Day 2 at St. John’s

Mom, Dad and Cara were able to go back and see him around 5 p.m. He no longer has traction on the leg that just had surgery.
_____________________
A little after 3 p.m., the doctor came out and visited with Cara and J’s parents about the surgeries. The injury report has been updated to match his report.

For the knee, they removed approximately 60% that was crushed or too small to be repaired. He attached the tendon to the base of the kneecap and attached the muscle to the top of the knee. He explained that while it won’t be as strong, it will be a working knee.

Now for the femur, this was NOT the femur with the broken ball. The doctor shared x-rays and drew pictures to illustrate what had been done. A long plate was placed along the femur. Many screws were placed into the femur and some went up into the ball.

The surgeon seemed pleased overall with the two surgeries. He said that J is now scheduled for the next surgery on Monday for the second, much more complicated femur. However, the orthopedic also compared scheduling J for surgery is a lot like scheduling the shuttle for a launch. You may place the shuttle on the launch pad but there are many variables that may cause a delay.

At this time, they plan to leave J on the ventilator until after the next surgery.

The biggest concern for the next 24-48 hours will for his heart and lungs. Even with the filters in place, there is still the threat of clots breaking loose. This concern about the strength and stability of his heart and lungs is tied to the trauma of the crash and aorta repair and not related to the orthopedic surgery.
_____________________________
At 1:30 p.m., there is a call from the operating room. They have completed the repair to the right femur and are moving to the left knee. Surgery actually started at 10:55 a.m. Everything has gone well. While several approaches to repair the femur were discussed before the surgery, we won’t know how they actually made the repair until later when both surgeries are complete.

On another note, it probably be Monday before they schedule another surgery.
_____________________
Already good news again! After that scary moment yesterday, J’s stats remain strong and his surgery has been moved up to earlier than originally scheduled at 11. He may be in surgery as early as 9:30.