Surgery and thoughts

Monday, July 21, 2008

Surgery and thoughts Current mood: sleepy I arrived at the hospital at seven. Just in time. They were just getting ready to take Curt down. The surgical waiting area is much improved since last year. They have games and computers to use. So me and Kaylie played Uno, Connect Four, and Monopoly hahaha. The surgery lasted about 3 hours and he was in recovery for about 30 minutes. But it went well. The doctors said they just went into the incison on the side of his knee and removed as much of the HO as they could. We have the mold they made of his knee which is pretty cool looking. Our souvenir. hahaha. Really its cool. :) Anyway, they couldn't go into the back since so much of the front of his joint is completely trashed they don't want to ruin anymore of it than they have to. Our something like that...haha sorry my brain is mush..... He will of course have arthritis as he gets older. And they would like to put off the total replacement of the knee as long as possible. Since he's only 26 he is young, and replacements only last 15-20 years average. So the longer we can hold off the better. He said if we can wait 25 years that would be great! so...we shall see. Thats about it, pretty easy. He was up wobbly on crutches to go to the bathroom. They said as soon as they take the wound vac off in a couple days we should be released from the hospital. Yay!! So we should be home maybe the earliest is this weekend. But definately early next week. Double yay! haha serioulsy I hate being here. Being back here has brought me down. I hate it. I really do. Seeing and talking to some of these YOUNG wounded soldiers is down right hearbreaking. One day at breakfast there was a kid not older than 22...a TRIPLE amputee. I can't even imagine dealing with that. I want to cry almost everyday looking at these young men who's lives are drastically changed forever. Last year I was reading an article on how there are only 6 triple amputees from the OIF, OEF wars. Six, is too many, and the kid I saw must now be number 7. We met a guy who is an amputee. Lost his leg in Iraq. He is a great guy, good spirits and good sense of humor. He has been here 2 1/2 years!!! He has had over 70 surgeries and has died TWICE, once for 2 minutes and another for three and a half. He is a living miracle (his words). He lost a leg, his other leg is completely messed up and has skin grafts, his chest is also and he has a TBI (traumatic brain injury). But wow, amazing. It just breaks my heart to hear these stories. It really does. I hope this war ends soon and we can stop this senseless shit...this is a sad sad place. I wish everyone at some point would come and listen to these kids tell there stories. To me...its tragic I am so grateful that Curt was not hurt worse than he was. It could've been a hell of a lot worse! I remind him of that when he gets down.....just look around at some of these other guys....and think of the ones who don't even make it back..........