Post-Op

This is a continuation of my posting about my mother's hip fracture and her hip surgery.

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Jovitt holding a basket of flowers from cousin Ivy. Daddy and Anton, loyal watchers of Lola Consing. This was before the surgery. Notice that Lola's left leg is in traction.


This email to relatives was sent the day after her operation.
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hello everyone,

about lola consing's surgery, thanks to God and to all your prayers, the surgery went very nicely.

the original plan to do a compression hip screw fixation was aborted because mommy's hip bone was rather thin unya ni-action ug shatter when it was manipulated (one of the most fearsome things that can happen in orthopedic surgery). so dr katada opted to do an open reduction angle plating fixation instead. surgery lasted less than three hours. by God's grace, mommy was able to tolerate the surgery very well. i knew she was very scared and tense before the surgery kay isog na man sa helper (she kept harping at the helper) where before she had been a very good patient. but in the OR, when we told her the surgery was almost finished, she started talking and talking and kept telling me to give snacks to everybody in the OR and thank you thank you to all.

when we reached her room (she did not pass thru the recovery room kay naa man cya private nurses, si michael and girlfriend lalaine) auntie azon and two other women were there and si mommy kept talking and talking. She was so happy, the much feared operation was finished. and she had no pain as the spinal anesthesia has not worn of f yet.

bye for now ...
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Hope you will not find the picture below as too gross... ;-) For a doctor working in the operating room, scenes like this are beautiful to see. It signifies that a job, a task, has been accomplished, hopefully for the betterment of the patient. The wound is about a foot long. And the depth is...well, tagos sa buto!

Often I would hear people ask "So, how many sutures do you have?" referring to the skin sutures visible to anybody who dares to take a look. Actually, the sutures or stitches on the skin are just a few of the many more sutures and stitches deep inside the muscle layers, that are not visible from the outside. And in the case of my mother, she had regular sutures for inside her leg/hip but for her skin, staples were used. Yes, staples as in metal "staplers"to staple the two edges of the skin together.