Settling in at the hospital

Believe it or not I'm still in the hospital.

Last I wrote about the leg saga I was told that there was a good chance I was going to have surgery on Thursday. I saw Dr. Brumback early Thursday and sure enough he said that he wanted to do surgery. The big problem was that since this wasn't scheduled and wasn't his surgery day they didn't know when they could take me. So I had a very long and hungry day. I last ate at 10:30pm Wednesday. I just waited around all day, slept a good deal and tried to relax. Finally around 6:30pm the nurse came in and told me that they had me slated for 9pm. 9PM!? I was going to miss the VP Debate! Unbelievable.

So a little after 8 they came and got me and I went through the pre-surgical questions and preparations. Which means that I missed Survivor too. Surgery was not that long this time around, although for Mom, Dad, Danielle and Becky I'm sure it was far too long. They reopened my incision, cleaned and debrided the wound and set up a wound-vac.

The concept of the wound-vac is that the wound is left open, packed with a special sponge, covered with a cellophane type material and suction is applied under the cellophane.

This, in addition to the antibiotics that I'm still receiving via I.V., is going to keep the infection under control while my bone heals. Dr. Brumback and the other doctors told me yesterday morning that they were a bit surprised by how deep the infection was, but that they got it all out. I am scheduled to go back into the OR Monday morning at 8 to have the packing changed and so that they can check to see that no infection has returned. A plastic surgeon has joined the team of doctors following my case and once they are sure that the infection is under control (probably after about a week and two packing changes) he will use a muscle flap and a skin graft to close the wound. So I have at least two, maybe three more trips to the OR before I will be discharged. It looks like I'll be here for at least a week, maybe close to two.

I'm settling in though. I've got the laptop. Becky and Jesko brought me the new James Taylor album Covers and lent me a bunch of movies to watch on the laptop. I'm making friends with everyone on staff here. I have thought of my Grandpa Stebbins and his knack for becoming friends with the nurses on more than one occasion. I'm not the charmer that he was, but I think he'd be pleased with my ability to put a smile on a stranger's face and how I'm handling a pretty shitty situation.

My family stayed way past visiting hours on Thursday to make sure I was OK after surgery and I had lots of visitors yesterday. Doug brought me pizza and coke for lunch. My pastor, Bill Hathaway, paid me a visit and brought me a great new booklet outlining the partnership our church has with a church in the Czech Republic. My parents came in the afternoon and Becky and Jesko came last night. Today I got my room decorated with some great drawings and coloring book pictures from Rachel and Allison.

So, I'm making the best of it and will provide updates as they arise. Until then...back to politics and the never ending presidential race.