Surgery and beyond

Jerry, hard at work.

On 1/11/11, Jerry had his knee surgery. He had to stay overnight in the hospital and was released early the next morning. He has osteochondritus desecans where his bone was dying off because of the lack of blood flow. He had surgery in May of 2009 to correct this but it was the least invasive option. The doctor just drilled holes in his knee hoping to create more blood flow. At that time, the bone itself was dying, but the cartilage was still intact and in good shape. Well, that didn't help and in fact, it got worse (not because of the surgery). He needed a replacement, so we were waiting for a donor bone that matched. We thought we had it in November, but that fell through due to a delivery fiasco. When he got the call a few weeks ago, we were hopeful that it go through this time.

It did and he had the surgery. He has an incision on his knee that is about 6 inches long. We were surprised to see it when they changed the dressing two days later that they used staples instead of sutures to stitch him up. This is good, but that means that he can't get it wet for two weeks. He will have to be on crutches for 6-12 weeks and can't put any weight on that leg during that time. The doctor said that the lesion was bigger than it was before and the cartilage that was healthy before was now deteriorating and falling off. The doctor also ordered Jerry to use a machine that will move his leg from 0-60 degrees. Jerry now has to use that machine for 6 hours a day everyday that he is on crutches (as pictured above). He will also start physical therapy this week.

As for Grayson and me, we're doing fine. Grayson has learned that Daddy has an ouchie and he can't get near that leg or the machine (although he still tries to touch the machine when he thinks we are not looking). He can sit next to Jerry and have stories read to him, he just needs to be careful when he is climbing up and down. I'm doing ok. A little more tired than normal since I have to take on more responsibility, but we're getting through it. Luckily, we've had help from our parents with some meals and babysitting duties. I don't know what I would have done in the last week without them. We're all in good spirits and just taking things slow and one day at a time.