Openbah / Journal of a Marine Officer Candidate

Author: Openbah

  • Some incision photos





  • Surgery went well

    Sorry it has taken me a few days to update you all on my surgery. I’ve been a bit out of it.

    I was in the OR for 11.5 hours, I know, really long time. The docs said things went very well.

    They cut out about 8″ of fibula, thinned it down a little, cleared the dead bone and arthritis from the hip, drilled a hole in the hip, inserted the fibula, and connected the blood vessels microvascularly. Yea, pretty intense.

    The immediate recovery of the surgery was a little rough, I was in tons of pain, but thankfully don’t remember much. Since getting moved to a room, the pain has been manageable, except for yesterday afternoon. I’m still on a lot of morphine.

    I ran a fever all yesterday, but since this morning its been a-okay. I’ve had a little bad luck with roommates, but I moved this afternoon and this new one seems good.

    I’m taking my time with physical therapy and with getting off the morphine. I’m trying not to rush thing like I did the first time. I stood up out of bed for the first time this afternoon.

    I’ll update you all again soon. Thanks for the emails and phone calls!

  • Surgery tomorrow

    I’m leaving for NYC in 15 minutes. My mother and I are driving in and staying at a family friend’s condo in Manhattan. My father will drive in tomorrow morning.

    This past week my stomach has been in a giant knot. It seems no matter how relaxed I pretend to be, it is a true tell of how nervous I actually am. My parents are naturally even more nervous than me.

    I have to show up at the hospital at 7:30AM. After I’m admitted, I need to get a set of x-rays. Then it’s surgery time.

    This could be it. This could be the last surgery I ever have on my hip.

  • I’m an EMT!

    I showed up to the testing center in Charlestown 40 minutes early for my exam. After one last read through of my study material in my car, I made my way inside. I signed in, had my photo taken, and was told to sit at desk #5.

    I patiently read through the tutorial and began my test. 120 minutes to answer 100 questions.

    30 minutes later I was finished. The proctor printed out a score sheet and handed it to me while saying, “ya done good.” He then printed out my identification and said I could leave.

    I thanked him and left, doing my best to contain how happy I was to be finished with everything.

  • Halfway to being an EMT

    Just got a letter in the mail telling me I passed the first half of my Massachusetts EMT exam that I took 3 weeks ago. I just got off the phone with the scheduling center and have scheduled the second half of my certification exam for this Wednesday. If everything goes well, I’ll be a certified EMT on Wednesday at around 11:30AM.