Wednesday Update

June 22, 2011 Maurice 3 Comments

I spent the morning with Pam. She had a relatively quiet night, but not much sleep. They are giving her as much morphine as she needs or wants to combat the pain. I took her KOBO e-reader, so she tried to read some Sherlock Holmes, but she couldn’t really concentrate or focus.

They gave her an MRI this morning while I was there and it was much less painful than the CAT scan, since she was already on the mobility board.

The trauma surgeon who will be doing the surgery, still does not have her scheduled. She is to be transferred to the Trauma Center at Royal Colombian “soon.” It is 5 pm here and they have not moved her yet. The nurse told her that the latest they would move her would be in the morning, but it could happen anytime during the night. At least when she is at Royal Colombian we can see some light at the end of the tunnel.

She’s had no surgery and no procedures. The diagnostic tests are complete, so that when the trauma surgeon does see her, she will not need any more tests! She has still not eaten since lunch yesterday. They are keeping her “NPO” in case there is a surgical spot open that she can take.

I’m heading up to see her now. I’m hoping by the time I get there, there will be some concrete news!

She is in pretty good spirits, considering the difficulty, but again, the pain is so severe, and so constant, it’s wearing on her.

I’m sorry if I don’t email or call you all personally, but I’m going to try to keep the blog as updated as I can.

Health Issues

Pam's horrible year continues

June 22, 2011 Maurice 4 Comments

There is an old joke – good thing I’ve got bad luck, or I’d have no luck at all… well for Pam, that’s been her motto for the better part of two years.

I am just home from the hospital, it’s half past midnight, and Pam is not with me. We went to Home Depot today at around 4 o’clock, and were walking through the garden center. I stepped over a hose and was walking down an aisle, when I heard Pam screech and as I turned I saw her leg hyperextending as she slipped on a puddle. She had tripped on the hose, slid on the puddle and went ass over teakettle as they say.

Her leg was bent at a horrible angle and there seemed to be a “hole” just below her knee. She was in an awful lot of pain.I asked a clerk to call an ambulance, and she ran off. A few minutes later another clerk showed up and tried to give Pam first aid. I said, no, her leg is most likely broken, note the awful angle and someone has called an ambulance. I tried to comfort her, but she was in an awful amount of pain. Finally another clerk arrived and asked if we should call an ambulance! Arrgh! She called the “Supervisor” who showed with a phone and FINALLY called the ambulance.

After another 15 minutes, the ambulance finally arrived – I guess because she was conscious, she wasn’t a priority. We got her on a board they use for back patients, as she simply couldn’t move her left leg without tremendous pain.

We got her to the hospital, and after five hours of waiting, we got her into X-Ray where they discovered lots of damage. They contacted the orthopedic surgeon but he was in surgery! After he got out, he ordered a CAT scan and confirmed the worst possible news. ALL her ligaments were torn, the MCL, the LCL, the ACL and Posterior ligaments too. The knee is dislocated, and broken. Her tibia (the long bone below the knee) has been “shattered” (worse than a break, I guess) by the femur as it broke through her kneecap. There may be damage to the femur as well.

The damage to her knee was too traumatic for the orthopedic surgeon, Dr Malone, at Surrey Memorial, so she is going to be transferred to the Trauma Center at Royal Columbian tomorrow. Dr. Malone said he had a week back up on knee surgeries, but that hers was so severe, he was certain they would operate on her tomorrow, or perhaps Thursday.

He gave her an estimate of at least six months to recover. When I said months?? He said, there are knee injuries and then there are knee injuries. This is the worst you could possible have. Hockey players take six months to recover just from an ACL tear! Add in the other three ligament tears, the two broken bones, the dislocated knee and you’re talking major pain.

At least it’s not cancer. sigh.

I’m heading back to the hospital early in the morning to see what the final details are. I hope she is able to sleep somewhat tonight. Gawd… I can’t believe it.

Commentary

I am Canadian

June 2, 2011 Maurice 3 Comments

A lot of the time, we Canadians tend to be rather reserved in our nationalistic pride, but us Vancouverites showed with the Vancouver Olympics it’s ok to be Canadian, proud of it, and it’s actually cool to be willing to show it!

I’ve always loved these Molson commercials, so I’ve decided to put a couple up. I know, I know, it’s a commercial, but they do capture our spirit! Now this one has a cool driving musical score, that sort of impels you forward. But I really love those shots of the dudes just motoring across the lake!