Once I got in the ER. I asked to see my Mother-in-law. They told me what room they were in and told me I could go on down to see her. As soon as I got to the room I knew it was bad. Mom didn't seem like she was in much pain, but there was a lot of blood and a huge gaping gash across her shin bone.
There were about 6 people in the room doing different jobs. One nurse saw me and started asking me questions about Mom and her medical history. She had tried to get info from Mom, but I think she was in shock because she couldn't focus to tell her anything. Someone gave her some morphine even though she didn't seem like she was in pain. Then the x-ray tech came in to take her x-rays and another tech came in to take an EKG. There was also a CNA taking her vitals. Soon two Dr.'s came in to look at her leg. Then they went out and got a third Dr. to look at her. They all introduced themselves to me, but things were happening so fast I didn't remember their names. Then a Paramedic came in and hung an IV. There was also someone taking her blood. There was so much commotion going on it was hard to stay out of their way. At one point I stepped out of her room and saw Dad walking toward me. He ask how Mom was and I gave him the report of what I had seen and heard. Then we both returned to her room.
Things started slowing down once they admitted her and she was ready for the OR. She needed to be operated on as soon as possible since the bone was exposed to the air and the outside environment. The Dr. said the longer they wait the more chance of infection to set in.
They soon got the labs back from her blood and had to give her potassium since she was low on it, but everything else was good to go. The some people came in and took her to get a CT Scan. They wanted to make sure she didn't hit her head when she fell and now had a brain bleed. She soon came back and waited in the ER room for about 10 minutes. While she waited, they came in and put a Foley catheter in so she didn't have to worry about going to the bathroom. Shortly after that, they whisked her off to the OR. There we met with Dr. Harding who was the Orthopedic Surgeon on call. We also meet the anaesthesiologist that was going to put her under. Dr. Harding explained what he had to do. Since Mom was on a blood thinner we had to wait to do the major surgery until Friday so the blood thinner medicine would get out of her system. For the temporary fix he still had to do a 2-3 hr surgery to get her bones aligned and pinned in place. He explained he would be putting an external fixator on her leg. This would protect her fracture and her skin until it was safe to perform the operation. (Fixator below)
Her operation took about 3 hrs. Dr. Harding told us the operation went very well. Mom did better then he thought. He also told us he would see us back on Friday so he could put a rod in her leg and she could then could start to heal. He told us this type of injury would take 4-5 months to heal from.
After Mom came back from the OR they put her on the 5th floor in the west wing. Her room was right across from the Nurses desk so the Nurses could keep an eye on her. She wasn't able to get out of bed at all and she was very hard to move her. She was just dead wait. She had trouble rolling over because of the Fixator and it kept getting bumped and then Mom would get hurt. She survived until Friday and around 12pm they took her back to the OR to perform the second surgery. Once again we waited 2-3 hours for her to come out of surgery. She didn't come and we started to worry. I went to the OR waiting room and talked to a nurse about what had happened. She assured me the surgery went well, but Mom was taking some time to come out of the anaesthesia. She ask if I wanted to go back and see her. Of course I did, so she let me stay with her until someone was free to wheel her back to her room.
Dad was very glad to see she was back and all was well. The Dr. then called and I talked to him about how the surgery went. She once again did very well and the Dr. said in a few days of watching it and keeping infection out of it he would transport her to the rehabilitation center of our choice. I didn't think anything of it. I am a here and now kinda gal. One step at a time.
Mom did very well, and soon she was able to move a lot better. She still had a hard time rolling but she was able to sit in a chair if someone got her up. Most of the time they had to use a lift to get her up. Like I said she was dead wait.
On the 5th of Sept. she was scheduled to be discharged.
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