More Surgery

Friday evening........ Dr. Hostin advised he thinks it would be best if he operated again.

He is not happy with the lack of movement with the right quadriceps muscle. And if there is something causing physical pressure to the nerves, then would it be better to re-open her up now? Or 3 months from now?

Nobody likes the idea of two surgeries in one week - but it is best to get it over with. Better to be sure there is nothing wrong than to wonder if there is. He consults with his partner - Dr. Shelekov and also with a neurosurgeon and then schedules the surgery for Saturday.

Saturday ..... Procedures, surgery, updates.

At 9:00 am Pattie is sent to have an IVC filter installed. An intra vena cava filter. This is to reduce the risk of blood clots. It's a routine procedure - takes about an hour with light sedation.

12:00 noon. They wheel her to surgery. Just like on Tuesday; the OR staff calls about once an hour with updates.

3:15 pm. Dr. Hostin is through and meets with Ted and Sandy. The surgery went fine. They found nothing physically wrong inside. They applied electro-stimulation and found all the nerves were firing fine except the nerve that controls the right quadriceps.

By 4:30 pm Pattie is back to her room. They did not have to move her to ICU as they did following the first surgery.

9:45 pm. Dr Hostin again stops by for an evaluation. Ted wants to know just how does he rate this lack of response to the right quadriceps muscle. Do they base it on a percentage? On a scale? How do they assess this damage?

He said on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being the worst and 5 being a normal healthy muscle; Pattie rates a 2. And a 4 is where she needs to be in order to stand and walk. But with time and therapy.... he is optimistic that Pattie will soon be mobile.

Just like the first surgery... Pattie must lie flat on her back. For 24 hours. And though they took away the pain pump last Friday, they gave it back to her after this second surgery.

And that is a good, good thing.

And the nurses, and the staff attending to her? Just wonderful. This hospital has truly been a first class place to be.