Knee.....

The doctors appt went well. Mishi made it to 102 degrees today. She will still keep going to physical therapy every day for the next month. They hope to have her at 115 degrees by then. Normal is 135 degrees and some people even make it to 145 degrees. It will be tough..... it will be painful.... but we are gonna make it! She is to just keep taking the pain pills and keep forcing it to bend. Just a very extensive surgery to have. Right now they are on track for 4 more months. Guess we will see how it all turns out.......

Ummmmm......

Just a short post~ Mishi's knee is so so. She has made it to 97 degrees, but the physical therapy department is just as frustrated as Mishi is. Very swollen and really hurting her. She continues to have physical therapy every day and has a doctors appointment tomorrow mid afternoon. I plan on taking off from work so that I can be there to ask many questions......

Go Mishi go......

91 degrees..... YES!

WAY TO GO......

Just an update on Mishi~ Back to physical therapy yesterday. 80 degrees! Way to go Mishi!!! Last Friday she was at 65 degrees. I think we are FINALLY making progress! The knee looks SOOO much better. What a relief! Wonder what the knee will be at by the end of the week????

Hospital......

Mishi had her surgery this afternoon. All is well, but we are staying overnight in our " beautiful suite". And have a "beautiful view" of a very large air conditioning unit. Other than that.... life is good..... right now. Dr. Alex removed the part of the pin that was causing the popping. Took out the extra scar tissue and manipulated the knee. He said he had to really force it to bend. That she would never had been able to work thru it with physical therapy. Then they took x-rays. (Our guess the way he explained..... was to make sure they didn't break anything when they bent it. YIKES!) The block they put in has really helped with the pain. Right now we have physical therapy scheduled for two times tomorrow. Hmmmmmm! We have hopes that this surgery will be much easier than the last!!!

Where is the knee??

Michele's knee..... 12 days after surgery.......

......

Michele is back in Hays. I took her back yesterday, but she wasn't able to make it to her class. Was feeling a little under the weather. She did make it to class this morning, and then I took her to Physical Therapy this afternoon. To make a looonnnnggggg story short...... it is going to be a long haul. They changed the dressing and did just a little stretching. She will not be allowed to bend her knee AT ALL until it is completely healed. By that time, the knee will be too stiff to bend. That is where all the work will come into play. Right now she is scheduled for 3 times a week for 3 months. Then they will go from there. She is such a tough girl! It WILL be all okay! Love you Mishi!!!

Hop along home.....

Michele is home! We came home the middle of yesterday afternoon. She has had some problems with the pain. Also with her stomach not working properly. But we are getting there. And SOO glad to be out of that dang hospital! I'm a much better nurse if I don't say so myself! She got some good sleep last night and today is just going to be a hang out and sleep day for her. DUH! Our plans right now is for her to be here until Tuesday morning. Then I will be taking her to Hays and to her classes. We hope that by Wednesday either she can drive herself to class, (she got a special parking pass) or her roommates have said they will work it out and take her till she can do it herself. I will be taking Wednesday afternoon off from work and take her to her first physical therapy appointment. Going to be a long haul, but we have high hopes it will be well worth it. Then in a year, she will have a second surgery. They will be going back in and taking out two of the pins. But the doctor has said it is a VERY simple surgery. Probably the easiest one she will ever have.

~I'm very glad this all happened so very fast! I'm glad it is over! And I sooooo hope that this fixes the problem!!!!! Nobody should hurt like she was from just the simple things of life. The doctor even said that he has hopes that she should be able to go back to shooting basketball and even running again. She laughed and told him that she is done with sports for competition, but just wants to be able to have fun. Life is going to be good!!!!

4 Star.... I think NOT!

As much $$$$ as you spend for medical costs, you would think it should be like staying at a Four Star Hotel. NOT! I should be sleeping, but my "cot" is sooooo uncomfortable it isn't funny. Remember when you would sit on those very old sofa's and the springs would poke at you and hurt?? That is what my "cot" feels like. Then I think I'm also just very overtired. I sure will be happy when we get home. Michele and I will probably collapse. I do have to say that the nurse we have tonight is WONDERFUL! We wish she would have been here on the early shift as we kind of got a "dud". And I'm sure if she works today..... we'll get her back. We will just let Michele keep her on track. All in all, Michele is doing pretty good. She is VERY sore and is starting to swell, but is such a trooper. And as we all know, she should do better once we get her home.

~ I just want to say THANK YOU to Jenny!! She called to check on Michele. While doing so she gave us some suggestions on Michele's pain meds that has helped Michele make it thru the long night when you hurt the most. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!

From Michele's mouth...... "To bad Aunt Jenny can't come and work here tonight. I know she would take good care of me. And I trust her!"

Surgery......

Michele had her surgery this morning. As of right now we are still in the hospital, but have hopes to go home tomorrow. We will see. After 2 1/2 hours, 4 pins, a ligament from someone else, and a total re-alignment........ we are doing okay. They did have troubles getting the pain under control in recovery, so she was there longer. But they are keeping on top of it now and hopefully we can do the same after we take her home. They are still giving her IV antibiotics as her next round will be 2am tomorrow morning. I'm sure tonight will be a little rough....but we are Ummels. We are tough!! All that matters now is it is over.... and it should be all uphill from here on out. As this is her third surgery on this knee, we pray it to be the last.

Blink of an eye....

Things can change so fast! In a blink of an eye. Michele's doctor appt..... well..... obviously we knew something was wrong. And there is. She is having surgery on Thursday..... yes Thursday.... yes this Thursday. In easy words they are going to realign her knee. She will stay in the hospital at least over night. Then we will see from there. But I'm being very positive about it all. She is going to feel much better when it is all done and over with. And she will not hurt anymore. And that is all that matters!!!!

Good news, bad news....Bad news, good news

Monday morning Michele had her check up on her knee. We have heard that she shouldn't take the chance and play sports. One wrong move could hurt it forever.....and it is not in good shape now. On Monday we were told....... It is our decision. Yes, it could hurt it forever. But you don't have to live in a glass house. If she stepped wrong it could hurt it in normal day activities. Sooooooooo........ this is what WE have decided~~~ She starts rehab on Monday. They will oversee her once a week. Most will be on her own and in her own time. When the knee is strong and everyone agrees, she can do whatever she wants. And if she wants to play basketball.....well, she is going for it..............

Where is the knee??

Done with sports........ :-(

Michele had her surgery on Friday morning. It went as well as could be expected. When Dr. Harbin came out he told us her knee is shot. Where he thought she had a miniscus tear....it is tears in her knee. It is pretty damaged. He did another lateral release like he did two years ago. Said he only does about one of those every three to five years. (Guess she is his one!) She had a reaction to the Lortab they put her on so we have changed pain meds. Is running a fever, but Dr. Harbin said to just watch it. Just going to take a little longer recovery than we thought. So.....we are still at home. Ice on 20min off 40min. Ice on... Ice off. It doesn't look like she will be making it back to Hays and to work this week. But that it okay..... she needs to heal and take care of that knee. Going to need it for a very long time.

Knee

Tomorrow Michele is having knee surgery. Have to be at the hospital in Salina at 8am. So that means.......... early to rise! YUCK!!!!!