Openbah / Journal of a Marine Officer Candidate

Category: Medical

  • Ten day update

    It has been ten days since my surgery at Bethesda. It is amazing how much things have changed since then. As expected, my movement in the hospital bed was mainly limited to my upper body. I could move my feet a little and could wiggle my toes, something the docs made me do regularly. Two days after my surgery the physical therapist forced me to get up and learn how to use crutches.

    When I first got back at my apartment, I couldn’t do much of anything myself, I needed assistance with everything. Slowly, I’ve learned how to lift my body in and out of the bed and chairs, and I’ve really gotten the hang of crutches.

    I went outside yesterday for the first time since being discharged. I used my crutches and made it all the way to the office of my management company a few blocks away. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it all the way on crutches so my father pushed my wheelchair behind me. It felt awesome to be outside and get some air and sun.

  • Femoral neck fracture

    A femoral neck fracture occurs just below the ball of the ball-and-socket hip joint; this region is called the femoral neck. When a femoral neck fracture occurs, the ball is disconnected from the rest of the femur.

    The most important issue with my femoral neck fracture is that the blood supply to the fractured portion of bone is often disrupted at the time of injury. Because blood flow is diminished, the fracture is at an elevated risk of not healing (hip osteonecrosis), especially in my case, where the fracture was badly displaced. If the fracture does not heal, a partial hip replacement will most likely be necessary. Unfortunately, hip replacements tend to wear out in younger, more active patients.

    During surgery, a small incision was made on the outside of my right thigh. Using x-ray, the surgeon placed three screws across the fracture in order to stabilize the broken femur.

    The sad news is, statistically only about 25% of patients who sustain a broken hip return to their pre-injury level of activity.

  • Back in Boston

    At BethesdaI was discharged from Bethesda at 1030 yesterday but didn’t get out of the pharmacy until 1230. Even though they prescribed 2 weeks worth of percocet, they could only give me 45 pills. I wasn’t about to leave with only a few days worth of meds, so we waited until things were sorted out upstairs and I got my pills.

    The 9 hour car ride back to Boston might have been the most painful 9 hours in my life. We pulled up at 2130 and were met by Jess and Bill, who came over to help get my things inside and get me situated for the night.

    This morning Adrienne made pancakes and I opened 2 months of mail on couch. Jess and Bill will probably be back today, and I think Laura is going to stop by to visit.

  • NPQ

    Five weeks and 3 days after arriving at OCS, this candidate is on his way home. I’m at Bethesda Naval Hospital and have some time to kill, let me tell you how much things suck right now.

    Last Wednesday was the Combat Readiness Test. For those that don’t know, the CRT includes a rope climb with full gear (no pack), 3-mile run, casualty evac drills, push ups, and a coordination and speed drill.

    Everything was going fine until the end of the 3-mile run, and I’m talking the last 20 meters. My right leg started to hurt real bad, and I started falling out of the squad. Five seconds later and SNAP, I collapsed to the dirt. My squad leader told me to get the hell up but I told him it wasn’t happening and to finish the run. Seconds later I was surrounded by Marines asking me what hurt and telling me everything was going to be okay. I told them I couldn’t move my right leg at all and they began screaming “CORPSMAN!” I was quickly lifted onto a stretcher and double-timed all the way to the medical building.

    An hour later after receiving X-Rays, I was told the bad news. I had fractured my right femur, basically breaking my right hip. To say I was devastated would be a grave understatement. Two hours later I was in an ambulance on my way to my current residence in Maryland.

    I was quickly prepped for surgery, which lasted a couple hours, during which surgeons inserted 3 screws in my femur head. I woke up to Adrienne standing above my guerney which made me feel about 10 times better. The surgery went well, there were no problems whatsoever. My parents arrived around 2200 and we visited until around 2300. Since then I’ve been stuck in my hospital bed. I finally got crutches today which allowed me to hobble into the TV/computer room.

    Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, I was told by my surgeons that even though the surgery went well, there is still a fair chance that my femur will not heal correctly and I might need more surgeries down the road. For now, I will be on crutches for at least 12 weeks.

    As for returning to OCS someday? I’d like to go back and finish what I started and become a Marine Officer. If that’s medically impossible I guess I’ll just deal with that when the time comes.