I might have to take another hiatus because ...

[GreyGeek]

At 2PM this afternoon my wife fell and broke her hip. Surgery in the morning. They are going to pin it.
It shouldn't impede the recovery from her heart surgery on March 23rd. I don't know how busy I'll be or how long it will take before she can walk again.

[Snowhog]

Sorry to hear about her fall. Best wishes to you both. Health and family come before our Forum.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear that. Please pass along the good thoughts I'll be sending your way. Keep us posted if/when you can.

[kc1di]

Our prayers are with her and you !

[TWPonKubuntu]

Hope and prayer to both of you. Hope your wife recovers quickly.

[GreyGeek]

My wife came through the surgery in great shape. On a scale of 0 .. 10 her pain went from 15 before surgery to 2 afterwards, and now, five hours later, to 0. They replaced the ball of the joint with a plastic one and pinned it to the neck of the femur. Instead of taking weeks to get back on her feet the had her setting up in bed this afternoon and will dangle her legs over the edge. Tomorrow she'll put her full weight on the joint.

[MrSteve]

glad to hear the good news. hope she recovers soon. best wishes ...

[DoYouKubuntu]

That's truly EXCELLENT news, GG! Keep us posted as you can.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Any news from GG, anyone?

[GreyGeek]

June will be moved to Southlake rehab this afternoon. She's been walking short distances with her right hip bearing her full weight. The pain has been minimal. Zero pain while not moving and on a 0-10 scale a 5 when she is walking. She'll spend a couple weeks in rehab and then come home. The orthopedic surgeon wants her to use a walker from now on because that stroke she had during her first heart operation, which left her right side and speech paralyzed for a couple days, had residual affects which included atrophy of the muscles in her right leg. Since that first operation she has walk with a slight drag on her right foot. Her heart recovery doesn't appear to have been affected by the hip break or the operation. Her lungs are clear and her heart appears to have resumed its beat pattern before her cow valve failed. They are going to start reducing her O2 therapy. All in all I am over joyed at her progress.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Excellent news!

[GreyGeek]

It get's even better. The X-ray taken at the hospital yesterday morning showed that the "pulmonary vessels are normal". Because of that that took her off of Oxygen yesterday unless or until she shows signs of needing it again. She moved into a rehab center and today walked 50 feet! She said it hurt so bad she nearly swore, but she made it. After physical therapy for 50 minutes her Oxygen saturation level was 94%. Anything 90% or above is OK. She been so inactive over the last six months that her main problem is muscle atrophy, except for Left Ventricle Hypertrophy (aka "Congestive heart failure - congestive because it causes accumulations of fluid in the tummy, legs and feet). They give her Lasix for the edema and she had lost all the swelling and dropped to 108 lbs. I fattened her up to 114 lbs before she broke her hip. Because she was on warfarin she has seven units of blood during and after the operation. A lot of that fluid seeped into her right leg and some into her left. To prevent deep vein thrombosis they gave her injections of Lovenox into her tummy. This caused her massive water retention and her weight ballooned to 139 lbs! I'm hoping that it doesn't put strain on her Left Ventricle, and that excising her leg muscles will help the lymphatic system pump the fluid out of the legs and give the kidneys something to flush.

[DoYouKubuntu]

She said it hurt so bad she nearly swore

I just chuckled out loud when I read that. It reminded me of my mom. A few years before she died, she fell and broke her left wrist. Because of her age, we agreed to simply cast it and not subject her to surgery. But at the initial visit with the orthopedic surgeon, he had to manually manipulate it prior to putting the cast on; of course he numbed it as much as possible before starting. My mom, who in her 80s had NEVER used "the F word"--until I moved back home and she heard me saying it all the time--blurted out "oh F-WORD!!!" Much to the doctor's surprise.

Anyway, I'm thrilled to hear how well June is doing. It's really an astonishing, wonderful turn of events, all things considered.