Sunday, March 18, 2012

A Second Operation

Late Friday Dinah returned to surgery. The plan was to replace the long portion of the replacement with a longer one that would go deeper into the left femur bone.  But when the Dr got inside, he decided on a different approach and nothing was removed.  The break started on the inside of the femur, perhaps 1/4 of the way down the bone and 1/2 way down the shaft of the replacement. It then curved up to the top of the bone near its center.  So they used some medical "zip ties" to bind the bone back together.  In the x-rays in looks like a bunch of skinny hose clamps pulling the broken piece of bone back into place. The operation went well and I believe she slept well Friday night.
But on Saturday morning it was apparent that something was wrong; her vital signs were not where they should be and she was very uncomfortable, and not very coherent.
She was given a CT scan which showed a pulmonary embolism; a clot in her lung. El Paso Specialty Hospital was not equipped to handle emergencies that might arise from the clot, so early Saturday evening she was transferred to Las Palmas Medical Center, about 2 miles away in El Paso.

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