We have success! Kris went into surgery around 7:30 on Friday morning and was under for about 6 long hours. His surgeon, Dr. Zych, came out when he was finished with his part and the residents were closing up and let us know that everything went as well as he could have expected it to go and that Kris went through it very well. There are a few screws in his upper-thigh that could not come out as over the years there has been some extra bone growth that they had to chisel away to just to get to the heads of the screws to shear the heads of the screws off, and so they just did that and left the rest of the screws in place. Dr. Zych thought that there would be too much structural damage to the rest of his femur if they were to chisel and chip away enough bone to get them out completely and they apparently aren't going to bother anything so they're going to be there forever. But all of the other hardware came out easily enough, and the bone shunt and the plates to hold it in place went in without a hitch. They had to replace four units of blood but other than that Kris went came through it like a champ. They let us know when they wheeled him into recovery and we were hoping to see him, and the waiting room desk attendant told us to wait an hour while they got him settled. So Toodie and I went down to the cafeteria and got something to eat, went back in an hour and checked. Nope, another hour, they said. So we waited. Finally, the reason we couldn't go back was that they had another patient on the recovery ward who was not stable and when that happens, they shut down the ward and no family goes in until everyone's good. And FINALLY around 6:30 we were allowed to come back and see him. They'd given him a nerve block for the pain but he'd been awake for awhile and asking for us and doing pretty good, under the circumstances, a little groggy but good. It had been a long enough day for us and he was tired enough and they were going to keep him sedated for the rest of the night so he could get some sleep so it was a "Hi, I love you, go home, I'll see you tomorrow," order from the patient. We made our way back home and rescued the poor suffering Chloe who's not really sure what's going on and why her Dad isn't home, but who's getting better each day about it. Monday she'll be the happiest dog in the world.
Yesterday morning while we were getting up and moving Kris called us from his room, quite awake, complaining about hospital breakfast food and his morning shift nurse, sounding much better. We decided real-world food would be a good idea so stopped at the little French bakery behind our place and got him a couple mini chocolate croissants and a sandwich with turkey and bacon and he happily ate the sandwich before they brought him lunch, and he eventually ate that, too. The nurses finally brought him a pair of crutches so he could get up and move around as he felt like it, getting a bit of hospital bed cabin fever. We'd brought him his backpack he'd pre-packed with his laptop, the kindle, a book, headphones, charger cord for his cell phone which I'd held onto on Friday. A couple friends came to visit, Andres, who he works with, brought him cookies, as he'd promised, and an ex-coworker who'd wanted to come on Friday as soon as I'd let him know Kris was in recovery but had to tell him there was no way he was going to see him until yesterday. But I'm glad they stopped by. Toodie had found the ward for the church in our area on Thursday and we went and got Kris a blessing and gave them our cards, and so the bishop called me yesterday saying he'd like to stop by and see him today, so we're expecting them to come by around they same time we're there. We brought him barbecue from Shorty's last night for dinner and he wasn't quite in the mood for food until he smelled it, and then he wolfed down most of the brisket sandwich and fries. He was hoping for french dip and salad but R&T's, where we get them, I forgot, closes at 3:30 every day, and we missed the mark by a couple hours. But it worked out. We ate dinner with him and our lovely, sainted neighbor Yvi kept Kris's keys so she could check Chloe and walk her before she came home, and she's going to check on her throughout the day today once I let her know that we've headed for the hospital so that we don't have to worry about coming home to check on her. This morning I have a little more time to spend with her as Toodie's attending the 11:00 am church service so by the time we come home this evening she should be a better adjusted doggie for the day. Zych wants Kris to have a 72-hour antibiotic drip so tomorrow he'll be free to come home, which he's going to be happy to do. Toodie's been helping us run errands and bought us a better bed with a much better mattress, memory foam cover and mattress pad, so that Kris will have a much more comfortable bed to heal on. He's supposed to be off work for a good week and then go back, and we stopped by Friday while Kris was in surgery to drop a couple things off for him and his boss told us that if we needed anything at all, he'd be happy to help, and to let him know when Kris was out of surgery and how everything went. We've got a good support system here, so I think we'll be just fine.
Off for now...I finally got a good amount of sleep last night and should really get up and eat more than toast for breakfast before we head off for the day. But we're all, Kris included, are absolutely thrilled that the surgery went so well. It's a good weekend, hospital stay notwithstanding.
Happy Health!
Enjoy,
Allie H.
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