We arrived at the Hopkins outpatient center around 5:15 am. Mark was all prepped and being whisked away to the operating room promptly at 7:30, after confirming (no less than a dozen a times) that they were to operate on his RIGHT knee - better safe than sorry! I filled his prescription while anxiously waiting for the doc to come out. At about 9:45, Dr. Cosgarea came out and told me the surgery was a success! He is the go-to-guy for the Baltimore Orioles baseball players, and several of our friends have gone to him, so we knew he'd do a good job... Nonetheless, I still didn't like the thought of my sweetie being knocked out and cut open, so it was relief for him to say that everything went great. He reconstructed Mark's torn ACL by replacing it with a piece of his patella tendon. Mark also had tearing of the menisci which were not reparable.
Around 11 or so I was able to go see Mark in the recovery room. He was all dazed and fell asleep in the middle of the OR nurse giving us discharge instructions - it was pretty funny. The doc wanted to see Mark before we left, but unfortunately we had to wait for him to finish another surgery. So we were stuck in recovery forever, but finally got to leave around 2:30. Mark was very ready to get home and sleep!
The first few days were extremely painful, but he's pretty much off the painkillers now. The knee and calf still hurt a lot from the swelling and bruising, but the "iceman" device has been very helpful in keeping the area cold and minimizing swelling.
I was out of town most of this week, so Mama Henderbagel graciously came down from NY to stay with us and help her little boy out again, just like she did after he had surgery on the other knee in college! Thank you soo soo much for all your help Mom! She took Mark to two physical therapy appointments, and he also got the stitches out. PT went well, but he definitely pays for it the next day :( No pain, no gain they say. The plan is to get rid of the crutches next week and head back to the lab. No driving for awhile yet and probably a couple months until he can start doing light activity again like the treadmill. Mark has been a champ through the whole thing, and I'm sure he's looking forward to hockey and skiing at the end of the tunnel!
Thanks to our friends Kristen, Kim, Moira & Meghdad who stopped by to visit and bring goodies :o)
Side note:
A few months back something happened to Caoimhe where she lost feeling in her back right leg out of the blue. She kept falling down and curling her foot under and dragging it. The vet was concerned it would be permanent, but thankfully she spontaneously recovered!! We think her foot has lost some sensation, but she's pretty much back to normal. Above are my pitiful patients resting their bandaged bum legs :)
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