Update on Jesse's Surgery

The actual surgery yesterday on both of Jess's knees went well. He was under anesthesia for almost 4-hours however, and his body has had a hard time shaking it off. It was okay yesterday since all he did was sleep most of the day after surgery, and the after effects of the anesthesia kept him from having pain.

By the middle of the night, however, it was quite a different story, and he was pushing the button on his IV for more morphine frequently.

Unfortunately, his body didn't seem any keener on morphine than it was on the anesthesia, and he was nauseated and threw up. More than once.

This morning they sat him up on the side of the bed, gave him a bath, and were in the process of getting his clothes on (Joint Camp attire - a polo shirt and shorts), to get him ready to walk over to his chair. That was pretty much a disaster. He almost passed out, only remaining upright because 2 nurses were hanging on to him for dear life. They jerked up his shorts and swung him over in the recliner and laid it back pronto.

The surgeon happened to come in soon after, and Jess was white as the proverbial sheet, his blood pressure was still in the toilet, and his pulse was racing. The doctor ordered lab work to type and cross match for a couple units of blood, and was going to have Jess's cardiologist come in to check on him.

However, the internist who looks after all the joint replacement patients was on the floor. He sees them all to keep them on a special blood thinner that is given by shots in the stomach, making sure there's no problems with blood clots forming.

His assessment was Jess will probably need blood within the next couple of days, but wants to wait until his hematocrit bottoms out, then give it to him. Long explanation. (Ever have a doctor spend 5-10 minutes explaining just ONE of his decisions to you? He was quite patient and personable, and seemed to have a good grasp of the situation, and didn't mind explaining his reasoning for the various things he decided did or did not need done. & I must have understood or talked a little too much med-speak, because at one point he paused, then asked what medical field I was in and where I worked.)

They put off calling in the cardiologist, thinking this was stuff they could handle and not a necessity to have a specialist. They switched to a saline IV to help get his blood volume up, and held off on the Coreg Jess usually takes for his heart, and his anti-hypertensive drugs. His blood pressure was way too LOW for a change!

With all this going on, Jess didn't go to either of the two group physical therapy sessions he was supposed to attend today. Instead, the therapist came in here and worked personally with Jess a couple of times. The last time he did get him to stand up briefly, but Jess got pale and nauseated again, so no walking today.

He obviously has a lot of pain, and is having a hard time getting comfortable. He has progressed to eating popsicles and drinking a little coke, so he is getting better. The dizziness and nausea needs to subside before he can really make good progress on physical therapy.

Getting much sleep is a problem, too. At least, getting some uninterrupted sleep for any length of time. It's like an airport terminal in here with people constantly coming and going. Off the top of my head I remember the surgeon, internist, a couple of caseworkers, 2 or 3 different nurses, cleaning lady, meal delivery, dietician, lab technicians, Senior Horizons rep, and I'm sure many more, plus visitors and phone calls.

We knew this would be difficult, but the nausea and low blood pressure were unforeseen complications. Hopefully as the last of the anesthesia washes out of his system and he's also able to drink more, he'll start feeling better. He is taking oral medications for pain now, and they don't seem to be making him quite as sick. Of course, they don't zap the pain as well either!

One thing is sure and certain, he needs someone in the room with him about all the time. The nurses can't come running into a room every 5 minutes to help him change position, or give him ice chips, or any of the other myriad things needing done.

Fortunately, Jonathan is able to look after the farm, and today I called him with a list of things we needed (including my laptap, since there is free wi-fi here), and he brought those down for us . It's really a blessing he's available to do this stuff right now. (Silver lining in every cloud!)

Jess had us all a little shook this morning, including the doctors, but hopefully these complications will get worked out soon, and he can concentrate on getting those knees working!