Dad's surgery went well. His body does not handle general anaesthesia well -- he went into afib on the way out and all his numbers are fluctuating -- so they're sending him to ICU for recovery.
That said, it did go well. The surgeon has high hopes that infection will soon turn around. They replaced the knee with an antibiotic spacer, which will stay in for 6-8 weeks. Today the surgeon said that he will be allowed to put weight on it (it will take lots of physical therapy before he's able, but that's different than we had been told, and -- if it's still true tomorrow, because these days who knows? -- it is good news), and that although it might feel a bit uncomfortable to him, it shouldn't hurt.
We're still trying to get the Lasix dose adjusted so he'll stop retaining fluid. He looks, as Khurston so eloquently put it, "like a tick about to pop." And apparently his INR skyrocketed while he was in rehab. The surgeon somehow got it under control so she could operate, but I guess now there's also that.
He'll be in the hospital for at least a week. There's a wound on the outside of the knee that isn't healing, so they'll keep him until that's under control, after which he will go back to rehab. He doesn't want to go back to Jewish Healthcare, so any input on other places in the area, perhaps with the capability of more acute care than JHC can provide, would be appreciated.
The question of whether he'll be able to have a new knee put in depends on the surrounding tissue. Whether or not there is enough structure left to the muscle and skin -- and whether there is enough bone left, period -- to tolerate and utilize it. If not, there are a few options. But that is six to eight weeks of healing (and therapy and consultation and conversation and good vibes and hopefully lots and lots of peeing) down the road...
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