knowing a loved one is suffering in any way, and that there's nothing one can do, is enough to make anyone, married or not, to enter a state of great anxiety. (And I'm just working on the "married" part.)

All of that said, I'm glad things have gone so well. Oh, I know the "drug chase" only too well, and it's incredibly annoying. But that the main part, the surgery, went well...That's what's important.

[Diva De]

Didn't find this until after it was over, but I am so glad to hear everything went so well!

[SamTHorn]

Glad to hear all is fine. I was praying for you guys.

:smallsmile:

[Another_Poet]

Anyhow, pray for us if that's your thing, think kind thoughts, sacrifice a goat, whatever you're willing to do to make our karma more positive in this. We leave our town for Stanford on Tuesday, June 8, and Susan checks in on Wednesday June 9.

Consider offerings made and good vibes sent from this corner of the globe. I hope it goes well!