Pre-Op Interview

This morning Brooke and I had an appointment with Josie, Dr. Buchanan's Physicians Assistant. She let us know that everyone at the Orthopedic Foot and Ankle center was rooting for us. She's also going to be at the surgery Monday afternoon.

Josie asked if I wanted someone to take photos or video during the operation. Absolutely! That'd be awesome.

We got several prescriptions squared away, including a wheelchair. I didn't want to get a chair again, but the first few days might be especially rough.

I'll be on a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) when I come out of surgery. I was eventually put on one of these after the first surgery. This will guarantee my pain is under control during the first few days. It also guarantees that I'll be extremely doped up, so that's good news for these awful blog updates and tweets.

Dr. Buchanan will not take adult stem cells from the pelvic bone. Instead, it'll be a bone graft from the iliac crest. This is essentially the same thing as the adult stem cell procedure. As long as we get bone marrow in the ankle, then mission accomplished. I'll end up with about three separate incisions. The good news is one the incisions heal, I can take the external fixator into the shower.

We also confirmed I'll have a fourth surgery to remove the fixator when we're done with it. For some reason I thought we could remove it at the clinic with a local, but we'll need to do it in an operating room.