Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Sigh of Relief

So Monday Zack went in to see the doctor. They x-rayed and scanned and did their thing, and we found out several things:
1) Zack's leg, up in the knee joint, is broken.
2) The piece of bone that is broken off is only about 1 mm displaced from the rest of the bone, which is as close as they might hope to make it go with surgery, therefore...
3) No surgery is neccessary at this time.
4) Also, no cast is needed.
5) As best they can tell based on the examining they did, the tendons and ligaments, while possibly damaged, are not so damaged as to require any surgery either. They will fix themselves.
So here's the plan:
1) Zack will continue to wear the brace they gave him in Sasebo. They've done a little adjusting of the padding to customize it to his leg. He can take it off when he's not moving around, but should use it for support when he's out and about.
2) We will stay here for the next week doing physical therapy to keep the knee flexible while the bone is healing, but putting no weight on the leg at all.
3) On Monday, they'll x-ray again to make sure everything is healing right. If it is, they'll send us back home to continue physical therapy with occasional x-rays to keep an eye on the bone. If something has changed, then we'll start all over with a new plan.
In other news, a room opened up at the Navy lodge, so now we're in a room that costs half as much and has a kitchen area, dishes and what not. We also have a bunch more space, which is good since we'll be spending a good bit of time there.
We had a chance to have another Chili's dinner with friends on Monday night so that's good, and now we're just relaxing in our time off. I feel so much better knowing that we're unlikely to mess up the bone by moving the leg around as long as we don't do anything drastic (like hitting it with a baseball bat). I'm also glad Zack's getting good physical therapy here while we're waiting to see how the process goes. Having a space to do some light cooking (even if I still don't really feel up to it) is also a nice thing. So all in all, we have pretty decent news, considering how bad it could have been.

2 comments:

erica said...

Oh, yay! Good news, considering the other possibilities. =) Speedy recovery to Zack, and happy eating to you... hehehe.

Don and Maryann said...

Haven't read your blog in a while, so were really distressed to read about Zack's injury. However, we are heartened by the fact that he has the competent and delightful nurse Anne at his side. Warmest regards and fast healing for Zack.
Don and Maryann