Post Surgery #1

    Woo Hoo! We are home.  I am so tired of hospitals and everything that goes with it - ugh!   Ok.  So here is how it went.
    We got to the hospital. They took him back  and a little under 3 hours later, he was back.  I talked to the doctor.  It went something like this.
   "He is ok."
    Hmmm, ok?
   "There was a lot of blood." 
   Um, I knew that there would be - we were warned.
    "There was a lot of bone."
    Again, we know.
    "I was able to bring his leg up to 90 degrees and to lay it flat.  You can't really tell the difference between the good bone and the bad bone so we scrap off layers until we see (medical gibberish).  We scrap away the bone and add wax to stop/slow the bleeding.  There was a lot of bone.  The anesthesiologist kept his blood pressure low because that helps with the bleeding.  There was a lot of bone.  When he lost 2 units/liters, I decided we needed to stop.  The body holds 5 and I didn't want to go lower than that.  I want to avoid a transfusion.  There was a lot of bone - more than usual.  He is going to need a couple of months before we can do the other hip.  I am going to need a couple of months before I can do the other hip. There was a lot of bone." 
    And yes, he said "a lot of bone" a lot.
   So this is what I learned.  I called my BIL to ask how long it takes to restore the missing 2 units.  He was concerned as to why they didn't just do a transfusion.  This is what he told me (he is a nurse by the way) or rather what I understood.  They put fluid in but it dilutes the blood or the hemoglobin. Ok, now I get it.  I don't know how long it takes to get it "undiluted" but it is probably a month or so.  This is important as blood carries oxygen as well as all the other good stuff.  And because his blood is "thin", he will be very tired for a while until it gets "thick".  Hence, more red meat and leafy  greens and other things that will be good for him.
    But why not a blood transfusion?  Because your body will see it as "foreign" even if it is your blood type and this can lower your immune system.  As a paraplegic, Jarrad is more susceptible to things like pneumonia.  They wanted to avoid that because even though a small fever is good because it gets the antibodies revved up to fight off infection, you don't want your "forces" to be divided. 
    In summery,  the doctor did not get as much bone as he wanted off.  There is still a lot of bone left.  Usually, they want to bend the knee to the chest.  That did not happen.  If Jarrad wants to, he can go back and have another surgery to remove more bone.  We are going to wait and see.  There is the possibility that the HO can grow again.  In most cases, it doesn't

but it is always a possibility.  Jarrad is a little disappointed that more bone was not removed but the difference is amazing!  We are going to take it easy for 6 weeks while it heals but after that, his quality of life should be much improved. 
   You can see from this picture, the closer leg had surgery.  It now lays flat while the left leg is at an angle.
   The right leg is floppy.  We have gotten so used to the stiffness and now it moves.  Jarrad is going to have to figure out how to balance all over again and how to move but already he can tell a difference in how he sits - it feels better.