One thing the ortho doc said we might have to watch out for after this surgery is “oozing bones”. Well I had no idea what the heck that was, nor did I care to inquire further. Right after the surgery, when he said everything went well, he said her bones were dry, so we might not have to worry about the oozing. Then 6 days after the surgery–naturally, on the day of the evening I was invited to the symphony–Maria started bleeding. A lot. She actually bled some on Wednesday, then Thursday while I was at work, her incisions were practically gushing. I’m talking stained blankets, sheets, clothes, a few changes of bandages. Not fun. I still went out and Manolis didn’t seem as freaked as I’d imagined when I finally rolled in at 10pm.
More bleeding Friday. 2 calls to the doc before 9am. After her breakfast, I told Manolis we were loading her into the van to go to the ER because the doc was going to see her regardless, so we may as well get down there rather than waiting for them to tell us when to come. Right before we were ready to get going, the doc’s office called and said it’s perfectly normal. It can do that for a week or two. Call back Monday if she’s still bleeding. ok.
Over the weekend, she was doing better, less pain meds, less valium, less bleeding. The new respite gal came out and Maria slept for most of her Sunday visit, so she helped me sort Maria’s papers. Monday, Maria seemed to be much better. Tuesday, even better. School started Monday, but we weren’t quite ready to send her. We thought Wednesday, for sure. We went to hippotherapy on Tuesday–I thought it’d be a good test to see how she might do in school. The doc said hippotherapy was fine, just no weight-bearing or falling off the horse. So Joe, the physical therapist, looked at her bandages; started moving her around slowly, checking range of motion, etc. He put her on the ball. Everything seemed ok. I was filling out paperwork, they were getting the horse ready, Sue was watching him.
Then he decided to roll Maria over and his arm got stuck under her hip while he was rolling her and all of a sudden there was a huge wet spot on her pants. I touched it and it was a clear, reddish liquid. He told me the name of it and what it was made of, but I was in my happy place, riding on the unicorn, going toward the rainbow, looking at butterflies, and I didn’t hear what he said. He put a bunch of paper towels between the bandage and her pants, they put the horse away, he moved her a little tiny bit more, then when it started leaking a bit more, therapy session was over.
When we got home, I thought it was all good, and before I could change her bandage, she leaked a puddle on our new cuddly blanket Manolis got us for Christmas. so gross. She seemed exhausted, in a bit of pain, and pale by the end of the day, so we gave her valium, pain meds, milk, and rest. And, yeah, no school tomorrow. There’s no way they need to deal with drainage… I was going to put her in her own bed this evening (she’s been sleeping with me since the surgery), but not yet.
So tomorrow, I’m going to take her to school during lunch, so she can see the kids; we’ll go talk to the nurse, try to decide a good timetable, then come home. The other thing about taking her back to school, is I keep hearing there’s a raging stomach flu going around (I’ve heard about it from people here in AZ, and NM, and WA), as well as the regular flu. Yikes! Almost a year ago now is when Maria got her wicked pneumonia and was out of school for a month and in the hospital for 10 days. So, I guess we’ll take it slowly.



