Monday, November 26, 2012

The Bionic Man

Or is it the bionic woman and the ten million dollar man?  Either way, the guy has a new hip, titanium this time. It's known as a total hip arthroplasty, which consists of replacing both the acetabulum and the femoral head.  It is titanium and was cemeted in, which is apparently more common in Europe than in Canada -- this method was chosen so that there would be a stronger adherence to the bone, which is somewhat deteriorated by lesions due to the movement of the cancer cells out of the prostate area.

As I described in the summer, Tom is more than hilarious when he's in recovery -- apparently morphine, or whichever derivative they use when patients come out of surgery, agrees with him.  No cares in the world... he was floating, or zooming, along the ceiling apparently, and it was more than fun.  And there was much laughter, AND he proposed to one of the nurses.  Blonde, he tells me, "Just a cougar from Transcona" -- but I wasn't there to witness it.  Sister wives, anyone?

He was up and walking, with a walker, the day after.  They've removed all the wires and tubes, and he's been diligent about getting around.  Got himself down to the Tim Horton's in the hospital the second day for a coffee, mostly to alleviate the boredom, the waiting.  Lots of hurry up and wait, he said. 

The first day he was in the waiting mode last week was Wednesday.  I took him to check in at Concordia Hospital, which has a strong Mennonite connection as it was started by Mennonite immigrants from Russia in 1928.  My mom (Susanna) worked there (in a different location) in the summer of 1950, when she was 15 -- she dusted, wiped down beds, set tables, and helped out in the kitchen.  Aunt Herta was working there as a nurse, and cousin Judy (Voth) Hack was born there but they would not let mom visit her new niece...   Tom was taken to St. Boniface hospital that afternoon for an embolization, which is a procedure that shuts down blood flow to a particular part of the body, in this case
a peri-acetabular metastasis.  The procedure went smoothly; Tom reported some pain when the catheter was removed from the vein, but the collagen plug was inserted successfully.  This is important because the surgery the next day included removal of the tumour as well as the hip replacement, and can minimize bleeding to the area.  And yes, the surgeon removed the tumour in the area, which was smaller than they thought.  So everything continues to move forward.


He'll be home either today or tomorrow, and we are looking forward to having him back.



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