I spent most of today in the E.R. at Mission, and then later in pre-op, grading papers and working on study questions for the summer. It gave me a lot of time to think about what to say to each student in the conference I need to have with him or her to whip this things into any kind of shape.
But as I thought about all of this, I had much to deal with. It turns out that my mother has broken some kind of record as the oldest person ever to have this kind of rare break of the tibia, just below the head of the bone, and straight through. The bone is all out of place, poking through the skin, and causing enormous magenta raspberries to break out in the vicinity of the break. They are angry looking blood blisters, caused by shearing of the skin, according to the orthopedic surgeon, a young guy who looks about Jeremy's age, but is apparently the latest wunderkind at the hospital. He certainly seemed to know what he was about.
My mother was in a lot of pain, which I'm sure isn't surprising. The nurse kept on doling out the morphine to help her, and finally she was peaceful, ready to go into surgery. I hope it goes well.
2 comments:
Wow, what at first just seemed like a swollen knee really escalated. I hope she is resting this morning--you, too.
It was really fast. As I watched, the leg swelled up enormously. It wasn't the x-ray, as I had assumed, but a shifting of the skin and the bone. That's what created the horrible blood blisters, black and blue marks, and most importantly, the pain.
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