Thursday, September 1, 2011

Failure of the back seat revision

The back seat revision did not live up to its inventor's expectations. The entry wasn't too bad. His pants stayed on while wiggling his bum across the seat. It was the seat belt that I hadn't taken into consideration. We managed to get it into position, around the large mattress for the trip to Vernon but on the way home it had a strangle hold on my patient.

The surgeon was mystified by John's symptoms and hopes that the bladder infection is contained. The incision looks normal. He wants to see John again next week. Nurse Ratchet asked "why?" Handsome young surgeon replied that he didn't make house calls. I was tempted to suggest that the least he could do was update the waiting room seats, circa 1970, requiring patients to lower their bums to about 14" above the floor! Wake up!...this is an Orthopedic office...for hips and knees!

My patient now has two screaming knees and the warning on the Cipro antibiotic is that the medication may "rarely" cause tendon damage. Nurse Ratchet called the GP who suggested that we "wait and see".
Maybe it's just pain caused by compensating and exerting more pressure on the "good" knee that also has no cartiledge!

So, my patient is currently installed on the lower level of this care facility. I hauled the single mattress from upstairs and placed it onto the queen size bed downstairs to give him some elevation. The small TV is back in place for his viewing pleasure. He has been medicated, iced, exercised, watered and fed in a series of approximately 92 trips up and down the stairs.

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